Ontario

Canada

Bayview Golf and Country Club lies close to the centre of Toronto and it offers its members a wide range of sporting activities, including swimming, tennis, curling and golf.

The course is a par 72 Robbie Robinson layout, set in a gently undulating, forested landscape with splashes of water featuring from time to time as the gently doglegged fairways weave their way through the property.

Doug Carrick has had a hand in recent developments on the course, as he explains: “our work at Bayview has taken place over ten years or more and has ranged from remodeling all the bunkers on the golf course to the re-building of the 10th green, new tees on the 16th hole and some design work for a future short game practice area.”

Lady professionals first competed in the Canadian Women’s Open at Sunningdale in 1966 when Kathy Whitworth won the inaugural event. Carol Mann triumphed at the same venue twelve months later before the tournament switched to Bayview for a couple of years.

Carol Mann won the 1968 Open here and was succeeded by Sandra Haynie the following year. Interestingly, in over 40 years of competition since then, the clubs at Sunningdale and Bayview have never again hosted the event.

Bayview

North America

Established in the late 1950s, Beverly Golf & Country Club had an 18-hole course in play within two years of its formation. Set out on pleasantly undulating terrain to the west of downtown Hamilton, the tree-lined course is regarded as one of Robbie Robinson’s best works, with small, nicely contoured greens.

Doug Carrick carried out some upgrade work on the layout during the late 1990s and since then a number of trees have been removed to allow more light and air onto the greens. More recently, the 17th green was reconstructed by Dick Kirkpatrick and all the bunkers were renovated by Ian Andrew.

The club hosted the seventy-fourth edition of the PGA Seniors’ Championship of Canada in 2014, an event won by Remi Bouchard with an aggregate score of seven under par. The Quebec man birdied the first playoff hole to take the title, overcoming the challenge of two others who had tied on the same score.

Beverly Golf & Country Club

Beverly Golf & Country Club is set out on pleasantly undulating terrain to the west of downtown Hamilton – this tree-lined course is regarded as one of Robbie Robinson’s best…

Prince Edward Island

A Robbie Robinson design from the late 1960s, the Brudenell River course is the older of the two 18-hole layouts at the Brudenell River Resort on the east side of Prince Edward Island, Dundarave is the resort’s other course. Brudenell River is a classical layout with traditional bunkering and the course has the somewhat unusual configuration of six par threes, six par fours and six par fives with a total length of 6,542 yards from the back tees.

The par threes are all very good but the two short holes that run alongside the river are really special. The 163-yard 5th, with its green perched high above the river, is a great one-shotter and the spectacular 131-yard 10th forces golfers to play from island tee to island green on the river – good luck getting a three here.

In 2000, the Lorie Kane Island Challenge – the first women's professional skins game in Canada – took place at Brudenell River. Local favourite Lorie Kane competed against Nancy Lopez, Se Ri Pak and Annika Sorenstam but supporters of the two North American golfers were dismayed to see both ladies return home empty handed whilst Se Ri and Annika each pocketed over $100,000 from the event.

Brudenell River

A Robbie Robinson design from the late 1960s, the Brudenell River course is the older of the two 18-hole layouts at the Brudenell River Resort on the east side of Prince Edward Island...

The club stated out as Cedar Brook Golf and Country Club in 1922 and its original course was a Stanley Thompson design which was laid out in nearby Scarborough. In 1939, the club changed its name to Cedar Brae and the following year it hosted the Canadian PGA Championship, with Stan Leonard winning the first of his eight titles in that event.

Shortly after World War II the property was sold for housing development and a new course was built in the mid-1950s before the club moved again then finally settled at its current location in 1969 with a Robbie Robinson-designed 18-hole layout. Doug Carrick carried out some work early in the new millennium then Ian Andrew was engaged as the club’s consultant architect in 2011.

Today, the course extends to 6,675 yards, with holes set on either side of the Rouge River which runs through the property, arranged in two returning nines. Highlight holes include the 549-yard 7th and 564-yard 17th (rated the two toughest par fives on the card), where both fairways run in parallel across the river to greens located in the northeast corner of the property.

