My first, and only, ever round of golf in the United States came at Oak HIll Country Club in Rochester, NY. The anticipation dial was cranked all the way up to max as we dropped our bags off. Breakfast was a nervous consumption.

We warmed up on the range and short game area before heading to the first tee. We were not aware there were two different putting greens, running at the respective paces of the course options. We were told on our way to to the tee, we were warming up on the West Course green. Slower than the East. Not ideal, so we stole a few and the pace difference was noticeable.

Tee's in the ground and ball's in the air, we were off down the meandering fairway of the opening hole. Some would describe this as a hand shake hole and they would be right, but do not switch off here. You have this opportunity to do some much needed reconnaissance on all of O.H.C.C defences. No matter where you cast your eye, you can see three inch dense rough and bunkers. All over the property.

A missed fairway right down 1, led to a chop out and a scramble for a bogey 5. Very happy with that. However it doesn't take long for those defences to show themselves. Fairways bottle neck in on your second shot, guarded by thick rough, making the issues that would stem from a duff to a shank very very apparent. But for me the main defence was the green sites in their entirety.

Mostly elevated green sites with large run offs at the false fronts, green side bunkers with furry faces and entrances, but the most alarming was how close the rough came to the green side. 30cm of fringe to 3 inches of rough and that's its for as far as you would wish to go. You could miss a green pin high by 4ft and do well to take 4 more shots to get it into the hole.

The greens themselves have recently been rebuilt to introduce more pin locations. I wouldn't say they are heavily contoured, simply because of their pace, but they do have pretty obvious segments set out for pin locations. For an elite level golfer, being in the right segment makes all the difference. For the club golfer, ignore all pins, and find the middle of the green. You have a better chance of scoring from the short grass and its relative safety, than missing a green. Believe me.

We were told that the rough had been reseeded with the grass used on the new greens. Its a USGA approved strain of rye that grows incredibly dense but is extremely hardy. So left to grow you have the issues that arise from missing the fairway, but it can also be shaved down 12 months of the year to achieve 12+ on the stimp. Frightening to mortals like myself.