Gustav

My recent experience of playing at Hovås was very much one of stepping back in time when golf in Sweden was a sport played by the fortunate few. The course is parkland with significant changes in elevation, reflecting the landscape where Gothenburg's southern suburbs are laid out. I could easily imagine hitting tee shots from elevated positions off mats with old-fashioned blade irons or persimmon woods and doff my hat to the club's efforts to produce decent grass teeing grounds using the very limited space available. Most older British parklands are quite flat, but if you have played the first nine at Wermdö or at Saltsjöbaden outside Stockholm or even the first twelve holes at Son Vida on Mallorca, you get the idea.Many holes play quite short with modern equipment, so it was not surprising to see a fourball clad in plus-fours playing with hickories coming up the 11th as I was preparing to tee off the 1st hole, a long par 3 playing into the breeze almost like a driveable par 4. All this being said, to enjoy a round at Hovås you do not have to play with period equipment, but you should embrace that it is very much an exercise in precision. Call it a second shot course if you like. The greens are small and were playing fast during my visit, so recoveries from an overhit approach shots can be challenging or even impossible. Get your club selection right, if you miss the green, do so in the right places.Hovås is also a place where you are likely to score better on repeat plays, or if you are lucky to play your first round with someone who plays a similar game to yours and can help you on course strategy and club selection. Definitely worth a visit for the historically interested golfer, but if this is not your primary motivation for playing golf and you only have time for one round of golf when in town, I would definitely advise you to go to Vallda which is just 15 minutes drive further south.

During our visit in early September, Torekov not only looked but also played very much played like a links course with fast running fairways and firm, true, but not overly fast greens. Furthermore, many greens are open at the front, so it is possible to play low rolling approach shots as well as the aerial route we were able to take in the calm conditions during our visit.Not very long, so the big stick is not an automatic choice on the tee. Two examples: 1) on the short par 4 5th (only 248 meters from the back tee) I saw that the course guide indicated that an iron just short of the main fairway bunker would still only leave a pitch shot into the green, so happy to have left the driver in the bag.2) on the following 6th, however, I should have tempered my greedy instinct to go for the green in two and made a similar decision. Instead, I ran out of fairway and had to hack it out of rough to the left and try to scramble my way to a par. Holes 15, 16 and 17 towards the end of the round give the more impatient souls some room to hit it without too much punishment if the ball goes slightly astray. Reviewers elsewhere have expressed disappointment over the finishing holes, but I liked the variety they offer compared to the more technical challenge offered earlier in the round.The par 3 18th finish was not really my cup of tee, though. My own home course also finishes with a long par 3 with a challenging green, but here the green is quite narrow, so any miss left or right could result in a back-and-forth-failed-recovery finish and "nul points" for the less skilled or fortunate. Happily I did not have to play this hole in a stiff cross wind.Torekov has nurtured some great golfers (celebrated coach Pia Nilsson of Vision 54 fame was a member here before moving to America) but does not pretend to be a course which aims to host championships so it is not a surprise that it was not a match for Vallda and Halmstad Norra, which we played on the subsequent days. Also, I would guess that Torekov would probably be ranked quite a bit lower if more Swedish courses would be built and set up to play firm and fast. As things stand, this is one of few such places and therefore deserves all accolades in that respect.Finally, do keep in mind that Torekov is mainly a place where people spend their summers, so we almost had the course to ourselves and were able to play two full rounds in less than six hours during a benign September afternoon and early evening. A visit during the busy holiday season (10 July - 10 August) might be different as regards pace of play.

The Castle course at Bro Hof is a very different proposition from its tour venue, the Stadium course. It is not only the favourite of many members but increasingly also the preferred destination for many corporate and society outings. For me, the main attraction is the configuration with six par 3s, six par 4s and six par 5s and the variety on offer in each of the three categories. This means that you are never far away from a birdie chance or a hole where you are happy to escape with a (net) par.The other attraction is the quality of the conditioning, which has few equals in Sweden. For me it is not the manicured perfection (which has slipped a little bit since the opening) but the fact that tee surfaces are still level more than ten years after opening, tightly mown fairways where you seldom get grass between blade and ball (and thus avoid the dreaded fliers) and the constant trueness of the greens. If the ball jumps and you miss the putt you know it is because you struck it poorly, not because the surface is uneven."(Yawn), seen this before" is a fair comment from an international visitor to the Stadium course. Perhaps RTJ has also designed other Castle-like courses during his long career, but I am sure that its configuration offers a refreshing contrast in a Swedish context.Instead, I think the main design weakness lies in the overenthusiastic and too frequent use of sandy waste areas as hazards. I also do not understand why so many trees have recently been planted on the course. Some tree planting along the perimeter is understandable, to screen unsightly ongoing construction and perhaps also on holes 1 and 10 to discourage players from taking potentially dangerous short cuts, but the rest is a mystery. Many mature courses do little else than cutting their tree cover and this year has shown very clearly that grass growth on tree-lined fairways takes a lot longer to get going than on surfaces which get more light during winter.Also, several low points on the course tend to drain poorly and can be wet just from normal irrigation. Not something you would expect, given the very significant construction budget.Worth visiting? If you are in Stockholm anyway, absolutely! And try to play the Castle course rather than the Stadium course if you have room for only 18 holes. If you are deciding where to go on your first golfing visit to Sweden, however, the answer is different. Then I would rather drive across the bridge from Copenhagen and play the best courses in Skåne. Or, if visiting outside the 10 July - 10 August holiday madness, take another plane from Stockholm and play a few rounds at beautiful Visby GK.

Worplesdon was the highest ranked track we played during a week of heathland golf, mainly in and around Bournemouth and in my book it was head and shoulders above all the five courses we played there (Broadstone, Parkstone, Ferndown, Purbeck and Stoneham).In fact, the reaction of my wife when she spotted a "For Sale" sign on a property adjacent to the course: "Let's buy and try to become members here!" sums up what we both felt about the course.I have played West Hill and Woking before and although it is difficult to compare when not playing them in succession, my clear preference is for Worplesdon, mainly because it had fewer of the vices that tripped me up as a first-time visitor to Woking and I cannot recall anything at West Hill which is close to the majestic feel of the section across the road (holes 11-14 if my memory does not fail me).Highly recommended.

Ferndown was a classic example of a course beating expectations. Based on reviews I had read beforehand, rankings and not the least the visuals available here and elsewhere, I had it as a clear no 3 after Parkstone/Broadstone and it ended up a notch above both of them in my esteem. Make no mistake, Parkstone and Broadstone are more scenic courses occupying more dramatic sites, but I am not sure that all the changes in elevation at those courses work in their favour compared to the more understated Ferndown. Also, I am sure that if I played Broadstone and Parkstone again with greens as true as they were at Ferndown the verdict would perhaps have been closer. Other reviews gave me no indication this was the normal state of affairs. If it is, I think Ferndown should perhaps be ranked higher than it is.I liked Ferndown, despite the fact that holes 7 and 8 were not really my cup of tea. I mean, I have nothing against reachable par 5s and ditto par 4s, but if this means that their design present safety concerns (and I think they do: someone going for the 7th green could easily hit people on the 8th tee box and anyone moving to/from 9th tee and the halfway house is at risk from an attempt to hit the 8th green)This gripe aside, I think the lows at Ferndown were fewer and recommend you to include it on your itinerary if you have Bournemouth in your sights, perhaps even at the expense of one of the other two tracks.

Stoneham is an interesting experience and certainly unlike most other courses I have played. It is undulating as a links course, hilly with fairways going up and down as a mountain layout, surrounded by beautiful mature deciduous trees as the best parklands and it played firm as a heathland course should (sadly few do). It will certainly exercise your calf muscles and offer you few level lies, so come prepared!It will also exercise/torment your brain, at least if you play it the first time without really good advice where to aim and how far to hit it.If this is not possible, a good alternative is to make a full day of it, book two rounds and treat the first round as a recce mission.It got onto our program because Parkstone could only take us in the afternoon and despite the hassle of squeezing these two courses in on the same day, I am very glad we played here. One person in our small group even rated Stoneham above Parkstone. Would perhaps not go that far myself, but should absolutely belong in any serious England Top100.

The greens on this course now play firmer and faster than I remember that they did pre-pandemic. (The course was closed during much of 2020.) I also have noticed that greens on holes 7 and 14, possibly also #13, have been rebuilt with their slopes softened to make sure they can cope with the higher green speeds.Much as the generally improved conditioning of the course is welcome, a rethink of greenkeeping that combines retained firmness with slightly lower speeds will be a much cheaper way to improve overall enjoyment (and pace of play). Otherwise, greens on holes 2, 6, 8, 11 and 15 will also have to be rebuilt and softened. Currently, you are often left with no shot if you go past the flag on these holes.

I am one of the many who now have T Club Poniente as my favourite course on the island. The combination of a (1) very playable design, (2) firm conditions and (3) immaculate conditioning is what puts it at the top, at least as far as enjoyment is concerned.Design-wise, the course combines challenge for elite golfers (evidence: the winning score was -8 over 72 holes during the Challenge Tour Grand Final which finished this past Sunday) with high playability for the average golfer with generous landing areas, large greens open at the front and no heroic carries needed to reach these landing areas from the yellow and red tees.The firm fairways which can create problems for elite golfers represent a great plus for shorter hitters (My wife gives a big thumbs up to any firm course which give her extra yards off the tee and the ability to run in the ball on the green in regulation with woods and hybrids.) Conditioning: playing here mid-October when other courses on the island looked under stress or downright awful (see the article "The Rain in Spain falls mainly at the wrong time" for further background), you could be forgiven for thinking that the course manager at Poniente had played according to very different rules. However, if my sources are correct, the difference is down to major investments and astute choices made during the 2016-2018 rebuild: (a) an expensive osmosis plant to make sure the irrigation water is less toxic to the grass and (b) sand-capped fairways with better drainage and more salt-resistant grass varieties. This does not mean there aren't weak spots:1) I still think both Son Gual and Alcanada offer more challenge to the amateur golfer as greens at Poniente are bigger, open at the front and therefore easier to hit. When kept at non-tournament speeds they are not scary or hard to read either. Furthermore, bunkers are bigger and flatter with lower faces than at Son Gual and Alcanada. 2) The routing also has its weak moments: The 5th hole, a short dogleg par 5, sensibly played as a par 4 by the Challenge Tour, is quite difficult for high handicappers who have to worry about trees on the right and water on the left, but easy for good players who can hit a power fade over the trees on the right with just an iron left to reach the green in two. The finishing four holes, while scenic, includes the short, rather bland, uphill par 3 15th and the par 5 18th where the camber of the fairway takes too many well-struck shots into the trees and/or the water, with the risk of leaving a slightly sour taste with first time visitors finishing their round.Also, the distance from the 18th green to the club house favours golf carts, whereas the rest of the course is very walkable. (When I had the chance to speak to the owner just before the pandemic, he described potential changes to the course layout to sort out all these routing points, but they have not yet happened.) Highly recommended.

