Argyll & Bute

Scotland

Situated between the village of Craighouse and the slipway at Feolin Ferry on the southern shores of Jura, the Ardfin Estate extends to eleven and a half thousand acres, encompassing around ten miles of coastline that stretches out along the south side of the island.

In 2010, retired Australian hedge fund manager Greg Coffey purchased the property from the Riley-Smith family (brewers from Tadcaster in Yorkshire) and immediately set about implementing an ambitious plan to upgrade Ardfin’s infrastructure.

The dilapidated C-listed Jura House has now been restored to its former glory, old disused outbuildings have been totally refurbished and transformed into modern guest accommodation and – more importantly for golfers – a brand new 18-hole course has been constructed.

Bob Harrison, former lead architect for Greg Norman’s design company (who has a string of courses currently ranked inside our Australian Top 100) mapped out the 18-hole layout overlooking the Sound of Jura and it was built by Irish contractor SOL.

Occupying a mainly cliff top location on either side of Jura House, the course is routed across a rugged landscape of peat and rocks, where large quantities of unsuitable material had to be dug out and replaced with soil mined from other areas on the estate.

Dry stone dykes were repaired, extended and brought into play, making them an integral part of the playing strategy on several holes. Sand and gravel was shipped in by barge from Northern Ireland and turf for tees, greens and surrounds was imported from Yorkshire.

The scale of the build would have been off putting for most construction firms but SOL is obviously made of far sterner stuff, having successfully delivered challenging projects to great acclaim in recent times at both Trump golf facilities on the Scottish mainland.

There are only three short holes on the card and they’re all spectacular: the 2nd and 10th require heroic carries from tee to green across the edge of the cliffs and the 12th plays out along the beach, beside the old boat house which has been converted into a half-way house.

Last word goes to architect Bob Harrison, who had this to say about Ardfin: “I am convinced that it is one of the most beautiful and spectacular courses in the world, and the question then becomes whether I have given the holes the interest and strategic merit they deserve.”

The impressive new 18-hole course takes shape on the Isle of Jura’s Ardfin Estate

Ardfin

Britain & Ireland

Occupying a mainly cliff top location on either side of Jura House, the Ardfin Estate golf course is routed across a rugged landscape of peat and rocks...

New South Wales

Australia

Brighton Lakes Recreation & Golf Club (formerly New Brighton Golf Club) has had its course altered twice in modern times due to road works and housing developments and on both occasions architect Bob Harrison has stepped in to reconfigure a new 18-hole layout for the club.

In the most recent undertaking, seven new holes were introduced (#4 to #10) on land to the south of a highway that runs through the property. These holes were constructed on a flood plain beside the Georges River which borders the east side of the club. Holes #1 and #17 were also extensively modified, along with the development of a water-laden par three 18th next an enormous new clubhouse.

Highlights now include the sharply left doglegging par five 7th (doglegging left past intimidating water hazards to the green); the par three 10th (played across more water to a heart-shaped green); and the par four 17th, where the fairway crosses a meandering creek on its way to a green that sits behind a protecting front bunker.

Brighton Lakes

Oceania

Queensland

The course at Brookwater Golf Club has become quite a talking point in its few short years of existence. It is essentially a public course and therefore receives a very good airing with the golfing public. The word from the golfing vox populi is that it is a very tough test, too tough some say.

Brookwater has been carved out of native eucalyptus forest on rolling land. Some more exuberant reviewers have called it Queensland’s answer to Augusta National. Even if it isn’t quite the dogwood and azalea lined glory of America’s South, the presence of the eucalyptus closely hugging the fairways certainly renders a unique atmosphere, particularly in the earlier holes where no sign of residential development is visible.

The Greg Norman and Bob Harrison design has been executed very well. The holes sit comfortably in the land without anything seeming too forced. The course is laid out as two circuits of nine, the front nine in an anti-clockwise direction and the back nine clockwise. No two fairways run parallel and with the ubiquitous eucalyptus cover you have a nice feeling of isolation.

For the vast majority of us who have only a vague idea as to how the ball will leave the driver face, there is a requirement to plot your way around this course. I found that the best way to do this is to gauge the widest point on the fairway and club to that point. By making some allowance for miss-hits, you lessen the risk of becoming a red-faced woodsman. By following this strategy, the longer hitter will find the driver superfluous on most of the par fours.

The Finest Golf Courses of Asia and Australasia

 by James Spence. Reproduced with kind permission.

In 2017, fifteen years after Brookwater first opened for play, Greg Norman Golf Course Design completed a course renovation, which included strategic design changes to greens, fairways and bunkers.


Brookwater

The course at Brookwater Golf Club has become quite a talking point in its few short years of existence. It is essentially a public course and therefore receives a good airing with the golfing public.

The Castle Hill Country Club in the northwest Sydney suburb of Baulkham Hills lies a 40-minute drive from the centre of the Harbour City and the 18-hole layout here is a high calibre private member's course, designed in 1951 by Eric Apperly.

