Dartmouth

Par 66 layouts often get dismissed before a single swing is taken, but Dartmouth Golf & Country Club earns its place on the Devon map through setting rather than length. Perched above the South Hams countryside, the course looks out over a landscape of rolling farmland and wooded valleys that defines this corner of southwest England — the kind of views that have a habit of interrupting your pre-shot routine.

The South Hams is one of England's most scenic designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the hills around Totnes give any golf course built here an immediate sense of theatre. Dartmouth town itself, a few miles to the south along the Dart estuary, is steeped in maritime history, and the wider region draws visitors year-round for its coastline and countryside.

A par 66 means a card full of shorter holes where precision counts for more than power. In Devon's frequently breezy conditions, that's rarely the straightforward proposition it sounds on paper — course management matters here as much as distance.