2022 Editor's Choice Hotels for Golfers
Editor’s Choice Golf Hotels
Romney Bay House
New Romney
Amid the evocative, sheep-grazed wetlands of Romney Marsh, between golf course and shingle beach, an Edwardian house built by Clough Williams-Ellis is now ‘a lovely, secluded hotel’.
The Dog at Wingham
Canterbury
A passion for Kent produce, a monthly dining club, tee times and transport to nearby golf clubs, including Royal St. George’s, are among many reasons to commend Marc Bridgen’s village gastropub.
Beechwood Hotel
North Walsham
Come for a whodunnit night at Emma and Hugh Asher’s ivy-smothered hotel, ‘well placed for touring North Norfolk’, and murder by chocolate could be on the menu.
Lake Country House Hotel & Spa
Llangammarch Wells
Anne Hathaway meets Heidi in the hybrid architecture of Pierre Mifsud’s former hunting and fishing lodge, beautifully situated in the foothills of Mynydd Epynt, with a trout lake and the River Irfon running through.
Greywalls
Gullane
One of just two Scottish buildings designed by Edwin Lutyens, this crescent-shaped house by Muirfield golf course is the epitome of Edwardian Arts and Crafts comfort.
Rayanne House
Holywood
‘Rayanne House isn’t your typical bed and breakfast accommodation,’ say Conor and Bernie McClelland of their Victorian merchant’s house overlooking Belfast lough.
Stella Maris
Ballycastle
You can drift off to sleep to the sound of the waves and wake to the view over Bunatrahir Bay at this Victorian coastguard's fortress turned one-of-a-kind hotel.
2021 Editor's Choice Hotels for Golfers
Editor’s Choice Golf Hotels
The Atlantic Hotel
St Brelade
There are ocean views from every hole at Jersey’s La Moye golf course, plus a few rocky outcrops on the fairway. At the adjacent Atlantic Hotel, rooms without sea views overlook the fairways. The food is well above par.
Romney Bay House
New Romney
On one side of this 1920s mansion built by Clough Williams-Ellis lies the English Channel, while on the other is Littlestone golf course. It’s a scenic, isolated spot, whether you’re playing on the Championship Links or The Warren.
Trefeddian Hotel
Aberdovey
The nine-hole putting course at this family-friendly, dog-friendly hotel on the coast is just a warm-up for the real thing: Trefeddian overlooks Aberdovey’s 18-hole championship golf course. Coaching and caddies are available if needed.
Ballymaloe House
Shanagarry
For a bit of fun or practice, there is a five- hole course in front of this hotel, with golf balls and clubs available at reception. For something more serious, there are courses at nearby Castlemartyr, Fota Island and Harbour Point.
Beechwood Hotel
North Walsham
Guests at Emma and Hugh Asher’s country house hotel can enjoy special deals at Mundesley and Royal Cromer golf clubs. In the evening, there’s a different clubby atmosphere back at Beechwood, with a rolling programme of evening events.
Budock Vean
Falmouth
The golf bar has views over the fairway, Sky Sports is tuned to the golf channel, and the nine-hole course has one of the longest par-fives in the country. Better still, green fees at the Barlow family’s resort hotel are included.
Hilton Park
Clones
There’s a double bonus for guests staying at the sprawling Madden family estate, home to Clones golf course: not only are greens fees complimentary, but the rolling woodland course features 20 holes, after an extra two were added in 2005.
Greywalls
Gullane
The only thing separating this Lutyens- designed house from Muirfield golf course is a ha-ha. Some rooms have links views, and you can drink or dine overlooking
the green of the 18th hole. It is possible to tee off on 22 golf courses within ten miles.
Park House, Hotel & Spa
Midhurst
If you like to mix your golf with other activities, Seamus O’Brien’s South Downs leisure hotel may be the place. As well as a putting lawn and six-hole 18-tee golf course, there are two pools and a spa, plus tennis, croquet and bowls.