Cedar Brae

The club stated out as Cedar Brook Golf and Country Club in 1922 and its original course was a Stanley Thompson design which was laid out in nearby Scarborough. In 1939, the club changed its name to Cedar Brae and the following year it hosted the Canadian PGA Championship...

Cherry Hill Club was established in 1922 when nine founding members from nearby Buffalo acquired a tract of farmland which was then turned over to Walter J Travis for transformation into an 18-hole course.

To mark the club’s 50th anniversary, it hosted the Canadian Open in 1972 and, in preparation for this prestigious national event, Robbie Robinson was called in to upgrade the layout.

In more recent times, further course improvements have resulted in the installation of sub-surface drainage on many of the greens and the layout has been lengthened with the introduction of new tees on a number of holes.

In 2009, architect Ian Andrew oversaw an extensive bunker renovation project, working closely with contractors NMP Golf Construction to rejuvenate all the sand traps on the course. During this process, some fairway bunkers were moved into current landing areas, whilst still adhering to the original design concepts.

Superintendent John Gall has since carried out a) an extensive short grass expansion around the greens and b) a small-scale tree removal program to improve agronomics.

The trademark Travis “chocolate drop” fairway mounds may have been removed down the years but the exquisite character of his original routing remains largely intact.

Feature holes at Cherry Hill Club include strong back-to-back par fives at 6 and 7 (the latter hole played as a par four during the 1972 Canadian Open) whilst the two long, difficult par threes at 9 and 11 are both potential card wreckers.

Cherry Hill

Legendary architect Stanley Thompson was engaged in 1934 to remodel a 6-hole course that he had fashioned five years earlier at the Ontario Lieutenant Governor’s summer residence. He was also asked by the new owner to add another three holes, forming a new 9-hole layout for use as a pay and play facility.

Another four holes were appended later on and this 13-hole course remained in use until 1954 when five valley holes were built on the west side of the river, creating a full 18-hole layout. When adjoining land was purchased in the 1970s, old Thompson associate Robbie Robinson was called in to redesign a new 18-hole course.

Robinson certainly made good use of the Credit River in his routing of the new course as no fewer than eight of the holes now cross its fast flowing waters. Indeed, between the 6th and the 12th, the river is crossed seven times in seven holes. The most memorable of these crossings occurs at the par three 11th, where the kidney-shaped green seems rather a tiny target from 201 yards away on the opposite bank.

Graham Cooke is currently the consulting architect at Credit Valley and it’s a venue he remembers well from his playing days as he finished runner up here to Gareth Paddison at the 2001 Canadian Amateur Championships.

Credit Valley

Stanley Thompson set out the original six holes at Credit Valley Golf and Country Club but the modern day course is very much a Robbie Robinson design.

The golfing element at the Donalda Club commenced with a nine 9-hole layout designed by Robbie Robinson and professional Jimmie Johnstone in 1961. The course was later extended to eighteen holes before Tom McBroom redesigned everything in 1994, rebuilding nearly all the greens.

He returned early in the new millennium to renovate the bunkers before being called in again in 2013 to convert all the greens to bent grass.

McBroom was quoted as saying at the time: “we have created subtle internal contours through the use of soft crowns, muffins and subtle transition slopes within the green complexes, as well as adding some bold contours that really capture your eye and make reading a putt more challenging.”

The course is laid out in the Don River Valley, with many of the fairways running alongside the flowing waters of this meandering river. Strategic demands favour finesse over strength and subtlety over power.

Today, Donalda measures around 6,500 yards from the back markers, playing to a par of 71 (36 outward, 35 inward), with holes arranged in an out and back fashion. Feature holes include short par fours at the 8th and 13th, along with the final par three at the 136-yard 14th.

Donalda

Opening for play as a 9-hole layout in 1961, the Donalda Club course underwent a 5-year renovation by Tom McBroom in the mid-1990s. The course then closed for a year in 2013 when all eighteen greens were rebuilt to USGA specification.

New Brunswick

The 18-layout at Gowan Brae Golf and Country Club is a late 1950s Robbie Robinson design that lies along the windy shores of Bathurst Harbour, overlooking the Bay of Chaleur in the Gulf of St Lawrence. The club opened in 1958 with a 9-hole layout but within four years this had been extended to eighteen holes, offering water views from all but four of the fairways.

