Edited 25 September 2026

I'm Jack Sallis, founder of Halcyon Golf Travel. Heathland golf is personal for me - I'm a member at Hollinwell, one of England's classic Heathland courses, and I still play hickory clubs on it from time to time. It's usually the first thing I recommend once a client has already ticked off the big links names.

Golf in Scotland, England and Ireland has long been synonymous with links golf - and rightly so. Nowhere else in the world offers links courses of such character, challenge and heritage.

At Halcyon Golf Travel, we curate bespoke golf trips to England and across the UK and Ireland, guided by first-hand experience and a deep understanding of the game. We believe that while links golf may define the region's reputation, it is only part of the story.

For those making the pilgrimage to Great Britain and Ireland, it's only natural to seek a golfing experience you simply can't find at home. Iconic venues such as the Old Course at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Muirfield sit high on the wish lists of golfers travelling from across the Atlantic.

But this article explores Heathland golf and Great Britain's exceptional inland courses - historic, distinctive, and in many cases as visually compelling as their coastal counterparts.

If this article inspires you to plan your own Heathland golf trip, our Southern England sample itinerary is the perfect starting point. It bases you for a week in the heart of Surrey and Berkshire - the world's richest concentration of Heathland golf.

It can be tailored to include as many of the great Heathland courses as you wish, alongside a few of the finest links courses in Kent. Get in touch and we'll build the trip around the courses you want to play.

Sunningdale, Old Course - one of the world's finest Heathland layouts.

Beyond the Links: Heathland Golf Explained

A Heathland golf course is an inland course built on sandy, free-draining soil and characterised by heather, gorse, bracken, scattered pines and firm, fast-running fairways. Heathland courses share many of the same playing qualities as links courses - bouncy turf, undulating ground and naturally formed hazards - but sit inland rather than on the coast. The greatest concentration of Heathland golf in the world is found in Surrey and Berkshire, in southern England, with venues like Sunningdale, Walton Heath and The Berkshire setting the standard.

The crème de la crème of Britain's inland courses are those of the Heathland variety, and if you like links courses, you'll love Heathland courses.

Much like our links, you'll struggle to find anything quite like a British Heathland course anywhere else in the world.

To understand both the similarities and differences, it helps to look at what the terms "links" and "heathland" actually describe. They refer not to the game itself, but to the landscape on which the course is built.

Links land is typically characterised by dunes, an undulating surface, and sandy soil unsuitable for arable farming but which readily supports indigenous browntop bent and red fescue grasses.

By contrast, a heath is an open landscape dominated by low-growing plants - mainly species of heather and gorse, alongside bracken, heathland grasses, herbs and mosses, interspersed with areas of bare ground and scattered trees.

Heathland courses share a lot of similarities with links courses, and it essentially comes back to the agronomy.

Similarities Between Heathland and Links

Sandy soil

Sandy soil allows water to drain easily, which leads to firm and bouncy fairways on both styles of course. It's the single most important factor in why Heathland golf plays so much like links golf.

Low nutrient soil

During hot summers this type of soil cannot sustain much growth, causing the fairways to turn golden brown and adding even more to the bounciness.

Fun fact - it's no coincidence that our nation's oldest and finest golf courses are built on these soil types. Neither links soil nor Heathland soil is suitable for arable farming, so when men started whacking little balls around in these areas, there were no farmers to object.

The land was, however, useful in the summer months for grazing animals, which in turn benefitted the golfers - sheep made very good greenkeepers in the days before mechanical mowers, helping to keep the fairways short.

Walton Heath - a classic example of firm, golden Heathland turf in summer.

Topography

Although you do get relatively flat Heathland courses just as you do links courses, both typically sit on fairly undulating ground, which makes for more exciting layouts. Drastic natural topography can give the illusion that each hole exists in isolation.

An exemplary example of this is at Hollinwell, where a number of the greens are nestled into clefts of a large ridge that runs along the back end of the course, each hole feeling like its own amphitheatre.

The par-3 13th, a dropping shot of 240 yards from the top of the ridge, is one of the great inland one-shotters in England.

You will also find yourself playing holes which cut through valleys lined with yellow gorse bushes, heather or pine trees. As I'm writing this, the front nine of Hindhead and the Red Course at The Berkshire both spring to mind.