A collection of 18 visually stunning holes, but difficult to keep track of where on the property you are or have been. A real championship test with lots of variety, but easy to play as a resort course should be.Easy to walk, but still takes 3 ½ hours to get round when empty.These three contradictions summarise my first two rounds at Dumbarnie, so would not be surprised to see it quite high in the GB&I Top100, but perhaps not at the very top.What I am very sure of is to recommend you to have a go yourself, at least if you like modern layouts and if budget is not a word you associate with your golf travelling.If you happen to visit during a major tournament at St Andrews (like we did this time), by all means combine it with nearby Lundin, Leven and/or Elie for a nice mini-tour without much time behind the wheel if you also decide to stay nearby.Highly recommended.

We played at Leven after a blustery afternoon at Elie and before a sunny day at Lundin. In retrospect, this was the right choice as Leven’s greenkeepers were verti-cutting the fairways and Elie’s greens were not at their truest. Maintenance hiccups aside, my understanding is that Lundin tends to have the upper hand over Leven when it comes to conditioning, so it probably makes sense to play Leven before Lundin to avoid disappointment if you plan on playing them both.We played the course twice during the day, with lunch at Leven Golfing Society in between to recharge our batteries and also to wait out a rain shower. As a result our 3-ball played a late afternoon round in relatively calm weather at our own pace in just above three hours without rushing at all. This was a very different experience to the busy course we negotiated in the morning in just under four hours. Also made a big difference to know just how close certain tees and greens were to each other, to be able to better judge when to hit your approach and when to sensibly wait until the next tee was clear.The layout is classical seaside links. Its 426 yard opener is not only long-ish, but the hole feels narrower than it actually is, at least taking into account that you have the whole 18th fairway to your left at your disposal. The second is much shorter but has a split fairway, so also feels narrower than it is. If what you dread is a slice off the tee then most of the front nine is probably going to be mentally tough for you.As my typical miss is left and I hit it quite straight on the day, I felt that the course was relatively benign, but with a real sting in the tail. The 17th is clearly designed to catch you out if you have become slightly overconfident and pulled out your driver without thinking (as I did). There really is no reason to try to hit it past the bunker at 265 yards even with the wind behind as the fairway narrows significantly with gorse and high rough on either side. If you succeed as one of my playing partners did, you are just exchanging a full short iron for a pitch - in return for taking a big risk. The 18th is a real brute at 457 yards unless of course you can regularly hit it 300-ish yards off the tee. The approach shot has to deal with a snaking burn at the front and to the right and out of bounds at the back and to the left. A daunting proposition if you need a significant club in the bag to reach. Sometimes it is just right to lay up....

Lundin’s course was in much better condition than neighbouring Leven when we played them both last week. The comparison is inevitable as both courses are laid out on the same stretch of linksland and each club has nine holes from the original 18-hole course they shared between 1868 and 1909.Understand this difference in conditioning might not be temporary and instead mainly down to money and management. Apparently, member numbers in Lundin GC are similar to the two Leven clubs taken together, but Lundin has reportedly made more room for visitors. Together with a higher greenfee, the much higher visitor income (2-3x was the proportion mentioned) has allowed Lundin to spend more than Leven on things like irrigation. In layout terms, the two courses are similar with four par 4s going out to the low stone wall, aka the Mile Dyke, and then a short par 3 turning inland. Lundin’s front nine does not go all the way back to the club-house but turns at the large maintenance shed, where the 9th tee occupied a strange, narrow position hard by the wall of the shed, apparently due to a dispute with a wealthy lawyer neighbour (also a club member...et tu Brute) who has forced the club into this arrangement in order to stop getting sliced drives onto his property.Another difference is the par 5 hole 13, which plays on the coastal escarpment above, whereas Leven has all its holes down on the seaside links. This creates the need for the par 3 12th to get to the upper ground. I tend to find most uphill par 3s poor or uninteresting designs, but I quite liked this one as it is routed sideways up rather than straight up. The excursion on the escarpment also results in the sea views on the par 3 14th tee, which are nothing short of glorious, although I am sure this tee-shot can be a real test if the wind is a lot stronger and from a different direction than the breeze we played in.Lundin is a bit shorter than Leven on the scorecard, but all three of us felt it was wider and occasionally also more forgiving, but perhaps this is due to a more benign finish. The 16th and 17th are short par 4s and the 18th is long, but miles wide with not as much to threaten the approach as Leven's brutal 18th.If you intend to cast your net wider than St Andrews itself, Lundin should be near the top of your list, at least among the traditional layouts. Perhaps the arrival of nearby Dumbarnie will entice visiting golfers to also play Lundin. It was our motivation and we do not regret it.Highly recommended.

It is a mystery to me why not more layouts with six par 3s and six par 5s are built at modern golf resorts as they provide so much fun!The Berkshire's Red Course might lay claim to being the original. It certainly is the best such layout I have played and one of the best balanced layouts I have played, all categories.It helps, of course, that it is set among heather and majestic fir trees and which ample space for each hole. Most of the deciduous trees I remember from my first visit in the 90s have now been cleared away and the course is visually better as a result. If you visit when the heather is in bloom, you are in for a real treat, as pictured.The course also played longer as fairways were green already in early September and not fast-running the way I remember them. The caddiemaster who chuckled when he saw my old courseplanner from 20 years ago told us that many fairways had been relaid with sand and new drainage quite recently, which explained the state of affairs. Berkshire Red is correctly ranked among the best UK heathland courses. In my opinion, there is probably not a single course among those ranked below that I have played that I would consider its equal. An extra plus, at least in my book, is that you can play it in three hours without rushing as a two-ball instead of waiting around among fourballs. The flip side is that it might not be accessible on the day you were thinking of visiting if you are three or four, but then the Blue course could be available instead and it is (almost) just as good!Highly recommended, do not miss!

Short, beautiful, tight. Great fun. I could actually stop there, because you should appreciate places like East Berkshire for what they are. Great, well-run member's clubs, which will never stage major championships, but which could well nurture the next champion.On the last point, I spoke to one of the pros who told me he and his colleagues coach around 100 young golfers at nearby Wellington College, more than ten of whom, both girls and boys, have handicaps at or close to scratch. You may wonder why I mention this in a course review. Well, I think East Berkshire's course is great for golfer development in that it is both easy to get round for beginners, but at the same time hard to beat up for more accomplished players. I can easily imagine many a young player hitting long drives into unplayable positions and learning, perhaps the hard way, that the little shots count as much as the longest ones. I liked the gentle start with two short par 4s, the first of which is probably driveable on a good day, but a drive hit just slightly off-line might easily end up unplayable in the bushes to the right. The layout has many risk-reward decision points, although the other holes are of more normal length.The back nine did not appeal to me as much as it feels a lot tighter. In fairness, it is also quite a bit longer than the front nine. Full disclosure, my mid-irons were not as straight on the day as I wished them to be and then you struggle a bit with four par 4s (10, 14, 17 and 18) in excess of 400 yards. Having people on the next tee box just yards away from a green you are trying to hit with a six-iron from the semi-rough while a party is waiting behind you is not the most comfortable situation I can think of. Go here with your expectations set right and this place will charm you to bits. And, be prepared for a scorecard that might end up not looking as pretty as you thought it would when you left the second green.

Local knowledge really counts in a place like this. A couple of examples to illustrate my point: The short par 4 first hole calls for a long iron from the tee unless you've got hubris and try to drive the green. The problem is that both the green and the sloping ground in front were so firm during our visit that our (well-struck) approach shots just trickled over the green and ended up in the bank below. A struggle to make par instead of a good birdie opportunity for the unintiated.On the long (420 yards) par 4 3rd, I missed slightly long and right and from the ankle deep thick grass a couple of yards off the green, I had no shot. Again, local knowledge would have told me to miss short or left. On the par 4 dogleg left uphill 9th, the stroke saver does not tell you how far it is before you run out of fairway on the right side, so you risk hitting an iron into the fairway, which I should have done, but didn't, as it would have given me a near impossible task with my second. Instead, I stuffed a good drive into the trees on the left which were higher than what I (somewhat optimstically) thought that I could hit my driver. Again, local knowledge would have told me where to aim and which club to choose. On the last hole, a good drive gives you only a pitch into the green. However carefully you hit this shot, you run a real risk of the ball trickling across the away-sloping green and into the water. Fortunately, mine stopped just a few inches short as the greenkeepers had not been sadistic enough to shave the bank all the way to down to the water.All this is to say, until and unless you find a better course guide than what is sold in the pro shop, make sure you play this course with a member or someone who otherwise happens to know the course well. Alternatively, abandon any ambitions to score and just enjoy the walk, like we ended up doing.Not a bad idea, because during what is a very civilised and pleasant walk, there are also plenty of things to love: not the least the par 5 14th (pictured). It is reachable in two for the longer hitter, but its green ends only a few paces off the clubhouse terrace, which uniquely is not out of bounds. Or, the new 16th with its undulating green where a longer putt can break two or three times.All this points to a club which still puts members first, second and third and which still has a long road before being considered "corporate".In my book, Woking is not a match for the best in the heathland category such as Swinley Forest, Sunningdale, St George's Hill, Walton Heath or The Berkshire (do not want to debate where Wentworth West belongs these days as I last played it in the 90s). I also have Hankley Common higher than Woking but realise that opinions are more split on that comparison.However, if you have ticked them all off and are looking for something else, you can do a lot worse than spending a day here. More heather and history feel than nearby West Hill, but also a bit more old school.Will be interesting to also compare Woking with Worplesdon, but that is another day..and another review.

I guess most people will remember their first visit at Knole Park, both because many of the holes are visually inspiring and have few equals in Britain, but also because of the other things they see: the deer, the huge changes in elevation, the open vistas with the far ranging views, the huge stately home on the right, the strange little knolls beside the 6th fairway...the list goes on.If you visit during a busy week-end with good weather, you might unfortunately also have been frustrated by the sheer number of non-golfers wandering about on the course. Many tend to be focused on the deer or just about anything but where you want to hit your next shot. Approaching those people with friendliest possible demeanor did the trick for us, but it was one factor behind a 4+ hour round, which would have been a real minus had the weather not been glorious and the visual distractions so many.The start of the round is as strong as it is quirky and it was only on the 7th and 8th that I felt that I was playing a"normal" golf course. Also liked many of the slightly quieter holes just after the turn, where placing the tee-shot looked easier but turned out to be just as important to get a decent angle for the approach shot. Finally, great to have some holes towards the end where it was possible to hit it as far as possible without necessarily exposing yourself to more trouble.To summarise, the whole experience rates very highly. To me, it is pointless to rate "the course on a stand-alone basis", as I believe the visuals are part of the design. In fact, the walk itself is great enough to invite non-golfers to join you for all or part of the round. Also, I know that if I remember the design of many individual holes it is normally a reliable indicator of high quality.Definitely worth playing if in the area and great to throw into any trip itinerary to get variety.