Today, the course measures just under 6,700 yards from the back tees, playing to a par of 72, with holes arranged as two returning nines. Water rarely comes into play at Gowan Brae, despite its location on a peninsula – there’s only an irrigation pond to avoid to the left of the par five 8th and another smaller pond to miss to the left of the 18th fairway as it turns right to the home green.

Highlight holes include the left doglegging par four 9th, rated stroke index 2, and the 447-yard par four 13th, where the sloping fairway plays to a small three-tiered green. The coastline encroaches into the fairway at the long par three 17th, which is usually played into the prevailing wind, providing another element of aquatic challenge near the end of the round.

Gowan Brae

The 18-layout at Gowan Brae Golf and Country Club is a late 1950s Robbie Robinson design that lies along the windy shores of Bathurst Harbour, overlooking the Bay of Chaleur in the Gulf of St Lawrence.

Located on the western side of Prince Edward Island, within the Mill River Provincial Park, the Mill River course is a Robbie Robinson design that winds its way through a heavily wooded property, with many of the fairways doglegging one way or the other across a rolling landscape.

“Hunters Spring,” the 419-yard 7th is a feature hole on the front nine, where water cuts across a split fairway that veers to the left on its way to the green. On the back nine, the 565-yard 13th “AquaBound” also kinks to the left as it heads to a two-tiered, pond-protected putting surface.

Measuring 6,885 yards from the tips, the course has been upgraded by Graham Cooke in recent times when, amongst other work that his design firm carried out, the 18th hole was redesigned.

Mill River

Set on the western side of PEI, the Mill River golf course measures 6,885 yards from the tips. It was originally designed by Robbie Robinson and then restored in recent times by Graham Cooke.

Rideau View Country Club was formed in the mid-1950s when a number of prominent businessmen decided to establish a golf facility that would serve the Jewish community in the Ottawa area.

A substantial 200-acre property was acquired and Howard Watson set the task of laying out the original 9-hole course, with Robbie Robinson adding another nine holes soon after.

In more recent times, Ian Andrew has acted as the club’s consulting architect.

The 383-yard 9th is one of the most difficult holes on the course, with a precision tee shot required to avoid three well-positioned fairway traps before an uphill approach shot can be executed.

Two of the final three holes comprise demanding par fives; the 572-yard 16th is a treacherous hole, crossed by a couple of creeks, and the 585-yard 18th is another tough nut to crack, played to the smallest green on the course.

Rideau View

Howard Watson set out the original 9-hole course at Rideau View Country Club in 1958 then Robbie Robinson added another nine holes to the layout five years later.

The Royal York Golf Club, as St George’s Golf and Country Club was formerly known, was founded in the Roaring Twenties with the help of Canadian Pacific Railway money. Stanley Thompson, one of North America’s most talented architects was commissioned to fashion a championship course in downtown Toronto, close to the shores of Lake Ontario and in 1929 the course opened for play. In 1992, Doug Carrick was commissioned to renovate St George’s. We were unclear as to exactly what work Carrick implemented, so we asked Doug directly and his response follows:

“As you know Stanley Thompson designed the original course which was built in 1928 and 1929. C.E. (Robbie) Robinson was a newly hired design associate at the time and St. George's was the first golf course Robbie worked on with Thompson. Robbie consulted with the club following Thompson's death until his own death in 1989. I began working with Robbie Robinson in 1981 and established my firm in 1985. I continued to work with Robbie until his death in 1989. We became partners in 1987. So there have been only three architects that have worked on the course since it opened 1929, Thompson, Robinson and myself.”

Doug continued, saying that Robbie Robinson made the most significant changes to the course between 1965 and 1967 in preparation for the Canadian Open in 1968, which mainly comprised of lengthening a number of holes. Since then, Carrick has constructed a new green on hole 10, added various new tees and built new practice facilities for the club. In 2001 a bunker restoration was undertaken by his associate at the time Ian Andrew. In 2014, St George's rung further changes as outlined by Ian Andrew:

"Tom Doak and myself rebuilt the greens in July and August of 2014. During this process all the greens relocated or rebuilt by other architects (3rd, 4th, 9th, 10th and 15th) were renovated to match the original greens. The most significant change was the restoration of the original 3rd hole back to its Stanley Thompson configuration.

