Beau Desert is replete with perpendicular hazards, particularly cross-bunkers. At the second, a titanic par-4 that plays 458 yards along the crest of Cannock Chase, he coyly positioned one well short of the putting surface. It juts in from the left and appears to closely guard the green.

The same ruse is trotted out on No. 5: From the landing area on this spectacular, 418-yard dogleg left, one looks uphill and is convinced he must fly a mid- to long iron over a yawning, presumably green-fronting bunker, then quickly stop the ball on the green. Such a shot would be impossible, since Beau Desert plays appropriately hard and fast in the heathland tradition. What’s more, it’s not necessary, the cross-bunker being 30 yards shy of the putting surface.

Beau Desert’s greenside bunkers, deep and rugged-looking, complement the hugely pitched, severely undulating putting surfaces, which come in all shapes and sizes. The 263-yard, par-4 ninth, for example, is driveable, in theory. But the green is so small and severely canted right-to-left that approaching it with a sand wedge is harrowing enough. At nearly 10,000 square feet, the 18th green is one of the largest in England and full of cunning movement.

The par-3s at Beau Desert are all strong. Yet the best one, the seventh, is only 167 yards and it’s the longest of the one-shotters. This helps explain why the par-70 course reaches just 6,310 yards from the tips. Some might find fault with that relatively short measurement, but length has little do with the challenge here. The trick is negotiating the slick, difficult greens and keeping the ball out of the ubiquitous rough areas, a roiling sea of hillocks and hollows covered with heather, bracken and knee-high native grasses—no small task in Beau Desert’s ever-present wind, as Darwin made clear.

The R&A held British Open qualifying here for 17 consecutive years, ending in 2000. Club secretary John Bradbury notes that many players have preferred Beau Desert as a qualifying site “because they knew good golf would be rewarded. In other words, it was possible to qualify and still be over par.”