Fence-sitting rarely produces good commentary. Still, it will have to be the basis of my review of Kungsbacka's Old course. 1. The routingParkland, then seaside, then woodland and finally parkland again. You have as much variety in a round here as you would get playing at least three different courses elsewhere. On the other hand, I felt that the course would have been more harmonious if the woodland section (13-14-15) could have been replaced with more conventional holes. 2. Start and finishRoyal Lytham starts with a par 3 and many good courses finish on one, but starting as well as finishing with a par 3 is perhaps one good thing too many.3. Short par 4sI love short par 4s, primarily because they give players of all abilities the option to play a short iron into the green while enticing the best players to hit the green with their tee-shot. When the risk-reward balance is off and the only choice is iron+wedge I think it just becomes tedious. Observing the choices of my three companions (handicaps scratch, 4 and 15) on holes 14 and 15 and seeing the difficulties of the highest handicapped player (the only member) on these severely sloped greens, my preliminary conclusion is that these two holes are too one-dimensional. Would love to be proven wrong because they are very pretty and as such not easily forgotten.Having said all this, the other greens were true and fast and a delight to putt on. No wonder Freddie Jacobsson was once one of the best putters on the PGA Tour....

Västerled in its current edition is a semi-open parkland course with the routing taking each nine going left into a sheltered valley between two wooded hills while the opening and closing holes on each nine are more exposed to wind and framed by pretty waving red fescue and offer, with quite a stretch of imagination, vistas reminiscent of links or heathland. If the course is rebuilt according to the masterplan on the club’s website some of the obvious weaknesses are going to disappear, such as the 90 degree dogleg left on hole 3 and the sloping fairway on hole 6. On the other hand, I am slightly worried that water is going to figure more prominently in the line of play than today, as this tends to penalise less accomplished players more than it manages to challenge the better ones and hardly is consistent with the stated ambition of being an "inland links". However, I understand the water is also a necessity and given this fact, I do enjoy that you need to think about your choice of club already on the first tee and that water threatens more often on the left, where better players tend to miss more often. Hopefully, the designers will keep this aspect on the layout.Although I like that Västerled tries to offer more ground game options than the average Swedish parkland course, hopefully the coming rebuild will also include sand-capping and the right kind of drainage to enable the club to offer high-quality playing surfaces throughout the season on both its courses.Fairly ranked in its current state, it will be very interesting to see the result of the upcoming rebuild.

Öster by Stenson has been the talk of golfing Sweden since it reopened. If you have not played here yet, should you?Well, that really depends on who you are and what you like.To be more precise, I think Henrik Stenson and Christian Lundin have managed to create a challenging layout which can be really fun to play for the golfer who can control his trajectory and hit recovery shots from tightly mown lies. But if that is not (yet) in your golfing CV and if lots of water in the line of play fills you with dread rather than anticipation, you should perhaps think twice before teeing up here.To illustrate this point, I played the course with two members with handicaps in the teens and from the recommended set of tees (no 4). They are members who play here regularly and they still lost between five and ten balls in the water! Style-wise, I really like the tight lies on the sand-capped fairways and the use of undulations and run-off areas in addition to bunkers to defend the greens, but as my experience demonstrates I am less sure about the almost excessive use of water in the line of play. Also, I wish fine-grained native sand had been used rather than the white crushed marble which always has me reaching for my sunglasses even on overcast days.Finally, the wet state of some of the low points in the run-off areas during one of the driest spells ever worried me. Hopefully, it was a temporary problem rather than a mismatch between design and maintenance requirements of the kind Bro Hof has wrestled with on their Castle Course.In spite of these misgivings, the pure quality of design and maintenance will ensure that this course will rise from its current position on Top100 (no 40 nationally at this time). The question is how far?As always, partly a question of personal taste, but if we limit the comparsion to similarly designed courses in the Stockholm region, Öster by Stenson will likely still have Bro Hof Stadium and Ullna ahead of it. If you prefer a drier, more understated version of firm and fast, perhaps you will also have Royal Drottningholm ahead on your list. On the other hand, I am not sure the majority will have Frösåker, Vidbynäs, Kallfors or Upsala in front.

My expectations were set quite low as the previous review on Top100 was not the only negative data point I had. However, if you can ignore the motorway and aircraft noise (not worse than at Walton Heath and Royal Mid-Surrey respectively) and come with your swing fine-tuned on the first tee this course has a lot of positives, including a choice of strategy for many tee-shots. I played from the back tees (very questionable choice in a three-club wind) and could hit driver on most par 4s. Next time I will not use driver on the 1st, 6th and the 10th and on quite a few more holes if I play from the yellow tees. Another plus is that the course played firm and fast, although looking at divots I suspect that is not the case throughout the season. Greens were firm and rolled true, but I did not come across many putts that were difficult to read. Generally, I feel that this course has quite a few of elements of U.S. target golf (lots of water in the line of play, greens requiring aerial attack) while playing firm and fast like an English heathland course in summer. The fairway bunkers epitomise this split personality: white crushed marble sand, but framed by pretty wispy fescues. Hopefully, other visitors do not mind or those in charge make a decisive move in one direction or the other.Not close to the best courses in the region (Bro Hof, Ullna and Royal Drottningholm) but hard to say that those currently ranked just above (Vidbynäs South, Kallfors, Upsala) are a lot better.In terms of your next round here, why not do what I did today: leave one of your loved ones at the airport, check if the booking sheet looks empty and go straight there for a quick three-hour round? Very hard to get the latter at my home club, unless I tee it up before 7am.Surprisingly good.

Kingsbarns is a fantastic place to play links golf. It is very easy to like as everything is laid out in front of you. If budget does not matter to you, it is also a course to return to, as there is so much variety that you are very unlikely to be bored. Like many others, I appreciated the most obvious eye candy (sea views, holes 12-15) the first time, while subsequent visits have opened my eyes to the quality of the slightly less spectacular holes. My favourite hole is now the short par 4 6th. Everyone who claims Kingsbarns is simplistic should play this hole a couple of times and study their progression. Without engaging the grey matter (or outside expertise) you are likely to get yourself in trouble with your tee shot, or at least discover that you are in the wrong place to get close to the pin with your second shot.I also like the short par 3 8th, where the hollow and bunker left front have played devilish games with my mind in the tough windy conditions I have encountered during all my visits. Just goes to prove that short is not the same as easy.It is equally easy to list all the things Kingsbarns does not have: members, musty changing rooms with lots of history, quirky blind shots, great value for money etc. But, honestly, that feels a little bit like complaining about the bubbles in a great champagne. And, besides, there is a plethora of places in Scotland where you can go to get all that.So, while I have since learnt to appreciate the subtle pleasures of more understated links golf and Kingsbarns therefore is no longer at the very top of my personal top-10 list, it is still a course I would not hesitate a moment to recommend to any visitor to the region. Looking forward to my next visit!

Not yet played at Southerness? Is it worth the extra hour(s) in the car?For me, the answer is a clear "Yes", at least if you have played the most highly ranked courses on the Scottish West Coast already. However, I suspect that everyone might not agree with me. For example, I do not think that it is a place to take anyone to impress. The course is quite understated (everything Turnberry's current owner is not, if you do not mind the analogy) with limited changes in elevation, so more of a course for the person who appreciates the fine nuances of links golf rather than majestic sand dunes. The pretty sea views and the heather in bloom do, however, create images that stick in your mind long afterwards. Many reviewers comment on par 69 and SSS 73. Personally, I did not find Southerness especially difficult. Perhaps this was because we played it from the yellow tees (SSS 71) and I do not think you will either if you choose tees suited to your game and the conditions of the day. The two par 5s are sub 500 yards and only one of the par 3s is really long. So, if you are sensible and play the longest par 4s like par 5s if they play into the wind, you will be able to score, if that is important to you.In the world of (fine) wine, one of the standard yarns go like this: "This is a wine the family used to make for themselves and their friends only...". In a way, I could use that analogy to summarise my impression of Southerness: a place I know I would be more than happy to go back to myself (and play it on a less busy weekday), but equally sure I would stick by the Ayrshire coastline with a bigger, less experienced group of golfers.

Rya must be one of Sweden’s most scenic courses with the Öresund strait visible from most parts of the course and I would guess you also see the Danish coast on the other side on most days. We certainly did. The club has a distinguished history and the course has developed through many iterations since the 1930s. As a result it has its share of quirky holes which you would not find on a course built from scratch in the modern era. Some of these holes are wonderful such as the par 3 16th while I found the uphill par 4 9th hard to like.Despite the location hard by the sea, Rya is not a true links course and the fairway turf was anything but linksy during our visit in May 2021, probably not helped by a cold April and significant downpours in the days immediately prior. Happily, the club volunteered a reduced green-fee, albeit formally for other reasons.Longer term, it is also good to see that the club has grasped the nettle and started to rebuild their greens, their bunkers and clear their trees. The remaining old greens are mainly flat, while the new ones have plenty of subtle movement in them, making putting interesting. The members we spoke to during our visit called them “very difficult”, but we have played on Johan Benestam’s greens at Drottningholm for ten years, so had less of a problem.Worth considering for its wonderful views and the traditional and quirky layout. Do try to choose a dry spell and a day with some wind to get the best out of the place.

With our annual spring links golf pilgrimage to the British Isles cancelled for obvious reasons, we looked for the next best thing. Ljunghusen was the Swedish links course none of us had played. (This not very wide selection* was further simplified by Falsterbo having one of its most iconic holes out of play.)The name means "houses of heather" in English and that is certainly true of the two loops normally forming the 18-hole circuit. The closest UK comparison I would make would be Glasgow Gailes or perhaps Southerness, although Ljunghusen is right by the (Baltic) sea, so much more of a links experience than Glasgow Gailes.Other courses we visited during the same week had preferred lies in operation, because of the cold April weather and the recent rains. I do not recall whether Ljunghusen had, but there was no need anyway thanks to the excellent turf. We played in a three-club wind, so experience of knock-down links-style approach shots into the wind was certainly valuable as was ignoring Strokesaver distances and landing downwind approach shots well short of the green.My favourite holes on the whole property were not any of these 18 but the first five holes (19-23) on the third nine-hole loop, which are located on classic links ground just off the beach east of the main 18-hole course. I still found this loop weaker overall as the last four holes are squeezed in on a small sliver of land between the driving range and the sea with lots of water in the line of play to boot. Having missed Ljunghusen during the first forty years of my golfing life, I will certainly make amends and try to revisit during my next trip to the region. Better than Flommen and a real match for Falsterbo in my book and personally something I would prefer to almost any parkland course in the country.Highly recommended, even if you can only play the 19-27 loop.*) Just like other reviewers, I would regard all 27 holes at Ljunghusen as links and not be bothered with calling it maritime heathland or something equally contrived. It plays like a links and is by the sea. That is enough for me.

Elisefarm has firm fescue greens with enough variety and undulations to keep you interested and challenge your putting skills throughout the round. If the rest of the course had the same standard, I would not hesitate a second to rate it among the top 10 courses in Sweden.Unfortunately, the bunkering, while pretty, tends to threaten ordinary tee shots while too many good tee shots can clear them. I had been warned about this beforehand from friends who had visited (and who had liked the course for the rest by the way). The two best golfers in our fourball did not visit a single fairway bunker during the round, while less than perfect shots from our highest handicapped lady golfer regularly found sand from the tee, not what I would wish for design-wise.Agronomy is also a bit of a question mark. Preferred lies were in operation when we visited in early May, although this was probably also due to a colder than average April and significant rain the preceding days. The greens still rolled true, but it was clear that the fairways are not built on sandy ground. I had been warned that the course is a slow starter in spring compared to others in the region, which indicates clay soil and no sand-capping, so the next visit will be in summer or early autumn.Elisefarm markets its spa and its gastronomy as much as the golf and it also showed in the guest crowd when we visited. Women and couples were in the majority both in the restaurant and on the course, a major difference from the middle-age fraternity groups normally dominating golf resorts in Sweden. Overall, I would rate Elisefarm higher as a resort higher than its golf on a stand-alone basis, so the verdict (four balls) is for the course only and assumes normal conditioning from June onwards.