Similarly, on links courses such as Trump International in Aberdeenshire and Royal County Down, you'll find towering sand dunes lining the fairways and lots of humps and swales around the greens, requiring imaginative approach and recovery shots to conquer.

Hollinwell, 13th - a 240-yard drop shot through a Heathland amphitheatre.

Bunkers

As golf became more popular towards the end of the 1800s, designers were forced to search for suitable golfing terrain in inland locations. They were looking for conditions that would replicate the coastal courses at St Andrews, Musselburgh and North Berwick.

Although Heathland locations shared similar soil and similar ground conditions, they lacked some of the natural Linksland features.

So course designers at the time were not afraid to give the bunkers on their Heathland designs a deep, classic, "linksy" feel - revetted faces, sharp lines and severe penalty for stepping in. Walk Walton Heath today and you'll see this thinking everywhere.

Then, of course, Heathland and links courses also have their differences.

Differences Between Heathland and Links

Weather conditions, mainly wind

Because Heathland courses are located inland rather than along the coast, they are generally less exposed to the sea winds. Trees also provide a degree of shelter from the elements, creating a quieter, more contained atmosphere.

While nothing quite matches the freshness of coastal air, inland golf often feels more peaceful - and you're far less likely to feel as beaten up as after a blustery day on the links.

That said, don't be lulled into a false sense of security. The weather can be grizzly wherever you play golf in Britain, and at almost any time of year. A waterproof in the bag is non-negotiable.

Colour

The variety of colours you see on a Heathland course is phenomenal. Heather, gorse and a range of wild flowers and trees make these layouts aesthetically extraordinary to play, especially in late summer when the heather is in full bloom and the whole landscape glows purple.

West Sussex, 5th hole - the colours of Heathland golf in late summer.

Heather

Heather is the low-growing purple-flowering plant that defines the look of a Heathland golf course. It frames fairways and greens, creates much of the visual drama, and is brutally penal to play out of - the smartest play is almost always to chip back to the fairway and take your medicine. Heather typically blooms from mid-July through September, which is when Heathland courses are at their photographic best. While some links courses feature occasional splashes of heather, it is far more prevalent and far more influential on Heathland layouts.

"Heather" is a broad term for the purple heath found across these landscapes, and while it comes in several varieties, one thing remains true: it's brutally tangled.

For those unfamiliar with playing from it, a word of advice - take your medicine. Heather is unforgiving, and the smartest game plan is to avoid it altogether.

Sunningdale, New Course - the 6th hole, a sea of heather either side of the fairway.

There aren't many finer Heathland courses than the New course at Sunningdale. On the 6th hole pictured above, you drive downhill onto a green runway cut out of a sea of heather - it's one of the most beautiful holes you will ever play.

For me, the cherry on the cake with Heathland golf is the variety of wildlife you'll come across during a round. Heaths support a rich assemblage of species, including all six of Britain's native reptiles, countless birds, and larger mammals such as rabbits, hares and even deer in areas where more trees have grown.

The World's Best Heathland Golf - Surrey, Berkshire and Beyond

The world's best Heathland golf courses are concentrated in the Surrey and Berkshire belt around 45 minutes south-west of London, where sandy soil and ancient heathland have produced an unmatched cluster of inland courses. Within an hour's drive of a single base, golfers can play Sunningdale (Old and New), Walton Heath, The Berkshire (Red and Blue), Hankley Common, Swinley Forest and Wentworth - five of these rank inside the world's top 100. No other region on earth offers this density of world-class inland golf.

It's why we built our week-long sample golf trip around this stretch of country. The standard itinerary covers Walton Heath, Sunningdale, The Berkshire and Hankley Common, before heading down to the Kent coast for two of the world's great links - Royal Cinque Ports and Royal St George's.

It's a perfect blend of inland and coastal golf, all reachable from one luxury base in the heart of Southern England's golf country.

Beyond the south, England's Heathland tradition extends north too. Hollinwell (Notts Golf Club), where I'm a member, is one of the country's finest examples of dramatic Heathland topography.

"Hollinwell in early autumn, when the heather's just turning, is one of my favourite rounds anywhere in the country. It never gets the attention Sunningdale or Walton Heath do, and I think that's part of the appeal."

