Chugoku

Japan

In the foothills of Mount Daisen – where the sporting pursuits of mountain climbing in summer and skiing in winter are more popular than golf – the fairways at Daisen Golf Club were hewn from heavily forested terrain by Osamu Ueda in 1970.

Daisen

Asia

In the foothills of Mount Daisen – where the sporting pursuits of mountain climbing in summer and skiing in winter are more popular than golf – the fairways at Daisen Golf Club were hewn from heavily forested terrain by Osamu​ Ueda in 1970.

Kanto

Originally set out by Osamu Ueda in the early 1960s and upgraded on a couple of occasions since then by Taizo Kawata, the East course is the longer and tighter of two 18-hole layouts at Gifu Seki Country Club.

Gifu Seki (East)

Kinki (Kansai)

Hirono Golf Club was founded in 1932 and an Englishman called Charles Alison, who was responsible for the design of many of Japan’s great courses, laid it out. This intensely private Japanese members club is located about fifteen miles northwest of the city of Kobe, which is Japan’s most important seaport. Sadly, Kobe hit the news headlines in 1995 for the wrong reasons after an earthquake, measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale, devastated the area of Hyogo killing more than 5,000 people.

Natural disasters tend to place golf clubs and courses into perspective but Hirono is the most important golf course in Japan and it’s the yardstick for which all other golf courses across the whole of Asia are measured. Charles Alison and Harry Colt fashioned some of Britain’s greatest golf courses and Alison used all of his knowledge and design skill to create the magical Hirono, which would not look out of place along England’s Surrey/Berkshire sand belt.

“Sadly, Hirono was requisitioned by the Imperial Air Force as a runway during the Second World War, destroying much of the course,” wrote Henry Lord & Peter Pugh in 

. “After the conflict a huge restoration project was carried out by Toyohiko Inui and Osamu Ueda (designer of the prestigious Koga golf course) using Alison’s original plans. In many ways this was a great success, but some of Alison’s intentions were lost. For example, a lot of the rugged sandy wasteland was converted into ordered grass-faced bunkering, and aggressive tree planting has since left the course with a distinctly parkland feel. Nevertheless, Hirono still ranks as the best course in Asia and many of its holes provide a truly incredible test of golfing skill.”

Hirono has played host to all the major Japanese championships and, although it measures a mere 6,925 yards from the back tees, it’s a supreme test of golf. It just goes to show that if you employ clever and thoughtful design, you don’t need to fashion a 7,500-yard monster to create challenge and intrigue. We must briefly mention the green sites at Hirono. They are pure magical theatre, with most raised proudly on plateaux, protect jealously by deep bold bunkering.

There are far too many brilliant holes to discuss at length, but we’ll first mention the par three 13th which is rather similar to “Golden Bell” the famous 12th at Augusta National, but we think Hirono’s 13th is more natural and dramatic.

 by author George Peper and the editors of GOLF magazine features the 565-yard par five 15th at Hirono: “As it’s a dogleg left, any attempt to shorten the hole by taking a line across the corner is thwarted by the placement of a fifty-year-old, one-hundred-foot Kuromatsu (black pine) that stands in the left half of the fairway. In the rough to the right side of the landing area, three bunkers punish drives that leak in that direction. This forces all tee shots to the right half of the fairway and ensures that the hole’s 565 yards will be directly confronted and negotiated. From the tee, the first of two natural ravines faintly appears in the distance, defined by characteristically ragged Alison bunkers cut into the facing. The second ravine is gentler and its slope provides the defining front lines to the putting green, as do its two bunkers. Two additional bunkers lend depth perception and guard the rear of the green.”

"The property is the perfect combination of rugged, yet walkable terrain, wrote Tom Doak in 

. “Ravines at the top half of the property set up the driving hazard for many of the longer holes, and then lead to the large ponds at the bottom that serve as punctuation for the short 5th and 13th. However the club has let the trees surrounding the holes encroach too tightly in recent years, and we hope the recently announced restoration by Martin Ebert will be allowed to address this.”

