The 8th hole of the Church Course at St Enodoc Golf Club, Cornwall
Golf Tour Operator, Golf South West (SWPL), has announced its busiest year to date with the specialist golf tour operator driving a record number of visitors to the renowned St Enodoc Golf Club in north Cornwall.
The Bristol-based company has booked in over 600 golfers comprising over 90 groups this year alongside confirmed bookings in place for 2026 to the region’s number one golf course in 2025.
Moreover, since the inception of the SWPL, international bookings to the south west of England have increased just over 300% year on year, with overseas bookings now accounting for over 10% of the visitors.
“St Enodoc has been delighted to welcome so many golfers to our club this year”, comments George Tunbridge, general manager at St Enodoc Golf Club. “This region has so much to offer in addition its fantastic golf courses; excellent seafood restaurants, a rising number of well-appointed hotels, great scenery, quaint villages and golden beaches to name just a handful of the attractions of Cornwall.
“Testament to the quality of our course, there has always been interest from the international market but thanks to all the promotional work that Golf South West has carried out, we are now seeing more and more golfers from overseas enjoying the St Enodoc experience and then spreading the word about what fabulous destinations Cornwall and the south west are for golf.”
As the jewel in the crown of golf tours to this part of the country, St Enodoc is included in around 85% of all Cornish tours booked, demonstrating what a huge pull the James Braid-designed layout is for the region thanks to its excellent position in a range of golf course rankings and its well-earned reputation in the world of golf.
Whilst the majority of these international visitors are American, golfers from Australia and Denmark feature highly, something that has been achieved by Golf South West by hosting a number of international tour operators from these countries.
“Riding on the successful familiarisation trips we have organised recently, we hope to bring over another eight operators next year in May and we have organised two content production visits, one from Chicago that took place in early October and the next one which will happen in April 2026,” comments Sam Bray, managing director of Golf South West.
Domestically Golf South West has also been working on producing a whole range of content, not only on the Church Course at St Enodoc but on a number of other courses with content partner, Huxley.
The operator has also partnered with a large and growing brand in the golf space, MANORS Golf, which recently completed filming at both St Enodoc and Perranporth Golf Clubs.
“Since rebranding the collective of West Country championship links courses as Southwest Premier Links, we have seen a marked rise in interest from international partners keen to send clients to the region.
“With top quality courses such as St Enodoc, Royal Porthcawl, and Saunton East now recognised within the World Top 100, Burnham & Berrow now a Final Open Qualifying venue, Royal North Devon celebrated as the oldest course in England and the ‘St Andrews of the South’, and Perranporth quickly climbing the rankings, the calibre of golf here can compete with anywhere globally.
“The challenge has simply been making these courses, along with hotels and transport, more accessible to overseas operators. This has been achieved by working collaboratively with the clubs, leading regional hotels such as Cadbury House, The Headland, and the Brend Hotel Group, as well as industry partners like Golf Tourism England, and in just 12 months, we have significantly raised both the profile and accessibility of the region. As a result, an international network of outbound operators is now actively promoting the south west as a genuine alternative to the more established UK golfing destinations of Scotland, Southport and Kent as well as Ireland.”
St Enodoc, established back in 1890, was recently awarded 49th position in Top 100 Golf Courses’ World Top 100 course ranking, describing the revered Church Course as ‘a quixotic and rather hilly links course, set amidst towering sand dunes clad with tufts of wild sea grasses’.
The club is also home to the Holywell Course, a shorter and less challenging layout compared to the main course so ideal for juniors, beginners and higher-handicap golfers. It is also popular with holiday makers as a full 18 takes under three hours to go around.
For more information on St Enodoc Golf Club, visit www.st-enodoc.co.uk