Set out on a rolling 167-acre site that measures 6,805 yards from the back markers, this well manicured course plays to a par of 72 with holes routed in two returning loops of nine. Water hazards come into play either off the tee or around the green on a number of holes and there are more than 60 bunkers in various shapes and sizes sprinkled around the course.

The par three 2nd hole – with water to the right, sand and out of bounds to the left – is a challenging hole played early in the round. The short par four 6th is another tough hole – despite a benign stroke index – where the green is protected by sand to the front and water to the back of the putting surface.

On the back nine, “Waterfall,” the 187-yard 11th is a very picturesque short hole but the signature par five 18th is probably the hole that remains in the memory of many. With water threatening the first two shots on the final hole, a good round can easily come to grief here.

The club embarked on a renovation programme in the summer of 2018, with architect Bob Harrison overseeing remedial work that included the rebuilding of bunkers with a bitumen-like layer, the construction of three new greens and the installation of a creek system to assist with course drainage.

Castle Hill

The Castle Hill Country Club lies in the northwest Sydney suburb of Baulkham Hills and the 18-hole layout here is a high calibre private member's course...

Ellerston is the course that Greg Norman built for the flamboyant Australian media magnate Kerry Packer, the country's richest man, who sadly died in December 2005 at the age of 68. The course is undoubtedly impressive and one of the best courses in Australia. It even crashed onto our World Top 100 in 2016. But how would regular golfers know how good this course actually is? Only the lucky few have enjoyed the honour at Ellerston and the course remains largely the private preserve of the Packer family.

This is what Greg Norman had to say about his creation, which opened in 2001: “For me Ellerston was a very special project. It had taken me more than ten years to convince my good friend and passionate golfer, Kerry Packer, that he should build his own golf course and when the decision was finally made, he ensured the brief was unique. Create the best golf course possible with as few tees as possible, in other words, build a golf course that penalises poor shots, makes the golfer think and play hard. He got all that plus more.”

If you’ve played Ellerston, we’d welcome your thoughts… but dare you be honest? We’d love you to write a review, come on, be brave.

Ellerston also has an Argentinean little sister called Ellerstina, which is a unique and innovative design set in the heart of a world-famous private polo ranch to the west of downtown Buenos Aires.


Ellerston

Ellerston is the course that Greg Norman built for the flamboyant Australian media magnate Kerry Packer, the country's richest man, who sadly died in December 2005 at the age of 68.

Situated high on the hills above Narrabeen, to the north of Sydney, Monash Country Club was established just after World War II by members of a Jewish Social Golf Club who had regularly played events over a number of local courses since the early 1930s.

A property was found and purchased at Narabeen Heights, close to Elanora Country Club, with construction of the course taking place between 1948 and 1952. Although owned and operated by a Jewish holding company, membership would never be based on race, creed, colour or religion – instead, it was based solely on a person’s self-worth, character and good standing.

Named after Lieutenant General Sir John Monash, Australia's greatest military commander who fought in Belgium and France during the Great War, Monash suffered an early setback when a bush fire gutted the clubhouse in 1957 but a new building was in place within two years and the club has never looked back since.

In the new millennium, both Bob Harrison and James Wilcher have carried out renovation work on the course. Harrison replaced greens on holes 2, 3, 8 and 11 in 2014 then Wilcher reworked bunkers on the 16th and remodelled the home green in 2017. Plans are in place to reconfigure the 12th, 13th and 14th holes but approval for this work is outstanding.

The Australian PGA Championship has been staged twice at Monash: in 1964 when Colin Johnston defended his title (winning the inaugural stroke play edition of the tournament) then in 1984, when Greg Norman claimed the first of his back-to-back victories in this event.

Monash

Laid out within a bushland setting in the hills above Narrabeen, the course at Monash Country Club is named after Sir John Monash, a famous military commander in World War I, and it has recently been renovated by Bob Harrison and James Wilcher.

Victoria

The National Golf Club is Australia’s largest private golf club and it’s situated in two locations, downtown Frankston North and Cape Schanck on the dramatically undulating and beautifully sandy seaside land of Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.

There’s no shortage of golf to be played at The National Golf Club's Mornington site, with three courses to choose from… the Old, the Gunnamatta (formerly called the Ocean) and the Moonah. All three courses appear in Australia’s Top 50 but if you only have the chance to play one round at The National Golf Club, make sure it’s on the Moonah course, which was designed by Greg Norman and Bob Harrison.

The Mornington Peninsula could easily be one long stretch of golf holes and it must have been a challenge for the architects to decide on their routing plan. The rolling topography is perfectly suited to golf but the property is irregularly shaped which no doubt made the routing even trickier. The links-like land pitches and rolls across swales and hollows in a most pleasing manner, but when the fickle prevailing winds are up, hold on to your hat and ignore your scorecard.

You’ll need good mastery of the low bump-and-run shot to get close to the pin on the Moonah’s raised, but open-fronted greens. This is a very traditional course with outstanding bunkering and you’ll need the old-fashioned game to score well here at the fabulous National Moonah. If the club could somehow assemble a stronger collection of one-shot holes, we think the raw and memorable Moonah would warrant permanent inclusion in the World Top 100.