Mackenzie & Ebert commented as follows: “The course he [Alison] routed (the layout plans and green plans have been preserved in the Club records) is regarded as one of the worldwide classics and the bunkering shown in the early photographs of the course is remarkable in its detail and naturalness of appearance.

The opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Charles Hugh Alison in travelling to Japan to provide input to a course which has meant so much to Japanese golf is a real landmark for Mackenzie & Ebert. The focus of the brief is to restore the old features of the course but also to make it a suitable challenge for the best golfers.”

You’ll find it tricky to get a game here at Hirono but they say that all the best things come to those who wait. When you do eventually get a game and you’ve sunk your final putt, remember to take a look at the famous little golfing museum, which is located next to the colonial-styled clubhouse.

Hirono

Hirono Golf Club has played host to all the major Japanese championships and, although it measures a mere 6,925 yards from the back tees, it’s a supreme test of golf.

First time visitors to Hiroshima Country Club must head east from downtown Hiroshima in search of the club’s two 18-hole layouts. The Hachihonmatsu course is nearest, a 45-minute drive away, with the Saijo course located 10 kilometres further on.

Hiroshima (Hachihonmatsu)

Kyushu

In 1948, the Nishi-Nippon Railway Corporation made available a parcel of land along the sandy coastline that faces the Tsushima Strait for the construction of a golf course. The first circuit built at Koga was a very rudimentary affair, amounting to nine “sand holes” laid out amongst the dunes with only the greens made of grass.

The will of Koga's members to have a “proper” course prevailed so within five years – after many tons of red clay had been brought in from nearby Hanami – the layout was reopened with all nine fairways fully grassed. Architect Osamu Ueda then extended the course to eighteen holes in 1957, using labour supplied by local municipalities and American servicemen, and the additional holes now form the front nine of today’s course.

In 1994, a two-year renovation program was undertaken by Shoichi Suzuki, a protégé of the late Osamu Ueda, resulting in the replacement of all the greens. As due reward for this significant development, Koga hosted the 62nd Japan Open a year after work was completed and this tournament was won by Australian Craig Parry with a score of two over par for the competition.

Within a decade of this event, designer Ko Tanihira was called in to upgrade the course again and all the greens were ripped up and rebuilt to USGA standard with new mounding and bunker complexes installed. In 2008, three years after this work was finished, Shingo Katayama won his second Japan Open at Koga.

Koga

Koga Golf Club hosted the 62nd Japan Open, won by Australian Craig Parry with a score of two over par for the competition.

Influenced by the work that Hugh Alison carried out in Japan during the 1930s, architect Osamu Ueda designed the 18-hole layout at Ono Golf Club in 1961 and it’s often regarded as the sister course to the fabled Hirono Golf Club.

Situated around an hour’s drive from Kobe, the fairways of Ono’s lovely woodland course are set out on rather hilly terrain, especially those on the back nine. Several ponds come into play with holes 7 to 9 wrapped around a lake and there’s further aquatic challenge at the closing two holes.

A number of subtle little attributes are employed at Ono – like the placement of lone specimen trees to define driving options (most notably at the 7th and 11th) and back to front sloped greens which make great demands on putting skills (such as at the 2nd and 16th) – and these features add considerable interest to proceedings.

The par threes are all testing holes, with the 245-yard 5th, which plays over a Japanese Pine garden, being the only one that doesn’t require a water carry from tee to green. The pick of the one-shot holes though is the 200-yard 17th (“Emerald Lake”), where the sand-protected green on the other side of a lovely little pond is a tiny target from the tee.

Influenced by Hugh Alison, Osamu Ueda designed the course at Ono Golf Club in 1961 and it’s often regarded as the sister course to the fabled Hirono Golf Club. Host to the Japan Open in 1969, Ono is a testy track.