This is a modern, very playable, absurdly scenic, by any measure very good golf course....but not necessarily one I would choose among the first if I went to Scotland. I will not give a detailed rundown of its best or worst holes as others have done that so well already. My contribution will instead be to offer a(nother) perspective to anyone considering CS for their next trip. In that respect, do know that I have played all courses in Scotland currently ranked above Castle Stuart and most which could aspire to be ranked on a similar level. My take-aways are these:1) I would not go to this area without playing Dornoch and Brora. Both are unique designs and experiences in a way Castle Stuart is not,2) Having those two icons on your list, Castle Stuart is a very worthwhile third course on an Inverness-centered itinerary as it provides variety, and relief, thanks to its width, but I would also consider going to Nairn, if I was looking at playing a Championship links course. (read many of the very good detailed reviews on both CS and Nairn on Top100 if you are unsure)3) If you are looking at adding a third course and budget matters to you (we know it does not matter to some, but in the real world for someone in your group the total bill might be of more than casual importance) I would even consider the experience of playing across the water at Fortrose & Rosemarkie, (CS is a far superior course, but you are just as likely to remember your round at F&R)4) If your trip involves going to/from the area from Aberdeen (an airport with many more connections in normal times), I would also prioritise Cruden Bay (currently ranked 11) before CS, again because CB is unique in a way CS is not.5) If you have managed to play all or most Scottish courses ranked above CS and are looking at where to go next, I would also prioritise Prestwick over CS, again because of its unique architecture. (I would perhaps concur that CS has fewer good or average holes than Prestwick, but who is looking at the better average score when choosing where to go on a trip?)6) If budget is not a consideration and you know that your likely companions on the trip love Kingsbarns, forget all of the above and prioritise CS. The quality on offer is so high that five balls almost feels like a minimum rating.

What is enjoyment on a golf course to you?The vast majority of Swedish golfers are fed a steady diet of target golf and although there is a lot of variety between courses in mainly open country exposed to wind and those with many dogleg holes cut out of dense woodland which are not, it tends to come down to iron approaches through the air aimed at the pin and putting, interspersed with wedge recoveries from sand or (semi)rough.Vesterby is a very welcome exception to this not so varied diet and lucky are the denizens of the Linköping and wider Östergötland area, who do not have to jump on a plane or travel many hours in the car (there are a few true links and faux-links courses in Skåne in the very south of Sweden) to experience the true joy of playing golf on a firm and fast course designed with the running game in mind. When I played the course recently (October 2020) it was after a long wet spell which led many courses to close temporarily or for the season, even those blessed with sandy soil. In spite of this, I could not spot a single pitch mark on Vesterby's fescue greens and played nothing but rolling 7- and 8-irons as recovery shots around its greens. The greens were obviously not at their fastest (thank God!) but they still rolled reasonably true. This is the first review of this course on Top100, so a brief summary of (mainly Swedish-language) reviews elsewhere could perhaps be in order: They tend to sum it up as "either love it or (WTF) hate it". Those in the latter camp tend to dislike the fact that "perfect" approach shots aimed at the pin bounce or roll off and that your recoveries could easily go from one side of the green across to the other as hitting lob wedges perfectly from a rock hard surface is an art not so many golfers master (not me either on an average day, thank you very much!). However, I can see other more valid reasons for marking it down somewhat:(1) TeesThese are often very far from level and it takes a sunny disposition to enjoy consistently hitting your tee-shots from below and/or above the ball. I understand this is partly a legacy of a tightened budget during the building phase and partly a result of 14 years of subsidence. Anyway, I am hoping that the club will find the money (and/or staff time) to rectify this.(2) Bunkers Architect Johan Benestam himself volunteers this point and says that he is still hoping to come back to build more bunkers, particularly where golfers tend to land their drives as well as rebuilding the existing ones. Having sparred against his intelligent bunkering at Royal Drottningholm for nine seasons and only on few occasions without damage on the scorecard, I agree. However, I also hope that most of the new bunkers would be on the fairways rather than around the greens as it is the run-off areas which make Vesterby special. (3) Forward teesI am sure Landeryd does not encourage its beginner members to play at Vesterby, but seeing the struggles of my playing companions, two gentlemen in their 60s who had both played with single-figure handicaps in the past, I think that creating a shorter course than today's Yellow (5575 meters) would be highly beneficial for the enjoyment of the course for the vast majority of golfers, as would promoting the existing set of orange tees.Have yet to play any other courses in the Östergötland area, but they have to be very good to entice me away from another stop here next time I happen to travel nearby.Highly recommended.

We recently played Kalmar's Old course with two members who were also decent golfers and received many valuable tips on where to place our tee shots. After a few excursions among the trees we also dialled down on the swing speed and focused more on precision. If you are not so lucky with your company on the day, make sure you study the course planner carefully before choosing your club on the tee.To score well here you should thus be straight off the tee and also have a (very) good day with your irons and perhaps also your putter. The greens are not huge, so some sensitive hands making recoveries would not be bad either. If all this sounds daunting, it should not be. The course still looks very playable for most golfers, provided they pick the right tee and play to their ability, although the starting tee shot over water might scare less confident types, especially if the wind is up.Worth playing, probably more than once, if you are in town anyway.

Öland or Gotland? Both these islands in the Baltic are well-established holiday destinations with their respective (mainly Swedish) fan clubs.It is not only a choice for the family holiday, however, but also where to go for that long week-end break with your golf buddies.At Ekerum, everything is on site: the golf, the drinks at the bar, the food. You can drive straight there without having to worry about catching a ferry or a plane and there are two courses on site to choose from, so it is not surprising that quite a few groups make that choice. So, what about the quality of the golf itself? Well, comparing Långe Jan (marketed as the best course at Ekerum) to Visby's course at Kronholmen is like comparing a decent bottle of Prosecco with a good vintage champagne: both can add fizz to the occasion, but I am pretty sure 10 out of 10 connoisseurs will prefer the latter.Now, if your group sets its golfing expectations reasonably, I am sure most can still enjoy this parkland stroll (heathland is a misnomer, judging by what I found underfoot). However, it helps a lot if you like the challenge of putting on very large and undulated greens and do not mind that the rough and the fairway bunkers have been replaced by large sandy waste areas.Personally, I am very conscious of the fact that we played here the day after playing at Kristianstad, which probably made me see the shortcomings of the course more clearly. Never taste the Prosecco just after that vintage fizz....

Played this course just before the extensive refurb, so will try to restrict my comments to the site and the routing. In many ways, both have more potential than the club's older East course. It also provides a view of what I think Barsebäck could be, if managed differently. Really enjoyed the change from trees to open country several times in the round and despite these changes the course feels organic. The wind is really a challenge and so would probably the landforms and the bunkers be, if Fulke is permitted to move a bit more earth than what Nordström did when he laid out the course in 2006.Will be very interesting to see which of the club's courses come out on top once the refurb is done.

Instead of going to the UK to play heathland golf we settled for Kristianstad’s two courses, courtesy of Covid-19 quarantine requirements. Did we regret it, now that those requirements have been eased between Sweden and the UK? Not at all. In fact, I am sure Kristianstad East would not feel out of place among the upper crust of UK heathland courses. In making that bold statement I am comparing pure golfing merits. The club makes quite a splash about being founded in 1924 but most of the East course was laid out in the late 1960s and has been thouroughly reworked twice since. There are no captivating views or other obvious eye candy, although the 14th is a very picturesque par 3 with its tee shot over the pond and the hole 14 to 16 stretch that others rave about actually felt fabricated, almost O.T.T. to me. Instead, it is the fact that Fulke, and Nordström before him, have (a) retained Sundblom’s and Brasier’s old routing with several lovely, short but clever par 4s, so rare on Swedish courses elsewhere and (b) used the sandy soil to create landforms which you would normally only find on old links courses, yet made them feel like an organic part of the course. The feel is Ballyliffin Old rather than Ballyliffin Glashedy if you know what I mean. In fact, if I did not know, I would have guessed that the course had been built before the advent of modern machinery.If we are serious about the comparison with the better UK heathland courses for a moment, let’s then also be critical about a few things: apart from the artificial feel of the water on the 15th and the 16th. I also feel that the mix of bunker styles is not really an asset. I would have thought that the designers could have gone for smaller bunkers with a more typical heathland style once their paymasters had decided to hand-rake instead of using machines. It might not look as racy on an overhead drone photo, but would be more interesting for the player who experiences the course at shoulder height. Also, I hope that the use of sod walls in a few large bunkers (on the 1st and 10th if my memory does not fail me) is an experiment that stops there.Definitely top 10 in Sweden, perhaps not too far off the 3rd place they were recently (June 2020) awarded in Svensk Golf Magazine. More importantly, it is one of a small number of Swedish courses I would have no hesitation in recommending also to a well-travelled international golfer.

To do Upsala justice the first time you play I think you team up with someone who knows the course intimately and plays the game roughly at your level. We were not so lucky with our company during our first visit and came in feeling that we had easily left at least half a dozen shots out there by placing tee shots wrong and aiming putts incorrectly. Nothing wrong in a course not revealing all its secrets at once, but good to know.So just guessing: will I like it a lot more after, say, five plays?While I am sure I will continue to enjoy the varied terrain and be happy when I sometimes manage to place my drives and aim my putts correctly, I am equally sure that I will still struggle to like the white crushed marble in the large, flattish bunkers or having to use the lob wedge for (too) many of my recoveries, even when just off the green. But hey, I am happier creating shots on heathland and links courses than playing target golf on Florida-style parklands. Each to his own. Not more than 15 minutes drive away from central Uppsala, so if your academic or professional career takes you there, by all means give it a couple of chances to see what you think. But I would not recommend spending an hour in the car from Stockholm just to play here once.

I have always played both courses when I have visited Saunton and would recommend you to do the same, rather than trying to squeeze RND/Westward Ho! and Saunton East into one day. Often, when one course is clearly superior to the other it makes sense to play them in a certain order or even skipping the lesser one. Here, I do not think that is the case as they are much more evenly matched, yet play quite differently. Think Sunningdale Old and New or the two courses at Rosapenna or Ballyliffin in Ireland.

I spent my childhood summers by the sea, but the local golf course had moved inland before I was born, so my first real taste of links golf was at Saunton. It was a real epiphany and I have not looked back since. I have been back to Saunton several times since, though, so this review is not based on that distant memory of revelation.The essence of my recommendation is this: There are better links courses in England, but if you start from the London-Bristol corridor and are looking to play as much quality links golf as you can during a week-end golfing break, the numbers ahead of Saunton shrink very fast. In fact, I would argue that Saunton’s two courses plus the unique Royal North Devon course at Westward Ho! across the bay would be very close to England’s best week-end links golf package!If you have a more extensive tour in mind, I also happen to think that the Atlantic Links collection (Saunton, RND, Burnham&Berrow, St Enodoc, Trevose and Perranporth) is a very worthwhile alternative to more established "links tours" in Scotland and Ireland, so do put this place on your wish list if you have not yet been.