The club continues to restore a few more original bunkers each year and has undertaken a massive tree removal program to address issues of sunlight and to open up the landscape to view."


In 2019, Ian Andrew returned to the club to oversee a programme of further bunker work, using old photos and notes from the 1920s and 1930s to guide the project. The hazards were upgraded to Better Billy Bunker standards, which helps minimize the effect of bad weather on high sand faces, and all the green surrounds were stripped and re-sodded with new turf.


With tight twisting fairways and undulating terrain, St George’s is a man and woman-sized test of golf. The club has proudly played host to the Canadian Open on five occasions (most recently in 2010) and the LPGA Classic also on five occasions. The Canadian Open was to return to St George's in 2020 but was cancelled due to COVID-19. St George's will host the event in 2021 and 2024.

Today’s layout measures a tad more than 7,000 yards from the back tees and with par set at 71, St George’s really is a serious challenge, especially at the two demanding closing holes, which were both par fives, but now they are each taxing par fours, having been converted for the Canadian Open. #17 measures 486 yards and its devilishly narrow, crowned green calls for an exacting approach The home hole is just as tough (465 yards uphill) to a steep, heavily bunkered green.

St George's Golf & Country Club

With tight twisting fairways and undulating terrain, St George’s Golf & Country Club is a man and woman-sized test of golf and five-time host to the Canadian Open.

Formed in 1899, St Thomas is one of the oldest golf clubs in Canada, originally known as St Thomas Pinafore Park Golf Club. Members moved from the site of their original 9-hole course in 1908 when a racetrack was laid out within the same estate by the city council and, in the process of decamping to a new venue, a name change to Elgin Golf and Country Club occurred.

A further move took place in the early 1920s with the club purchasing Whaley Farm for the purpose of establishing a full 18-hole course. Known this time as St Thomas Golf and Country Club, the club engaged Stanley Thompson to construct a course that was completed and in use by 1927.

An additional parcel of land was acquired to the west of this course in 1970, allowing the layout to be lengthened from a modest 5,972 yards to a more accommodating 6,779 yards, increasing the par from 70 to 72. Interestingly, C.E. “Robbie” Robinson (who was Stanley Thompson’s construction foreman in the 1930s) designed the expansion that saw five holes replaced.

Doug Carrick renovated the course between 1995 and 2000 when measures were taken – including the removal of a number of trees that were installed in previous tree planting programs – to restore and enhance many of the old Thompson design features.

The modern St Thomas course is known to locals as “Union”, this name refers to the small village that lies to the east of the course.

St Thomas

Formed in 1899, St Thomas is one of the oldest golf clubs in Canada, originally known as St Thomas Pinafore Park Golf Club.

Newfoundland and Labrador

Twin Rivers sits in a wild and woolly setting with two white-water salmon rivers defining a dramatic layout that skirts the Atlantic before winding through a coniferous forest teeming with moose and bald eagles.

Robbie Robinson designed the original 9-hole layout in the early 1980s then Doug Carrick added another nine in 1991. Today, the course extends to 6,546 yards from the back markers, playing to a par of 71 (36 out then 35 in). Holes 1-5 then 15-18 are laid out around the clubhouse, with the remaining holes set on the other side of the Trans-Canada Highway.

Notable holes include the right doglegging short par four 5th, with water to the right of the fairway, and the par three 8th which plays over more water to a sand-protected green. There are tough back-to-back par fives encountered at the 15th and 16th before the round ends with a short par three hole situated close to the clubhouse.

In November 2018 the Terra Nova Golf Resort went into receivership, but in April 2019 a new operator stepped in, so the resort's future looks promising.

Terra Nova (Twin Rivers)

Alberta

Windermere Golf & Country Club was founded in 1959, with a Robbie Robinson-designed 9-holer brought into play for an expectant membership two years later. It wasn’t long before this course was expanded to eighteen holes and Doug Carrick now consults at the club, keeping a watchful eye on a layout he describes as “a very solid test of golf in a really incredible setting.”

