The Belfry Club

The Belfry is one of the most recognisable golf resorts in Britain, located near Sutton Coldfield in the Warwickshire countryside. Its reputation was built around some of the biggest moments in European golf, but there is far more to the venue than its famous Ryder Cup history. The resort has three very different 18-hole courses: The Brabazon, PGA National and The Derby, giving golfers championship parkland, inland links-style and heathland golf without leaving the same resort.

The Belfry is most closely associated with the Ryder Cup. Its Brabazon Course hosted the competition in 1985, 1989, 1993 and 2002, more times than any other individual Ryder Cup venue. Those four matches cover an important period in the development of modern European golf, beginning with the breakthrough victory of Tony Jacklin's European side in 1985 and ending with another European win under Sam Torrance in 2002.

The resort's tournament history stretches beyond the Ryder Cup. The Belfry first staged a European Tour event in 1979, when Seve Ballesteros won the Lada English Golf Classic, and the venue has since hosted numerous professional tournaments. The Brabazon has become particularly closely associated with the British Masters, ensuring that the course continues to be tested by leading professionals rather than surviving purely on the reputation of tournaments played decades ago.

The Brabazon Course

The Brabazon is the course that made The Belfry famous. Designed by former Ryder Cup player Dave Thomas alongside Peter Alliss, it is a par-72 championship parkland course stretching to more than 7,200 yards from the back tees. Water, strategic bunkering and fast undulating greens feature throughout, but the real difficulty comes from deciding how aggressively to play when the course presents an opportunity.

The Brabazon's Ryder Cup history is difficult to separate from the course itself. In 1985 Europe defeated the United States at The Belfry to record its first victory since continental European players had joined the side. Sam Torrance secured the decisive point on the 18th green, creating one of the defining images of European Ryder Cup history.

Four years later, Europe and the United States finished level at 14–14, allowing Europe to retain the trophy. The Americans won 15–13 when the competition returned in 1993, before Europe reclaimed the Ryder Cup at The Belfry in 2002. Paul McGinley holed the putt that guaranteed Europe the trophy on the final day, giving The Brabazon another moment permanently linked with Ryder Cup history.

Perhaps no hole at The Belfry is more famous than the 10th on The Brabazon. The short par four gives golfers the option of laying up or attempting to drive the green across the water, with the aggressive line requiring both distance and commitment. Seve Ballesteros famously took on the green during the 1985 Ryder Cup, helping establish the hole as one of the best-known risk-and-reward par fours in British golf.

It remains just as interesting for ordinary golfers because the sensible strategy changes depending on ability, wind and confidence. Longer hitters may genuinely consider attacking the green, while most players can choose a safer route and leave a short approach. The important point is that the hole gives the golfer a decision rather than simply demanding a predetermined shot.

The closing hole provides another unmistakable Belfry moment. Water dominates the approach to the 18th and has been the backdrop to decades of Ryder Cup and professional tournament drama. Standing on the final fairway gives visiting golfers the opportunity to play a shot they have probably seen professionals attempt on television, which is a significant part of The Brabazon's appeal.

There are difficult holes throughout the rest of the course too. The Brabazon is not simply a collection of two famous television holes connected by ordinary parkland golf. Precise approaches, well-positioned bunkers and water hazards repeatedly force golfers to think about where a miss can safely finish. The greens also place pressure on approach play, particularly when golfers leave themselves on the wrong side of slopes.

The Brabazon is the course to choose if the main reason for visiting The Belfry is history. Few accessible resort courses allow golfers to recreate shots from four Ryder Cups on the same fairways where Ballesteros, Faldo, Langer, Woods, Mickelson and many of the other defining players of their generations competed. Even before the quality of the course is considered, that makes a round here a genuine bucket-list experience for many golfers.

PGA National Course

The second championship option is PGA National, and it provides a noticeably different challenge from The Brabazon. Rather than traditional tree-lined championship parkland, PGA National has been designed with an inland links-style character. Fast-running fairways, severe run-offs, large undulating greens and deep bunkers create a course where controlling where the ball finishes is often more important than simply hitting the green through the air.

The course was designed by Dave Thomas, whose connection with The Belfry also includes The Brabazon. The Professional Golfers' Association identifies it as PGA National England, and The Belfry describes it as the only PGA-branded golf course in England. That status reflects the course's intended championship standard rather than simply being a name attached to the resort.

PGA National plays to a par of 72 and measures around 7,000 yards from its longest setup. It has around 70 strategically positioned bunkers, many of them considerably deeper and more intimidating than the hazards golfers may be used to seeing on conventional parkland courses. The fairways can provide plenty of roll, but that extra distance is only useful if the ball finishes in the correct position.

The greens and their surrounding run-offs are one of the biggest differences between PGA National and The Brabazon. Missing an approach by only a small amount can send the ball away from the putting surface and leave a difficult recovery. Golfers who regularly attack every flag can therefore find the course frustrating, while those prepared to aim for safer sections of greens and accept longer putts are often rewarded.

