Bertie hits a hat-trick with a trio of course reviews for us this month…

Out of the courses we have played on the Northumbria coast Bamburgh Castle has the most impressive clubhouse by quite some distance, however dogs are not allowed.

It is also the expensive at £70 each. The Northumbria way goes through the course so it would be difficult to ban dogs from the course. It’s a very good course with excellent greens and has the real feel of a well established serious links course.

There are stunning views of Bamburgh castle as you would expect as well as lovely beaches on the other side of the course. On a clear day you can see Lindisfarne or Holy Island. This is an undulating course so there are a lot of shots from difficult lies on sloping fairways. One hole is a tricky blind shot onto a green you cannot see which for a first-time visitor was quite an experience. We lost one but found one (It was mine we couldn’t find!).

Bamburgh Castle a beautiful course that is really challenging and having Bertie with us was not a problem.

This is the top end of our golfing experience and we would not have a bad word said about it but its not a personal favourite just because there are other courses so similar for much less money. However, I do agree with the clubs policy of having a very reasonable annual memberships fee (half of what I pay in Lancashire) and charging the tourist as much as possible.

Bertie takes us “home” today for a look at her family course, Dunstanburgh…

This is not a fair review, this is unashamedly the Brown family’s favourite golf course.

Dunstanburgh is a links course that after the the first takes you up a stiff climb to the second. You then play another five holes including an incredibly tricky par 3 onto an elevated green to a drive off the cliff and back to the beach side course. This gives you a stunning view of the course, the beach and the ruined castle on top of a volcanic rock cliff. The castle is so remote those wishing to visit it have to walk over a mile along the Northumbria Way to get to it.

There is a signature par 3 over a ravine onto an isolated green only accessible via a path directly under the castle. Before we played golf i remember being on the castle walls watching golfers play this hole.

The value for money here is exceptional, for £130 we got 2 rounds of golf, 3 bacon sandwiches and a brew and a hot lunch afterwards of pizza or burgers and chips, plus a buggy. Dunstanburgh is often listed in golf magazine articles about undiscovered golf courses and recently a number of high-profile golf influencers have done videos about the course. In our opinion if you can only play one course on the Northumbria coast make this one, and a couple we met on the course were playing it for the second time that week.

We have played it at least three times and i was surprised when i realised i had not reviewed it previously.

Now we are lucky in that we have a non-golfer with us and Katie and Bertie disappeared off the course for run on the beach.

The clubhouse is reasonably-sized and Bertie is not allowed in but there are numerous tables and a large veranda outside. This is also a stopping point for ramblers so its a very busy clubhouse offering lots of choices from the catering department.

Dunstanburgh is so good they have a waiting list for members, not many golf courses and say that these days!

On our way out of the car park just teeing it up was a golfer and his sheepdog.

Keep swinging dog golfers and put this on your bucket list but just don’t tell anyone else about it!!!!

Dog Golf’s most active rover correspondent, Bertie, has been hitting the fairways again sharing her experiences for us all…

We spend a week in Northumbria every year now and Seahouses is the last 18 hole course we have played on this stretch of the coast from Alnmouth to Bamburgh (Reviews for Bamburg and Dunstanburgh Castle to follow).

The course is partly links and parkland and was founded in 1913 and they have a couple of signature par 3 holes which include shots over water.

Dogs are very welcome and the website has a lovely logo describing the club as dog friendly, dogs are aloowed in the clubhouse but not the restaurant. There several footpaths crossing the course to the beach so there is a lot of dog walkers crossing the course and we were not the only golfers with a dog.

Its a good course and they have a dynamic pricing system starting at £35 for peak tee times to £20 for late afternoon. They were advertising winter membership of £140, an absolute bargain!!

Everyone was really friendly and we met members out on the course who were not phased at Berties presence. Bertie has got his golf legs now, he wants to be out an about for the first 4 or 5 holes then he jumps in the buggy and occassionly jogs alongside the buggy, but mostly sits on your knee!!

