Scheduled to debut in 2009, the golf course at Chileno Bay is a big budget Tom Fazio design that had to wait a further five years before it finally opened...
Scheduled to debut in 2009, the golf course at Chileno Bay is a big budget Tom Fazio design that had to wait a further five years before it finally opened...
Scheduled to debut in 2009, the course at Chileno Bay is a big budget Tom Fazio design that had to wait a further five years before it finally opened, thanks to adverse financial conditions that impacted on most of the new top end golf projects around the world.
Overlooking the Sea of Cortez on the Baja Peninsula, the impressive residential development at Chileno Bay occupies a spectacular 1,200-acre site that includes, in addition to the ocean-fronting villas, a fabulous beach club and a lovely boutique hotel.
This 18-hole layout is very different to a regular Fazio design, with no rough to speak of and an extremely rugged style of bunkering. Effectively, golf balls have to be kept in play on the mown grass or they’ll be lost in the surrounding desert scrub.
It’s certainly a demanding course, with a slope rating of 145 from the back markers, but there’s sufficient fairway width to allow regular mid-handicap players to stay in the game quite comfortably – and perhaps enjoy the wonderful sea views along the way!
The latest ranking of the Top 100 Golf Courses in the World serves as the ultimate global golf bucket list. Most members of our World Top 100 Panel are seasoned golfers, each playing 20-30 of these courses annually while travelling extensively over decades to form their opinions on others. We recognise that opinions vary—even among our panel members. Rankings are subjective, and there are undoubtedly 50 or more courses in the UK and USA alone that could easily fit onto this list. Links Golf Pilgrimages The rankings
California, United States
New Jersey, United States
Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
New York, United States
New York, United States
If you've watched any professional golf on television over the past four decades, you've heard the letters "TPC" attached to a course name. TPC Sawgrass. TPC Scottsdale. TPC Harding Park. TPC stands for Tournament Players Club — a network of golf courses owned, operated, and licensed by the PGA Tour. The branding is everywhere in the sport, but most travelling golfers don't fully understand what it means, where it came from, or why it should matter to them when planning a trip. See the Top 100 Golf Courses Ranking of TPC Courses The story behind TPC is one of the shrewdest business moves in the history of sport. It reshaped the economics of professional golf, created a network of courses that the public can actually play, and pioneered a design philosophy that remains divisive among architecture enthusiasts to this day. Today, the TPC network comprises 30 properties across three countries — the United States, Canada, and Mexico — plus the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. Here's what you need to know. How the PGA Tour Went From Tenant to Landlord For most of its history, the PGA Tour operated as a travelling circus. Each week, the Tour would pitch up at a different private club, stage a tournament, and move on. The host club controlled the course setup, the infrastructure, the hospitality, and the revenue. The Tour was a well-known guest renting somebody else's living room. By the late 1970s, that arrangement was breaking down. Spectator experiences at many venues were poor — cramped viewing corridors, limited sightlines, zero infrastructure for grandstands or broadcast equipment. Private clubs weren't designed for crowds of 30,000 or more. And the Tour had almost no control over the commercial revenue being generated at its own events. PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman saw the solution: the Tour needed to build and own its own courses. It was a radical idea — a professional sports league constructing its own stadiums. In American football or baseball, that model was well established. In golf, nobody had attempted it. Beman enlisted architect Pete Dye, and in 1980, they opened TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. It would become the permanent home of The Players Championship and, in time, one of the most recognisable golf courses on earth. What Is Stadium Golf? The signature concept behind TPC courses is what Beman and Dye termed "stadium golf." The premise was straightforward: design the course so that spectators can actually see what's happening. In practice, that meant sculpting enormous mounds around greens and along key fairway corridors, creating natural amphitheatres where thousands of fans could watch the action from elevated vantage points. At Sawgrass, Dye committed fully. The course was carved from flat Florida swampland, with earth-moving equipment fabricating elevation changes the terrain never provided naturally. Waste bunkers, railway sleeper walls, bulkheaded lakes, and the now-iconic island green par-3 17th hole were all part of a layout that felt like nothing else in American golf. Tour professionals initially loathed it. The original routing