What another golfer thinks about North Berwick says a lot about that person. Before I came here the first time many years ago, I thought it was just another venerable links course in Scotland. How wrong I was !North Berwick arguably has one of the most interesting collection of architecturally unique holes found on a golf course anywhere in Old World. Yet, it is not a freak show, but a course that fits together well. And as important to me, you can play here with anyone from your 80-year old mother-in-law to your daughter’s boyfriend who plays off scratch and you will all have a good time !So, I can think of many worse conversation topics while waiting for the fourball in front than what to think of the 1st and the 18th at North Berwick. Would the course be as good if they swapped places? Alternatively, has the other person played the 16th (Gate) with the pin on the back plateau (most have not) and what did you/would you think about it? A third topic might be: do you think the tee shot or the second shot is most difficult on the 14th (Perfection)?You get it, this topic can easily last you all 18 holes without becoming too repetitive. In fact, the course planner for NBGC could easily qualify as “This Week’s Guest Publication” on “Have I Got News For You”, such is the cult following of this wonderful golf course. Therefore, if you have not yet played here, do consider making a promise to yourself to go there when the opportunity next presents itself. And, try to play at least two rounds while you are there and pity the poor souls who rush off to tick another box on their golfing CV.This course belongs in my very personal top five, probably together with Prestwick, The Old Course, Royal County Down and Royal St George’s. And, if I needed to drop one of them to make way for another it probably would not be North Berwick.PS To my two daughters: any prospective boyfriend who likes this course is always welcome in the house :-D

I am not fond of water in the line of play. If you add a number of other forced carries you have a design that is far away from what I prefer. But, hey, if you do not mind hitting three irons in succession to get onto the 16th green in regulation, you will probably like it a bit more than I do. Courtesy of friends who are or have been members I have played this layout some ten times since it opened in 1991. It is normally in very good condition and the ground staff has a larger than average budget and do a very good job, so despite my reservations about the design I’d rather play here than at the majority of courses in the Stockholm area.I also think that the course is more suited to match-play, when the water on the back nine adds tension just when the game is about to be decided. You just pick up and move to the next hole if you put a ball in the water...unless of course your opponent loses nerve and does the same!If you are new to the Stockholm area, do remember that getting to the course from central Stockholm can take anything from 35 minutes to more than an hour in rush hour traffic, so make sure you allow enough time.

There are several reasons for you to consider RLSA and why it holds its own even among other Open venues. Let me point out a few:1. AccessibilityRLSA is a real golf club, but it allows guests most days of the week and my experience is that it is easier to get on than for example nearby Birkdale.2. ExclusivityThe ability to stay at the on-site Dormy gives you access to great tee-off times normally reserved for RLSA members. We almost had the course to ourselves late on a Friday afternoon and an early Saturday morning in May(!). Good luck getting anywhere close to that (without knowing members) at any other Open venue!3. ArchitectureWhereas other venues have more history, iconic holes or more picturesque views, I believe RLSA presents a very diverse test of golf. We played it both from the green and the red tees and were not beaten up as others had led us to believe we would. Instead, I can still remember many of the tee shots and approach shots clearly almost a year later, which is (almost) always a good indication of interesting architecture.4. Value for moneySounds crazy when discussing Open venues, but taken in a relative context, a combined dormy + week-end green fee package probably gives you more quality golf experience per pound spent than most other Open venues.Not in the iconic class of a Prestwick, TOC or RSG but not very far behind either. Highly recommended to anchor a trip to the region.

Used to be the best on the island, but that was 20 years ago. Still good, but conditioning and design cannot keep up with the very best. However, if you stay locally or at least west of Palma, it makes a lot of sense to play here. It is certainly ahead of Real Bendinat and Andratx in all respects, although most people will now prefer T Golf Poniente and many will also have Son Muntaner above it on their top-10 list.Now is 12th a fair ranking? Well, i think it is not a top 5 course, but whether it is 8th or 12th, I think is a matter of pure personal taste.Longer hitters are likely to put it higher, whereas those who prefer accuracy over length may be less enthusiastic. To sum it up: worth a try, but keep expectations realistic.

"Spectacular" and "exclusive" are two adjectives Canyamel uses freely in its marketing and the course is rated in the top 5 on this island if you look at ranking lists compiled by German-speaking sources.The views are indeed great, perhaps best from the club-house terrace overlooking the 18th green, but I am quite sure, though, that anyone reading this has other objectives in mind than finding like-minded souls who also drive high-spec custom BMWs.So, how does this course compare to the others on the island and is it worth the 1 hr journey from Palma and the west of the island where many visitors end up outside the summer season (when few play golf in the heat anyway) ?While you are much less likely to be disappointed by conditioning and attention to detail here than most other places on the island I have two reasons not to mark it quite as highly as the German observers mentioned above.First, Canyamel starts with its most challenging holes. On the three occasions I have played it so far on each occasion I have seen people wreck their score completely on the first six holes. By this, I do not mean that a course should be easy, but if your customer base consists of holidaymakers in their off-season or older people who might not wish to spend an hour on the range, chipping and putting, you are well-advised to design your course with the main difficulties further into the round. I know I have no one less than Harry Colt on my side in that argument.Second, I do not think the short holes are as great. Two of them, the 14th and the 18th, are actually among those I like the least. The 14th because the trees and the stone walls make it penal for higher handicappers without adding much difficulty for better players. The green on the 18th is placed on such a severe slope that a three-tiered solution has been necessary. With modern green speeds, here this means that a downhill putt is quite likely to roll off the green. Hopefully, the club will sort this out at some point just like my own home club finally did. My recommendation for those based in Palma therefore is to save your longer trip for Alcanada.On the other hand, if you plan to be staying nearby, it makes eminent sense to play all four courses in the vicinity, i.e. Pula, Canyamel, Capdepera and Son Servera. They are quite evenly matched, so I think it is a question of personal taste rather than objective criteria which one you will end up preferring over the other.

Many golfers visiting Palma never come to play the four courses in the east. If it is your first time and you only have room for 2-3 courses on the golfing part of your itinerary I can understand that the only longer trip in the car you might consider would go to Alcanada. If you have read this far, however, I presume you intend to cast your net wider.In that case, Son Servera will offer you the perhaps widest variety of golf in one round of 18 holes of any course on the island. I am quite certain you will not like it all, but am equally certain that you will remember a few, particularly holes 3 to 7.Holes 3-7 are not all my personal favourites as 5 and 6 offer too few approach shot options and the tee-shots on 4 and 7 are far too difficult for higher handicappers, so I will not bring my impulsive teenagers to play with me here any time soon.The old holes closest to the clubhouse (also) have great greens, but their fairways have offered indifferent lies on both occasions I have played, while all the new fairways have been great. Maybe a coincidence, who knows?On the other hand, I do love the other new holes (nos 12 to 15, at the top of the aerial photo on the course page). Their layout is interesting, conditioning often great, views good and the options to play them are many.Once you have played the top five courses on the island (Alcanada, Son Gual, Puntiró, Son Muntaner and Poniente) this place should be high on your list. Perhaps take the sting out of being gone for the whole day by letting the non-golfers in your group drop you off and then take the car on to the fantastic caves or one of the great beaches nearby?

"Friendly" is the first adjective that comes to mind when I think of Capdepera on Mallorca. Now, I do not mean to wind some of you up by writing about the nice people working there or the relatively moderate green-fee (at least by Mallorcan standards), although both are certainly true.Instead, it is the friendliness of the design that makes me come back and to recommend this course to friends and acquaintances. By this, I do not mean that the course is (too) easy, but rather that the difficulties are introduced in a gentle fashion, allowing the player to first gain confidence. Not bad if you are visiting in your off-season. Having gained a bit of confidence, it is then up to you to keep your wits about you when facing the temptations served up by the architect. One example: it is very tempting for many of us to go for the green on the short par 4 10th hole. I have now tried several times and am ashamed to admit that I have had more double and triple bogeys than birdies.The experience on the 10th tee will be useful as you cross the access road to deal with holes 13-18. I have had windy or difficult days when I have hit irons from nearly every one of the last six tees but also nearly windless days when my game has been on and I have been able to hit driver, 3-wood or hybrids instead.On almost every occasion I have played here I have felt a very strong urge to play again, very soon, in order to do better, irrespective of whether I have shot 77 or 84. An indication as good as any of the quality of this design!

Perranporth was easily my favourite when we toured Cornwall's links courses some years ago and I might have given it six balls in a flush of excitement had I written the review the same day. I have since played many great courses and this website has firmed up its criteria.Unlike some other reviewers on this site I do not think it is meaningful to separate the "experience" from the architecture as such, as long as we as reviewers see past what we know or think to be temporary variations in weather, conditioning, our own scoring etc. The views are one part which enhances a course just as consistently great conditioning and attention to detail would, both fsctors perhaps not as important to me as they once were, but a round at Royal County Down, Turnberry, Kingsbarns, Pennard or Perranporth would just not be the same in thick mist, without wind or with tatty greens full of dew, sorry. It is also likely that the less stellar aspects of these courses would come to the fore in a way they normally wouldn't.Personally, I also happen to think that waiting around for five-six hours on the course is particularly unenjoyable, however fantastic the course architecture. Others may be less worried by that prospect. No doubt they are better at entertaining themselves than I am! If I get the clear impression this ultra-slow play is the normal state of affairs on week-ends I try to visit during the week or tee off at non-peak hours. If impossible to avoid, I would even consider not (re)visiting, but here we are all different.Finally, I think the fact that a course appears easy (to me) on the day has nothing to do with how it rate it. I have had two of my best scores ever during windless days at North Berwick West and do not think any less of that course as a result. In the spirit of full disclosure I should point out that we did play Perranporth in May and enjoyed clear weather and with dry, fast-rolling fairways so the course appeared anything but easy to us. After lunch, we had another go and discovered that we had made a couple of rookie mistakes in the morning and should have done better than we did. But, alas, the wind was stronger in the afternoon and we were sadly not. Next time....My conclusion at the time, which has not changed, was that Perranporth is worth the journey to Cornwall on its own, but I appreciate that given the distance involved for most people it is likely to be part of some kind of tour. In that case, do allow for two rounds rather than trying to squeeze another round in somewhere else. If your taste is anywhere close to mine, you will not regret it.

