The Staysure Legends Tour has added a prodigious new venue to its schedule, as Chart Hills Golf Club prepares to host the 2026 English Legends event.
The event, hosted last year at Brocket Hall, where Steve Webster claimed his maiden Legends victory, is scheduled for the latter part of August.
After competing in the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship at the Trump International Golf Links earlier in the month, the golfers can then enjoy a couple of weeks rest and preparation before heading to Chart Hills on the 28th of August.
Golf Today took a trip down to the heart of Kent to chat to those involved in the event, and to get a feel for the challenge that will be laid out for some of the best golfers of yesteryear.
A Signature Faldo Design
As you drive in to Chart Hills Golf Club, you immediately get a sense for the scale of the property. A 300-yard turfed driving range, alongside a vast putting green and specialist chipping areas, provide the perfect outdoor practice facilities. Not to mention the six-hole par-3 course and the cutting-edge simulator.
The clubhouse looks out to a number of holes on the impressive parkland course, rolling out to around 7,100 yards from the back tees, with a daunting slope rating of 153.
The Par-72 is perhaps best known for its design by Sir Nick Faldo, back in 1993 – and to this day remains the only Signature Faldo Design course in Europe.
Characterised by fiendishly difficult bunkers and large sloping fairways, the course provides the perfect challenge for the Legends Tour golfers, calling for unwavering precision and a resolute strategy all the way round.
The deadly ‘Anaconda’
Having originally held a grand total of 138 bunkers upon conception, recent renovation have mercifully reduced this tally to 98 – still frightening, but definitely more manageable.
Of these 98 bunkers, one stands head and shoulders above the rest.
The ‘Anaconda’, situated on the 5th fairway, is one of the longest bunkers in Europe – and equally as penal. Winding snakelike across the fairway of the par-5, the ‘Anaconda’ just adds to the idiosyncrasies of the course and provides an entertaining strategic challenge to the golfers.
The par-3 seventeenth will also provide engaging viewing for the event: a short iron into a challenging island green, which – as with the 17 other greens – has been maintained to perfection.
Benn Barham, a two-time HotelPlanner Tour winner who is set to host the Wednesday Pro-Am before the tournament gets underway, maintains an undying love for Chart Hills – a course that played a significant part in his career.
Speaking at the event’s media day, Barham’s passion and pride for the course shone through: “When I joined (Chart Hills) as a member of staff, I won the Kent Amateur Championship here in 1996. I used Chart Hills not only as a workplace, but also as a place to practice, a place to play”.
‘You’ve got to hit the ball in the right place’
Barham’s connection with the club runs deep, and his knowledge of the golf course is almost unparalleled.
“I think they’re going to love it”, the 50-year-old began when discussing the course’s allure to the arriving Legends Tour. “It’s long enough to be a test, and in certain places it’s very strategic. You’ve got to hit the ball in the right place. The condition will be beautiful.”
David Howell, the Ryder Cup star, BMW PGA winner and Sky Sports presenter, will be swapping his commentator’s microphone for a driver come the first tee at the English Legends – and the golfing icon is more than happy to be back on the course.
“I’m certainly as happy as anywhere in the world when I’m at a Legends Tour event on the range, surrounded by friends and colleagues – it’s a really wonderful place to be.”
“Playing in a Staysure Legends Tour event is the greatest amateur experience in golf… sharing fairways, conversations and experiences with some of the biggest names in the game”.
The field
While the field for the 2026 English Legends event is yet to be confirmed, it is expected that a number of Ryder Cup legends, Major Champions, and Tour winners will be teeing it up at Chart Hills.
Eight-time Order of Merit winner Colin Montgomerie, Open Champion Paul Lawrie, and US Open winner Michael Campbell are rumoured to make an appearance – alongside the likes of Paul McGinley, Stephen Gallacher, Jamie Donaldson, and Joakim Haeggman.
Both Barham and Howell will also appear in the event, with the former excited and nervous to arrive ‘full circle’ back to the club that played such a large role in the formative stage of his career.
“The moment you step on that first tee, it all comes back, your competitive juices flow and every shot counts as you’re there to kind of shoot the lowest score possible”, Barham admitted in the Chart Hills clubhouse, overlooking an imposing first tee shot into the opening par-5.
With six events across five countries still to play before we arrive at the English Legends Event, the Legends Tour continues to roll forward.
But as the 28th of August approaches, the rough will begin to thicken and the greens will start to pick up even greater pace. Chart Hills Golf Club is poised to host a memorable event for the Staysure Legends Tour.
Put simply by Howell: “It’s unique, it’s exceptional. You’re going to have a great day. I suggest that you come.”
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Hector Vickers
Hector is a freelance sports journalist with experience in both print and broadcast journalism. His main body of work comes from following the England men’s cricket team around the world, working with some of the top pundits in the game, whilst interviewing players and reporting on high-profile matches. His long-term infatuation with golf led him to St Andrews last summer, where he spent a month working as a caddy at Kingsbarns Golf Links, studying the tricks of the trade in links golf. He is beginning his golf journalism career as a Contributor for Golf Today, heading back to St Andrews and Kingsbarns to cover the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.