The sleepy hamlets of Piltdown in East Sussex became famous the world over in 1912 when amateur archaeologist, Charles Dawson, claimed to have found a 500,000-year-old skull, which proved the missing link between ape and man. Forty years later, it was established that the skull was an ingenious combination of a human cranium and an ape’s jaw.

Piltdown Golf Club was established in 1904, long before the Piltdown Man hoax was finally exposed. The club’s origins started with a German aristocrat, Count Alexander Münster, who wanted a course to rival  Royal Ashdown Forest so he could tempt his visiting golfing friends and relatives to stay and play locally rather than heading to the seaside links.

Just like its neighbour on the other side of Ashdown Forest, Piltdown Golf Club is bunkerless, and the absence of sand traps somehow plays trickery with distances – ranges look longer than they really are. Today’s course measures only 6,055 yards from the back tees, so it’s not long on paper by modern standards. However, with six par fours measuring more than 400 yards and a lowly par of 68 (there’s only one par five at #2 for men), Piltdown is absolutely no pushover.

Founded in 1888, Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club is a traditional members’ golf club set in the heart of the Ashdown Forest. One of the things that golf lovers most appreciate about playing here is that so little has changed over the club’s 130 year history. Heather, humps, hollows, pools and streams remain nature’s defence against shooting a low score. The stunning heathland layout of the Old Course is currently rated (2025) in the Golf World Top 100 Golf Courses in GB&I.