Today, the course extends to 6,767 yards from the back markers on a 140-acre property, with holes arranged as two returning nines (out in 35 then back in 36 for a par of 71). The North Saskatchewan River doesn’t come into the reckoning on the outward half, only forming a backdrop to the par three 8th, which is one of three short holes on the front nine.

The green for the par four 10th is also located right on the river bank then the following two holes are routed alongside the river, with the daunting par three 12th played to a peninsula green. There’s more water to beware of, courtesy of greenside ponds at the 15th and 17th, before the round concludes with a strong, left doglegging final hole.

Windermere - Alberta

A Robbie Robinson design, the Windermere Golf and Country Club course debuted in 1959. Water plays a large part in proceedings on the back nine, where the flowing waters of the North Saskatchewan River effect beauty and danger in equal measure.

Robbie Robinson graduated with a BSc degree from the Ontario Agricultural College (now the University of Guelph) in 1929 but before then he’d actually fashioned his first golf course design as an undergraduate, updating and renovating a private course in Fenelon Falls for Sir Joseph Flavelle, a wealthy businessman who made his fortune in the meatpacking business.

 at Sunningdale Country Club then stayed on to serve as the club’s superintendent until 1936, when he re-joined the architect’s practice to work on Green Gables on Prince Edward Island and Highlands Links in Cape Breton. Unfortunately, World War II intervened and Robinson enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

After his military service, he worked on housing developments for the Canadian government’s Central Mortgage and Housing Department but his involvement with golf was far from over as he also served as director of the Green Section of the RCGA for twenty years, starting in 1949.

Aged fifty-four, he decided to become a full-time golf course architect in 1961, having spent most of the post-war years designing and remodelling layouts on a part-time basis.

 author Keith Cutten pays tribute to the role played by the architect in growing the game: “Robinson brought a high-level intensity to his work, designing/re-modelling more than 140 golf courses in three main markets: Canada; the United States; and South America.

However, more than a few golf historians consider him to be under-appreciated as a golf course architect. Money, or a lack thereof, sheds light on much of Robinson’s career in design. As a result of growing up in the Depression, Robinson produced fine work when working with small budgets.

A review of his portfolio reveals that much of what he built was in smaller towns across Canada; and usually under the confines of limited budgets. Notwithstanding, Robbie was excellent at maximizing a design for the least money.”

The author continues: “Even allowing for Robinson’s apprenticeship to Stanley Thompson, his design style could be viewed as hybridised: a combination of some of the philosophies of Stanley Thompson, in terms of strategic character; but also influenced by larger social and economic changes.

More specifically, Robinson was a product of the Great Depression. Nearing the end of his career, Robinson ensured the continuation of the Thompson lineage, commencing with the mentorship of two young acolytes: 

Robinson was elected into the American Society of Golf Course Architects in 1955, serving two terms as president, in 1961-1962 and 1971-1972. He reached Fellow status in 1977 and served as a member for forty-four years until his death in 1989. Robbie was also posthumously admitted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 2002.

Doug Carrick, when asked about Robbie Robinson’s legacy replied: “I think Robbie left behind a number of lasting legacies. He helped to mentor a number of young golf architects including myself, Tom McBroom and Bob Moote. He established and ran the RCGA Greens Section for many years. His wife Thelma helped to establish and support many junior golf programs. He served as President of the ASGCA twice and he developed many wonderful golf courses that were affordable; courses that encouraged many new golfers to play the game.”

Doug described his own design philosophy as follows: “I was very lucky early in my career to have had Robbie Robinson as my mentor. Robbie spent several years working with Stanley Thompson before establishing his own very distinguished career as a golf course architect. Not only did Robbie school me in the design principles he learned from Stanley, but he also taught me to be practical and pragmatic, to always think about golfers of average skill and to also think about how the superintendent will maintain the golf course. Robbie really stressed finding the right balance between challenge and playability and it is a principle I have tried to follow on every project.”

“Robbie was a great mentor for me early in my career. He schooled me in the fundamentals of golf course design and the principles of Stanley Thompson. He also encouraged me to join ASGCA and was my primary sponsor. The courses he was most proud of include Brudenell and Mill River on Prince Edward Island, Cedarbrae, Credit Valley and Dalewood in Ontario." Doug Carrick

Robbie Robinson

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

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.