was brutally penal, with water swallowing balls on seemingly every hole. J.C. Snead famously described the course as "90% horse manure and 10% luck." But Beman hadn't built Sawgrass to please the players. He'd built it for fans, for television cameras, and for the Tour's financial independence. The design philosophy has always split opinion. The weaker TPC courses feel very much manufactured — rows of uniform berms that bear no relationship to the landscape, constructed purely to give galleries somewhere to stand. That distinction matters if you care about golf course architecture, and it explains why some TPC courses rank among the best in their state while others go unranked entirely. Should TPC Courses Matter to Travelling Golfers? Here's the part that's most relevant if you're building a trip itinerary: a significant portion of TPC courses are open for public play. Unlike the storied private clubs that host major championships, the TPC network was designed with accessibility at its core. Of the 30 TPC properties, 14 are resort or daily-fee courses where you can book a tee time and pay a green fee without any membership. These include the flagship venues — TPC Sawgrass, TPC Scottsdale, TPC San Antonio, TPC Harding Park, TPC Las Vegas, TPC Louisiana, and TPC Dorado Beach, among them. The remaining 16 are private clubs, including notable tournament venues like TPC Southwind, TPC River Highlands, TPC Craig Ranch, and TPC Boston, where access is restricted to members and their guests. Just under half the network is genuinely accessible to travelling golfers, but that still represents a rare opportunity in professional golf — if you want to play a course where Tour events take place, TPC's pay-and-play venues are often your best, and sometimes your only, realistic option. The trade-off is price. Green fees at flagship TPC courses regularly sit between $300 and $500, sometimes considerably more during peak season. You're paying for the brand, the conditioning, and the bragging rights. Whether that represents value depends on what you want from a round of golf. Conditioning across the network is consistently strong. Because TPC courses are PGA Tour-owned, they're maintained to professional standards year-round rather than being polished for one event week per year. Greens are quick, fairways are tight, bunkers are pristine. If immaculate course conditioning is a priority for you, TPC venues will rarely let you down. Our Top 5 TPC Courses We've reviewed and ranked every TPC course in the network. These are the five that stand above the rest; whether they are worth a green fee is up to you. 1. TPC Sawgrass — Stadium Course Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida The flagship of the entire network and the course that started it all. Home of The Players Championship — which carries the largest purse on the PGA Tour outside the four majors — Sawgrass is the definitive TPC experience. The island green 17th is the single most televised hole in professional golf, and regardless of what you think about it architecturally, standing on that tee with a wedge in your hand is one of the great bucket-list moments in the game. Pete Dye softened the routing significantly after its brutal early years, and the course has matured beautifully through the Florida wetlands. The conditioning is immaculate, the practice facilities are world-class, and the entire experience — from check-in to the 18th green — is polished in a way that justifies the premium green fee. Playing Sawgrass feels like an event. That's exactly what it was designed to be. 2. TPC Boston Norton, Massachusetts A Gil Hanse design that hosted the Dell Technologies Championship (formerly the Deutsche Bank Championship) for over a decade as part of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. It's worth noting that TPC Boston operates as a private club, so access is limited to members and their guests — but it earns its place on this list on the strength of the design alone. TPC Boston stands apart from most courses in the network because of Hanse's reputation as one of the most respected modern architects in the game — his portfolio includes Merion's restoration and the Olympic Course in Rio. The routing moves through mature New England woodland with subtle, strategic bunkering and green complexes that reward creativity. It's a course that feels more considered than many TPC venues — less reliant on the stadium mounding formula and more focused on the quality of the golf itself. For golfers who appreciate design substance alongside Tour pedigree, Boston is a standout. 3. TPC Colorado Berthoud, Colorado One of the newer additions to the TPC network, TPC Colorado was designed by Art Schaupeter and sits against the dramatic backdrop of the Rocky Mountain Front Range. The course hosted the Korn Ferry Tour's TPC Colorado Championship and offers something that many TPC courses lack: a genuine sense of place. The mountain views are spectacular, the layout uses the rolling terrain intelligently, and the conditioning meets the standard you'd expect from the brand. It's a course that demonstrates what the TPC model looks like when it embraces natural landscape rather than imposing manufactured features onto flat ground. For golfers passing through Colorado, it's a compelling option that many overlook. 