In 2015, the members of Long Island Country Club and The National Golf Club voted in favour of a merger to create the first 72-hole private golf club in Australia. Club members can now enjoy full playing rights across four Top 100 ranked courses.


National (Moonah)

The Mornington Peninsula could easily be one long stretch of golf holes and it must have been a challenge for the architects to decide on their routing plan for The National Golf Club's Moonah course.

Greg Norman designed the 18-hole course at Pelican Waters Golf Club which opened in 2000. His Greg Norman Golf Course Design company are one of the leading lights in modern golf course architecture and they have certainly created one of the best Australian courses to emerge in recent times. This was their first design on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland and many consider it to be one of their finest.

Situated in the Golden Beach area near Caloundra, Pelican Waters lies on relatively flat land with creeks coming into play at nearly every hole so bring plenty of golf balls if your driving or approach play is a little wayward as you will be suitably punished!

The course is laid out in two loops of nine and apart from the aforementioned water hazards, there are nearly one hundred bunkers – some absolutely enormous – to further complicate matters on the fairway landing areas and greenside.

The pick of the holes on the front nine is the 349-yard, par four, 5th hole – “The Passage” – with water down the left of the fairway which then cuts across the front of the putting surface, effectively creating an island green. The 160-yard, par three, 14th hole (“Wetlands”) is the feature hole on the inward half with water, again, on the left and a huge bunker – like a beach – running next to the putting surface.

Pelican Waters do have members but the general public are welcome to pay and play here, making full use of the clubhouse, driving range and golf shop as well as the course.

Pelican Waters

Situated in the Golden Beach area near Caloundra, Pelican Waters Golf Club lies on relatively flat land with creeks coming into play at nearly every hole...

Java

Indonesia

Riverside Golf Club is located on the opposite side of the Cikeas River and the Jagorawi Toll Road to the Arnold Palmer-designed course at nearby Emeralda Golf Club. Designed in 1995 by Bob Harrison, Greg Norman’s lead architect, Riverside Golf Club, along with the now closed layout at Nirwana Bali, is yet another creation whereby the headline architect receives the praise.

It’s hard to argue with the marketing billing, which states that the layout provides “an adrenaline-charged ride in a setting of lush natural greenery.” In fact, it may be an understatement.

Routed through the serene hills of Jakarta's countryside, with rainforest wrapping around each hole, the layout traverses streams, valleys, waterfalls and even rice fields on its 6,846-yard journey from the first tee to the home green.

The longer and narrower outward nine, despite three par fives on the card, is a tough test where both length and accuracy will be rewarded. Short holes often play dramatically and whimsically over valleys where it’s hard not to grin when standing on these exciting tee boxes.

Riverside is a fun course, and although it will never compete with Norman and Harrison’s finest homeland designs, it’s a course worth seeking out if you find yourself in Jakarta with time on your hands.

Riverside Golf Club

Asia

Designed by Greg Norman and Bob Harrison, the course at Riverside Golf Club is set out within an expansive 220-acre site close to the Cikeas River in the province of West Java.

Located an hour’s drive northwest of downtown Sydney and currently operated by the Nanshan Group, the upscale 36-hole Riverside Oaks Golf Resort occupies a 600-acre property overlooking the Hawkesbury River, adjacent to the heavily forested Cattai National Park.

The Bungool course opened in 2014 and it’s split into two distinct sections: Holes 1-7 plus 17 and 18 (which formed the initial 9-hole layout) have the river in full view, whilst holes 8 to 16 are laid out on more undulating, wooded terrain, with frequent direction changes to the fairway routing.

Measuring 6,305 metres, the layout is almost the same length as the older 

 that was in use when the resort was first established in the late 1980s. Interestingly, the newer 18-hole course contains only three par threes and three par fives on the card, with all the three-shot holes played in a six-hole mid-round stretch.

Architect Harrison described the Bungool site as having many “natural advantages,” which “made it possible to develop an outstanding golf course for a comparatively very low cost. The landscape is beautiful and spectacular in places but has a certain ruggedness to it as well.”

Harrison continued: “This ruggedness suggests a style for bunkers which is still oriented to attractive patterns of shape in the bunker faces – but without pristine edges or finishes. The bunkers have a certain wildness which fits the overall appearance of the course.”

Riverside Oaks (Bungool)

The upscale 36-hole Riverside Oaks Golf Resort occupies a 600-acre property overlooking the Hawkesbury River, adjacent to the heavily forested Cattai National Park.

The Sanctuary Lakes Resort is situated in the Point Cook district of Melbourne and it’s a grand scale residential golf project set out on property that was formerly used to produce salt commercially. The site extends to over 2,000 acres and half of that area – Cheetham Wetlands – is now designated as a nature sanctuary with the remaining land used for the golf and housing development.