Situated to the north of Akashi, the 18-hole layout at Onotoyo Golf Club bears the architectural mark of Osamu Ueda. Playing corridors have narrowed a lot since the course debuted in 1971, placing a real premium on accuracy off the tee.

Onotoyo

Located about an hour’s drive from Osaka, the course actually lies closer to the city of Wakayama. It’s here, on the cliff tops above Osaka Bay, that holes were routed across a tight parcel of land by Osamu Ueda back in 1937 and the sparkling waters of the bay can be seen from many vantage points on the tree-lined fairways.

The 396-yard 7th is a feature hole on the front nine, where golfers fire their tee shot across a small pond to a fairway which then veers 45 degrees left to a triangular-shaped green. This putting surface, like those at holes 1, 3 and 4 on the front nine, sits close to the edge of the coastline.

On the back nine, the very short 14th hole plays along the boundary of the property, next to the road that separates the course from the sea, and it begins a rather unusual sequence of five holes that conclude a round at Osaka with par values of 3-5-3-5-3. A somewhat bizarre configuration perhaps, but there’s no doubt the holes exactly fit the lie of the land.

Osaka

Osamu Ueda originally designed the course at Osaka Golf Club back in 1937 and it’s routed across high ground where panoramic views of Osaka Bay will be enjoyed from the rolling fairways.

The city of Shimonoseki is located in the southwest corner of Japan in the Yamaguchi Prefecture and it’s known as the nation’s “Fugu Capital,” due to the number of pufferfish processed annually by its licensed fugu chefs. The course lies half an hour’s drive north of the city, with holes set out on a property overlooking the Kanmon Straits.

The layout plays to a total length of 6,944 yards and it uses two sets of greens, as is the tradition in Japan. Although it occupies a tract of land by the water’s edge, the course is distinctly parkland in nature, its fairways routed around a mature pine plantation.

Founded in 1956, the club has twice hosted the Japan Open. The first occasion was in 1991, when Tsuneyuki Nakajima won the event, the 36th of his 48 victories on the Japan Golf Tour. The second Open at Shimonoseki was claimed by New Zealander David Smail with an aggregate score of 271 in 2002.

Shimonoseki

Founded in 1956, the course at Shimonoseki Golf Club was designed by Osamu Ueda and proudly played host to the Japan Open in 1991 (won by Tsuneyuki Nakajima) and 2002 (won by David Smail).

Located near the city of Kitakyusu, close to where the Onga River empties into the Tsushima Strait, the 18-hole layout at Wakamatsu Golf Club is an Osamu Ueda design that dates back to 1959, when the club was founded.

Host venue for the 94th edition of the Japan Amateur Golf Championship in 2009, the course occupies a flat, forested site alongside the coast, with tree-lined fairways – many of which are doglegged – playing to bent grass greens.

The two-tiered green on the par five 6th lies near the sands of the adjacent Iwaya Beach Resort and this is the standout hole on the front nine. The toughest hole on the inward half is the par four 14th, veering sharply left to a long, narrow green.

Wakamatsu

Set close to the city of Kitakyushu, near to where the Onga River empties into the Tsushima Strait, the course at Wakamatsu Golf Club is an Osamu Ueda design, dating back to 1959.

Born in the Ibaraki prefecture, in the northeast part of the Kanto region, Osamu Ueda studied Forestry and Landscape Architecture in the Faculty of Agriculture at Kyoto University before setting up the Ueda Landscaping Office in his hometown Osaka.

Here he designed gardens, playgrounds and golf courses – as well as managing their construction – and his golfing projects were based on creating courses in harmony with the surrounding environment and the local topography.

It’s known that Osamu helped restore the Hirono course after the ravages of World War II but some think he may also have been involved in its original development while working as an assistant to Seiichi Takahata, the Secretary of the Japan Golf Association, during 

’s visit to the country at the start of 1931.