4. TPC San Antonio — Oaks Course San Antonio, Texas Home of the Valero Texas Open, which holds the distinction of being the longest-running event on the PGA Tour at the same course. The Oaks Course, designed by Greg Norman with Sergio Garcia's input, threads through the Texas Hill Country landscape of live oaks and native grasses, with the rock outcroppings and elevation changes giving the layout a character that feels authentically Texan. The resort complex at JW Marriott San Antonio also houses the Canyons Course (a separate TPC-branded layout by Pete Dye), making it a strong multi-round destination. The Oaks is the stronger of the two designs and earns its place among the top TPC courses for its combination of tournament pedigree, natural setting, and accessibility as a resort course. 5. TPC Harding Park San Francisco, California If there's one TPC course that transcends the brand entirely, it's Harding Park. Originally built as a municipal course in the 1920s, it was renovated and brought into the TPC fold, and has since hosted the PGA Championship, the WGC-Match Play, and the Presidents Cup. Set among towering Monterey cypress trees along the shores of Lake Merced, it possesses a sense of history and atmosphere that purpose-built TPC courses simply cannot replicate. The fact that it remains a public course in a major American city — one that has hosted a major championship — makes it almost unique in the sport. It barely feels like a "TPC course" in the traditional sense, and that's precisely what makes it special. The architecture predates the stadium golf era by half a century, and the Monterey cypress corridors give it a gravitas that no amount of manufactured mounding could create. Other Notable TPC Courses Several TPC courses outside our top 5 deserve mention for travelling golfers. TPC Scottsdale's Stadium Course hosts the WM Phoenix Open and its infamous par-3 16th hole stadium — the most raucous atmosphere in professional golf. TPC River Highlands hosts the Travellers Championship and features one of the best finishing stretches on Tour. TPC Southwind is home to the FedEx St. Jude Invitational — the PGA Tour's only private club in Tennessee. TPC Louisiana and TPC Deere Run are strong options that often fly under the radar. TPC Courses Outside the United States The TPC network extends beyond the continental U.S. into two additional countries and one U.S. territory. In Puerto Rico, TPC Dorado Beach is a 54-hole resort complex with the East Course ranked #1 on the island. In Mexico, TPC Danzante Bay in Loreto, Baja California Sur is ranked #17 nationally — a stunning coastal layout in one of the country's most beautiful settings. In Canada, TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley offers three courses (Hoot, Heathlands, and North), all ranked within the Canadian top 80 and all sharing the same Alton, Ontario facility. Are TPC Golf Courses Worth the Green Fee? The TPC network deserves credit for something that often gets overlooked: access to professional-calibre golf courses used for tournament play. Before TPC, if you wanted to play a course where Tour events took place, your options were virtually nonexistent. TPC created a pathway for everyday golfers to experience tournament conditions/ The business model was visionary. The PGA Tour transformed itself from an organisation dependent on the goodwill of private clubs into a property portfolio generating year-round revenue through green fees, memberships, hospitality, and event hosting. It gave the Tour financial independence and brand control that it simply didn't have before. The TPC name implies a certain standard, but the network includes everything from world-class tournament venues to facilities that are essentially well-maintained daily-fee courses carrying a premium marque. Not every TPC course hosts or was ever intended to host a Tour event. From an architectural standpoint, the ‘stadium’ build that defines most TPC designs can feel formulaic — manufactured berms that serve no strategic purpose and have no relationship to the natural landscape. The Bottom Line for Golf Travellers If a TPC course falls on your travel route, it may be worth considering. Our top 5 (Sawgrass, Boston, Colorado, San Antonio Oaks, and Harding Park) offer experiences that are difficult to replicate elsewhere: exceptional conditioning, memorable holes, and the chance to walk fairways you've watched on television. For the remaining TPC courses, weigh the green fee against what else is available in that market. In some cases, you'll find that a similarly priced course without the TPC badge offers a more interesting, more characterful round of golf. What Deane Beman started in 1980 was more than a golf course. It was a business model that altered an entire sport. Whether or not every TPC venue lives up to the ambition of that original vision, the concept itself remains one of the most consequential innovations in the modern game. See our TPC Ranking, you would actually want to play.