Constructed on a desolate tract of derelict land that many considered too problematic to develop, the links-like fairways at Sanctuary lakes extend to 150 acres and they were first used by the membership in 2000. Greg Norman and his lead architect Bob Harrison designed the course and their layout required the movement of more than a little earth to fashion 18 holes of interest on such a nondescript landscape.

As the Great White Shark says, “Sanctuary Lakes was situated on a salt mine on a dead flat piece of land. We had to convert the salt mine into a golf course and residential development so we came up with an ingenious way of building nine holes outside the mine and the other nine along the saltwater marsh. As the members play the course, they are treated to a dramatic change in the environment.”

Many golfers rate the two par threes on the front nine very highly with both short holes played to water-protected greens. On the back nine, two par fours stand out. The 13th is a tough hole that fully warrants a stoke index rating of 2 and the 445-yard 18th – while lacking fairway bunkers – has its island green virtually encircled by sand. Unsurprisingly, a score of five here will feel like a par.

Sanctuary Lakes

The Sanctuary Lakes Resort is situated in the Point Cook district of Melbourne and it’s a grand scale residential golf project set out on property that was formerly used to produce salt commercially.

Constructed by Medallist Developments, Stonecutters Ridge has the distinction of being the first Greg Norman-badged course to debut in Sydney and it finally opened its doors to golfers in September 2012, after almost five years of permitting and building delays.

Set out on what was formerly a chicken farm, the 18-hole layout is the centerpiece of a large residential development – with fairways configured in the shape of a large figure of eight – where a number of holes occupy an area close to Eastern Creek.

Wetland areas dominate the opening holes and short par fours at the 4th and 5th catch the eye on this stretch of holes. The 8th is probably the most attractive hole on the front nine but avoid at all costs the sand bunkers and imported vegetation on the inside of the dogleg, where the fairway veers right towards the green.

Back-to-back par threes at 16 and 17 are the most noteworthy holes on the back nine. The first of these short holes plays to a green protected by water to the left and sand to the right and it’s followed at the 151-metre 17th where a precision tee shot to a more heavily contoured putting surface is required.

Stonecutters Ridge

Stonecutters Ridge Golf Club holds the distinction of being the first Greg Norman-badged course to debut in Sydney and it finally opened its doors to golfers in 2012, after almost five years of permitting and building delays.

This Greg Norman-designed course at The Glades Golf and Spa opened in 2000 and is considered to be one of the Great White Shark’s better golfing projects. Located just off the Gold Coast in the southern end of Queensland, the course is laid out in a valley between Robina and Mudgeeraba and the natural wetlands within the property have been preserved as a wildlife sanctuary.

Measuring over 7,000 yards in length, it is a challenging course with a par of 72. As there are almost a hundred bunkers in play, you will do very well to avoid them all during a round here. Other hazards, in the shape of ponds or creeks, come into play at several holes and the 162-yard, par three, 17th hole, in particular, is played over a large expanse of water to a narrow, island-like putting surface.

Back-to-back par fives are punishing on any course but the Glades course has them on both the front and the back nine! The 517-yard 6th hole is immediately followed by the monster 578-yard 7th (with water all the way down the right of the fairway) and a pair of pars on the card here is good going. Likewise, the 528-yard 11th hole precedes the even tougher 541-yard 12th which is not only longer but more intimidating too.

At the signature hole, the 190-yard par three, 5th hole, the tee shot must carry an enormous area of wetland and a huge 80-yard bunker to reach a green with a large swale and small pot bunker to the right.

Glades Golf Club have agreements with local hotels in regard to stay and play facilities so you do not have to travel too far to get to the first tee in the morning!


The Glades

This Greg Norman designed course at The Glades Golf and Spa opened in 2000 and is considered to be one of the Great White Shark’s better golfing projects.

The Greg Norman-designed course at the Grand Golf Club started out as an 18-hole layout for the Gilston Golf Club in 1990 but its Japanese owners had spent so much on construction that, within days of opening, the course was closed due to a severe and ultimately terminal cash flow problem.

And so, incredibly, this sleeping beauty lay dormant for the next six years until a consortium of Gold Coast businessmen – in the shape of Grand Investments Australia Limited – purchased the site and embarked on the refurbishment of a course that had literally gone to seed.

Greg Norman’s design company was approached again to reshape and rework everything from tees, fairways and bunkers to greens with the result that eighteen months later, in October 1997, the Grand was formally re-opened as a private members course – talk about a phoenix rising from the ashes!

Within a further four years, the rebirth of the course was complete when the Grand Golf Club hosted the 2001 Australian Open. Now imagine scripting that as a golf story ten years before – you would have been laughed at for dreaming up such an extraordinary tale!

The toughest hole on the outward half is the 452-yard, par four, 9th which plays from an elevated tee to a narrow fairway with sand left and a large tree right of the landing area. Water protects the front and there are two large bunkers at the back of the largest putting surface on the course.

The 413-yard, par four, 13th on the back nine is split in two by a fairway bunker. Trees must also be negotiated further along in the middle of the fairway before it doglegs slightly right to a tricky green where a four on the card is an excellent score.