The course has also hosted professional tournament golf, including two European Tour events. That championship background becomes understandable once golfers see the combination of length, bunkering and exposed playing areas. Wind can make the course considerably more difficult, particularly when combined with the firm, running style of golf it is intended to encourage.

PGA National is worth playing because it does not feel like a lesser alternative for golfers unable to secure a Brabazon tee time. In many ways it can be the more demanding course. The Brabazon has the history and instantly recognisable holes, while PGA National provides a relentless examination of ball striking, distance control and course management.

For golfers who enjoy links golf but cannot reach the coast, it also provides an unusual experience in the Midlands. It cannot recreate genuine seaside linksland, but the firm surfaces, deep bunkering, run-offs and emphasis on playing the ground give PGA National a completely different character from the resort's main championship course.

The Derby Course

The Derby completes The Belfry's three-course offering and has undergone the biggest recent transformation of the trio. The course was fully redesigned and reopened in its new form in 2026, changing what had traditionally been the quieter and more accessible Belfry course into a distinctive modern heathland layout.

The redesign is significant enough that golfers who played The Derby previously should not expect the same experience. According to The Belfry's announcement of the completed redevelopment, the fairways have been reshaped and recontoured, new elevated tee complexes have been built and extensive heather planting has been introduced to give the course a stronger heathland identity.

More than 60 new white-sand bunkers were also introduced during the project. Rather than using perfectly uniform bunker shapes, they have been designed with irregular faces and varying depths to fit more naturally into the new heathland appearance. They are generally visible from the tee, allowing golfers to understand the challenge in front of them and decide how much risk they want to accept.

The modern Derby is a par-70 layout measuring a little over 6,000 yards, making it considerably more manageable than The Brabazon or PGA National. That does not mean the course has been designed simply for beginners. Wider approaches and several more forgiving landing areas make it accessible, but the new bunkering and heather reward golfers who choose the correct side of fairways and plan the next shot.

The redesign has also introduced a much broader selection of tees. White, yellow, red and junior teeing options allow the course to be set up for very different abilities, which makes The Derby particularly useful for mixed groups where golfers may have significantly different handicaps or driving distances.

Several holes now provide clear visual highlights. The par-three 3rd has become one of the most striking shots on the course, while the 5th uses extensive new landscaping to create both strategic and visual interest. The par-four 13th plays downhill from an elevated tee with the new white bunkering visible below, showing particularly clearly how different the redesigned course is from its previous form.

The Derby is therefore the best choice of the three for golfers who want a less punishing round while still experiencing The Belfry. Beginners and improving players can enjoy the additional space and shorter overall distance, while better golfers can still challenge themselves by using the back tees and taking more aggressive routes around the new hazards.

Why Play All Three Courses at The Belfry?

The strongest argument for a golf break at The Belfry is that the three courses no longer feel like different levels of the same basic experience. They now offer three clearly separate styles of golf. The Brabazon is the championship parkland course built around water, risk and Ryder Cup history. PGA National is the more severe inland links-style examination, with firm surfaces, deep bunkers and difficult run-offs. The redesigned Derby provides a shorter heathland alternative built around heather, visible bunkering and greater playability.

That variety makes playing all three considerably more interesting than simply playing The Brabazon twice. A golfer can spend one round recreating Ryder Cup shots, another trying to control the ball around PGA National's running surfaces and then play a more relaxed but still strategic final round among the new heathland features of The Derby.

The Belfry also works particularly well for groups containing golfers of different abilities. Lower-handicap players have two serious championship tests in The Brabazon and PGA National, while The Derby gives newer players a more approachable route into resort golf. Better players are unlikely to find The Derby pointless either, particularly after the 2026 redesign added substantially more strategic interest.

There is an obvious historical reason to visit too. The Belfry occupies a unique place in European Ryder Cup history. Four contests were staged here in only 17 years, during a period when Europe went from struggling against the United States to becoming a genuine Ryder Cup force. Some of the defining names of that transformation played on The Brabazon, including Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam, José María Olazábal and Colin Montgomerie.

For many golfers, playing The Brabazon will always be the headline attraction. But treating The Belfry as a one-course venue misses much of what now makes the resort interesting. PGA National provides arguably the sternest pure golfing examination, while the newly transformed Derby gives the resort a third course with a clear identity of its own.

For a golf trip in the Midlands, The Belfry offers something very difficult to reproduce elsewhere: three courses with genuinely different playing characteristics, extensive professional tournament history and the chance to stand over shots that have become part of Ryder Cup folklore. Whether the priority is championship golf, a bucket-list Ryder Cup round or simply a varied golf weekend, playing all three courses gives a much better picture of why The Belfry remains one of Britain's best-known golf destinations.