There are great views overlooking the sandy beach and there were kestrals patrolling the rough.

If you play golf, have a dog and want to do both together Seahouses is the perfect starter course for you.

Another instalment from our northernmost “Rover” correspondent, Poppy…

Being visitors staying locally at the community-owned campsite, Poppy and her people (Fiona & David) got a generous discount to play this quirky scenic 18-hole Kirkcudbright course – £30 not £40. It began as 9 holes in 1893 and was extended seamlessly by the members themselves in the 1970s. There’s no PGA shop, but the chaps in the office were welcoming, and it cost nothing for David to borrow a trolley “because it’s old”. The entrance board reminded people that there is no ‘right to roam’ under Scottish legislation, so dog walkers can’t go onto the course, but doggolfers can.

Fiona, being too poor a golfer for this hilly course, was on dog lead duty, with the long lead around her waist. This was helpful going up the fairway – think “paw-a-kaddy” – but alarming going down banks at cocker spaniel speed. It’s a very varied course as it zig zags around undulating terrain planted with trees, up to the top plateau surrounded by rough grazing. Poppy’s people stopped regularly to get their breath back and enjoy the fabulous views down to the handsome town, the sailing boats on the Dee Estuary and the beautiful old graveyard. Meanwhile, Poppy was happy to roll in the long dew-damp grass beside the fairways, or lie in the shade of a tree; if there were ticks, the collar kept them at bay. She also went foraging into the thick rough between fairways – checking out the tunnels into the gorse and whins, and snorting down vole holes.

Surprisingly, there were no litter bins on the course (gulls will raid them), but thankfully no poo bags were needed. The water bottle and dish were essential though – there are several ponds cupped in the upper hollows, but signs warn of ‘sinking mud’ and rightly there is ‘absolutely no entry’, even for a hot dog on a sunny day. The few bunkers were very strategically placed, and were criss-crossed with interesting paw and claw prints – a fox tracking a bird, maybe? – and deer hoof prints; there are red squirrels in the local woods too. There’s a bench at the top of the course, a suitable stop to appreciate the panoramic views, with a biscuit snack for all. The course was a tough test for older human knees and ankles, Poppy being a youngster of not-yet 3 still had a spring in her step on the way back to the Motorhome  – all three enjoyed this hidden gem of a course.

There’s a bar and evening catering at the course’s Thai Kitchen (does takeaways too), with a wide variety of places to eat in Kirkcudbright, from fish and chips to Cream O’Galloway ice cream by the harbour to the top-class Selkirk Arms – but check if dogs are allowed indoors. This is “the Artists Town” and all the art galleries allow dogs inside, except the main Town Hall Galleries; dogs are also allowed into the pretty gardens of Broughton House (National Trust for Scotland), former home of the artist EA Hornell.

Rory (and Sue and Dean) take a stroll up the coast to Hunstanton for another Rover correspondent special report…

We arrived at Hunstanton and we could immediately smell the sea air. Rory was welcomed into the pro shop, an unusual treat, and stroked by the pro and told that he looked to be a good well-behaved dog.

Overall, this is a wonderful and challenging links course with very little wildlife and on that day no other dogs on the course. Several however were walking with owners along the 2 public footpaths to the beach across 1 ,8, 9 and 18. It was the only 4 ball day in the week and there were two societies playing so the course was very busy. Balls were often lost in the long, thick rough and the pothole bunkers which framed the narrow rippling fairways and excellent greens. It was a hot sunny day with just a light breeze so thankfully our golf skills in strong winds were not tested. There were lots of elevation changes and the 6th hole proved challenging, with a green raised 30ft up on a plateau with steep banks and bunkers which meant hitting the ball with pinpoint accuracy in order to stay on the green.

After our round we took the footpath between the beach huts to the beach and Rory had a good run on the sand chasing his ball and jumping into the water left by the receding tide.By the time we arrived back at the clubhouse the sun was going down and we decided to have our wind down drink back at the excellent and very dog friendly Titchwell Manor Hotel were we stayed . We hope to return and play again next year.