The Grand Golf Club

The Greg Norman-designed course at The Grand Golf Club started out as the Gilston Golf Club in 1990 and its rebirth was complete when the club hosted the 2001 Australian Open.

Part of a huge residential development of nearly 500 homes built by Medallist Developments and Stevens Group, The Vintage course is one of five Australian courses run by the American company, Troon Golf Management.

The course at Vintage Golf Club borders the Beggars Bridge and Bimbadgen vineyards in the fertile Hunter Valley, near Cessnock and opened in 2003. Measuring 6,940 yards, with a par of 71, this Greg Norman designed course is laid out over gently undulating countryside, incorporating all manner of natural features including ravines, creeks, ridges and wetlands.

The front nine play clockwise away from the clubhouse, made up of half a dozen strong par fours, a couple of interesting par threes and a demanding par five – the 565-yard 7th hole where vineyards and out of bounds run all the way down the left of the fairway. The tee shot has a large expanse of bush to carry uphill to the fairway then from the landing area at the top of the hill, the fairway runs downhill before rising again to a green perched on a ridge.

The back nine play anti-clockwise, completing the routing of a figure of eight. Starting with the mammoth 618-yard, par five, 10th hole – which plays to a green on the top of a small cliff at the far end of a lake – and concluding with the 411-yard, par four 18th hole – played to an undulating, heavily protected, raised green, these holes will test how well you can play to your handicap.

The Vintage

The course at Vintage Golf Club borders the Beggars Bridge and Bimbadgen vineyards in the fertile Hunter Valley, near Cessnock and opened in 2003.

Bob Harrison was educated at St Ignatius College in Sydney before graduating from the University of Sydney with a degree in Civil Engineering. His final year thesis was written about a golf-residential project for the Lend Lease Corporation and he spent more than a decade with that company on golf-residential work and commercial project management.

 Golf Course Design firm and for the following twenty years – until his departure in 2009 – he was the lead architect for all of the Great White Shark’s Asian and Australian golf course projects.

The first project Harrison completed was at The Grand, or Gilston Golf Club as it was originally called, in 1990. Not long after the 18-hole layout opened for play, it abruptly closed due to financial issues with the owners, so nobody saw the course until it was taken out of hibernation several years later.

Meanwhile, Bob was working in Asia: at Thana City Country Club outside Bangkok in Thailand; Shiragasi Golf Club near Kobe in Japan; and Nirwana Bali in Indonesia, which was one of the region’s most highly regarded golf facilities before it closed in 2017 for a complete renovation by Phil Mickelson’s design company.

Several Australian commissions all appeared within a very short space of time at the start of the new millennium for Harrison. Three of them debuted on either side of Brisbane – Pelican Waters to the north of the city, along with Sanctuary Cove and The Glades to the south.

Around the same time, the Moonah course at The National Golf Club on Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula debuted so the architect obviously indulged in a fair bit of ball juggling in those days whilst managing a number of commissions simultaneously – and with a geographical spread of almost two thousand kilometres.

Shortly after, Bob’s design for Kerry Packer on the family ranch at Ellerston in the Upper Hunter region of New South Wales was unveiled. It took a long time for this ultra-private track to make its mark in the golf magazine rankings – though it’s been listed in our Australian Top 10 since 2007 – and for it to be recognized as a genuine World Top 100 proposition.

Brookwater Golf & Country Club on the outskirts of Brisbane and The Vintage near Newcastle were next off the Harrison drawing board during a rather frenetic spell which resulted in seven courses opening for play inside four years. Things then settled down a little before Bob left to go it alone in 2009, though his design for Stonecutters Ridge in Sydney opened under the Greg Norman Golf Course Design banner three years after he parted company with his former employer.

When Greg Norman closed his Australian office a year later in 2010, Bob formed a new design partnership with Harley Kruse, who had previously worked with Brisbane-based 

 and from Greg Norman’s design office in Sydney, where he primarily looked after the company’s Asian projects.

Harley was the lead designer on courses like the Norman course at Mission Hills in China, Jade Palace in South Korea and the Dunes at Danang in Vietnam. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out and both architects agreed to go their separate ways after only a short time together.

Bob ventured overseas to Scotland in 2015, where he was asked by the Australian owner of the Ardfin estate on the island of Jura to lay out a course on a very difficult, but visually spectacular site composed largely of peat and rocks. Like Ellerston, not many golfers have managed to tee it up here but some who have think it may well be destined for global prominence.

More recent projects for the architect include remodelling almost half the holes at Newcastle Golf Club in New South Wales, redesigning the former 27-hole layout at Townsville Golf Club in Northern Queensland, fashioning nine new holes on flood-prone land for Brighton Lakes Golf Club and remodelling work at Castle Hill Country Club in Sydney.

Golf Australia: “An engaging and intriguing bloke, Harrison could probably be best summed up as an enigma. He is equal parts artist and engineer, dreamer and pragmatist. Harrison has an impressive portfolio of completed courses and a genuine appreciation of classic, strategic golf design.”

