A Golf Weekend on England's Open Championship Coast

Two Open Championship links, a few miles apart, on a stretch of Kent coastline that most golfers driving straight to the Ryder-Cup-famous courses further north never stop for. Royal St George's at Sandwich and Royal Cinque Ports at Deal are two of England's most authentic links, both with genuine Open Championship pedigree, and both close enough together to combine properly rather than as an afterthought.

The Two Courses

Royal St George's is the bigger name of the two — the first club outside Scotland to host The Open, back in 1894, and the venue fifteen times since, most recently in 2021. It's a raw, duneland course above Sandwich Bay: blind drives over ridges, plateau greens, and the kind of Channel wind that turns a straightforward par 4 into a three-club guessing game. The Maiden, its famous par-4 4th, plays over and around the course's largest dune and sets the tone for the round.

Royal Cinque Ports, a short drive down the coast at Deal, is flatter and more exposed — a genuinely raw links with few trees and little shelter from the wind. It hosted The Open twice, in 1909 and 1920, and while it doesn't get the same attention as its neighbour, serious golfers who've played both tend to rate it just as highly for the honesty of the test. Where St George's punishes with terrain, Deal punishes with distance and wind alone.

Playing them back to back is genuinely instructive: two different flavours of links golf, produced by two different pieces of coastline, within a fifteen-minute drive of each other.

Combining the Two Courses

Both clubs restrict visitor play to specific days, and the two schedules don't fully overlap, so the trip needs a little planning rather than a same-week booking.

At the time of writing, Royal St George's takes visitors on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for most of the year (Tuesdays only in August, and Tuesdays only again from November to March), and requires a handicap index of 18.4 or lower, verified on arrival. Royal Cinque Ports takes visitors Monday to Thursday, with Monday and Thursday set aside for three- and four-balls and Tuesday and Wednesday for singles and two-balls — book in advance through the club's own system. Both clubs publish and update these terms themselves, so treat what follows as a planning framework, not a guarantee for any specific date — confirm current days, formats and any closures directly with each club before booking travel.

With that caveat, a trip built around a Tuesday and a Wednesday should work for both, if current schedules hold: St George's on one of those two days, Cinque Ports on the other (or on the Monday or Thursday either side, if your group size fits that format and those slots are open when you check). A three-night trip gives room either side for travel and a non-golf day, which on this stretch of coast is no hardship — more on that below.

Where to Stay

Sandwich itself, the home town of Royal St George's, is the most immediate base — a small medieval town with a handful of good pubs and restaurants, and the course a short drive from the centre. Deal, the next town along the coast and the home of Royal Cinque Ports, has more dining options and a proper café culture, plus a genuine seafront to walk after a round.

For a slightly larger base with more choice in the evenings, Canterbury is around 20–30 minutes inland and gives you a cathedral city's worth of restaurants and history to fall back on for the non-golf portions of the trip — useful if anyone in the group isn't playing both rounds. Folkestone, a little further along the coast, adds the option of a Channel Tunnel crossing if the trip is the start of a longer swing through northern France.

What to Check Before You Book

• Visitor days and seasonal exceptions. Both clubs' visitor windows shift with the calendar — St George's drops to Tuesday-only in August and over winter — so confirm the current schedule directly with each club before locking in dates, rather than relying on a general rule.
• Handicap requirements. St George's has a published maximum (18.4); Cinque Ports doesn't publish a fixed cap on its visitor page but still expects proof of handicap. Bring your certificate either way.
• Booking directly. Both clubs take bookings through their own websites rather than third-party platforms exclusively — worth checking their own booking pages first for the most accurate availability.
• The weather. This is genuine, exposed links coastline. Conditions that look manageable on paper can change quickly with the Channel wind, and neither course offers much shelter. Pack for it, and build a little flexibility into a two-round itinerary if you can.

Golf Trip Europe doesn't publish green fees or exact tee-time windows here, since both change by season — check the current rates directly on each club's site before you book.

The Wider Coast

Sandwich and Deal sit within England's Open Championship Coast, the same stretch of Kent links that gives South East England its only real claim on the Open rota. If two rounds leave you wanting a third, Royal St George's and Royal Cinque Ports' shared destination page is the place to see what else sits along this coastline.