Royal Cinque Ports, popularly known as Deal, is one of three venues on the Kent coastline to have hosted the Open Championship – and it remains a staple of the top ten in our new and updated NCG Top 100s: England list for 2025.
Founded in 1892, it was the turn of the century before an 18-hole course was laid out. The venue hosted the Open Championship on two occasions – in 1909 and 1920 – with the great J.H. Taylor and George Duncan the victors at Deal.
RELATED: Check out the new NCG Top 100s: England list
The location, the turf, the ambience – what is it about Royal Cinque Ports?
Royal Cinque Ports is tucked away at the start of a single-track road in the popular seaside town of Deal, along the coast from Dover. In the days before sat navs and GPS, it must have taken some finding for first-time visitors.
If you were to look on the golf course map, Royal Cinque Ports is very much out and back. The 1st hole, despite being relatively short, features the daunting prospect of the overlooking clubhouse to the right of the fairway.
The 16th hole is unique in the way you can choose between two fairways on your way to the green, but even the most exact of approaches can miss this raised putting surface protected by a large front slope, a bunker and long grass short and right.
But the real stand-out feature is the wild and unique contouring of the greens, especially on the back nine. Expect to have some amazing adventures on and around the greens as you attempt to solve Deal’s puzzles.
READ MORE – NCG Top 100s: Royal Cinque Ports
Why is the two-time Open Championship venue in our top ten?
“I had an absolutely magical evening with you, Dan, prior to the Open at Royal St George’s. A perfectly still day, the sun dipping over the sky and the rolling contours of Deal turf,” Steve Carroll, co-host of the NCG Golf Podcast, said, reminiscing about that evening.
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“Still? It was not still that day. It was really windy!” Dan Murphy – chairman of the NCG Top 100s Rankings – contended.
Dan went on to explain why he enjoys Royal Cinque Ports so much, and how the course offers something completely different from the other venues in the top ten of our NCG Top 100s: England list.
“Deal is a bit of a badge of honour for us in our top ten. It is probably a little higher in our list than in some others. I am very, very happy to defend that,” he explained on the NCG Golf Podcast.
“There is more character on its greens than anywhere else I can think of. Certainly some of those greens on the back nine are spectacularly incongruous, fun and different every time you play them.
“Some course work recently has restored the split fairway on the 16th, which I love. Deal is the real thing. It is the right turf, the contest with the elements – all the things about links golf that we love. It has bags of character and bags of individuality. It’s different every time you play it. What a golf course!”
Tom Irwin, co-host of the NCG Golf Podcast, says that the routing of the course is one of many reason as to why it is a special place.
“The pro (Andrew Reynolds) has just retired, and he was a big part of it,” Irwin said on the podcast. “He’d been there more than 40 years and he was a quintessentially English pro at a quintessentially English place.
“It is home to the Halford Hewitt and it has three or four membership categories, one of those being Halford Hewitt participants. The clubhouse is all part of the visit.
“There is a very-Brancaster type feel, to pay it a massive compliment – it is as it has been since it was built basically.
“I always think the routing there is pretty special. I like the fact you play the first two holes in front of the clubhouse. I like the way you then turn back for a monstrously difficult finish from 12 inwards.
“The par 5s stand out to me – 3 and 16 are properly special holes. The split fairway on 16 separates it from a lot of others, and I like the way it finishes back in front of the clubhouse. The more it is a challenge for us to get to these remote links, the more we appreciate all of the golf in this corner of Kent – George’s, Prince’s and Cinque Ports.
“These patches are all round the country, but the more I have been to the Kent coast, the more these three courses stand out. There have been big improvements at Prince’s and I think that means those three courses, as a combination, are pretty difficult to beat.
“You can go there this summer and play in the Hagan Hoof, which is a 54-hole event taking place on one day in June where you play all three courses as a foursome – which is a ludicrous thing to offer.”
Listen to the NCG Golf Podcast in full…
You can play at Royal Cinque Ports on the NCG Top 100s Tour in the 2026 season!
- Book your spot to play at Royal Cinque Ports on the NCG Top 100s Tour on March 12th, 2026 here.
- You can also play at Royal St George’s and Prince’s in our South East Coast Swing – check that out here.
Now have your say
Have you been fortunate enough to play at Royal Cinque Ports? 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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