The magnificent coastline of Cornwall is home to some wonderful links courses with stunning scenery and challenging designs. Perranporth, Mullion and West Cornwall provide an exhilarating experience and should be on every serious golfers wish list!
Perranporth is Cornwall's most outstandingly natural Championship links course. Designed by James Braid in 1927 the original layout has not been changed, a real tribute to good design. Superb greens which are hard, fast and absolutely true are a feature of this testing and interesting course, which also drains well and is always playable off normal tees and greens, 365 days a year. A challenge for the low handicap players and yet allows the higher handicap player to return reasonable scores, and there's always the fantastic scenery of the North Cornwall coastline if the golf is indifferent.
West Cornwall dates from 1889 as the oldest in Cornwall and started as a nine-hole course on natural land beside the sea at Lelant, overlooking the Atlantic and St Ives Bay. The present site was developed in 1921. A true seaside course with fine turf and numerous natural qualities only 5,884 yards, par 69, it was the home to “Long Jim” Barnes who went on to win the Open Championship on both sides of the ocean. The wind and storms provide a severe challenge. The first, a par three of 175-yards, can be frightening. The course high above the sea wends gently round a church and along a railway line along the shoreline. A must-play course.
Mullion on the Lizard Peninsula is the most southerly course on mainland Britain where golf has been played since 1895. The cliff-top course offers breathtaking views on Gwills Towans and is a mile from the traditional small Cornish town with narrow, winding streets. The course boasts eleven holes on the top with the remainder at the bottom of the hill close to the sea. It is invariably windy with many elevation changes. There are some quirky holes including a par four played down the cliff toward the river. The next is the signature hole that finishes by the beach and the church of St Winwalloe. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle based one of his Sherlock Holmes mysteries around the club.
