Royal Ashdown Forest

Few courses in England carry quite the distinction of having no bunkers — not as an oversight, but as a point of pride. Royal Ashdown Forest's Old Course sits within the Ashdown Forest itself, one of the largest areas of open heathland in southeast England, and the natural terrain does everything a rake and sand could never replicate. Heather, gorse, streams, and the undulating Weald provide all the penalty a wayward shot deserves.

The club dates to 1888, making it one of the older foundations in the south of England, and the "Royal" prefix reflects a patronage that underlines its standing. The layout rewards precision and local knowledge over power — the par of 68 is not a concession but a reflection of a course shaped entirely around what the land dictated, not what convention expected.

East Sussex offers some of England's most characterful inland golf, and Ashdown Forest sits at the heart of that tradition. This is golf stripped to something closer to its origins: no artifice, just ground, sky, and heather.