Scarborough South Cliff

Few courses in England command a setting quite like South Cliff's. Perched on the headland above the town, the course looks out over the North Sea and the sweep of South Bay, giving even a routine Sunday round the feeling of something grander. Scarborough itself is one of Yorkshire's great seaside towns — a Victorian resort with a proper spa-town heritage — and South Cliff sits within that tradition, a members' club that has served the local golfing community for well over a century.

The terrain here does much of the architectural work. The clifftop elevation and the natural roll of the ground create holes that ask for more than straightforward ball-striking; the wind off the sea is a near-constant factor, capable of turning a manageable par 4 into something considerably more demanding. It plays as a genuine test of course management without ever feeling contrived.

For visiting golfers, South Cliff offers something increasingly rare: a traditional English club with a real sense of place and history, where the surroundings are as memorable as the golf itself.