Rye Golf Club

The verdict

Rye is golf’s most exclusive links, a course laid over the dunes at Camber near the East Sussex town of Rye and guarded more closely than almost any in England. It was the first course Harry Colt ever designed, in 1894, when he was the club’s founding captain and a young solicitor, and the commission set him on the path to becoming the most influential architect of his age. Tom Simpson reworked it in 1932 and Sir Guy Campbell made further changes in 1938, but the spirit is pure Colt: firm, natural and wind blown.

What sets Rye apart is its collection of short holes. The par 3s here are routinely called the best one shot holes on any links, played across dune valleys and into greens perched on ridges where the wind is the only real defense. At a little over 6,300 yards and a par of 68 the card looks gentle, but the course plays nothing like its length when the gale comes off the Channel, which is most days. Rye is the home of the President’s Putter, the Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society meeting held every January in the teeth of winter, a fixture that tells you everything about the club’s character.

The holes worth the trip

Rye is defined by its short holes and its angles. The greens sit on natural shelves and plateaus, and the premium is on flighting the ball under the wind and finding the correct level on the putting surface. Miss on the wrong side and the recovery is awkward, often blind, and the firm turf gives nothing back. This is thinking golf, where club selection changes hole to hole with the breeze.

The one shot holes are the signature, a sequence so good that architects make the pilgrimage just to study them. Each is framed by dunes and played to a green that rejects the loose shot, and together they make Rye a course about precision rather than power. The longer holes wind through the sandhills with the same natural movement, fairways tumbling between the dunes toward greens that are rarely flat.

Play Rye, on the rare occasion you can, and you understand why it is so revered by those who know it. It is unspoiled, uncommercial and utterly of its place, a links that has changed little in a century. For the travelling golfer it is the hardest tee time in England to arrange, but for anyone who values the roots of the game it is among the most rewarding rounds in the country.

Where to stay nearby

The historic town of Rye, with its cobbled streets and timbered inns, sits a few minutes from the links and makes a charming base, with the George in Rye and the Mermaid Inn among its best known addresses.

For a wider East Sussex and Kent golf trip many visitors base near the coast around Camber Sands or in the spa town of Tunbridge Wells, both within easy reach of the course and the wider South East links.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts near Rye.