He participated as a swimming referee in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, after which he took the opportunity to travel on to Great Britain and examine the English inland courses and Scottish links layouts, comparing their design to what existed in Japan at that time.

 in the East" would become the leading golf design brands in Japan, with Ueda designing more than fifty courses over five decades between Hokkaido in the north to Kagoshima in the south.

Our international consultant Masa Nishijima adds the following:

“Hirono was completed in 1932 and Ueda worked there as a green keeper. Then, with the trust of the members, he was promoted to club manager status.

He was commissioned to design the Moji GC in 1934, with the introduction of Mr. Seiichi Takahata, one of Hirono's founders. This was his first solo project. Nine holes were completed the following year and the layout was eventually expanded to 18 holes in 1953.

There is something worth mentioning here.

, but a famous swimmer in his school days. He was requested by the IOC to participate as a swimming judge at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

After the event, sponsored by Mr. Takahata, he went on an eight-month tour of famous golf courses in Europe and the United States and he had the opportunity to meet with 

When he returned home, his first contract was the design of Osaka GC and the original course boasts a distance of 6,700 yards, playing to a par of 72.

After the war, he restored the Hirono GC. During World War II, Hirono had made part of the course a reserve runway for the Navy Air Corps. In addition, some fairways were turned over to vineyards due to food shortages. Ueda helped with the course restoration then left the club in 1952 to become an independent course designer.”

“Hirono was requisitioned by the Imperial Air Force as a runway during the Second World War, destroying much of the course. After the conflict a huge restoration project was carried out by Toyohito Inui and Osamu Ueda (designer of the prestigious Koga golf course) using Alison’s original plans." From Masters of Design by Henry Lord & Peter Pugh.

Osamu Ueda

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

Britain & Ireland

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

Scotland

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, 

“The trouble, besides the rough grass and pot-bunkers, consists of sandhills, both natural and artificial. To build an artificial sandhill is not a light task, and it is characteristic of the whole-hearted enthusiasm of the golfers of St Anne’s that they have raised several of these terrifying monuments of industry.” At this stage we should remind ourselves that Darwin penned this in 1910, and, in those days, it was highly unusual to build anything other than bunkers, talking of which, the bunkers at Royal Lytham are many and annoyingly magnetic.

The greens are firm, fast and true, or as Darwin once said when he was playing a match at St Annes against an opponent who was a very good putter. “The truly-struck putt comes on and on over that wonderfully smooth turf and flops into the hole with a sickening little thud, and there we are left gasping and robbed of our prey.”

The 1st is unique because this is the only par three starting hole on the Open Championship circuit and it’s a long one, measuring 206 yards from the back tees. Ian Woosnam hit a fine tee shot here in the 2001 Open and then sank the putt thinking he’d made a birdie two. Unfortunately Woosnam was carrying 15 clubs in his bag. This cost the Welshman £225,000 and possibly the Open Championship title—it also cost his caddy around £20,000 and his job.

The 17th hole, a 467-yard par four, belongs to the esteemed Bobby Jones. As an amateur, he won the 1926 Open Championship, beating Al Watrous by two shots. A plaque (located close to the spot from which he nailed his second shot onto the green from a rough, sandy lie during the final round) commemorates Jones’s triumph and the mashie that he used for this remarkable shot is displayed in the clubhouse. The final hole is a relatively ordinary 414-yard par four and it’s a simple case of straight hitting to avoid the 15 bunkers that are trying hard to swallow the ball. The resurgence of British golf occurred here in 1969, when Tony Jacklin’s final drive avoided all the bunkers and he putted out to win the Open in a sea of emotion.

Royal Lytham and St Annes could never be described as a “classical” links course. It doesn’t have any giant shaggy dunes, nor does it have undulating roller-coaster fairways or pretty sea views. But it does have honesty and character by the bucket and spade load, and bags and bags of history.

Royal Lytham & St Annes

Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club is the most northerly of the English championship links courses, situated only 10 miles from Royal Birkdale.