Kallfors was not love at first sight, at least not for me. Most fairways on the front nine were like clothes from the 1990s, quite bland and a bit too wide for my taste, with a clear exception at hole no 4 (well described in the course presentation above) which is not easy at all and a real gem. Bunkers are mainly flat and, unlike neighbouring Vidbynäs South, present no significant challenge for the better player. Greens are designed large and with significant undulations, but were very slow in October which reduced this threat to the score to something very tame. They rolled true all the time, however.How is it then possible to leave the place with a big smile?Well, the back nine really appealed to me. Starting with the short par 5 10th, where I was fooled into going for the green in two (don’t!), after that tough, challenging holes are cleverly mixed with more holes which tempt you into (bold) things you probably shouldn't . So what looked like big scale, borderline boring parkland golf started to become something much more interesting. I played with three members and to follow the match between two of them gave a very good indication of the qualities of the finishing holes: the short par 4 16th where there are many ways to make par, and (as we discovered) just as many to make birdie or double bogey, followed by the par 3 17th, where anything off the green is in trouble and finally, the diabolical 18th, with its big pond right where you would like to place your drive. I think there are more different ways to play these three holes than there are options on the entire front nine!So, how does it measure up to its local competition?If the area of comparison is a one hour (car drive) circle around Stockholm then Kallfors is clearly not in the same league as Bro Hof, Ullna or (Royal) Drottningholm. However, I am equally sure that there are not many other courses in the Stockholm area which I would recommend ahead of this one!Considering the facilities on offer at Kallfors you could just as easily mark it at 4 1/2 as at 3 1/2, so 4 balls feels right.

There are not many places left in GB&I where you can experience truly unwatered summer links conditions on a quality course. Many clubs are simply too afraid of presenting non-perfect fairways to members and guests, but that is precisely the point! In really parched conditions, your tee-shot could roll 100 yards into a pot bunker...or hit a bump and miss the trap but end up in a divot instead. To me, golf was never meant to be 100% predictable science, like 142 yards to pin, hit PW, putt for birdie...yawn.Reading Jim's review and seeing the photos Ross submitted in his review below reminds me that these pleasures still exist at a few clubs in France. I certainly had the pleasure of playing the course at Granville like this when I visited many summers ago.My recommendation is to go as soon as your schedule permits. Once they install the sprinklers along the fairways and turn on the taps, the opportunity might well be gone forever! (Might still be "a good course to seek out in the area, worthy of a full day out", but no longer a unique experience)Having said all this, I am aware that not watering at all during a very hot and dry summer (like 2018 was in many places) is not an option for a course that is not on perfectly sandy soil. In August 2018, I saw wide cracks in unwatered ground (between tee and fairway for example) at many courses on clay-based soil which took a long time to heal.

To sample the best of golf on the West Coast of Ireland there are two main choices: southwest to Lahinch, Ballybunion and Waterville or northwest to Donegal GC Murvagh, Enniscrone and the grand old lady at Rosses Point. To describe the difference between the two alternatives I think of the plain-speaking captain of the first dive boat I went on. When conversation turned to the merits of the most famous dive site in the vicinity, he said: “What’s the fun in waiting around just to see a bunch of idiots filming each others’ butts?” So off we went to another place which was magical...and undisturbed by other boats.You might not get the seclusion at Rosses Point which you can get at Ballyliffin or Rosapenna, but also not the constantly full booking sheets that is often the reality of high season golf at the top courses in the South West of Ireland.On our arrival (without a booking, bien sûr) the pro shop assistant asked us if we wanted to start immediately. Somewhat bemused, we agreed. When teeing off, we saw two helicopters landing. Afterwards, we realised that we would probably have spent almost an hour longer on the links if we had not taken his offer. A few years later, I am still grateful for his initiative.The pro shop assistant did not, however, try very hard to talk us out of our idea to also play the club’s Bomore nine. It would have been a better move to play the Championship course twice on the day, especially as we made a few rookie mistakes during our round.Highly recommended.

Barassie represents a more inland variety on the links golf theme with heather, bushes and in places, low pine trees. We played it on the same trip as Prestwick, Irvine Bogside and Prestwick St Nicolas, having played the other higher-ranking courses in the region on previous occasions.The club has 27 holes in play and we played the Barassie Links, which consists of 9 holes from the traditional course, presumably holes 1 to 3 and 13 to 18, and nine holes constructed later further away from the Clubhouse and towards Dundonald Links, holes 4 to 12. When we played, it was clear that some relatively recent rearrangement and rerouting of holes had taken place as signage on holes 6 to 12 was not fully up to date with the scorecard and neither were our Garmin GPS watches. The pro shop commented that the latter should have been sorted, but check that your device is up to date if you normally rely on one. Otherwise, the pro shop still sells classical paper strokesavers which really would have helped us on that occasion.Now, this little hopefully temporary stone in the shoe aside, does it belong on your itinerary?Well, that depends. If you have Prestwick, St Nicolas, Royal Troon or Western Gailes in there already, then Barassie will definitely add some variety. It will be more of the same, however, next to Glasgow Gailes, Dundonald or another flattish heather-framed course.Personally, I believe two other reasons also speak in its favour: accessibility and speed of play. Thanks to its 27 holes many members play the Hillhouse nine-hole loop close to the clubhouse so it is easier to find a starting time when you want. We could play without having to wait, starting at 9.00am on a weekday morning, a rarity at a members’ club.Finally, make a mental note of the short walk from Barassie station if you want to get to the course the original way, by train.

A recent round at Prestwick with caddies followed by lunch in the member’s dining room was one of my all-time top UK golf experiences. This was despite the greens not being at their best on the day, having had a very recent brush with the verti-cutter. However, this was not important next to the opportunity to examine one of the true legends of golf. For me an added pleasure was to be able to conduct the examination without ever having to wait on the course, a luxury you can normally only dream of at courses of this calibre.For the avoidance of doubt, I have chosen to disregard both the temporary dip in conditioning and the fast pace of play when deciding to rate Prestwick at the highest level. Prestwick deserves it because of the originality of the course design, which goes way past its place in the history of the Open Championship. There are many detailed descriptions of the course, among Top100 reviews below and other sites dedicated to golf architecture, so let me just take one example: you can play holes like Sea Hedrig (13th) and Alps (17th) time and time again with the same strategy and face different lies on the fairway and on/near the green every time. Some of that is undoubtedly down to luck, or the lack of it. Therefore, if you subscribe to the “a good course should reward good shots and punish bad ones” philosophy then you should perhaps stay away from Prestwick and leave it to those of us who have fallen in love with this timeless icon of links golf.As an aside, consider taking the train here. The walk from the station platform to the clubhouse and the first tee is among the shortest in golf.

Ordinarily I would be sceptical towards a layout like this. Bogside proves that you can achieve as much variety without par 5s (although hole no 2 is a par 5 for the ladies and from the back tees) and only a couple of par 3s. After two straightforward openers, the 3rd (Fulllarton) sharpens your senses. Not long at 351 yards from the back markers and 307 from the yellow tees, it nevertheless requires a perfectly executed approach shot to hold the green and avoid a very tricky recovery. The fun continues on the 4th (The Moor) with its green next to the railway boundary wall and the 5th (Sandface), with the huge bunker built into the slope up to the putting surface. You are likely to remember both these holes for the rest of your golfing life!Now, what about the back nine? It is good, but not as unique. As a first-time visitor, I also felt that the blind/semi-blind drives at 13th (Snodgrass), 17th (The Warren) and 18th (Flagstaff) were perhaps one too many.Found this a more memorable experience than many courses in the region which are rated higher (Dundonald, Glasgow Gailes, Western Gailes), but of course not on par with the very best. Whatever your own view, a tour to the region would gain in variety by substituting one of these three with Bogside.

The more links golf I play, the more I like courses like this. They are one of a kind and simply not made anymore. The start and finish (1-3, 16-18) on the clubhouse side of Maryborough Road are the quirkiest and most dramatic. However, the other holes (4-15) provide both variety and solid quality golf and round the cocktail off well. The challenge of two 450-yard plus par 4s like Coila (7) and Tam Jack’s (13) with fairly straightforward green sites are balanced by two short ones like Bellrock (6) and Kingcase (15), where you can easily have little chance of par after an ill-judged tee shot. Let others dismiss the par of 69, their loss!Not an obvious choice for a
first-time visitor, but I believe the best golf trips are the most varied ones.
Therefore, my recommendation is to combine a longer heather-framed course
(Glasgow Gailes, Kilmarnock Barassie or Dundonald) with a quirky, undulated
course like this one or Western Gailes, or if available and within your budget,
Old Prestwick itself.One last thing: watch out where you park your car, if you drive here. A sliced tee shot on the last long par 3 (227 yards) can easily find its way into the car park and then you do not want your car to be first in line....

Halmstad Norra is top on many a Swedish golfer's bucket list, at least on the domestic side, and for good reason. To me, it is also worth a look for the window it provides into Swedish golf course architecture and history.First, consider the oldest part of the course, holes 1-4 and 14-18, built in the 1930s, presumably without too much heavy machinery. The fairways have that rolling character with small humps and hollows, so typical of sand-based courses. Although some holes appear quite short on the scorecard today, in particular holes 3, 14, 15 and 17, a bogey is never far away if you place your tee shot in the wrong part of the fairway. Greens could have a lot more movement for my taste, but they were likely not rebuilt to their original design. The club likely has the budget to let someone like Johan Benestam loose with a restoration-like brief and judging by what he did at Royal Drottningholm (with a Sundblom/Sköld design), the results could be absolutely spectacular!
Second, the middle section, holes 5 to 13, were built slightly deeper into the coastal pine forest in the 1960s. Fairways are flatter, except the glorious 12th of course, and of a design quite typical of Swedish woodland courses built during that time. It is not surprising to learn that the architect, Nils Sköld, was the most prolific Swedish golf architect at the time and that the typical dogleg holes (6, 7, 9 and 10 ) can also be seen on many other courses he designed. The best example, perhaps, being holes 12-16 at Visby, the longest stretch of original routing in place on that course.
Third, although very likely on perfect sandy soil it is managed like a parkland course. Swedish golf course cognoscenti often look to the British Isles, an excellent example being Golf Digest Sweden's comparison to Sunningdale and Wentworth in the last bit of the course write-up above. I think Woburn is a better comparison....at least south of the border, Jim!
It is correct, however, that Halmstad Norra could play like Sunningdale if managed to a drier, slightly faster running set-up. However, this would probably mean that the top of the humps on the oldest part of the course would no longer offer perfect playing surfaces and that members would risk finding what they think are perfectly good tee shots rolling and bouncing away into the trees.
Maybe this is what the course managers experienced when they had a forced experiment during the 2018 summer drought. Things got so tough that the city of Halmstad sent planes overhead daily with messages to locals and holidaymakers to save water and the golf club sensibly cut irrigation to a minimum, although I understand it has its own water resources.
However, Top 100 is about reviewing courses as they are, rather than what they could be. In 2019 and most years, the course is deep emerald green, also in mid-July (I only ever play it during my annual summer vacation in the region), but never overly soft. It is impossible not to be impressed by the beauty of the site or the quality of the conditioning, time and time again. Halmstad Norra therefore fully deserves its place in anyone's Swedish Top 10.
Best in the region? Absolutely within 100 kms/1 hours drive.
If we look at the whole of the Swedish South and the West Coast, Halmstad Norra would share top honours with Falsterbo, just ahead of Vallda and PGA Links, both of which I would put ahead of Barsebäck and Vasatorp.
NB. Its sister course has most of the above, minus the glorious 12th and 16th across Tylebäck, and deserves a higher ranking. Do not feel cheated if you are offered a tee time on the South instead, feel smart!
<a href="https://www.top100golfcourses.com/news-item/review-of-the-month-august-2019-halmstad-norra">Review of the Month August 2019</a>

Why is Formby loved by so many and why should you play there rather than try to squeeze in Birkdale, RLSA and Hoylake into one trip?Immediately, I can think of two reasons. (If you take the trouble of reading some of the many Formby reviews on this site, I am sure you find a few others...)First, the variety of golf (and views) on offer during a round here is beyond what most top courses in the UK can offer. A links golf trip can become a bit same-same after a few days unless you mix it up, so Formby belongs on the schedule for that reason alone. Second, the tranquility/seclusion on offer is of a rare quality, more often found on top heathland courses like Sunningdale and Swinley Forest. A round at Formby can probably convert most people to the links version of the game, so starting (or finishing) the trip at Formby is always a good plan, especially if you can book a stay at the Dormy House as well (have tried and failed twice, so still have that on my personal bucket list).My recommendation is therefore to anchor any trip to the area around Formby, then add a more classical/austere links course like West Lancs and then take in one of the more "dunesy" courses (Birkdale, Hillside or S&A). An extra plus is that all of these courses can easily be reached by rail.Would have hesitated between 5 and 6 balls before, so 5 1/2 feels right.