Planetgolf.com: “Working with Norman for so long gave Harrison access to some terrific course projects, and he responded by helping create a number of highly regarded Aussie layouts. Harrison’s best work, at places like The National Golf Club (Moonah Course), Ellerston, The Grand and Nirwana Bali, is very good.

Since leaving Greg Norman's company, Harrison has established his own private golf design business, offering the same high-quality design services but without the steep Norman signature fee. His most notable solo course is the spectacular Ardfin course in Scotland, on the remote island of Jura.”

Harissongolf.com.au: “Bob Harrison’s record over the last 30 years demonstrates his belief that golf courses should look as natural and as spectacular as possible, whether you are lucky enough to have land that is naturally beautiful and find the best collection of natural holes, or whether the land doesn’t work in your favour and the objective becomes to manufacture a natural overall shape to give the impression that the golf holes were laid out over it.

There is a practical side to modern golf architecture. Traditional sites were mostly natural and easy to construct. But earthmoving techniques and commercial objectives have led to some courses being built on land which is not naturally suitable. Artistic and strategic design skills are always paramount, but successful design sometimes combines these skills with the ability to plan projects so that golf and residential (or other) components all benefit.

Even before the idea became fashionable, Bob always believed in reducing the costly and environmentally difficult expanse of turfgrass to a minimum that still satisfies reasonable play for golfers. The contrast between turfgrass and the surrounding landscape is part of the appeal of every hole, as well as being good for the environment. Design should not become so rational that fun and inspiration are removed from the scene. You have to take some chances.”

"Since leaving Greg Norman's company, Harrison has established his own private golf design business, offering the same high-quality design services but without the steep Norman signature fee. His most notable solo course is the spectacular Ardfin course in Scotland, on the remote island of Jura.” Darius Oliver

Bob Harrison

Yorkshire

England

Ganton Golf Club played host to the 1949 Ryder Cup matches between the USA and Great Britain. Team Captains were Ben Hogan (US) and Charles Whitcombe (GB). The U.S. Non-playing Captain Ben Hogan raised a concern about the grooves on the clubs of some British players. A meeting was called with R&A Rules Official Bernard Darwin, who concurred that the clubs should be repaired to meet conforming standards. Despite the USA team being without three key players, Hogan’s side claimed victory after dominating the singles, USA 7 - GB 5. The Ryder Cup was played at 

To classify Ganton as a heathland course is a misnomer – one could just as easily categorise it as an inland links, as it’s situated in the rural Vale of Pickering, nine miles from the sea. This sandy, gently undulating site was once a North Sea inlet. Consequently, it has all the characteristics of a links and a heathland course. Either way, Ganton Golf Club is a perfect place to play golf.

The Scarborough Golf Club (as it was originally called) opened for play in 1891, laid out by St Andrews’ Tom Chisholm. The great Harry Vardon became the club’s pro in 1896, the same year he won his first Open title at 

. This immediately put Ganton on the map.

In 1905, Ted Ray, along with James Braid, J.H. Taylor and Vardon implemented major alterations to the layout. Harry Colt, Alister MacKenzie, Tom Simpson and C.K. Cotton made further changes over the next 50 years.

Ganton is surely one of the few inland courses in the British Isles good enough to hold an Open Championship. It would make a pleasant change to break with tradition and hold an Open somewhere inland. After all, Ganton is used to holding important competitions – it hosted the 1949 Ryder Cup, the 2000 Curtis Cup and the 2003 Walker Cup.

The bunkering is quite extraordinary, a real feature of the course. With over 100 cunningly placed bunkers, some of which are simply huge, both in breadth and in depth, whilst others are small. Only lucky (or very good golfers) will avoid the sand traps at Ganton. Bernard Darwin wrote in 

, that Ganton “possesses by far the vastest and generally most gorgeous bunker that is to be found, as far as I know, on any inland course. It is a huge pit of sand, with just the depths and shallows, the bays and promontories of the genuine seaside article. It is so large that, by its unaided efforts, it provides highly effective bunkering for the tee shots to the last two holes; and as regards its dimensions, I shall not be flattering it very grossly if I compare it to the bunker in front of the fifth tee at 

 (without the sea), you’ve got Ganton. Nearly 100 years ago, Bernard Darwin compared Ganton to being “a little like 

; and, generally speaking, it is the type of course that one would expect to find in Surrey rather than in Yorkshire.” Occupying open, windswept heathland, it’s a supreme thinking man’s and woman’s test of golf; the fast greens and firm fairways test the very best players. Various types of thick gorse, heather and broom highlight the course during the spring and summer months.

Three short par fours provide the opportunity of a game of risk and reward for the big hitters. A minor downside is the fact that there are only three par threes but the strength of the par fours more than compensates for this. The 4th hole, a 406-yard par four, requires a solid drive to a wide fairway before an undulating green sited on a raised plateau is unveiled. The approach shot must carry across a gully and avoid a canny bunker on the right-hand side of the green. From the raised 5th tee, a short 157-yard par three, you have a great view of the well-protected green. Only an arrow-straight tee shot will suffice. Stray to the left and you will be swallowed up by one of two bunkers, stray to the right and you'll be trapped by a huge curved bunker, which wraps itself around the entire right-hand side of the green.