- Jack Sallis, Founder, Halcyon Golf Travel

Woodhall Spa's Hotchkin course in Lincolnshire is regularly listed among the world's top inland courses. And further north still, Alwoodley sits as the spiritual home of British Heathland design.

Why Combine Heathland with Links on the Same Trip

A pure links trip is an incredible thing - but if you've already done St Andrews or the Causeway Coast, the most rewarding way to come back to Britain is to add a Heathland leg to your itinerary.

The two styles of golf complement each other perfectly. Links golf demands ground-game creativity into the wind; Heathland golf demands strategic positioning off the tee through tree-lined corridors.

Playing both in the same trip gives you a fuller picture of what British golf actually is. We've written more on this in our piece comparing Scotland and Ireland as golf destinations for clients weighing up where to head next.

Logistically, it's also easier than people assume. From a base around Windsor or Ascot, you can play four or five Heathland gems and still drive down to Sandwich on the Kent coast for a links day or two.

We've also designed combined itineraries pairing Southern England with Dublin or with our North West England golf coast around Royal Birkdale for clients who want the full English experience.

For a deeper read on the Birkdale region, see our piece on Royal Birkdale and the 2026 Open Championship.

Where to Stay on a Heathland Golf Trip

The best base for a Heathland golf trip is the Windsor and Ascot area in Berkshire, around 45 minutes from London Heathrow. From here, every major Heathland course in Surrey and Berkshire is within an hour's drive, and the Kent coast for links golf is around two hours south. We typically place clients at the four-star Macdonald Windsor for the inland leg of the trip, then move down to The Pig at Bridge Place in Kent for the links portion. Both are brilliant in different ways - one urban and convenient, the other rural and characterful.

For clients who want to upgrade, we recommend Coworth Park - a five-star country house hotel set in 240 acres of Berkshire parkland in Ascot. It's one of the most beautifully run hotels we work with, and the location is faultless for a Heathland trip.

For something a bit different that still keeps you close to the action, we sometimes use boutique country properties or vacation rentals if a group wants more privacy.

If your trip extends to Scotland or Ireland, we work with the same calibre of properties throughout - the Old Course Hotel at St Andrews, Trump Turnberry, The Fitzwilliam in Dublin, and The Europe Hotel & Resort in Killarney all feature regularly in our combined itineraries.

Heathland: A Pure Golfing Experience

Heathland golf offers one of the most enchanting and complete tests of the game. The quick, undulating ground allows your imagination to run wild and play a vast variety of golf shots.

Combined with vibrant heather, mature trees and a naturally peaceful atmosphere, Heathland golf represents a true golfer's paradise.

One last fun fact before you go. The famous golf course architect Dr Alister MacKenzie - the man who designed Augusta National - cut his teeth on a Heathland course.

The first course he ever designed was Alwoodley Golf Club in England. MacKenzie took heavy inspiration from Alwoodley when designing Augusta, and used its 10th hole as the model for the 13th at Augusta National.

The DNA of the Masters runs straight back to English Heathland golf.

Plan Your Heathland Golf Trip

If this introduction has sparked your interest in Heathland golf, Halcyon Golf Travel can design a fully bespoke itinerary tailored to your preferences.

We specialise in crafting golf trips across England, Scotland and Ireland, combining the finest Heathland and links courses with seamless planning, hand-picked hotels and on-the-ground expertise. Every member of our team has played the courses we recommend - this is travel built by golfers, for golfers.

Book a free 30-minute discovery call and we'll start mapping out your perfect Heathland (and links) trip.

Frequently Asked Questions

Jack Sallis

Founder, Halcyon Golf Travel

Jack Sallis is the founder of Halcyon Golf Travel, a UK-based specialist designing bespoke golf trips across Scotland, Ireland and England. He represented England at junior level and continues to compete regularly for Nottinghamshire and the Old Wellingtonians.

He is a member at Hollinwell and Rye Golf Club, two of England's most respected traditional clubs, and a member of the British Golf Collectors Society.

With deep, first-hand knowledge of courses and hospitality throughout the UK and Ireland, Jack combines elite playing credentials with on-the-ground insight to create exceptional, detail-driven golf travel experiences built around access, authenticity and a genuine understanding of the game.