Ranked · 6 courses · reviewed June 2026

The Best Golf Courses Designed by Harry Colt

No architect has shaped the game more than Harry Colt. The man who recreated Muirfield, laid out Royal Portrush's Dunluce Links and gave English heathland golf its grammar designed or reworked more than three hundred courses. Here are six of his finest, ranked, with our verdict on each and how to play them.

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By the GolfForKings editorial desk · How we rank · Last reviewed June 2026

Photograph: Royal Portrush Golf Club, World Golf News, via Google

Why Colt still matters

Harry Shapland Colt, who lived from 1869 to 1951, was a lawyer turned architect and the first secretary of Sunningdale, and he did more than anyone to invent the modern golf course. Where the early links simply followed the ground, Colt thought in strategy, angles and the placement of hazards, and he was the first to draw full plans before a sod was cut. His heathland courses in Surrey and Berkshire set the template for inland golf, his links work at Muirfield and Royal Portrush produced two Open Championship venues, and his routing eye reached as far as Pine Valley in New Jersey, still ranked the best course in the world.

Picking six from more than three hundred means leaving out gems such as St George's Hill, Royal County Down's celebrated revisions and a string of fine Dutch and German courses. We weighed the quality of the golf, the importance of the design and the experience of playing it today, then ranked accordingly. Every fact here, the designer's role and the years, was checked in June 2026 by the GolfForKings editorial desk. Access and green fees move with the season and the club, so always confirm directly before booking. The verdicts are ours.

6 of the best golf courses designed by Harry Colt

Muirfield

Colt redesign, 1920s · Gullane, East Lothian · Open Championship venue

Our pick and Colt's masterpiece, Muirfield as we know it is essentially his work. Commissioned by the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers in the 1920s and given fifty new acres, Colt scrapped almost the entire original and built a links of two concentric loops running in opposite directions, so the wind never beats from the same quarter twice. Fair, strategic and relentlessly testing, it is a regular Open venue and rated by many the best links in the world. The purest expression of Colt's belief that a great course should reward thought over brute strength.

Plan a Muirfield trip

Royal Portrush, Dunluce Links

Harry Colt, 1929 to 1932 · Portrush, County Antrim · Open Championship venue

Colt's links on the Antrim coast and his own favourite among his seaside work, the Dunluce was reshaped by Colt around 1929 to 1932 across tumbling dunes above the Atlantic. Holes such as Calamity, a long par three over a yawning chasm, and the cresting White Rocks are among the most thrilling in the game, and the course returned to the Open rota to acclaim. Dramatic, natural and beautifully balanced, it is the equal of any links in Ireland and an essential stop on a Northern Ireland golf trip.

Plan a Royal Portrush trip

Sunningdale New Course

Harry Colt, 1923 · Sunningdale, Berkshire

The wilder of Sunningdale's two great courses and pure Colt, the New opened in 1923, built to ease pressure on the Old by the club's former secretary himself. More rugged and open than its famous sibling, with heather, bracken and less tree cover, it is for many players the better strategic test of the two. Set in the heart of the Surrey and Berkshire heathland belt that Colt did so much to define, it is heathland golf at its most honest, and a fixture near the top of every ranking of inland courses in Britain.

Plan a heathland golf trip

Pine Valley

George Crump with Harry Colt's routing · opened from 1918 · New Jersey

The most exclusive great course in the world and one Colt helped route, Pine Valley was the vision of George Crump, who carved it from the pinelands of New Jersey from 1912 and brought Colt over to settle the plan. Colt camped on the land and produced the routing map that still hangs in the clubhouse, and his influence threads through the strategy of a course that has topped the world rankings for decades. Famed for its island fairways, sandy waste and ferocious difficulty, it is golf's holy grail, and effectively members and guests only.

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Wentworth West Course

Harry Colt, 1926 · Virginia Water, Surrey

The Burma Road and a household name, Wentworth's West Course was laid out by Colt in 1926, two years after he designed the East alongside. Long, tree lined and undulating through the Surrey estate, it is best known today as the stage for the BMW PGA Championship, the European Tour's flagship, with a thrilling closing run of par fives that decide the title. Modernised over the years to keep pace with the professionals, it remains a Colt routing at heart and one of the most recognisable inland courses in the world.

Plan a Surrey golf trip

Swinley Forest

Harry Colt, 1909 · Ascot, Berkshire

The connoisseur's Colt and reputedly the one he was proudest of, Swinley Forest opened in 1909, the architect once calling it the least bad course he had built, his idea of high praise. Tucked into the pines and heather near Ascot, short by modern standards but a jewel box of beautifully shaped holes and superb par threes, it is intensely private and rarely seen, which only adds to its mystique. For sheer design quality per acre, few courses anywhere match it, and it is a pilgrimage for students of the game.

Plan a heathland golf trip

Designers, roles and dates verified June 2026 by the GolfForKings editorial desk. Several of these are private clubs with limited access. Course profiles are added across the site as the directory grows. Always confirm access and fees directly before booking. Check tee time availability.

Where they are, and how to play them

Colt's best are clustered where the game grew up. Muirfield sits in East Lothian east of Edinburgh, Royal Portrush on the Antrim coast in Northern Ireland, and the heathland trio of Sunningdale, Wentworth and Swinley Forest within a few miles of one another in the Surrey and Berkshire pine belt west of London. Pine Valley stands alone in New Jersey. Access varies sharply, from premium visitor tee times at the two Open links to near total privacy at Swinley Forest and Pine Valley, so a Colt themed trip needs planning well ahead.

Course	Indicative 2026 access	Notes
Muirfield and Royal Portrush	Visitor tee times on set days, premium fees	Book months ahead; both are Open venues
Sunningdale New and Wentworth West	Private, limited visitor or guest access	Easiest via a member or an arranged package
Swinley Forest and Pine Valley	Highly private, members and guests	Effectively guest only; the hardest to play

Access arrangements and fees are indicative for 2026 and set expectations only. We are a guide, not an operator, and never quote our own pricing. Always confirm directly before booking.

Plan a Harry Colt golf trip

A heathland week around Sunningdale and Wentworth, a links pilgrimage to Muirfield or Royal Portrush, or a bespoke architecture tour. Tell us roughly when and who is travelling, and one concierge builds the tee times, transfers and base, and costs it to the head, with no obligation.

Harry Colt questions

Who was Harry Colt?

Harry Shapland Colt, 1869 to 1951, was an English golf course architect widely regarded as one of the greatest the game has produced. A trained lawyer and the first secretary of Sunningdale, he designed or remodelled more than 300 courses, often in partnership as Colt, Alison and Morrison, and is credited with pioneering the modern, strategic, tree framed style of inland design.

What is the best Harry Colt course?

It depends on what you value. Muirfield, which Colt effectively recreated in the 1920s, is the most decorated, a regular Open Championship venue and one of the finest links in the world. Royal Portrush's Dunluce Links is another Open course, and his Surrey and Berkshire heathland courses, Sunningdale New, Wentworth West and Swinley Forest, are the template for inland golf. Pine Valley in the United States, routed with Colt's close involvement, tops many world rankings.

Can the public play Harry Colt courses?

Several, with planning. Royal Portrush and Muirfield take visitors on set days and at premium green fees, so they need booking well ahead. The heathland clubs, Sunningdale, Wentworth and Swinley Forest, are private members clubs with limited visitor or guest access. Pine Valley is among the most private clubs in the world and is effectively members and guests only. Always confirm access and fees directly before booking.

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Researched and written by the GolfForKings editorial desk. Designers, roles and dates verified June 2026. Last reviewed June 2026.