The Golden Age greats are admired and applauded for the legacy they left the game. Deservedly so, as they brought us out of darkness and into the light. Sadly, within a few decades, the momentum was lost. Despite a period of enlightenment, golf had retreated into a second dark age. Then, the emergence of Tom Doak... Renaissance Golf Design A French word meaning rebirth, renaissance could not be more fitting for the resurgence in strategic, minimalist golf championed by Tom Doak but also the period ushered in by him and his team since 1989. Tom Doak will often point to his tutelage under Pete Dye as the genesis of the movement. He also counts Ben Crenshaw and Walter Woods as mentors. But make no mistake, Tom Doak (amongst a handful of others which we will cover in due course) set in motion a movement that has set golf on a heading back to its second golden age. In this article, we look at Tom Doak's current projects, the portfolio that he and his team have created, and sadly, projects that no longer exist. (His restoration projects and consulting work will be covered in another article.) Tom Doak's Current Projects East Potomac (Blue) - USA - Washington DC - Expected 2028 A rare Tom Doak restoration. Walter Travis originally designed a reversible course in the 1920's - something he has pulled off before at Forest Dunes in 2016. As well, it's a municipal so there's a good chance you'll be able to play it. The finished project will also include a 9-hole executive course, a par 3 course, mini golf, and a practice facility. Crooked Stick - USA - Indiana - Expected 2025 Tom Doak's connection to Crooked Stick dates back to his days with Mr Pete Dye. Eric Iverson, one of Renaissance's principals, is helping out as well. All 18 greens are being reworked and is expected to reopen for play on schedule in 2025. Cabot Highlands - Old Petty - Scotland - 2025 The second 18-hole golf course at Cabot Highlands, with the first being Gil Hanse' Cabot Highlands Castle Stuart. Will Old Petty challenge the new builds in Scotland for title of best yet? Sandglass Golf Club (Rolling Sands) - USA - Florida - Expected 2025 A flat, sand-based site is the perfect canvas for template holes from Tom's favourite courses around the world. Holes from St Andrews, Muirfield, North Berwick, and Pine Valley make an appearance. Childress Hall - USA - Texas - Expected 2025 A sand-based site in the north-west of Texas with quartz dunes with a unique crescent shape. Wild Spring Dunes - USA - Texas - Expected 2025 Another Mike Keiser destination golf resort, the property will consist of 36 holes - 18 from Tom Doak and 18 from Coore & Crenshaw. 'Initially' is the key word here as 2400 acres are on hand for potential further development. Tom describes the property as resembling LACC, Pasatiempo and Pine Valley... Punta Brava Golf & Surf Club - Mexico - Expected 2025 A peninsula with ocean on three sides. A very elite private club on a very challenging site make it a once in a lifetime opportunity. CGI Courtesy Harris Kalinka Tom Doak's New Build Portfolio High Pointe - USA - Michigan - 2024 A restoration of 6 of Tom Doak's best original holes from 1989 along with 12 new holes. Pinehurst No. 10 - USA - North Carolina - 2024 The first 18-hole golf course at Pinehurst in the parcel of land known as the Pinehurst Sandmines. Sand Valley - Sedge Valley - USA - Wisconsin - 2024 Tom Doak pays homage to the London heathlands at Sand Valley. The Tree Farm - USA - South Carolina - 2023 Tom with PGA Tour player Zac Blair on a routing which was then built by Kye Goalby. It has been a rousing success with the masses, debuting in the USA Top 100. Photo Courtesy Tree Farm/ Marsh Te Arai Resort - North Course - New Zealand - 2023 A public, 18-hole golf course sandwiched between Tom Doak's own Tara Iti and Coore & Crenshaw's Te Arai South. The Lido - Sand Valley - USA - Wisconsin - 2022 Tom Doak recreates CB MacDonald's long-lost Long Island golf course. Boundaries were pushed in the making of the course - a triumph of engineering, technology, artisanship and skill. St Patrick's Links - Ireland - 2021 One of Tom Doak's best, it was a long ambition to build a links in Ireland. Kilshannig in Ireland almost happened and then didn't... So good it has entered the World Top 100 in most rankings universally and then continued to rise. Memorial Park Golf Club - USA - Texas - 2020 A municipal golf course in Houston, Texas that also acts as a PGA Tour destination once a week a year... A tour player was involved again but not Jack - this time Brooks Keopka. Gunnamatta Course at The National - Australia - 2018 Tom Doak returned to Australia more than a decade after Barnbougle Dunes and St Andrews Beach. The Loop at Forest Dunes - USA - Michigan - 2016 Two courses for one with the reversible layout known as The Loop. Red and Black are played on the same course in opposite directions. Stoatin Brae Golf Course - USA - Michigan - 2016 From Tom's stable at Renaissance Golf Design: Brian