Seascale Golf Club Course Review

Seascale Golf Club may be less well-known than Silloth 40 miles to the north, but it's another Cumbrian links well worth a visit

Seascale Golf Club - 10th hole
The links at Seascale Golf Club
(Image credit: Seascale Golf Club)

Seascale Golf Club Course Review

GF Round: £45-£50; Day: £50-£55; Twilight: £30-£35
Par 71, 6,350 yards
Slope 129
GM Verdict – Forget Seascale’s proximity to Sellafield – this is a fine links serving up many interesting holes with great views out to sea and inland to the Cumbrian fells
Favourite Hole – The par-4 9th, where you fire your approach down from the upper plateau to a green flanked by a beck.

Seascale Golf Club - 2nd tee

The view across to Wasdale and the Cumbrian fells from the 2nd tee

(Image credit: Seascale Golf Club)

Many people enjoy lifelong love affairs with the Lake District in Cumbria. If you can put the words “cloud”, “wandered”, “lonely” and “daffodils” in the right literary sequence you’ll know how fond some of England’s finest 19th-century poets were of its crystal-clear lakes and brooding mountain scenery, Mr Wordsworth included.

Seascale Golf Club - 10th hole

The pretty 10th hole is one of a quartet of strong par 3s

(Image credit: Jeremy Ellwood)

Yet because Cumbria’s western flank is the Irish Sea, the range of golf on offer covers not only courses with enviably picturesque backdrops but also some excellent links, the most heralded of which – Silloth on Solway Golf Club – tops every list of the best golf courses in Cumbria.

Seascale Golf Club - 1st hole

Looking back down the 1st towards the town and clubhouse

(Image credit: Seascale Golf Club)

While Silloth may hog Cumbria’s links plaudits, it doesn’t quite have it all its own way. Seascale, just an hour or so back down the coast, may lie next to the Sellafield nuclear power station, but you shouldn’t let that deter you, for this is a fine links that perhaps eases you in a little over the opening stretch before serving up many challenging holes.

Seascale Golf Club - 9th hole

The par-4 9th is one of the best holes with a beck flanking the right half of the green

(Image credit: Jeremy Ellwood)

It starts with a gentle uphill opener, but the 3rd then demands great care with an OOB field on the right to think about off the tee, or if you stray too far right when laying back or playing into the wind. The middle part of the outward half has real shades of Royal Porthcawl about it, with this nine then closing strongly via the long par-3 8th from an elevated tee in the dunes, and the superb 9th playing steeply down from a plateau fairway to a green flanked by a beck on the right.

Seascale Golf Club - 18th green

Seascale's 18th green is a full 67 yards from front to back

(Image credit: Jeremy Ellwood)

The power station makes its slightly eerie presence felt on the tough 468-yard par-4 11th, but the 471-yard 16th just edges this hole in the tough par-4 stakes thanks to a steep ridge just short of the putting surface that obscures the green from view. Finally, look out for the colossal 18th green, which measures a full 67 yards from front to back. It’s possible to be several clubs out here but still on the putting surface! Seascale is proof that there’s a little more to Cumbrian links golf than highly regarded Silloth.

Jeremy Ellwood
Contributing Editor

Jeremy Ellwood has worked in the golf industry since 1993 and for Golf Monthly since 2002 when he started out as equipment editor. He is now a freelance journalist writing mainly for Golf Monthly. He is an expert on the Rules of Golf having qualified through an R&A course to become a golf referee. He is a senior panelist for Golf Monthly's Top 100 UK & Ireland Course Rankings and has played all of the Top 100 plus 91 of the Next 100, making him well-qualified when it comes to assessing and comparing our premier golf courses. He has now played 1,000 golf courses worldwide in 35 countries, from the humblest of nine-holers in the Scottish Highlands to the very grandest of international golf resorts. He reached the 1,000 mark on his 60th birthday in October 2023 on Vale do Lobo's Ocean course. Put him on a links course anywhere and he will be blissfully content.

Jezz can be contacted via Twitter - @JezzEllwoodGolf


Jeremy is currently playing...

Driver: Ping G425 LST 10.5˚ (draw setting), Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 55 S shaft

3 wood: Ping G425 Max 15˚ (set to flat +1), Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 65 S shaft

Hybrid: Ping G425 17˚, Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro Orange 80 S shaft

Irons 3-PW: Ping i525, True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 R300 shafts

Wedges: Ping Glide 4.0 50˚ and 54˚, 12˚ bounce, True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 R300 shafts

Putter: Ping Fetch 2021 model, 33in shaft (set flat 2)

Ball: Varies but mostly now TaylorMade Tour Response