Beau Desert

Overview: Beau Desert is an eighteen-hole heathland course at Hazel Slade on the edge of Cannock Chase. The name means beautiful wilderness, and the setting explains why the course feels more open and untamed than a conventional parkland layout. Herbert Fowler used the rolling ground, heather and mature trees to create fairways that move across the site rather than following a simple outward-and-back pattern. At 6,458 yards and par 70, the course is demanding because of its changes in level and the way its greens sit on natural plateaus, not because it relies on extreme length. The wide corridors can invite an ambitious line, but the terrain quickly exposes a poor angle or an imprecise approach. Beau Desert's identity is tied to the Cannock Chase landscape, where exposed heath, woodland pockets and rising ground produce a varied round in the Midlands.

History: The course was designed by Herbert Fowler and opened in 1911, according to the planning record for the club's site. It was created on land associated with the former Beau Desert estate, giving the name and the setting a direct connection to local history. Fowler's design is unusual in its routing: the course was conceived as one continuous eighteen-hole loop rather than returning to the clubhouse after the ninth. That decision affects the rhythm of the round and helps preserve the sense of moving through a single landscape. Beau Desert remains a private club with a route for invited or arranged play, rather than an open municipal course.

Did You Know? Beau Desert was designed as one continuous loop of eighteen holes, so the ninth green does not bring the golfer back to the clubhouse. The planning record notes that the ninth sits on a small plateau, a detail that helps explain both the routing choice and the elevated feel of the middle of the round.