North Devon, July

The wife and I are planning on renting a cottage in North Devon for a week this July. We are looking around Ilfracombe, as I’d definitely like to play it a couple of times. Which other courses are worth a look in the area? I’m assuming that I can get on as a single at Ilfracombe with sufficient notice, but any information on that would be appreciated.

Royal North Devon, oldest course in England, looks cool and with a lot of history / welcoming to visitors.

https://www.royalnorthdevongolfclub.co.uk

Ilfracombe looks great as well indeed and great value !!

While very beautiful, there are many very plain holes at Ilfracombe. I don't think its more than 20 minutes to Saunton from Ilfracombe. If you can swing the green fee both courses are far superior. Also, likely on the way down or west from London is Burnham. The Champ course is very good, but the far cheaper Channel 9 is also good.

Ciao

Saunton looks very nice indeed. Not cheap, certainly, but not ridiculous for holiday golf.

Royal North Devon looks like it should be played just for the historical value. The first couple of holes seemed a bit flat and uninteresting, but maybe that's just the web-site, which is as old school as the course. It will be a bit harder to get to given that we'll be staying north of the Bristol Channel, so I'd put it after Ilfracombe and Saunton

Saunton looks very nice indeed. Not cheap, certainly, but not ridiculous for holiday golf.

 

Royal North Devon looks like it should be played just for the historical value. The first couple of holes seemed a bit flat and uninteresting, but maybe that's just the web-site, which is as old school as the course. It will be a bit harder to get to given that we'll be staying north of the Bristol Channel, so I'd put it after Ilfracombe and Saunton

Do you mean North of the River Taw? North of the channel would put you in Wales :)

If you are thinking of staying near Ilfracombe, it's about 45 mins to Westward Ho!. Assuming you'll have a car? Apart from typical summer hols traffic, which can be a pain, it's an easy drive.

If you are down there doing touristy stuff, I'd assume you'd want to go to Clovelly and possibly the Hartland headlands, which would take you right past RND.

The wife and I are planning on renting a cottage in North Devon for a week this July. We are looking around Ilfracombe, as I'd definitely like to play it a couple of times. Which other courses are worth a look in the area? I'm assuming that I can get on as a single at Ilfracombe with sufficient notice, but any information on that would be appreciated.

Saunton is a very nice course and an enjoyable experience.

While in the Devon area, dont forget the Cheddar Gorge and their cheese shops. And speaking of cheese shops you must go to Ilchester (that's ILCHESTER) where the cheese is staggeringly popular. (Apologies to any Monty Python fans out there).

While in the Devon area, dont forget the Cheddar Gorge and their cheese shops. And speaking of cheese shops you must go to Ilchester (that's ILCHESTER) where the cheese is staggeringly popular. (Apologies to any Monty Python fans out there).

It’s so clean. But I can do without the bouzouki music.

Saunton looks very nice indeed. Not cheap, certainly, but not ridiculous for holiday golf.

 

Royal North Devon looks like it should be played just for the historical value. The first couple of holes seemed a bit flat and uninteresting, but maybe that's just the web-site, which is as old school as the course. It will be a bit harder to get to given that we'll be staying north of the Bristol Channel, so I'd put it after Ilfracombe and Saunton

Do you mean North of the River Taw? North of the channel would put you in Wales :)

If you are thinking of staying near Ilfracombe, it's about 45 mins to Westward Ho!. Assuming you'll have a car? Apart from typical summer hols traffic, which can be a pain, it's an easy drive.

If you are down there doing touristy stuff, I'd assume you'd want to go to Clovelly and possibly the Hartland headlands, which would take you right past RND.

You are correct, sir. My bad. And yes, I’m factoring in summer holiday traffic through the choke point of Barnstaple. I’ve been to the South West of England before, and the holiday traffic can be murder.

SWMBO and I are looking for activities that we can do together when I’m not golfing and she’s not riding. I assume that will involve a lot of walking on the headlands and the Moors.

While in the Devon area, dont forget the Cheddar Gorge and their cheese shops. And speaking of cheese shops you must go to Ilchester (that's ILCHESTER) where the cheese is staggeringly popular. (Apologies to any Monty Python fans out there).

 

It’s so clean. But I can do without the bouzouki music.

Well I'm going to have to shoot you.

Saunton looks very nice indeed. Not cheap, certainly, but not ridiculous for holiday golf.

 

Royal North Devon looks like it should be played just for the historical value. The first couple of holes seemed a bit flat and uninteresting, but maybe that's just the web-site, which is as old school as the course. It will be a bit harder to get to given that we'll be staying north of the Bristol Channel, so I'd put it after Ilfracombe and Saunton

If you care about history, perhaps it's best to play Westward Ho! sooner than later because of changes coming due to coastal erosion.

Ciao

Westward Ho has the history, but it’s not a great course. Ilfracombe isn’t anything special. Both courses at Saunton are far superior, +1 for Burnham as well

Saunton East is fantastic, but no way West is "far superior" to RND. They're both good, and fair enough to prefer one over the other, but there isn't that much daylight there.

Much like RND with it's prosaic start and finish, Saunton West gets plain for a stretch in middle after a good start and before returning to the better terrain near the end of the round.

The 2017 renos (not played it since 2015) would have to wholly make over the middle stretch and even then there wouldn't be that much in it.

To clarify.. a big weakness at RND is the tees are almost flat to the fairway, and a majority of the holes themselves are flat. You see very little to be able to visualise a shot, and so I enjoyed both Sauntons far more. They may not be true links, but they have the right amount of contour to make them interesting while not being too tough of a walk.

I’ll add that they were in far better condition as well, played them in the same week.

Just to round this topic off, I played Saunton East, Ilfracombe, and Saunton West in that order. Saunton is a great layout, although the fairways were quite stressed from heat and drought. Ilfracombe was much greener for some reason. It's a lot of fun and has great views. Thanks to all for the recommendation. I was renting clubs, so hardly surprising that I didn't light up any of the courses, although I played pretty well at Saunton West.