Championship Venue

Ganton Golf Club

Ganton, North Yorkshire · Designed by Tom Chisholm (1891); later Colt, Mackenzie, Simpson & Cotton · Est. 1891

Ganton is one of the great curiosities of British golf — a course that plays like a links but sits seven miles from the sea. It was founded in 1891 as Scarborough Golf Club (renamed Ganton in 1907) on a deposit of sea sand left inland when the North Sea retreated after the last ice age, and the result is firm, fast, sandy ground clothed in ferocious gorse: not quite links, not quite heathland, but with the best of both.

Its fame was made by Harry Vardon, who was Ganton's professional from 1896 to 1903 and won three of his six Open Championships while based here, bringing the 1900 US Open trophy back to the Yorkshire clubhouse. His celebrated matches against J.H. Taylor and Willie Park Jr first brought Ganton to the wider golfing world. A who's who of architects — Harry Colt, Alister MacKenzie, Tom Simpson and C.K. Cotton — has refined it since.

The deep bunkers and the dense gorse (much of it planted in the 1930s) are the defences of a course good enough to have hosted the 1949 Ryder Cup, the 2000 Curtis Cup and the 2003 Walker Cup. It takes tee-time bookings online, and welcomes visitors through the week.

Holes worth knowing

1The gorse-lined holes — Ganton's dense gorse, much of it planted in the 1930s, squeezes the fairways and turns a stray shot into a lost ball; the course's defining hazard.
24th & 5th — the heart of the round over firm, sandy, links-like ground, where deep bunkering demands precise driving.

Highlights

Harry Vardon's club — three Opens won while based here
1949 Ryder Cup, 2000 Curtis Cup, 2003 Walker Cup host
A links that plays seven miles inland
Refined by Colt, MacKenzie, Simpson and Cotton

Good to know

→Harry Vardon was professional here while winning three of his six Opens; the Vardon heritage is central to the club.
→The gorse is the whole defence — it lines every fairway and a stray shot is simply gone — so club down and prize position over power off the tee.
→Ganton is renowned for its lunch: a proper Yorkshire spread in the clubhouse is part of the day, so leave room and book ahead.
→Scarborough, twenty minutes east, is the classic Yorkshire seaside resort — harbour, headland castle and beaches — while the North York Moors and Castle Howard are within easy reach.
→It is one of very few inland courses to have hosted the Ryder Cup (1949) plus both the Walker and Curtis Cups — rare pedigree for a course seven miles from the sea.