Schneider, Don Placek, Brian Slawnik, and Eric Iverson collaborated on the course that has escaped attention and fanfare in Renaissance's backyard. Grand St Emilionnais Golf Club - France - 2015 A fescue playing surface in Bordeaux amongst heather and gorse. An affordable tee time on a Tom Doak design in the famous wine region of France. Tara Iti Golf Club - New Zealand - 2015 Could this be Tom Doak's greatest design? He counts it amongst his 10 best and it is his his ranked golf course almost universally. Photo Courtesy Ricky Robinson / Tara Iti Medinah Country Club (Course One) - USA - Illinois - 2014 A new course with an old name. With coffers full following the Miracle at Medina, several holes were kept but the majority were lost in a re-route and a new set of greens. Dismal River Club (Red Course) - USA - Nebraska - 2013 One of the Renaissance top 10 best... as they see it. Contrasting with the Nicklaus design next door and lying west of Coore and Crenshaw's (and perhaps the greatest modern golf course in the world) greatest design. Streamsong Resort (Blue Course) - USA - Florida - 2013 The home of destination golf. Bill Coore and Tom Doak worked together on two 18-hole layouts before deciding which firm would build each one. A third Gil Hanse design would follow in 2017. Old MacDonald - USA - Oregon - 2010 Designed in the style of CB MacDonald through a collaboration between Jim Urbina and Tom Doak. CommonGround - USA - Colorado - 2009 A 'commoner's course' so to speak. A low green fee on a great golf course - in the spirit of Scottish golf - it's for the people. Rock Creek Cattle Company - USA - Montana - 2008 A very private golf club in Montana. It is one of Tom Doak's best and the best within two states in either direction. Photo Courtesy E Schiller The Renaissance Club - Scotland - 2007 Tom Doak's first golf course in the shadow of Muirfield. His second links at Cabot Highlands will no doubt rival his first layout. Sebonack Golf Club - USA - New York - 2006 A quite unusual collaboration between Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak. It was never going to be an easy road and perhaps a missed opportunity by Michael Pascucci. One of the most expensive memberships in the world, it lies beside NGLA and Shinnecock. Ballyneal Golf Club - USA - Colorado - 2006 The golf course that Tom Doak calls perhaps his most fun. What has become a trademark (if he has one) of bold slopes and contours feeding the ball to the intended target are found here in abundance. Stone Eagle Golf Club - USA - California - 2005 It wasn't a natural site for golf but the desert provides a striking landscape and canvas. It narrowly misses out on USA Top 100. Tom calls it his most complex and difficult job to date. Tumble Creek at Suncadia - USA - Washington - 2005 One of Tom Doak's few golf & residential developments in a state not known for golf. St Andrew's Beach - Australia - 2004 For an architect known for his minimalist approach, this has been the most natural of all his projects. Just three holes were touched by earth-moving equipment and the rest were found... Barbougle Dunes Golf Links - Australia - 2004 One of Tom Doak's greatest works, it paved the way for Tasmania to become the destination golf capital of the southern hemisphere. Cape Kidnappers - New Zealand - 2004 The most audacious land used for golf perhaps ever. The 400-foot cliff-top course is a marvel and is perhaps enjoyed most by those who have a minor understanding of designing golf where it probably wasn't destined to be... this is an architect's golf course. Photo Courtesy Gary Lisbon Stonewall Golf Club - North - USA - Pennsylvania - 2003 When you are a member of both Pine Valley and Merion, what else could you want? 36 holes from Tom Doak where full tee sheets are never an issue... The first 18 were delivered in 1993 before he returned for an encore in 2003. Pacific Dunes - USA - Oregon - 2001 The course that made Tom Doak an overnight success 20 plus years in the making. Tom Doak describes this site as perhaps the best site for golf since the 1920's. Only Sand Hills ranks higher with regard to modern golf courses worldwide. Photo Courtesy Patrick Koenig The Village Club at Sands Point - USA - New York - 2000 The Guggenheim family owned the estate from 1918 until 1953. IBM used it for corporate retreats until 1994. The Village of Sands Point bought the estate in 1994 and invited Tom Doak to redevelop the 9-hole Robert Trent Jones Sr 9-hole course into the 18-hole course that exists today. Atlantic City Country Club - USA - New Jersey - 2000 A renovation of a historic classic. Evolution was the name of the game here with old holes improved and new holes found in land raised from the marsh. Lost Dunes Golf Club - USA - Michigan - 1999 The most complex greens of any design ever built by the Renaissance team. An early Doak design that flies under the radar. Riverfront Golf Club - USA - Virginia - 1999 Tom Doak says this is one of the best sets of greens and