South Wales

Wales

Royal Porthcawl Golf Club is located off the beaten track, east of Swansea and west of Cardiff. Despite being the highest ranked course in Wales, it remains relatively unknown.

The club was founded in 1891 and Charles Gibson, Royal North Devon’s professional, laid out a 9-hole course on Lock’s Common. In 1895, an adjacent piece of land became available and Ramsey Hunter created an 18-hole layout. Porthcawl was granted its royal title in 1909 by King Edward VII. Over the years, the layout has been extensively modified, primarily in 1913 by Harry Colt, F.G Hawtree and J.H. Taylor in 1925 (when the duo added four new holes) and by Tom Simpson in 1933.

The first four holes and the last six holes represent classic links golf, but the holes in the middle rise up onto higher ground, offering fantastic views across the Bristol Channel. This middle section of the course, with plenty of gorse, has distinct heathland characteristics. Darwin completely disagrees with our sentiments. He wrote about “the very excellent links of Porthcawl. Links they may worthily be called, for the golf at Porthcawl is the genuine thing – the sea in sight all the time, and the most noble bunkers.”

Royal Porthcawl measures 7,065 yards from the back markers, but position from the tee is just as important as distance. Gary Wolstenholme will vouch for this. Wolstenholme played Tiger Woods in the 1995 Walker Cup here at Porthcawl and despite being constantly out-driven by Woods, Wolstenholme controlled and positioned the ball better and secured a famous victory at the last hole.

The Bristol Channel acts as a funnel for Atlantic gales and the course is fully exposed to the wind. It’s not a traditional out and back layout – the holes loop back on one another, playing in various directions. With an absence of trees and dunes, the wind plays a powerful role.

In 2014, the Senior Open Championship was hosted at Royal Porthcawl. This was the first time a Major Championship had been staged in Wales. The event turned out to be a one man show when Bernhard Langer cruised to a 13-stroke victory over nearest rival Colin Montgomerie and, in doing so, the German broke the tour record for the largest winning margin in a 72-hole event.

Three years later, the event returned to Royal Porthcawl and once again the evergreen Bernhard Langer emerged victorious, claiming his third Senior Open title with a four under par aggregate score of 280, three strokes better than that of runner-up Cory Pavin from the United States of America.


Architect Martin Ebert sent us this exclusive quote in August 2020 regarding work his firm had undertaken at Royal Porthcawl:

“The recent project at Royal Porthcawl has followed on from Course Manager Ian Kinley's resurrection of a wonderful old rough edged bunker to the right of the 5th fairway. This is something Mackenzie & Ebert had proposed as part of an overall masterplan some years ago. With the bunkering, old aerial images showed them as being much larger and rough edged hazards. Many of them had been lost over the years as well. The information was supplemented by the wonderful plan which the great Tom Simpson had drawn up which hangs in the men's changing room. This depicted some tremendous rough edged bunkers sketched out in his talented drawing style.

Some highlights of the project have been the full restoration of the carry bunkers at the par three 4th hole and the huge cross bunkers at the 16th. Some new bunkers have also been added to ensure that the course poses the right questions for the modern day elite players. They can be found at the 2nd (down the left and right), the 5th (two to the left), the 13th (down the right), the 15th (to the left) and at the 18th (to the left).

In addition, the flatness to the left of the 6th hole has been completely transformed with the construction of a range of dunes into which a bunker has been set. Some ecologically valuable sand areas have also been created where it was necessary to win material for the construction works.”

Royal Porthcawl

Antrim

Royal Portrush has the honour of being the only club outside mainland Britain to host the Open Championship.

"Portrush stands on a rocky promontory that juts out into the Atlantic, and, if I may allude to such trivialities," wrote Bernard Darwin in, 

, "the scenery of the coast is wonderfully striking. On the east are the White Rocks, tall limestone cliffs that lead to Dunluce Castle and the headlands of the Giant's Causeway. On the west are the hills of Inishowen, beyond which lie Portsalon and Buncrana and the links of Donegal."

