It’s no shock that the picturesque settings for lots of the UK’s greatest golf programs are additionally residence to some great fishing lakes. Each pursuits lend themselves to serving our thirst for contemporary air, light competitors, and a second of calm. Legends like Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, and Phil Mickelson have all spoken of their pleasure of fishing, whereas 2025’s Open Championship winner Scottie Scheffler even owns his personal angling group, the Texas Lone Stars.
More and more, golfers are looking out for combining that zeal for the green and the riverbank. For these on the lookout for essentially the most difficult programs – those who have hosted main skilled PGA occasions – there are a handful that stand out within the UK.
Warwickshire’s The Belfry, which has hosted the Ryder Cup 4 occasions, has the Belfry Coarse Fishery shut by. The Forest of Arden, which held the English Open quite a few occasions within the Nineteen Nineties, has its personal lakes, whereas the Formby Corridor Golf Resort, a cease on the Problem Tour, is a 20-minute drive from the fishing lakes of the Mersey Valley Golf and Nation Membership.
However above all these, one course deserves the highlight. Bowood Golf Course in Wiltshire boasts each a championship-standard PGA course and really elite angling alternatives.
Combining Championship Golf and Elite Angling at Bowood
Because the Official PGA Golf Course and Academy for the South West, this Wiltshire gem provides a Dave Thomas-designed par-72 structure that has turn out to be a staple of the skilled circuit. It most just lately hosted the English PGA Championship for the sixth time in 2025 when Ashley Mansell triumphed.
Stretching throughout 2,000 acres of meticulously sculpted parkland, the course is a masterclass in risk-reward design, that includes USGA-standard greens that stay pristine even within the unpredictable British climate.
The attractive course, its gorgeous panorama famously sculpted by Lancelot “Functionality” Brown, invitations golfers to get pleasure from highlights such because the third gap’s Cascades or the daunting downhill tee-shot of the seventeenth Queenwood. Everpresent are the property’s 26 lakes and ponds, and for these seeking to swap their 7-iron for a rod, Bowood supplies two distinct, world-class fishing lakes.
The attraction of the property’s angling providing has by no means been extra distinguished. This resurgence of curiosity isn’t only a native phenomenon; it mirrors an enormous nationwide pattern which has pushed the worth of the UK fishing trade over £3 billion yearly. Cleaner rivers and more healthy fish shares have pushed this progress, whereas reputation has been bolstered by larger visibility in all the things from style to leisure.
The rugged, out of doors put on of Anglercore has grown in prominence, whereas the BBC’s Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing has gained a loyal fanbase and just lately broadcast its eighth sequence to additional vital acclaim. On-line, fishing-themed slots, together with Massive Bass Splash and Massive Bass Bonanza, have turn out to be standard amongst immediate win gaming gamers, and influencers, corresponding to urban-fishing content material creator Snagged Bro, have amassed enormous YouTube followings.
As at this time’s golfers search each the water and the inexperienced, Bowood Lake provides premier coarse fishing from 24 levels, the place anglers can goal bream, tench and golden rudd in a setting that when hosted the searching events of Edward of Woodstock, the eldest son of Edward III. For the fly-fishing purist, the secluded Calstone Lake – a crystal-clear chalk stream lake on the supply of the River Marden – supplies a extremely sought-after syndicate expertise for each brown and rainbow trout.
Fairways and Fishing
Whether or not you’re navigating the monstrous 7,300-yard championship course or casting for tench, Bowood provides a uncommon synergy {of professional} status and tranquil escape. In an period the place the green and the riverbank have by no means been extra linked, it stays the UK’s gold commonplace.