Ganton is a friendly club that opens its doors warmly to visitors (providing you have a handicap). If you are a serious golfer and have never played here, we strongly recommend it.

Ganton

This sandy, gently undulating site was once a North Sea inlet. Consequently, Ganton Golf Club has all the characteristics of a links and a heathland course.

Lothians

Muirfield was the fourth course to stage the Open Championship and is the third most used Open venue (host to 16 Opens) after 

Muirfield is the course of “The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers” (HCEG), the world’s oldest golf club—according to direct written evidence—formed in 1744. In those days, the members played over Leith Links, originally a five-hole course. In March 1744, the first official rules of golf were drawn up by the “Gentlemen Golfers of Leith” in readiness for a tournament which was due to be played over Leith Links the following month. These original 13 rules became the basis for the game of golf and shortly afterwards, the HCEG was formed.

Almost 150 years later, in 1891, the course at Muirfield opened for play. Old Tom Morris designed it, originally as a 16-holer. A further two holes were added a few months later. In 1923, another 50 acres were purchased to the north of the course. Harry Colt was engaged to redesign the layout and he introduced fourteen new holes, forming the course that remains in place today. Apart from Tom Simpson's re-modelling of the 13th hole in 1935, the only major changes since then have been the addition of new tees.

The design layout is a masterpiece and highly unusual for links courses of this era. Most courses were laid out simply, nine out and nine back. Muirfield is different; it was the first to be designed with two concentric rings of nine holes. The outward nine holes run clockwise around the edge and the inward nine run anti-clockwise, sitting inside the outward nine. The layout ensures that the wind hits you from all directions, but Muirfield is as difficult to play downwind as it is upwind.

Host to fifteen Opens, most recently in 2013, Muirfield is considered by many top professionals to be one of the fairest Open Championship golf courses. Bernard Darwin loved Muirfield, and in his 1910 book, 

, he wrote: “There is a fine view of the sea and a delightful sea wood, with the trees all bent and twisted by the wind; then, too, it is a solitary and peaceful spot, and a great haunt of the curlews, whom one may see hovering over a championship crowd and crying eerily amid a religious silence.”

Muirfield is blessed with a collection of superb golf holes and we'll mention a couple of them: The 554-yard par five 9th hole is a tough driving hole, two bunkers lurk on the left-hand side and beyond them is a grey stone boundary wall with out-of-bounds threatening the hooked tee shot; the fairway cruelly starts to narrow at the landing area of a good solid drive, the tangly rough waiting hopefully to catch anything struck off-line. The second shot must avoid a waiting line of five cleverly placed bunkers situated short and right of the green. The 13th is one of best short holes on the open circuit, an uphill 191-yarder; five abysmal bunkers, three on the right and two on the left ferociously protect the deep and narrow green that slopes from back to front. Whatever we do, we mustn’t leave a scary downhill putt.

Muirfield is an eccentric but traditional golf links of the highest calibre. The fairways have that lovely spongy seaside turf, there’s some unbelievable bunkering (many of which are small and deep) and there’s that thick, thick rough to contend with. The greens are relatively small too, which makes you think carefully about your approach shots and once you are safely on the putting surface, you’ll need to interpret them well because the borrows are subtle and tricky to read.

In readiness for the 2013 Open Championship, following a land swap with next-door neighbour the 

, Muirfield was lengthened, with new tees added on seven holes. Now measuring 7,192 yards from the tips, with par set at 71, Muirfield has become a stern 21st century challenge, especially when the wind blows.

Muirfield

Muirfield is the course of “The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers” (HCEG), the world’s oldest golf club – according to direct written evidence – formed in 1744.

New Jersey

Pine Valley Golf Club was the dream of a Philadelphian hotelier, George Crump, who sadly died before its completion. The legacy he left behind is universally considered to be the perfect example of penal golf course architecture.

The course is located on the New Jersey side of Philadelphia and it’s impossible to believe that one of the world’s best golf courses is set in such featureless countryside. Crump started work on this desolate piece of land in 1912 and, after receiving Harry Colt’s seal of approval on the routing, 14 holes were ready for play in 1916. Crump died in 1918 and his dream 18-hole course was one year away from completion.

Pine Valley officially opened in 1919 but it took three years for anybody to get round in 70 strokes and it quickly became renowned the world over as the ultimate test of golf. The members were quick to realise there was an opportunity for a quick buck and offered a standing bet to anyone playing for the first time that they won’t break 80. In 1954, Arnold Palmer took all bets going and cleaned up, shooting a 68. “I was desperate for money at the time,” he explained. “I was about to be married. So I collected all the bets I could find. I don’t know what I would have done If I had lost – it was far more money than I could afford.”