Since its foundation in 1888, Royal Portrush Golf Club has undergone a transformation in more ways than one. It was originally a 9-hole course, known as the County Club. The following year it was extended to 18 holes. In 1892, its name changed to the Royal County Club, with the Duke of York as patron. In 1895, the Prince of Wales came along and the name finally changed to Royal Portrush. Why who knows?

However, the biggest transformation came along when Harry S Colt redesigned the course in 1932, including two holes in an area known as “The Triangle”. Just before the Second World War, when it became apparent that the clubhouse would have to be relocated, the professional at that time, a Mr P.G. Stevenson, designed the current 10th and 11th holes, allowing the old 1st and 18th in the Triangle to be released. It would take until 1946 though before club members moved to their present premises, the former Holyrood Hotel.

The Dunluce links is named after the ruined Dunluce castle that overlooks the course. It was the venue for the first professional golf tournament in Ireland, won by Sandy Herd in 1895. Until 2019, The Open Championship has been held outside of Scotland and England only once; that occasion was here at Royal Portrush in 1951 when Max Faulkner triumphed. Faulkner was the last British Open champion until Tony Jacklin lifted the claret jug in 1969 at 

. More recently, American Pete Oakley won the Senior British Open here in July 2004.

In 2014 it was confirmed that Royal Portrush would return to the Open Championship rotation in 2019. 2011 Open Champion, Darren Clarke, was thrilled to hear that his home club will stage the tournament. “It is wonderful for the area, for Northern Ireland and the whole of Ireland that one of the biggest sporting events in the world is coming here," he said. “It's just massive, with pictures of Royal Portrush being beamed around the world to people who haven't seen how beautiful it is.”

Royal Portrush is certainly beautiful and it has one of the most dramatic entrances to any golf course. As you wind your way towards the course along the coastal road, the crumpled, undulating links land suddenly appears in front of you, flags fluttering in the breeze. It's a classic seaside links, located in an evocative setting on the north Antrim coastline, blessed with magnificent ocean views. On a clear day (from the 3rd tee) you can see the Paps of Jura and the island of Islay.

The fairways nestle in natural valleys between towering sand dunes. The small greens blend perfectly into the landscape, one of Colt’s masterstrokes. The greens are generally protected by natural grassy hummocks rather than sand bunkers, further adding to the understatement.

The most spectacular parts of the course are down by the shore. The 5th hole (called “White Rocks”) is an absolute stunner. It’s a short, downhill par four with a left to right dogleg. The elevated tee provides a platform to soak up the vista. The green is perched on the very edge of the course some 50 feet above the seashore. The 16th, called “Calamity”, is a 210-yard par three; a deep chasm to the right of the green makes it a nervous tee shot.

The Dunluce is a seriously tough cookie and requires solid driving to hold together a decent score. It will intimidate many golfers; the rough is penal (and sprinkled with heather and briar). It has very few bunkers but frankly, it doesn’t need them. The course has enough natural hazards to wreck a card, not to mention the ever-present wind. However, at all costs avoid "Big Nellie" at the new 7th—it's one of the biggest bunkers in Ireland.

A trip to the Giant’s Causeway may provide some respite after a gruelling round, followed by a nip of whiskey at nearby Bushmills, the world’s oldest distillery. Failing that, you could head directly to the first tee of the 

. It may be the second course at Royal Portrush but it’s a little cracker.

In preparation for the return of the Open, architects Mackenzie & Ebert proposed a number of course changes to the course, the most significant of which was the replacement of holes 17 and 18 on the Dunluce with two new holes, located where the old 5th and 6th holes lay on the Valley course.

The new hole 7 is a par five, played over much of the former 6th on the Valley course, but in the opposite direction. The famous “Big Nellie” bunker from the old 17th on the Dunluce has been recreated in the dunes to the right of this new fairway. The new par four 8th is then played from close to the tee boxes on the old Valley hole number 5, back to a green perched in the dunes at a slightly higher elevation.

