Rugeley Rd, Hazel Slade,
Cannock, Staffordshire WS12 0PJ
Office
+44 (0)1543 422 626Pro shop
+44 (0)1543 422 492Fax
+44 (0)1543 451 137Website
Visit websiteGolf pro
Richard Clarson (PGA Professional).The Course:
18 holes. Heathland course. Undulating terrain - a few slopes to climb.
Surroundings:
Woodland.
Designer:
Herbert Fowler
52.720919
-1.960201
2.5 mi NE of Hednesford / 20 mi N of Birmingham.
Leave the M6 motorway at exit 11, and follow the A460 direction Cannock, then Hednesford, then Rugeley. After 6.6 mi turn right into Rawnsley Rd. After o.7 mi turn left into Rugeley Rd, direction Hazel Slade. After 1 mi golf club is on your left.
Beau Desert
Beau Desert Golf Club is located in the south of an area known as Cannock Chase, the largest surviving area of lowland heathland in the Midlands. The course takes its name from the Marquess of Anglesey's estate (Beaudesert), in whose former grounds the course is laid out. You'll quickly discover that “Beau” is an apt description for the layout, while “desert” probably refers to the site's original habitat, which was open sandy heathland.
Once you’ve cleared the intimidating heather-clad “ravine” in front of the tee at the short par-4 1st, you'll be in for a real treat on this picturesque undulating heathland course. In addition to plenty of heather and some gorse, an abundance of pine and birch gives a rather wooded and tightish feel to many holes.
Herbert Fowler’s excellent layout, complemented by some lovely views of the surrounding Staffordshire countryside, ensures great variety and many golfing challenges as you journey round. Most of the holes take you either up or downhill, few are played on flat terrain, and each has its own distinctive character and identity.
You'll enjoy both a sense of isolation and tranquility here, with an absence of housing and roads allowing you to fully focus on your game, and the beauty of the heathland and woodland surroundings. Often included in ranking lists of the best heathland courses in England, Beau Desert is certainly well worth a stopover as you journey through the West Midlands.
Visitors welcome on weekdays; more restricted on weekends.
Must book in advance. Handicap required.
[Last updated: 2019].
Players generally walk this course.
Good
Beau Desert golf course is laid out on a section of what was formerly part of the Staffordshire estate of the 6th Marquess of Anglesey, Charles Henry Alexander Paget. Until 1919 the Marquess was a great supporter of the golf club. However, financial difficulties after the Great War required the Marquess to abandon Beaudesert Hall (a magnificent country mansion house, now no more than a few ruins) and retire to his family's ancestral seat, Plas Newydd in Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, Anglesey.
GB&I: 97th best course in Britain & Ireland (Golf World, 2020/21).
England: 47th best course in England (Golf World, 2021).
Orbital Plaza, Bridge St, Cannock, Staffordshire WS11 0DQ.
+44 (0)1543 461 361
Visit websiteThe Holiday Inn North Cannock offers comfortable accommodation at an affordable rate. This modern full-service hotel is located close to the M6 and M6 (Toll) motorways and just 22 miles from Birmingham Airport.
No
Beau Desert
Little Aston; Walsall; Handsworth; Sandwell Park; Whittington Heath; Enville.
Lichfield Rd, Wishaw, North Warwickshire B76 9PR
+44 (0)1675 238 600
Visit websiteThe 4-star Belfry Resort, located just outside Birmingham, is home to world class golf facilities, including the renowned Brabazon course, of Ryder Cup fame. The resort offers a wide range of excellent leisure, spa and conference facilities.
The Belfry (Brabazon, PGA National and Derby courses).
No
Forest of Arden; Whittington Heath; Beau Desert; Little Aston; Sutton Coldfield; Walsall; Handsworth; Sandwell Park; Harborne; Moseley; Copt Heath; Edgbaston.
Tournaments:
PGA Championship: the year’s second men’s major championship is hosted by Southern Hills CC, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Soudal Open: Belgium’s return to European Tour golf sees 36-hole Rinkven International GC host the Soudal Open, the country’s national open championship (May 12-15).
Who's Who:
Scottie Scheffler: bags the 2022 Masters Tournament title, and with it a fourth win in six starts on the PGA Tour and his first major championship victory.
Marco Simone Golf & Country Club "makes its tournament debut with the hosting of the Italian Open on the European Tour" by Richard Humphreys.
Golf Son Gual is located just a few kilometres from Palma (Mallorca). Palma's Old City shows clear influences from the city's Arab past.
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