Boath House
Nairn
Two championship golf courses are in Nairn, while Castle Stuart, home of the Scottish open, is nearby, and Royal
Dornoch is one of 30 golf courses within an hour’s drive. But first you need to tear yourself away from the exquisite hotel grounds.
2020 Editor's Choice Hotels for Golfers
Editor’s Choice Golf Hotels
Mallory Court
Leamington Spa
To tee or not to tee, that is the question facing guests at this Lutyens-style Arts and Crafts country house. Do you head out to imbibe culture at Shakespeare’s Stratford-upon-Avon, when Royal Leamington Spa Golf Club is just across the way and the game’s afoot?
Romney Bay House
New Romney
Hedda Hopper dreamt of creating an English Le Touquet when she engaged Clough Williams-Ellis to build this house on Romney Marsh between the English Channel and Littlestone Golf Club. The dream was in vain, but the two courses – the Championship Links and The Warren – are wonderfully atmospheric.
The Dog at Wingham
Canterbury
Mark Bridgen’s village pub has teamed up with some great clubs to offer golf packages, with transport provided. Choose Faversham, Canterbury, Princes in Sandwich Bay, or maybe Royal St George’s, Sandwich, 15 minutes' drive away. It hosts the US Open in July.
Star Castle
St Mary's
Guests at the Francis family’s Elizabethan fortified mansion have complimentary use of the course at St Mary’s Golf Club. The nine-hole, 18-tee course is a mix of traditional links and gently rolling moorland sprigged with heather and gorse, affording fabulous sea views.
Prestonfield
Edinburgh
James Thomson’s sumptuous hotel at the foot of Arthur’s Seat is right by Prestonfield’s James Braid-designed golf course and Royal Holyrood Park. Tee times are available to guests – or the concierge can arrange them at such iconic Scottish courses as Gleneagles, Turnberry and St Andrew’s.
Budock Vean
Falmouth
Green fees are included in room rates at Martin Barlow’s resort hotel with golf shop and its own course, bounded by the Helford river. The original 1920s design by James Braid envisaged 18 holes. With the sale of some land it was reduced, but this is possibly Cornwall’s best nine-hole, 18-tee golf course.
Hilton Park
Clones
Guests at Fred and Joanna Madden’s glorious country house have complimentary use of Clones Golf Course, within the demesne. The 1920s nine-hole course was expanded to 18 in 2001, with a further two holes added in 2005, making this a rare 20-hole course. Drinks and good craic are on offer in ’the 21st hole’.
Castle Cottage Inn
Harlech
Residents at Glyn and Jacqueline Roberts’s restaurant-with-rooms receive a 10% discount on green fees at Royal St David’s Golf Club, one of the world’s finest traditional links courses. For variety-seekers there are 18 courses within one hour’s drive.
Greywalls
Gullane
Built in 1901 by Sir Edwin Lutyens as a golfing retreat for sporting celebrity Alfred Lyttelton, the Weaver family’s country house gazes out to the Firth of Forth across Muirfield course. Golfing parties of up to 40 can have exclusive use, and take drinks on the lawn overlooking the 18th green.
Rayanne House
Holywood
A 100-yard shot from Holywood Golf Club, and offering discounted green fees, Conor and Bernie McClelland’s characterful B&B celebrates a local golfing hero in the Rory McIlroy Room. Its bathroom has grass-effect tiles, a shower grab bar fashioned from one of your man’s golf clubs, engraved with ‘Rors’.
2019 Editor's Choice Hotels for Golfers
Editor’s Choice Golf Hotels
The Atlantic Hotel
St Brelade
Most guests choose a room with a glorious sea view at this upmarket, family-run hotel in landscaped gardens above a sandy beach. However, golf fanatics may prefer a room overlooking La Moye golf course, with its hills, pot bunkers, gorse and ocean breezes.