Although the four par threes remain untouched, except for mowing the green further out at the back of “Calamity Corner”, additional tees and bunkers at several holes have been added, as well as extending the greens at holes 5 and (the newly sequenced) 15.


Mackenzie and Ebert commented as follows:

"As part of the course review exercise, investigation of the evolution of golf at Portrush was undertaken to assess how the layout had changed over the years and especially since Harry Colt laid out his final design for the Dunluce Course in 1932. That highlighted a fundamental issue. When Harry Colt designed the Dunluce in 1932, the clubhouse was over 1,200 yards away from the present clubhouse in the town of Portrush. Two of his original holes - the key 1st & 18th holes – had been lost. They provided a link from the old clubhouse to the current 17th and 18th. The existing 8th and 9th holes did not exist. Although Harry Colt was consulted over the addition of the replacement 8th and 9th holes, they were the conception of the Club’s professional, P.G. Stevenson, and Colt was not involved with the detail of the holes. This shows that Harry Colt was open to adjustments to the course required by changing circumstances.

The Club found themselves at another juncture of its evolution with the opportunities presented by the possibility of The Open Championship coming to Royal Portrush again. The Championship has grown in scale tremendously since Max Faulkner lifted the Claret Jug when the event was held over the links in 1951. If The Open was to make a return, The R&A were clear from the outset of the negotiations that sufficient room had to be available in the right areas to allow all of the usual infrastructure to be put in place to support the Championship. Following an intensive study of all options, the inescapable conclusion was drawn that the existing 17th and 18th holes of the Dunluce Course would have to be made available for the majority of the tented village area.


Following a detailed study of the opportunities to replace the 17th and 18th holes, the conclusion was that two replacement holes for the Dunluce could be forged from the area of the old 5th and 6th holes of the Valley Course. This will provide a tremendous arena for two dramatic and iconic holes which should quickly achieve world fame. The knock on effect was that replacement holes were required for the Valley Course. In fact three new Valley holes have been formed with the last of them giving incredible views to the beach and the sea, something which the old course did not enjoy. The Valley element of the project also involved the restoration of one of the original holes at Portrush.

It will be fascinating to see how the world’s best players handle the reconfigured links in July 2019."


Fittingly is was Irishman Shane Lowry who dominated the final two days of the 148th Open championship to win his maiden major title by six shots from England's Tommy Fleetwood amid exuberant scenes at Royal Portrush. Tough weather conditions on Sunday saw every contender fall away, allowing Lowry to cruise home for a comfortable victory.

Royal Portrush (Dunluce)

The Dunluce links at Royal Portrush Golf Club is named after the ruined Dunluce castle that overlooks the course. Seven years after the club's formation, the first professional golf tournament in Ireland, won by Sandy Herd in 1895, was staged here.

Surrey

St George’s Hill Golf Club is one of the prettiest of the numerous heathland courses on the Surrey/Berkshire sand belt... it's also one of the best. In 1911, a local builder came up with an original idea to build luxury fairway-side houses and, by chance, Harry Colt was the chosen architect. The course opened for play in 1913 and it is considered (alongside Swinley Forest) to be one of Colt’s greatest designs.

The most notable difference between St George’s Hill and the heathland layouts in this area is the terrain. The land here sweeps and undulates like a rollercoaster and Harry Colt used these dramatic elevation changes superbly in his design.

At this stage, it is worth pointing out that there are three loops of nine holes, called Red, Blue and Green. At one time, St George’s Hill was a 36-hole complex but sadly, no longer. The main course is comprised of the Red nine and the Blue nine, the Green nine is somewhat shorter.

The spectacular panorama from the front of the clubhouse, or the pavilion as it was originally called, totally whets your appetite. It is one of those views that grabs you and makes your heart pound in excited anticipation. You cannot help but want to get out onto the first tee as quickly as possible.

