Having risen a spot, Royal West Norfolk is now even more firmly ensconced in the top 10 of the new and updated NCG Top 100s: England list for 2025.
It enjoys a unique location in English golf, as the links becomes separated from the mainland at high tide – but that only adds to the drama at Royal West Norfolk.
RELATED: Check out the new NCG Top 100s: England list
Why is Royal West Norfolk a staple of the top ten in England?
Royal West Norfolk is simultaneously both a links course and a museum piece.
Its simple design should be studied by any budding architect and those with even a passing interest in the game’s past. Separated from the mainland at high tide, the course occupies a narrow strip of land between Brancaster Bay and salt marshes.
From the homely and deceptively sturdy old clubhouse, you must walk across a strip of beach to find the 1st tee, where the signage confirms that this is a twoballs course, with threes only at the secretary’s express permission and fours unheard of.
It is golf as it was 100 years ago. Fabulous, charming traditions and quirks. Despite such a simple, minimalist style of golf, Brancaster plays differently in every single round.
READ MORE – NCG Top 100s: Royal West Norfolk
What is it that makes Royal West Norfolk so special?
Steve Carroll, co-host of the NCG Golf Podcast, alluded to the special nature of Royal West Norfolk.
“We have colleagues in our office that absolutely swear by Royal West Norfolk. You guys both love it. I have seen the messages about the tides coming in and the pictures of the water moving on to the golf course.
“You talk about special experiences and Royal West Norfolk would be right up there.”
The experience of visiting Royal West Norfolk is like something out of a novel, explains Tom Irwin, co-host of the NCG Golf Podcast.
“It is one of these places, it is better for knowing. The drive to it and into it is something other-worldly. You basically have to drive across a sand dune to get into the car park. Then walk back across it to get to the golf course,” Irwin said.
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“All of the accoutrements and the furniture around the 1st tee and the car park is very just so. There is a wrought-iron gate and an old white sign with black lettering, marking your way to get to the golf course.
“The clubhouse is made of wood slat, it’s kind of shabby-chic and it is just as it would have been in the 1920s. That is an experience within itself, a ridiculous old honours board, shabby furniture and the secretary stuffed away in an old school office upstairs. The whole thing is like something out of a Gerald Durrell novel basically.”
“That is before you get to the golf course, and you understand that you are somewhere that is not normal. People talk about St Andrews as being surface of the moon sort of stuff, but the 1st tee at Brancaster is double-width fairways and often you will be playing in some kind of half-light, either in the sea mists or that huey look you get nowhere else.
“There is almost nothing to aim at and the first green is up and away to the left in the dunes – the 18th is coming back towards you, but you can basically hit it anywhere.
“I do think that people may go there and think ‘What on earth have I just played’, but it is so characterful as you make your way round. Greens are protected by giant sleepers, and there is the very famous estuary hole at the far end which is split in three when the tide comes in and splits the three pockets of fairway. There are some phenomenally good golf holes in the dunes on the way in.
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“It is absolutely a club where you would love to be a member, or at least a country member. The more you get to know the place, the more you value the course. The turf is ridiculous, and there is a bit of a debate about whether Hunstanton or Brancaster is the better course on that North Norfolk coast but, over time, Brancaster is the better of the two venues for me.”
Dan Murphy – chairman of the NCG Top 100s Rankings – loves going back to Brancaster, as there is always something different to explore.
“On that opening hole, and the double fairway – it is even weirder than St Andrews because the 1st and the 18th cross each other, so you are going from the bottom right corner of a rectangle to the top left for the first hole. Then you go from the top right to the bottom left for the 18th. It is absolutely bewildering when you first play it,” he explained.
“We all know these courses when people say ‘Oh you need to have played here before!’, but truly you cannot get your head around Brancaster until you have been a few times.
“It is one of those places, every time you go back there are new things to enjoy, and I think that is something that has come back into rankings in recent years. People have stopped being obsessed with championship golf and started to think about courses they enjoy playing and they enjoy visiting.
“Brancaster is certainly that. It has some holes that are unbelievably difficult in certain conditions but it is also quite scorable off the right tees on a decent day, and if that’s not what golf is all about then I don’t know what is. It’s a real favourite of mine and somewhere I will never tire of visiting.”
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Now have your say
Have you been fortunate enough to play at Royal West Norfolk? If so, what did you make of it? Would you agree with us that it is the best course in the country? Let us know your thoughts with a post on X, formerly Twitter!
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