Romney Bay House
New Romney
Built by Clough Williams Ellis for Hollywood actress and gossip-monger Hedda Hopper, this lovely hotel stands between the Strait of Dover and Littlestone golf course, a gem, with challenging Rye coursedown the road. Hopper dreamed of creating an English Le Touquet but this is so much more romantic.
Trigony House
Thornhill
Golfers are spoilt for choice, with no fewer than 30 golf course, in driving distance of this 18th-century former sporting lodge. It’s just a mile to Thornhill, set in heathland and parkland in the Nith Valley, and Royal Troon an hour to the north.
Rathmullan House
Rathmullan
You drive along the shores of Lough Swilly from this welcoming, family-run country house, to find Otway golf course, one of the oldest in Ireland, founded in 1893, bordered by sand coves, with spectacular views across the lough to the Inishowen hills.
Prestonfield
Edinburgh
A historic, luxurious hotel with theatrical interiors, Prestonfield stands in parkland under Arthur’s Seat, beside picturesque Duddingston course with a meandering burn running through. It’s handy, too, for James Braid’s Prestonfield course – and all just minutes from the shops and city bustle.
Viewmount House
Longford
A warm welcome awaits at this antique-filled Georgian mansion in parkland on the edge of town. It is right by County Longford Golf Club, founded in 1894 and one of Ireland’s oldest. A Guide inspector judged everything well above par.
Castle Cottage Inn
Harlech
Just above the historic castle, this restaurant-with-rooms is run with a personal touch by the chef/proprietor and his wife. Guests receive a discount on green fees as world-renowned Royal St David’s Golf Club, host to the Ryder Cup in 2010, and there are 18 courses within an hour’s drive.
The Neptune
Old Hunstanton
There’s Michelin-starred cooking at this 18th-century coaching inn turned restaurant-with-rooms. Home-baked croissants set guests up for a round at 125-year-old Hunstanton golf course, amid the dunes and link grasses, overlooking The Wash.
Treglos Hotel
Padstow
In long-time family ownership, this seaside holiday hotel and spa offers golf breaks, tuition packages, buggy hire. Their 18-hole course is designed for beginners and more experienced golfers. Trevose Golf Club is nearby, and lovely St Enodoc a short drive away.
The Salutation
Sandwich
A fine Queen Anne-style Lutyens mansion with gardens inspired by Gertrude Jekyll, in a gem of a medieval town, this Guide newcomer is close to Royal St George’s Golf Club (host to the US Open in 2020), and handy for Deal’s Royal Cinque Ports course.
From £90 per night
2018 Editor's Choice Hotels for Golfers
Editor’s Choice Golf Hotels
The Atlantic Hotel
St Brelade
Overlooking St Ouen’s Bay on Jersey’s west coast, The Atlantic has a hint of ocean-cruising glamour with its retro, streamlined looks, fine dining and emphasis on relaxation.
Marlfield House
Gorey
George the peacock struts some of the 40-acre grounds of this rural Regency-style country house, run as a hotel for more than four decades by the Bowe family (Relais & Châteaux).
Rathmullan House
Rathmullan
Second-generation owners Mark and Mary Wheeler continue a 60-year tradition of welcoming guests to their Georgian-cum-Victorian house in landscaped grounds and gardens, with a sandy beach on Lough Swilly.
Riverwood
Pitlochry
You can gaze out at the River Tay over breakfast at Ann and Alf Berry’s Arts and Crafts-style B&B in wooded grounds on the edge of a conservation village.
Budock Vean
Falmouth
Walk through the ‘pretty’ garden to reach the Helford river from this spa hotel and golf resort.
Lake Country House Hotel & Spa
Llangammarch Wells
Anne Hathaway meets Heidi in the hybrid architecture of Pierre Mifsud’s former hunting and fishing lodge, beautifully situated in the foothills of Mynydd Epynt, with a trout lake and the River Irfon running through.
Park House, Hotel & Spa
Midhurst
Recreation and relaxation are at the heart of Seamus O’Brien’s spa hotel in the South Downs national park, with tennis, croquet, bowls, golf, swimming pools and all-day dining.