bunkers built by his team in an insipid landscape... Quail Crossing Golf Club - USA - Indiana - 1997 The cost for a green fee in 2024 was $24... Tom Doak's first golf and residential project. Stonewall Golf Club - Old - USA - Pennsylvania - 1993 36 holes of Tom Doak design on a single site. The first 18 were established in 1993. The Legends - Heathlands - USA - South Carolina - 1990 Tom Doak's second design took inspiration from St Andrews Old Course. The minimalism seen here would later cement his legacy in the pantheon of all-time greats. Tom Doak's Lost Golf Courses Apache Stronghold Golf Club - USA - Arizona - 1999-2021 Lure in travelling golfers 90 miles north of Phoenix to play golf and unwind at the casino... that was the idea until it wasn't. The Sheep Ranch - USA - Oregon - 2002-2020 The natural, write-your-own-story layout was cannibalised for the new Coore & Crenshaw Sheep Ranch. Aetna Springs Golf Club - USA - California - 2008-2018 The only 9-hole golf course in Tom Doak's portfolio. The resort is scheduled to reopen in 2026 but no golf is mentioned... Black Forest at Wilderness Valley - USA - Michigan - 1991-2018 Once a bustling golf resort, it was closed in 2018 reportedly due to unpaid taxes. Charlotte Golf Links - USA - North Carolina - 1993-2015 A land bank project, it served its greater good as a golf course before being developed at the end of its lease. Simapo Island Golf Club - China - Never Opened Tom Doak's only Chinese design, the project was ready to go and then the government stepped in and shut it down. Tom played it twice. Beechtree Golf Club - USA - Maryland - 1998-2010 The clients wanted more profit than a Top 50 Public Golf Course in the USA could provide and repurposed the land for commercial development. Original High Pointe Golf Club - USA - Michigan - 1989-2008 The first solo design of Tom Doak. The land made a more lucrative hop farm than it did as a golf course. Recently restored and elevated with new land, High Pointe has been reborn. Bahia de los Suenos Golf & Beach Club - Never Opened The global financial crisis and Mexico's drug war stopped this course was grown-in and ready to open when it was mothballed... Wicked Pony Golf Club - USA - Oregon - Never Opened Yet another victim of the 2009 global financial crisis. The course was ready for seeding when the funding dried up. Could this be the only other Tom Doak design that could emerge from the ashes?
Alex Frolish has been a pilot for approaching 20 years and now travels to all corners of the globe in his role as a commercial airline pilot. His passion for flight is only equalled by his passion for golf and golf travel. Having picked up a golf club over 35 years ago when aged just 3 years old, Alex has played over 550 courses across every continent on planet earth furnished with a fairway. Over the next few months you’ll be able to follow Alex’s golfing travels as he brings you anecdotes of his life both in the air and on the course. As I entered March, little did I know that it would end up being a month of golf played clinging to the shorelines of two continents. My flying roster featured trips to Tokyo, Mexico City and Oregon, however the first two trips were not very fruitful in terms of playing golf. Tokyo was in the midst of a brutish winter storm and Mexico City proved problematic in securing a game over the weekend of my visit. This was particularly disappointing as the flight into Mexico City is one of the most technically challenging anywhere in the world. All that effort and no golf! The city is at 7000 feet elevation above seal level and surrounded by a ring of mountains and volcanoes. That lofty altitude means the air is thinner, which consequently means the aircraft travels faster over the ground than it would at sea level. Where that thinner air can make flying aircraft more challenging, it has the adverse affect on golf. Altitude and thinner air mean longer drives and a boosting of one’s golfing ego. There’s a reason I try and make it out here at least once a year, normally when my game is in need of an injection of confidence. As a side note, the food is some of the best I have tasted anywhere on my travels. Finally, the weather and the tee sheets turned in my favour and my trip to Oregon resulted in my second trip to possibly the greatest golfing resort in the world, Bandon Dunes. There will be many of you who have visited this wondrous place and more that have it very firmly placed on your golfing bucket list. I had visited once before, playing Bandon Trails and Pacific Dunes. This time, it was my turn to tackle two more of the iconic courses, Sheep Ranch and Bandon Dunes. Photo credit: Patrick Koenig The Sheep Ranch holds a special place in the hearts of those who knew it in its earliest form; a place with few rules, few players, long on vibes and crafted with enjoyment in mind. It may be more formal now with its regular tee times and standard booking format, but it is still a place with a special aura, a