The English Breakfast Tee

I don't know why I've waited so long to talk about this.

In the summer of 2023, some good friends and I took a long overseas trip to Ireland to play golf, a trip I labelled “The Full Irish.” It was a trip of a lifetime, something I started thinking about during the early days of COVID, and something me and my friend AC spent three full weeks golfing, with friends joining us for large portions of that as well.

Well … guess who’s back? Back again?

No, we’re not going back to Ireland, but we are heading to the British Isles - this time to Merry Olde England, perhaps (oddly) the one spot many folks don’t think about as often when they think about golf overseas. Scotland, Ireland to be sure - but England actually has so much good golf that we had to limit our trip to a (somewhat) smaller trip than we’d planned.

And, because I love a good pun and apparently have a fixation with breakfast related puns, this one is being called The English Breakfast Tee. Get it? A tee, like a golf tee — okay, you do get it.

Don’t tell my daughter I used AI to make this. She would NOT appreciate it.

As is true with almost every golf trip I take, there’s the one trip that the group at large takes, and then the Golf Sicko version. But in order to appreciate it all, you’re getting the Golf Sicko Version (GSV).

My man David and I will fly into Heathrow, arriving early Sunday morning. In an act of shocking self-restraint, we are NOT playing golf that day, and instead will make our way to Wales where we will meet up with AC. Then, the itinerary follows as such.

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MONDAY, MAY 4: PENNARD GOLF CLUB

Known as “The Links In The Sky,” Pennard Golf Club is perched about 200 feet above the Bay, so not a typical links (hence the nickname) but is apparently a spectacular walk and a bit of a hidden gem that folks recommended knowing that we’d be nearby for our round the next day. Which is …

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TUESDAY, MAY 5: ROYAL PORTHCAWL

This, of course is the main reason we are heading over to Wales, a country we haven’t been to. Royal Porthcawl is a gem that has hosted Championships (including the Women’s Open just last year) and has been on our radar for quite some time. There are sea views on every hole - something so many links courses do not offer, shockingly, and I’m absolutely geeked for this. We are actually staying in the dormy rooms here for two nights which should make this a real experience.

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 6: BURNHAM & BERROW

Burnham & Berrow is a course that I’d heard about, wasn’t really sure where it was … and then not only saw how highly it was ranked but also that it was right on our way from Royal Porthcawl down to the Southeast coast of England. So, yeah, that will work.

Designers like Harry Colt, Alistair MacKenzie and Herbert Fowler have had a part in this course and it is often used in Open qualifying. It looks epic and terrifying and I cannot wait.

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THURSDAY, MAY 7: SAUNTON (EAST)

Another course I hadn’t heard much about but have since heard quite a bit of praise for is Saunton. Like Burnham & Berrow and others, there are two courses here, but the East course is the one not to miss. Some have suggested if the R & A wants to add another seaside English course to the Rota, this could be it. I don’t know about that, but I do know that it looks absolutely stunning and is considered quite a stern test of golf.

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FRIDAY, MAY 8: ST. ENODOC (CHURCH)

Rated by Top100GolfCourses as the fourth best golf course in all of England, the Church course at St. Enodoc looks absolutely incredible. A James Braid course, I also watched a great YouTube video by TheBossGolfs and drooled. (I’m also eager to check out Cornwall, a part of the country I’ve never had the chance to visit.)

Pretty great trip, right? From here, we head back to London (Surrey) and on the way, we stop at STONEHENGE!

I do not, for one, think that the problem was that the band was down. I think that the problem may have been, that there was a Stonehenge monument on the stage that was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf. Alright? That tended to understate the hugeness of the object.

No, not that Stonehenge. THIS one.

Yeah, that’s the part that we planned IN ADDITION TO THE REAL TRIP. For context, the real trip is the map below, and below that is the trip the three of us are taking.

All that stuff to the left? That’s above. So, in the interest of hoping you’ll read the actual trip, that’s another post to come.

Let’s get hyped!