The Belfry — Brabazon Course

The Belfry, at Wishaw in Warwickshire, has staged four Ryder Cups between 1985 and 2002, more than any other venue in the world. The Brabazon, the resort’s championship course, was built by Dave Thomas and Peter Alliss on farmland, and it is a par 72 of about 7,250 yards.

Its reputation rests less on architecture than on television. The tenth, driveable across water, and the eighteenth, played over a lake to a three-tiered green, produced most of the drama that made the modern Ryder Cup.

What it asks of you

Course management, which is the polite way of saying the course punishes ambition. Lakes, streams and bunkering are positioned where a good player’s ball naturally goes, and the greens slope heavily and run fast.

The tenth is the hole everyone talks about. From the back it can be driven, over water, to a green cut into a bank; from the forward tees it is a wedge second and a straightforward par. That choice is the whole point of the hole, and it is the reason it works on television.

The eighteenth is not a choice, it is a toll. Two shots over water to a three-tiered green means the second shot must finish on the correct tier or the putt is not makeable. On a resort course played by visitors, that is a hard finish.

What players say about it

Opinion on the Brabazon divides more sharply than on almost any course in England, and the split is between what it has hosted and what it is. The points below summarise what recurs. These are other people’s opinions, not ours: we have not played the course, and we name and quote no one.

What comes up in its favor

• The Ryder Cup history is real, and standing on the tenth tee is the reason most visitors come.
• Despite very heavy traffic, the course is reported to be presented in good condition.
• The greens are described as devilishly quick when they are running, and demanding of touch.
• The drama holes deliver: reviewers who dislike the rest of the course still concede the tenth and the eighteenth.
• The resort around it, with two further courses and a hotel, makes a golf trip straightforward.

What comes up against

• The architecture is the recurring criticism. More than one reviewer describes it as an average course on a farmer’s field that was made famous by the events it hosted.
• Congestion is mentioned often, which follows from the volume of visitor play.
• Recent accounts raise maintenance concerns alongside the praise for presentation, so it is worth checking current opinion.
• Green fees are high for what several reviewers consider the quality of the design.

Getting there and when to go

The resort is at Wishaw, north of Birmingham, ten minutes from junction 9 of the M42 and twenty from Birmingham airport.

The season is year-round, but May, June and September give the firmest ground and the quickest greens. Midlands winters leave the course soft. Tee times are booked with the resort.

Green fees

Rates and tee times are set by the resort. See the resort’s own site.

How this page was made

The factual frame comes from public sources: OpenStreetMap for the location, the resort’s own pages and encyclopaedic entries for the architects and the Ryder Cup record, and public course records for par and yardage, which vary between sources according to the tee configuration. The opinion section summarises public reviews read in September 2026; the unfavourable judgements on the architecture are here because they recur, not because we share them. We report recurring themes rather than individual voices, and we reproduce no quotations.

We have not played this course, and this page is no substitute for a round. The resort has not paid for this page, has not seen it before publication and has no say over its content. If you know the course and something here is wrong or out of date, write to us and we will correct it.