place to take in the view and a most importantly, a golf course that is a tonne of fun to play. To say any course at Bandon is truly a links course is a stretch for a Brit who happens to love links golf in its rawest form. The definition of a links golf course is always a thorny subject, but I think the most important elements are that the turf is naturally firm and sand based and that the land the course is laid across is naturally undulating and directly ‘links’ the beach to the better land that could be used for farming etc further from the coast. This clifftop setting here with its partially manufactured contours does a good job of getting close, but it isn’t a pure links in my eyes. That being said, it plays very much like a links and although it is not the longest, nor the most testing at Bandon, Sheep Ranch is course to play with friends, to play for fun and to test and reward all facets of your game and most importantly, I absolutely loved it! Then it was on to a PM tee time at Bandon Dunes. David McLay-Kidd builds golf courses that fit my eye and strike a chord with many of the qualities I identify in a good golf course. His headline grabbing layout is one of the founder courses here and it feels like that when you arrive at the clubhouse. Pacific Dunes and Bandon Dunes share much of the same stretch of clifftop dune land, and for that reason, share many similarities aesthetically when compared to the other courses at the resort. This is a quite brilliant golf course, routed across one of the richest pieces of golfing land I have seen in the USA to date. Comparing the courses at Bandon is like comparing fine wines, they are all excellent and it is only personal preference that really separates them markedly. Pacific Dunes and Bandon Dunes share similar feels and qualities and I agree with the rankings that Pacific Dunes probably just eclipses Bandon Dunes. We are splitting hairs though, and you won’t be disappointed whichever course you play here. My end of March took me back to the U.K. for a trip to my home course, Saunton (where both courses are in fine fettle right now) and then on to play three new links courses with very different feels. Firstly, Wallasey is one of the richest golf courses I have visited in England. Not rich in a financial sense necessarily, but more so in the history of our game and in terms of the links ground which resides within the course’s boundary. The dunes here are quite something to behold and are some of the finest links dunes I have seen in England to date. In John Mcloughlin, Wallasey have one of the most forward thinking Course Managers in the British Isles. His vision and continual strive for improvements has seen the course establishing a reputational upward trajectory in recent times. The club have engaged Clayton Devries & Pont to advise on a course improvement plan. Having seen details of some of the suggested work, I genuinely think this might be one of the most exciting and potential filled renovation projects in the U.K. over the next few years. Photo credit: Wallasey Golf Club Finally, a Welsh double header completed my month of links golf. Conwy is another fine course in the midst of a comprehensive upgrade programme, this time under the guidance of architects Mackenzie & Ebert. The project is a little under half way completed, with a target to finish the works in another 3-4 years time. This is a golf club full of ambition with a clear road map in place to reinvigorate the golf course. All in all, I think this project is a very worthwhile investment and one that should future proof the golf course for generations to come. Later that afternoon, we headed only a few miles across the bay to North Wales Golf Club. Initial impressions were underwhelming with the 1st hole partially out of play, but this is a golfing experience that grows on you as the round progresses. There is plenty to love about this place, whether you are an avid lover of course architecture, or somebody who likes playing golf with a wondrous view to keep you enthused. The round starts slowly and doesn’t really sparkle until the latter part of the front nine. It’s worth the wait though and over the next few holes, there is some truly magical links golf to be played. There is a valuable lesson in there for every travelling golfer. Sometimes playing the understated neighbour of a big name course can reward you with an unexpected and good value for money experience. So on to April, which is looking as long on course miles as it is in air miles. Visits to Hong Kong, Dubai and Singapore are in the diary and there is also the small matter of a six course golfing trip to Ireland to fit into the mix! The season is really beginning to take off and over the next couple of months I’ll be playing a number of golf courses I’ve dreamt of playing for many years. In the mean time, wherever you are and whatever you have planned, I wish you the straightest of drives, well negotiated four- footers and happy rounds.