Balcary Bay Hotel
Auchencairn
In ‘suitably isolated splendour’ on the shores of the Solway Firth, Graeme Lamb’s hotel gazes across the water to Hestan Isle and the peaks of the Lake District.
Ballathie House
Stanley
A Victorian ghost, a Russian duke and a former Prince of Wales have all graced this ‘lovely’ Scottish country house in a ‘delightful position’ on the River Tay.
Skeabost House Hotel
SKEABOST BRIDGE
Catch sight of this ‘impressive’ Victorian hunting lodge through the trees as you approach; closer up, discover the ‘manicured grounds’ running down to Loch Snizort.
2017 Editor's Choice Hotels for Golfers
Editor’s Choice Golf Hotels
Chewton Glen
New Milton
Imagine a luxurious resort with spa, pools, tennis, kids' club – even a cookery school – at a quintessentially English country house, and you've captured the enduring appeal of Chewton Glen.
The Atlantic Hotel
St Brelade
Overlooking St Ouen’s Bay on Jersey’s west coast, The Atlantic has a hint of ocean-cruising glamour with its retro, streamlined looks, fine dining and emphasis on relaxation.
Trefeddian Hotel
Aberdovey
For a century, generations of Cave-Browne-Caves have welcomed families and four-legged friends to their hotel on a hillside above Cardigan Bay, across road and railway line from golf links and white-sand beaches.
Gilpin Hotel and Lake House
Windermere
By many standards, Gilpin is the Lake District’s most luxurious hotel with no-expense-spared rooms, Michelin-starred dining, numerous staff, and acres of space.
Riverwood
Pitlochry
You can gaze out at the River Tay over breakfast at Ann and Alf Berry’s Arts and Crafts-style B&B in wooded grounds on the edge of a conservation village.
Budock Vean
Falmouth
Walk through the ‘pretty’ garden to reach the Helford river from this spa hotel and golf resort.
Park House, Hotel & Spa
Midhurst
Recreation and relaxation are at the heart of Seamus O’Brien’s spa hotel in the South Downs national park, with tennis, croquet, bowls, golf, swimming pools and all-day dining.
Ballathie House
Stanley
A Victorian ghost, a Russian duke and a former Prince of Wales have all graced this ‘lovely’ Scottish country house in a ‘delightful position’ on the River Tay.
2016 Editor's Choice Hotels for Golfers
Editor’s Choice Golf Hotels
Castle Cottage Inn
Harlech
At the top of one of the world’s steepest streets, this inn occupies two 16th-century buildings just above Edward I’s formidable castle (faint hearts, take the High Street route).
Glenapp Castle
Ballantrae
Gazing out over the Ayrshire coast to the Isle of Arran, Glenapp may be towered and turreted, but the Scottish Baronial-style hotel (Relais & Châteaux) is more luxury country house than castle.
Stella Maris
Ballycastle
You can drift off to sleep to the sound of the waves and wake to the view over Bunatrahir Bay at this Victorian coastguard's fortress turned one-of-a-kind hotel.
St Enodoc
ROCK
In a fashionable resort on the Camel estuary, this child-friendly hotel has a light, Mediterranean decor with bright colours and original artwork. There are stone floors, open spaces in the public areas.
Carrig Country House & Restaurant
CARAGH LAKE
Landscaped and wooded gardens filled with rare shrubs surround this Victorian manor house and former hunting and fishing lodge on the shores of Caragh Lake. Frank and Mary Slattery bought and extended it in 1996, furnishing it throughout with antiques
Choose from a mix of traditional links and gently rolling moorland sprigged with heather and gorse, or a wonderfully atmospheric Championship Links. Choose from Faversham, Canterbury, Princes in Sandwich Bay, Royal St George’s or iconic Scottish courses as Gleneagles, Turnberry and St Andrew’s. You can play rounds at locations that have hosted the Open and The Masters. Then return to the hotel in the evening for good food, drink and maybe even a massage.