Links

Hayling Golf Club sits on the south-west tip of Hayling Island in Hampshire, looking towards the English Channel and the Isle of Wight. It is a genuine links, routed around a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and Bernard Darwin called it some of the finest natural seaside golfing country to be found anywhere.

Littlestone Golf Club is a traditional links on Romney Marsh on the south Kent coast, founded in 1888 and now more than 130 years old. The championship course is a par 71 of around 6,500 yards from the back tees, set on natural dunes with fast running fairways and cunningly placed bunkers. It describes itself as within the Top 100 courses in England and has hosted Open Championship qualifying five times.

Prince's Golf Club is a championship links of 27 holes at Sandwich Bay in Kent, next door to Royal St George's. Opened in 1906, it hosted the 1932 Open Championship, when Gene Sarazen won and debuted his newly invented sand iron. The bunker where he played it was later named the Sarazen Bunker in his honour.

Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club is a championship links at Deal on the Kent coast, about three miles south of Royal St George's. Founded in 1892 and named for the medieval confederation of Cinque Ports, it has a true links character and is described by The Open as one of the country's most iconic links courses.

Host of The Open Championship on fifteen occasions, Royal St George's is one of the great links courses in the world. Its vast dunes, blind shots and unpredictable winds create a test of golf that is simultaneously infuriating and magnificent. For American golfers, this is bucket-list territory.