Royal North Devon Golf Club

Royal North Devon is the home of English golf and to this day remains one of the best examples of golf as it was originally intended to be played.

Royal North Devon is, as many know, to be found in the village of Westward Ho!

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It sits across the River Taw estuary from Saunton’s two links and is laid out tight to a beautiful sandy beach – so you share your day out with many happy holidaymakers if you play here on a warm summer’s day.

If you’ve played Saunton the day before Royal North Devon might initially seem a little low key. The 1st is a par 4 played towards the beach on flat land and it is not alone at RND in being laid out on terrain lacking the natural charisma of Saunton.

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But it has its own charm, just as, say, Leven is lovely in its own way in comparison to the thrilling topography of Kingbarns further up the Fife coast. It offers a perfect illustration of the in-vogue design philosophies of width off the tee and fun around the greens; it always has done so, it’s just that for a while the golf world chose to ignore them.

Royal North Devon certainly has its highlights, most famously on the 4th, ‘Cape’, with its eponymous bunker – a gargantuan trap whose sleeper-lined face smiles at you back on the tee like teeth in a giant’s mouth.

The 6th is even better, a tremendous hole played along the beach with a fairway resembling moguls on a well-carved ski piste. It is one of the most exhilarating tee shots in England.

Good putting surfaces and tight fairway turf exist here all year – but RND is more than just a nice venue for links golf. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest course in the country and often described as the St Andrews of England.

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Certainly, within the notably welcoming clubhouse, the golf museum, the trophies and the honours boards chart the development of the game, including the club’s own significant part in it.

John Henry Taylor was born in the village of Northam, overlooking the course, and was a caddie boy at RND before becoming one of the golf’s iconic players as part of the ‘Great Triumverate’.

BBC golf correspondent Iain Carter loves it here.

“Royal North Devon is the nearest thing in England to golf as it was intended,” he enthused. “Its rough and ready nature makes it possible to imagine how the sport was for the game’s founding fathers.

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“Negotiating the par-4 4th and the Cape Bunker is a delight while the overall design is wonderful with much of the front nine clinging to the coastline before moving inland. It constantly asks strategic questions and has a terrific array of par 3s as well as a challenging finish.”