“Pine Valley fills you with dread and delight… it takes your breath away… it’s a monster, but it’s beautiful.” Wrote Robert Trent Jones in the 

. “It is frequently alluded to as the most difficult course in the world, and this reputation is justified. To my way of thinking, it also possesses more classic holes than any other course in the world – ten of the eighteen. Of the remaining holes, five are outstanding, two are good, and one, the 12th, is ordinary, which, at Pine Valley, is tantamount to being a misfit.

I remember playing a round at Pine Valley not so long ago with Lowell Thomas, who as you know, has travelled the world as widely as any man. On this 15th, after we had driven across the lake that separates the tee from the start of the fairway, Thomas turned and looked back across the water, then quietly gazed at the rest of the scene around us. ‘In all my travels,’ he said, ‘I do not think I’ve seen a more beautiful landscape. This is as thrilling as Versailles or Fontainebleau.’”

Pine Valley

North America

Down

Northern Ireland

According to the results of a Top 100 survey, Royal County Down is the most scenic golf course in Britain & Ireland.

There is always lively discussion about which golf course is better than another, but none is more passionate than the debate over the relative merits of Royal County Down and 

. If you haven’t played either of them yet, we recommend a golf trip to Northern Ireland; you certainly won’t be disappointed.

Royal County Down Golf Club is at Newcastle, a little holiday town nestling at the feet of the majestic Mountains of Mourne. It’s an exhilarating location for a classic links golf course where the Bay of Dundrum sweeps out into the Irish Sea and where the mighty peak of Slieve Donard (3,000 ft.) casts its shadow over the town.

A Scottish schoolteacher called George L. Baillie, who was on a personal mission to establish golf courses, originally laid out the first nine holes at Newcastle and they opened for play in 1889. Later that year, Old Tom Morris was paid the modest sum of four guineas to extend the course and 18 holes were ready for play in 1890. Harry Vardon modified the course in 1908, the same year King Edward VII bestowed royal patronage on the club.

Royal County Down maintains tradition; the “Hat Man” still mixes the pairings for the Saturday matches (foursomes in the winter and four-balls in the summer) as he did around 100 years earlier.

Bernard Darwin commented that the greens “lie, moreover, in a good many instances, in those pleasing little hollows which are the most adroit flatterers in the whole world of golf.” In 1926 Harry Colt was commissioned to make further alterations to the course which included addressing the gathering nature of the original greens and reducing the number of blind drives.

Old Tom however deserves most credit for the layout and he was presented with an idyllic piece of ground on which to design a golf course. The sand dunes are rugged but beautifully clad in purple heather and yellow gorse, the fairways are naturally undulating, shaped by the hands of time. The greens are small and full of wicked borrows.

Measuring nearly 7,200 yards from the back tees, Royal County Down is a brute. It’s a mystery that this fantastic course, with one of the finest outward nine holes in golf, has never hosted an Open. Factor in the ever-changing wind and you have as stern a test as any Open Championship venue.

The 4th and 9th holes are both universally admired. The 4th must be one of the most scenic long par threes in golf described as follows by one commentator: “Innumerable gorse bushes, ten bunkers, three mountain peaks, and one spire equal the most magnificent view in British golf”. The 9th, a long par four, is perhaps one of the world’s most photographed holes, the line from the elevated tee is directly at the Slieve Donard peak and the sweeping fairway lies eighty feet below—magnifique.

Sure, the course has a level of eccentricity; there are still a number of blind drives and some of the bunkers are fringed with coarse grass, which gathers the ball with alarming regularity, but this simply adds to the charm. If a measure of a great golf course is the number of holes that you can remember, then Royal County Down is one of the greatest courses of them all.

Architect Martin Ebert kindly supplied the following short update in November 2021:

“A review has been made of the Championship course. Plans have been drawn up for the 16th hole. These include the reshaping of the green. At the 17th, the triangular pond has been filled in and further reshaping of the area where the pond used to be will be carried out in the near future.”

Royal County Down (Championship)

Royal County Down Golf Club is at Newcastle, a little holiday town nestling at the feet of the majestic Mountains of Mourne. It’s an exhilarating location for a classic links golf course...

Lancashire

Eleven-time Open Championship venue, Royal Lytham & St Annes was the fourth English course after 

Royal Lytham & St Annes is the most northerly of the English championship links courses, situated only 10 miles, as the seagull flies, from its illustrious neighbour, 

. This monster links opened for play in 1897, eleven years after the club's formation, when it moved from its original location. George Lowe, the club's first professional, fashioned the links and the layout was further modified between the wars by Harry Colt.

This is definitely a links course, but it is no longer beside the sea. It now lies half a mile inland, but with Blackpool tower looming in the distance you know the sea isn't far away. Rather unusually, the links is surrounded by red brick houses and (less unusually) flanked on the west by the railway line. The guardian Victorian clubhouse always watches sternly over the links. Conditioning is often exceptional and not as rough and ready around the edges as many of its contemporaries. The ground is relatively even, except perhaps on a couple of holes, where the going is slightly undulating.

The course itself is extremely tough, only 

 (on the British Open circuit) is thought to be tougher. Bernard Darwin describes Lytham’s challenges in his book, 