Blackwell Golf Club

Blackwell Golf Club sits south-west of Birmingham and it's an easy one to slot into a Midlands golf break. You're about ten minutes from Junction 1 of the M42 and Junction 4 of the M5, with Birmingham Airport roughly half an hour away by car, handy if you've got mates flying in or you're building a short tour with minimal faff.

The club's story starts in 1893 with a simple 9-hole course, before Tom Simpson and Herbert Fowler reworked it in 1923 into the layout played today. If you're a bit of a golf architecture geek (I'll admit, I am), those are two names that tend to get your attention. Their designs usually reward a clear plan from the tee, with angles that matter and bunkering that's there to catch a lazy line rather than just look pretty.

Out on the course, the interest comes from the way the holes sit on the land. You'll find plenty of variety in direction and length, so it doesn't feel like the same shot on repeat, and the better you place the ball the more options you give yourself into the greens. Simpson and Fowler understood how to use natural contours to make golfers think, and that approach still shapes the round more than a century later.

The routing asks you to plot your way around rather than simply overpower it, with enough shifts in hole character to keep things interesting from the first tee to the eighteenth green. If you're based around Birmingham, or you're putting together a couple of rounds in the region, Blackwell offers that nice mix of proper history and a layout that still holds up today.

Who is this for?

Golfers planning a Midlands break who want a historic club with straightforward motorway access and a course that makes you think.

Who is it best for?

Players who enjoy classic design and don't mind plotting their way round, plus groups building a short tour around quality courses near Birmingham.