Cleveland Golf Club, Redcar, Yorkshire, England

https://cleveland-golf-club.com/

White tees par 72, SSS 73, 6704 yards
Red tees par 72, SSS 74, 5545 yards  

On stepping on to the first tee at Cleveland the first impression is of the vista of caravan parks, steel works, wind farms, noisy fun fair and further down the course a scrap yard but if you are put off by this you will miss a classic and top quality true links course.  In a curious way the steel works are a dramatic background to a links course which would be rated much more highly if it were on the east coast of Scotland or the west coast of Ireland.

The par 3 6th with the Redcar steel works as a backdrop

Established in 1887, Cleveland was designed by a number of architects including Harry Colt and most recently Donald Steel who designed three new holes in 2000.  It is the oldest and the only true links course in the county of Yorkshire.  We played it on a beautiful sunny summer day with light winds, the perfect conditions for links golf!  Unusually the course starts with a par three which requires an accurate shot – if not there is a deep gully awaiting on the right and bunkers guarding both sides.  The next three holes head into the prevailing wind with out of bounds down the left side of each.  There are two more par 3s in the first nine, both of which are strong typical links course holes. 

The 12th is a right to left dogleg with a view reminiscent of St Andrews

Most of the second nine heads back towards the town of Redcar, with a backdrop reminiscent of the spires of St Andrews.  The par 4 12^th is a right to left dogleg which is very well bunkered at the angle of the dogleg and round the green.  The well bunkered theme continues on the 13^th_, a natural looking hole where the task in hand is clear from the elevated tee.  The course finishes with three well designed tricky holes from 15 to 17 and then the relatively short par 5 18^th with its sloping green.

The 18th green.  The 1st hole can be seen on the right.

Worth playing?  Yes if you can block out the surroundings.