Redcar and Cleveland packs a surprising range of golf into a compact stretch of North Yorkshire coastline. With only four clubs across the county, there's no padding out a list here — each course does something distinct, from proper links turf to heather moorland perched above the sea. Golfers based in Redcar, Saltburn-by-the-Sea or the wider Cleveland area have access to a links, a moorland course and a parkland layout, which is an unusually varied set-up for such a small area.
The links at Cleveland
Cleveland Golf Club, in Redcar, is the anchor of the county's golf and the oldest course in Yorkshire, founded in 1887. It carries design work from Old Tom Morris, Harry S Colt and Donald Steel, and is recognised as North Yorkshire's only true championship links. That pedigree isn't just historical decoration — the club hosted the English Golf Union County Finals in 2007 and is set to act as a Northern Qualifier venue for the English Men's Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship in 2027. For anyone who wants firm coastal turf, exposed lies and the sort of shot-making that links golf demands, this is the obvious starting point in the county.
Moorland above the cliffs and a rebuilt coastal course
A few miles along the coast at Saltburn-by-the-Sea, the Hunley Hotel & Golf Club offers something entirely different. Its 27 holes, laid out by John Morgan across three nine-hole loops — Morgans, Imperial, Jubilee — sit on coastal moorland above the North Yorkshire shoreline, ground with a history of ironstone mining beneath it. The signature hole on the Snaith stretch looks out across Hummersea Bay and Boulby Cliffs, and the club holds GEO Certified accreditation for its environmental management. It's a course that rewards patience with heather and gorse rather than punishing wind off the sea in the way a links does.
Saltburn-By-The-Sea Golf Club, also on the coast, has been through a substantial period of reinvestment: roughly £500,000 spent on the course and facilities over three years, with around two-thirds of the holes redesigned in the last five. The club has an association with James Braid's design legacy and now includes a 14.5-acre covered driving range, useful for a coastline where weather doesn't always cooperate.
Parkland golf inland at Wilton
For a change of scenery from the coast, Wilton Golf Club in Redcar offers 18 holes of parkland golf designed by J. F. S. Morrison. Founded in 1952, the club was extended to its current 18 holes in 1966 and has been member-owned since 1999. It has genuine golfing history too — Henry Cotton played an exhibition match there in 1957 — and more recently picked up Sun Protection Accreditation in 2024, a small but practical nod to player welfare on a course without the sea breeze to temper the sun.
Taken together, the county's four clubs cover the main bases: a championship links with eight and a half centuries of golf behind it at Cleveland, moorland golf with clifftop views and mining heritage at Hunley, a heavily reinvested coastal course at Saltburn, and settled parkland golf at Wilton. It's not a large county for golf, but it's a well-rounded one, and the coastal courses in particular make a strong case for a day trip built entirely around links and moorland.