Opening up is a super 384-yard par four played from an elevated tee. A good drive will leave your tee shot at the bottom of a valley, your approach will then need to be struck steeply up the hill to an inviting green that waits patiently at the top. The 2nd hole is even better, a brutal 458-yard par 4, a blind drive over the brow of a hill will leave a tough approach shot from a hanging lie which must carry a stream on its way to a distant raised green. And so it goes on, with many more memorable holes, especially the par threes. In fact there isn’t a single weak hole here at St George’s Hill.

Tim Lobb was engaged by the club to produce a design policy report in 2015, after the architect had rebuilt the practice ground and created a new green for the short par four 6th on the Green nine. The report indicated the club had strayed from its Colt heritage, resulting in Lobb replacing the green on the 1st hole, restoring an original Colt bunker on the left side of the fairway and adding a new bunker on that side closer to the new green. Further bunker work (mainly to enlarge hazards and introduce peripheral heather) has since been carried out on another twelve holes.

St George's Hill (Red & Blue)

The spectacular golfing panorama from the front of the St George's Hill clubhouse is a view that grabs you and makes your heart pound...

Taken together, the New and Old courses at Sunningdale Golf Club represent the finest 36 holes of golf in the whole of the British Isles. The same architect who made modifications to Sunningdale’s Old course, Harry Colt, designed the New course, which opened for play in 1923 to meet the ever-increasing demand for golf.

“Compared with the Old Course, the New has seen many more changes in its short life. In particular, the original holes 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 were much criticised – mainly by older members – for the amount of climbing involved, and this led to major changes in the mid 1930s.

These holes were on the land to the right of the 10th hole on the Old Course, and to the left of 9th hole on the New course; some remnants of them can still be seen. Apart from the 6th hole, now the 9th, the others were all abandoned in 1934.

An Extraordinary Meeting was called to consider alterations to the New Course. A report by Simpson & Company, Golf Architect Ltd., had been commissioned by the Committee, and was discussed at the meeting. The E.G.M passed Mr. Simpson's proposals unanimously. His main recommendations concerned holes 6 to 10... which would overcome the problem of the excessive undulations of the existing holes.

In 1937, J.S.F. Morrison DFC, who had been Captain of the club in 1933, and was now a golf course architect, was asked to review the layout of these new holes which evidently had encountered much criticism. Again, no record of his report, nor the action taken on it, survives, but it is fairly certain that something like the present day layout resulted.

In particular, the 6th hole dogleg was created, the short 7th was scrapped, and the 8th hole was played from the present tee to a green cut into the hill behind the 5th green; the present green, further on and to the right was made in 1961. Simpson's 9th hole and 10th green were scrapped, resulting in the present 9th hole and green. The short 10th hole was revived, but from the present tee, and the 11th hole was again lengthened into the current lefthand dogleg.

All in all, the alterations to these holes, 6 to 11 on the New, were the most radical on either course, and also the most contentious.”

The New is a wonderful driving course for it is more open than the Old; the trees do not encroach quite so much. Having said this, the New demands long carries from its elevated tees over heathery terrain to narrow fairways. The club has been following a programme of regeneration that has involved the felling of a number of trees, thereby allowing the heather to return. In addition, this has cleared the way for long lost views to reappear across to Chobham Common in the south.

Many people will come to Sunningdale hell-bent on playing the Old course, but if it’s a real athletic challenge you are after, you will get severely tested on the rugged 6,700-yard par 70 New, a tougher, more rounded test of golf than the Old. For many years, Jack Nicklaus held the course record with a 67, which was a testament to the technical test of the New course. However, in June 2009, in Open Championship Final Qualifying, England’s Graeme Storm smashed the course record with an amazing eight-under 62 thereby securing his place in the 2009 Open at Turnberry.

There are many excellent and memorable holes on the New, perhaps not as many as there are on the Old but certainly the 5th is worthy of mention, a charming par three. The views across the treetops to the common beyond are superb.