As with nearby Hillside, a game of two halves, although the differences are smaller at West Lancs. The front nine, nearer the sea is more austere. The back nine, especially the stretch between holes 12 to 15, offers a lot more vegetation and land movement.I found that I liked the look of the front nine better, but rather than wishing that the whole course looked like that I felt that the variety actually enriches the course and makes it more memorable, although not all green sites on the back nine were to my liking.West Lancs represents a different take on the links theme to its links brethren in the Southport area and I would put it as my 5th priority after the three Open venues and Formby when planning a tour to the area. In the real world of budgets and availability/time constraints, this means that it will go on the itinerary most of the time...Finally, a plus is that you can take the train to the course. Hall Road station is probably as close to a club house as any train station in the UK. Keep this in mind if you wish to set up a car-independent itinerary!

Our group played Fairhaven in the morning as we could only get on Royal Lytham at 14h00 and we needed a nearby course for those of us who also wanted a game in the morning. Not knowing the course or anyone who had played it, I am forever grateful to Top100 for helping us find it.Fairhaven is a true heathland experience which I personally would rate a bit higher (in that category) as it requires all shots in the bag to hit its small(ish) greens. In fact, because of the surrounding trees the course feels a lot tighter than it actually plays.

Hesketh could be your only option if you are looking for links golf on a week-end morning in the Southport area. Do you get out of bed or not?Having read reviews on this site, my expectations were quite low. The weather on the day was not great either. However, I was very positively surprised. The course has a bunch of very good holes, not only on the clubhouse side (holes 1-2 and 14-18).In fact, many of the holes across the road (3-13) are very cleverly planned, with obstacles and narrowing fairways exactly where you would land your tee-shot. As a result, I played 3-wood or hybrid off the tee on several occasions and probably would do on a couple more on my next visit.Not in the class of Birkdale, Hillside, S&A, Formby or West Lancs but not as far behind as I thought beforehand. Definitely worth playing on an extra day in the area and to play twice (or with a member of similar ability who knows the course well) if you have not played it before.

Hillside was probably the highlight of my group's four-day tour in the area recently, besides staying in the Dormy at RLSA of course. My three playing companions had their cameras out on many occasions on the back nine, especially on the last two elevated (blue) tees.Personally, I was slightly less fond of the place. The fairways are far too flat and smooth to get that maximum links feel, especially as the terrain on the back nine promises so much. In fact, I ended up enjoying the golf on the more understated front nine more, while I spent more time admiring views on the back nine. On reflection, I realise that my taste in links golf has evolved the more of it I have played. Ten years ago I would definitely have rated Hillside higher.All this being said, it is a very well presented championship links course of high calibre, the finish of which (at least in early June 2019) has probably been helped by hosting the British Masters.Now, assuming you have a free choice of courses in the area, how should you prioritise? If we leave the three Open venues (Birkdale, Hoylake and RLSA) aside, I would pick Formby ahead of Hillside. Furthermore, if you already have Birkdale on your schedule, I would also pick West Lancs ahead of Hillside to get more variety.

Many bunkers as well as large greens are the hallmarks of this modern layout. The design often favours approaches from one side of the fairway, but unless your iron play is absolutely magical on the day your ability to place recoveries from sand and long putts close to the hole will be key to scoring well here. If there are slightly too many large bunkers of the same type for my taste, I liked other aspects of the design more: two short par 4s late in the round at 12th and 15th, teasing you to have a go and two difficult par 3s at 13th and 17th, where par will be an excellent score. These four holes on the back nine are likely to be decisive in any match-play situation.Golf South Stockholm, a merger between Vidbynäs and Kallfors are marketing themselves as having the three best tracks in the southern part of Stockholm and that is probably true. However, the best courses in the whole Stockholm region, located north (Bro Hof, Ullna) and west (Royal Drottningholm), do offer much more consistent conditioning throughout the season. Worth four balls assuming summer season conditioning, but not better than any of the 14 Swedish courses ranked above which I have played.

Bro-Bålsta was the first “modern” golf course I played as a young golfer in Sweden in the late 1980s. The greens felt positively huge and very undulated compared to traditional Swedish woodland and parkland courses with small, flattish greens. Still remember having more than 40 putts without having a bad day on the greens...Thirty years later, the design no longer stands out and most visiting golfers have played similar greens elsewhere. In my view, however, the good aspects of the design remain: (1) it presents a great test for your iron play without having overly difficult green-sites, (2) it is about placing your shots and thinking your way around the course, yet the penalties for not doing so are not severe. One key aspect of good golf course design is that the game can be enjoyed by golfers all over the skill spectrum. Here, B-B scores very highly. Now, does this mean that you should shelve all plans to play Bro Hof and pick Bro-Bålsta instead? The answer to that question really depends on who is going to play. If the plural you is a group of hard-hitting, single-figure golfers with no budget restriction in sight....probably not. If your party is a more diverse group when it comes to skills and/or money and you do not particularly mind the kind of design B-B represents, why not?There are around 60 golf courses in the Stockholm region. This website currently lists 12 of them. For me, there is no question that the two courses at Bro Hof, Ullna and Royal Drottningholm are the best. Bro-Bålsta is a quality course in the group just below. Your taste in golf course design will determine whether it belongs in your personal Stockholm Top 10 or not.

I see two main reasons to play the Machrie.First, Islay has many distilleries to visit (nine or ten, according to the Islay Whisky Academy) and one golf course. It should therefore be top of the list for any group looking to combine high-quality whisky tourism with ditto golf. Second, it is a very good links course and represents a great outing if you are on the island for other reasons. The reopening of the hotel with a spa and an equally ambitious restaurant should also make it attractive to golfers with friends or partners with other interests in life.I am not so sure, however, that it fits naturally on any multi-course golf tour. We recently looked at fitting the Machrie into a week in Ayrshire in August this year, but decided against it. The majority view was that extra effort would not be worth it. Having now played there, I think it was a correct decision.I am also not sure it will end up being chosen over other stay-and-play destinations like St Andrews, East Lothian, Southport or Sandwich. A group of golfers looking to play very serious links golf staying in one place for a few days would want a bit more variety than what one course can provide, however well designed.On the design side, the course clearly has a lot of width of the tee, which makes it playable in virtually all weathers and pleasurable for most categories of golfers, a real plus in my book. I played it twice recently (end of March) in relatively modest one-club winds and found it bordering on easy, just like Ed in his review below. However, I can easily see that slightly higher green speeds would quickly raise the level of difficulty without sacrificing much of the playability. Hopefully that is how the course plays in summer.Finally, I think a place that plays so much on its history (and talks so much about how the new is better than the old) would want to showcase how its course design and layout changed from the 1890s to now. Other clubs do this well by putting up old course maps on the walls with small explaining texts. Hopefully, the Machrie will follow suit.Depending on how you define "the region" it is either four or five balls in my book.

”Mickey Mouse” I almost hear you think as we tee it up on the 300-yard opening hole. Unless you pay attention your drive may find one of the gorse bushes. You, however, find the fairway after having gone with a 3-wood off the tee. The wedge you hit into the green, however, ends up on the wrong side of the ridge and a tricky two-putt later I can spot a grimace. Are you beginning to take this course seriously?Most visitors opt for the big beasts (TOC-Kingsbarns-Carnoustie) or stay with the New, the Jubilee and the Castle without giving this (partly) Harry Colt-designed little jewel a second thought. Their loss is your gain!I was no exception: it took me four visits to St Andrews to finally get to play the Eden. Having done that, my recommendation is clear: mix old/traditional (TOC, the New or the Jubilee) with new/modern (i.e. Kingsbarns or the Castle Course) and then add the Eden as your third course! You will enjoy the respite as much as the variety. If you play with your brain fully switched on, you might even score...

The previous review (and the comments it provoked) reminds me of what is so good about this website! There is no absolute truth, but a large number of (hopefully) well-informed reviews provide very useful information.My take is that most of us mortals have a hard time divorcing the appraisal of the architectural merits of the golf course from the overall experience. If you like "old school" you are very likely to appreciate Swinley and rate it highly. As we can see, the opposite logic seems to apply too.Based on more than ten visits and having played most other top-ranked heathland tracks in the region, I have no hesitation in giving Swinley full marks. I do not do it because I have a particularly soft spot for clubs like this. I rate it highly because on each single occasion I played, I left the course a much calmer, happier person than when I arrived...and this irrespective of whether I had shot 75 and won or shot 85 and finished among the last (in our society competition.)In particular, I do admire how Harry Colt has managed to create grand elongated views in a woodland setting, yet the mature woodland still makes you feel that you play each hole in complete isolation. The other main quality to me is that no round feels just like the other and this is without experiencing massive variations in weather or course set-up. In fact, even after many plays you keep discovering small design nuggets.Swinley is a must for any serious student of the game (if perhaps not the sport) of golf. It is not the hardest test of golf or the most egalitarian golf experience...but it never pretended to be.

Narin and Portnoo sits between the cluster of top courses around Sligo (County Sligo GC/Rosses Point, Enniscrone and Donegal GC Murvagh) and the top courses in the eastern part of Donegal (Rosapenna, Portsalon and Ballyliffin). This logistical point is probably the main reason we have only played it once in three years of travelling the North and Northwest of Ireland. Having played there, however, I see no other compelling reasons to leave it out. In fact, I can think of a few good reasons you should consider including it, even if it might add to your travelling time:First, I really like the originality of the design, as far away from standard 36+36= 72 as possible. I mean where else would you find three par 5s in a row? Here you find them on the back nine – holes 13, 14 and 15. At least a couple of scoring chances you might think, and so did I...But, instead of salvaging my score I managed to wreck it by being too aggressive. Next time I will be wiser.Second, I am also fond of courses with an opening hole which offers you a choice between a safe and an aggressive option. At N&P the first hole is only 289 meters (320 yards) with a drain crossing the fairway, which means that you actively have to choose your club already on the first tee. Here also, I will be wiser next time.Third, if playing as much as you like at your own pace on a very good links course is your thing, then N&P is definitely one to consider. I base this recommendation not only on the single day we visited but also the state of booking sheets I regularly checked during the 2017 summer season to see if we could indeed choose our starting time freely, a definite plus given the variable Irish weather. Next time, I will stay to play more than one round, as long as the weather cooperates.Finally, if you include N&P and then drive east towards Rosapenna, you will experience one of the most glorious roads Ireland has to offer. One fantastic view follows another. If you think views off the golf course have no place in a review like this, consider stopping on the way to play a late afternoon nine holes at nearby Cruit Island, where the craziest views, and ditto golf holes await. We did and will remember that day for the rest of our lives.

