Burnham & Berrow Golf Club Architect : Charles Gibson -
Number of holes : 27
United Kingdom - England - Southern England

Burnham Golf Club was opened in 1891. It was a nine hole course laid out amongst the sand dunes of the Berrow Warren close to the Burnham lighthouse. It had been designed by the golf professional at Royal North Devon, Charles Gibson, using the design principles of the day; if there was a large sand dune you hit the ball over it and if there was a deep hollow then there would be a green. By 1896 the members wanted to extend the course to Berrow Church and the Lords of the Manor agreed only if the name of the club was changed to Burnham & Berrow Golf Club.

A further extension beyond the church followed in 1901, and in 1910 the first ‘professional’ course designer, Herbert Fowler, a member of the Club, extended the course to over 6000 yards. It was in this phase that Fowler designed the famous Church Hole and the current 18th hole. In 1913 Harry Colt produced a blueprint to turn the course into the challenge it is today. It was the single most significant action in the development of the course. He removed all the blind shots and the weaker holes and introduced new 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 9th, 10th, 16th and 17th holes. The war interrupted the construction of the new holes which were not completed until 1923. Colt’s close partner Hugh Alison was, again fortuitously, a member of the Club and so able to keep a close eye on progress. Colt also invited Dr Alistair Mackenzie, who was later to design Augusta National, to give his views on the new 9th and 10th holes. It was this course that saw Burnham & Berrow through the Club’s boom years in the 1920s and 1930s when it built the reputation that it still holds today.


The course is laid out in the traditional manner of nine holes out and nine back. The first nine skirt the sand dunes and coastline northwards, turning inland and southwards and then following the coast road through Berrow, past the Church and back into Burnham.