Our latest guest post from Bertie (and his persons Steve and Mrs. Brown) not only provides another pooch perspective on par play, but also highlights the imperative to “keep asking”. While Dog Golf UK tries to keep its database up-to-date, my experience has been that policies change from time to time. Usually this shift has been the unfortunate case of being informed that a course doesn’t welcome dogs after all despite someone telling me previously that they did (I document all my calls to clubs who tell me they allow dogs). In the case of today’s Sedbergh, the report is a fortunate addition to the database. When I had contacted Sedburgh previously, they said that dogs were not allowed,. But when Bertie did a round and I double checked, they were hesitant but in the end said that people did bring their dogs on the low periods of Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Thanks to Bertie for not just another review, but also another course for people to check out:

Another weekend away with friends who have a place at Barnard Castle, and we needed a course we could play and have lunch. We settled on Sedbergh and what a gem of a course. Nine holes (18 tees) and it is immaculate.

Some very tricky holes, with drives over river gorges, water features and some tricky undulating ground. This is a course that no one will take apart.

Its £15 for 9 holes and having a dog is not a problem. The owner is on site and very welcoming, his son is the greenskeeper. There is a fabulous clubhouse, more of that later.

The first hole is tricky with hole protected by bunkers, unseen, the second a drive across the river onto a green. Then a short walk takes you to the third well over 500 yards and you can see a Victorian iron railway bridge behind the green. It is a very picturesque course.

You have great views of the Yorkshire dale. Another par 5 has the green protected by a ring of water. Eventually we arrive at the 9th. A green you feel you can reach. On our visit there were two societies starting off on our return.

Dogs are not allowed in the clubhouse but they serve one of the best steak and ale pies this northern lad has ever had on the verandah. Mrs. Browns’ fish pie was also excellent.

What of Bertie our Tibetan Terrier, after all this is about golfing with dogs. I think Bertie has decided that golf balls are not worth chasing. He allows us to play our shots, and whereas once he had to have his own ball he isn’t interested now. We do use a lead to tie him up when teeing off and putting wherever possible. We have a long lead and he now trots happily alongside us, we do stand on the lead if we need to do so. He still won’t sit and look at the camera for the killer photo!

The big problem I have is not controlling a dog while playing, but the fact Mrs. Brown is obviously already a better golfer than me and the gap is only getting wider!

And other delightful account from the roving northern Dog Golf correspondent team of Bertie and Steve:

Having visited the highest and oldest nine hole golf courses on this holiday we then played Alnwick Castle. This would be easier for controlling Bertie as we were joined by the youngest daughter. On arrival went in to pay, told the lady the secretary had said we could bring a dog, she didn’t bat an eyelid “no problem”.

Now Alnwick Castle is a real 18 hole course, and it is a club that is on the up. I understand the Duke of Northumberland owns the land. While we were there work had started on a new club house and there will also be a number of expensive properties built on the outer edge of the course.

It is £15 a round and a small charge for trolleys and the current clubhouse is next to one and eighteen so nine if furthest from the clubhouse, this will change as the new clubhouse is right in the middle of the course.

The day we went there was a seniors competition on and none of these even noticed the dog. Mrs B parred a short par 3, well done her. Couple of seniors saw her drive the ball straight onto the green and then me shank it wide left onto their tee. They were still waiting to play as we arrived and the old fellas just gave me that pitying look as i was clearly being outclassed. One whispered “My wife does that when i play with her as well”!

The course opens up into an open parkland course with good views of the surrounding countryside. There are some steep climbs but overall it was in excellent condition. There were lots of ground staff knocking about and they all waved and said hello as wed passed with Bertie.

On returning to the clubhouse for a drink the bar staff insisted that Bertie be served first taking a bowl of water out to him before we could even order ours!

It is a good course and the addition of a new clubhouse will really enhance the experience, we speculated about buying one of the houses should our lottery numbers come in.