Those who know me know that I really like links golf. However, I must put a little question mark on the ranking of this course. Is really the consensus of informed opinion that there are only 21 better courses in the whole of the Netherlands? Or, does the justified reputation of country’s top three links courses (Haagsche, Noordwijk, Kennemer) drag this little, rugged jewel further up the ranking lists than what is actually warranted? I have not played enough courses in the Netherlands to do more than ask these perhaps impertinent questions . Among the few I have played, however, is the Domburgsche. The reason I went out of my way to play it some years ago was not its ranking (not aware of it at the time) but because I had read the story about the links being bombed by the Allies during WWII and wanted to experience what grass bunkers made by the RAF looked and played like. Crazy, sure, but I think you should approach a visit to the Domburgsche as the experience it represents. The actual golf course, taken out of its historical context, is quite basic, but I respect that the overall uniqueness of the experience might rank among the top 25 in the Netherlands for some.

Always tricky to write a review based on only one round. Will first impressions persist?I had given the old Poniente a miss as every source I consulted said that the place was so neglected that the green fee was a waste of money. That is now in the past.Have no idea whether the new owner thinks he has got his money’s worth, but golfers on Mallorca should be grateful that he decided to commit so much time and money to bringing this old girl back to health.The course offers very good parkland golf with some pretty views. On the plus side: walkable, tests many clubs in the bag, water hazards well integrated in the design, as a looming threat, rather than an insurmountable obstacle for our beginner friends. During 2019 I guess we will see if it will be managed for conditions on the softer or firmer side. The layout allows for both and the choice of grass also indicates both possibilities. So, how does it compare?I am pretty sure virtually anybody who has played it in the last few months will put it in their own island Top 10. Time and more plays will determine where on the list it belongs.Should I include it in my trip this year ?Yes, if you have already played Son Guál, Alcanada and Son Muntaner.

We went back to Vallda twice in July this year. I liked all the things I enjoyed about the design last time (see review below), but regret to admit that the speed of the bone dry fairways, and some greens, caught me out a few times more than I would have liked. Note to self: be more careful about club selection, in particular let the big stick stay in the bag if not able to hit it exactly where you want it on the day. Members point out that the course is greener, and therefore plays a bit easier in spring and autumn, so keep this in mind when planning to visit the course.The firm and fast playing surfaces are a result of a conscious maintenance regime (minimum water and fertiliser) which is still far from usual in Sweden. Hills Golf Club, the rival for the local top spot in rankings with a more American style profile and (probably) a bigger budget, had to relay greens ahead of hosting the Scandinavian Masters this year. Another benefit of this low input regime seems to have been to survive the unusually hot and dry summer this year without significant damage. It must have been a close shave though, because strict hosepipe bans were in full force and water levels in the ponds were very low. Again, Hills had to concede defeat by taking the ignominious step of allowing placement of balls on fairways (preferred lies) during the Scandinavian Masters in mid-August. Vallda is also the place to choose in the Gothenburg region if you like to combine your golf with really good food, but remember to check kitchen opening hours before booking your tee-off time to avoid disappointment.

The reviews below together with a distinct lack of love elsewhere have kept me away from the East course at Son Antem for four years, but I finally decided to give it a try recently.Conditioning was indeed not great when I visited, but I was offered both a discount and a chance to switch to the West course in the pro shop. In fact, the state of fairways was not a lot worse than the West course on the two occasions I have played there and the temporary greens I was warned about were actually newly laid and rolled truer than most others on the course!Design-wise, the East course actually has a better start, with an inviting tee-shot into a benign par 5, followed by a short par 3, whereas the West inexplicably starts with some of the narrowest holes on the course. Although most of the East course is laid out among the houses on the property, these houses are placed away from the line of play and must collect fewer golf balls in their gardens than at Son Vida or Andratx. You will come across non-golfing holiday makers crossing the course on foot en route to their houses in places, however, so do pay attention.If you choose to stay at Son Antem, I would certainly recommend a round here as well, especially if it is quiet compared to the West as was the case during my visit. I played a walking round in under three hours, a rarity elsewhere on Mallorca. Otherwise, I have played at least ten other courses which are better on the island.

I am sure we can all list elements we like to see in a course design. Not unlike many reviewers on this site, I tend to enjoy courses which require thought on the tee and give many options playing into greens. I am not too fussed about green speeds as long as the greens offer lots of variety and roll reasonably true. When pushed, I am equally sure we can also come up with a list of things we are not too fond of. In my case, that would mean penal designs in general, designs which require buggies and designs which offer few options but aerial attack into greens. This does not mean hilly sites are out: I have played courses laid out in such terrain where the designer has managed to create an enjoyable walk, often making the most of the great views on offer. Unfortunately, this course is not one of them. For me, Andratx ticks all the boxes on the negative side and only one on the positive side: it does require thought before each tee-shot, ideally also a course planner and a distance-measuring device. I had both and left the driver in the bag most of the time. As a result I had a good score, but I shudder to think how many golf balls an out-of-form and out-of-season fourball (of men with higher handicaps) would lose from the tee before giving up as many yellow tees are sited well away from fairways in such inhospitable places that artificial turf has been used to make them playable! Playing in the late afternoon, I passed at least two groups of older men who seemed to have parked their buggies at the halfway house. They seemed to enjoy themselves royally and showed no inclination to continue playing. Given the even hillier layout of the back nine, probably a good move.

How come people who are not terribly fond of water on golf courses (like Jim McCann below and myself) end up liking Flommen? I can think of three reasons:First, the course is unique. With all respect to nearby Falsterbo and Ljunghusen, both of which are higher ranked, but there are literally dozens of similar courses elsewhere, particularly in the British Isles. I have, however, yet to come across anything like Flommen.Second, the course (including its eponymous and ubiquitous water hazard) feels completely natural and actually quite fair. It is possible to plot your way around the course avoiding most of the water as the carries required are rarely heroic and few holes have water right in front of the green. (The only man-made water hazard might be the pond left of the 16th green which looks like it is dug to store water. I was told it was the only(!?) source of water available to water the greens this summer due to the severe watering restrictions in place this summer (2018), which explains why the rest of the course was bone dry.)Finally, not only the course but the whole club is wonderfully unpretentious, which means that it is more than likely that you leave the place with a smile on your face, your well-managed expectations more than fulfilled.I think four balls is fair, especially in an international context, but Flommen is a lot more interesting than most Swedish courses ranked above it, so do make room for it in your golfing plans!Highly recommended.

This year we started our annual spring links golf week with the Castle Course at St Andrews. On paper, a really stupid proposition as half the fourball played their first round of the season and much of the criticism of the Castle Course tends to center on its difficulty: high rough/lost balls and nearly impossible greens. In reality, things turned out well and our datapoints to add to the debate are: (1) fewer lost balls than at every other course during the week bar TOC, (2) decent scores, at least not any worse than later in the week, despite 27 out of 36 holes played in a two-club-wind, (3) just one putt all day in the crazy golf category, and my friend nearly holed it! Our provisional conclusion based on two rounds is that playing the Castle, the Eden and the TOC represents the most varied combination of what St Andrews can offer and we would have no hesitation recommending it to anyone remotely interested in course design. (If you cannot get on TOC, substitute with the New or the Jubilee to get a similar mix.)An equally provisional verdict would also be positive (5 balls), assuming the slightly below average conditioning we encountered was temporary rather than representative.

Only on my 5th golfing trip to the region did I find time to play Montrose. Until then, our stays had been too brief or we had been too busy ticking off the big beasts. But, I am very happy I finally made it to Montrose. So, why should you find time for Montrose in your schedule? After all, there are at least ten other tracks which are either more convenient (based in St Andrews) or higher ranked.Firstly, the Medal course at Montrose offers more variety than most other tracks in the region. When I write this I think mainly of the difference between the holes placed on or adjacent to the dune ridge (holes 2-9) compared to the flatter and more gorse-constrained look of the holes in the 10-15 loop. Gorse bushes in bloom are pretty, but if they have to double as hazards, I prefer them late in the round rather than early.Secondly, coastal erosion is a real issue for Montrose, especially on holes 2 and 6, where we could see how tees literally were falling down on the beach, to be washed away by the next storm. There are stop-gap measures in place which should safeguard the first green and the 2nd tee, but if the process continues the whole front nine is at risk. Therefore, I implore you not to leave Montrose off your itinerary once again, because one day, perhaps already in our life-time, it might be too late....While I am at it, also consider doing what we did: playing a warm-up round on the shorter Broomfield course in the morning to straighten your driving and polish those tricky 50-100 yard approach shots your links game will need, before tackling the Medal course in the afternoon. The whole day was excellent value for money when we played it last week and we did not have to wait a single moment all day!

Panmure’s greens were by far the best we putted on during a week when we also played at St Andrews and Montrose. Perhaps this was/is due to less visitor play, perhaps a higher maintenance budget or perhaps even the course's more sheltered position behind the railway line and the military shooting range has a role to play. Who knows?Anyway, by including Panmure on your itinerary, you will not only be playing first-class links golf, you will also experience a real golf club and if you choose your starting time judiciously, far less congestion than at other courses in the region.Highly recommended.

Was it Harry Colt who wrote that it is better to use one attractive terrain feature on several holes rather than to use that feature to make one outstanding hole? Whatever the case, years after playing here, the image that stays in my mind is of the valley which crosses six different holes (1, 8, 14, 16, 17 and 18). It is not difficult to negotiate, but it gives the course character. It can also play mental tricks with your game as the visual information to your brain does not fully agree with the facts at hand, like the distance from your gps-watch.Otherwise, the course is in many ways similar to Mälarö near Stockholm, also designed by Tommy Nordström, in that it is laid out in open country on sand-based soil with fairways surrounded by wispy fescue rough and with few trees on the course to help with visual referencing. It also has the odd hole located in nearby woods, in this case the par 3 7th.The obvious difference is that while Mälarö is near unique in the Stockholm region, in Skåne D-W is joined by several similar courses, call them heathland, inland links, open country or whatever you like. Therefore, the question is perhaps why you should play here rather than at Kristianstad less than 30 minutes away or why you should skip PGA Links an hour away to the west, both of which are ranked above DW, not to mention a number of other layouts also aspiring to greatness. As always, it might not be a question of either/or but both. During our holiday here, family obligations prevented longer day trips so we played here and at Österlen’s two courses: Lilla Vik and Djupadal, the latter also a creation by Tommy Nordström and designed in a similar way. If your taste is close to mine, i.e. that golf should not only be question of distance but also about wind, bounce and roll, this place is unlikely to disappoint you.

You can almost always get a game at Mälarö as the starting sheet is not as busy as it is most days at nearby Drottningholm or other quality courses near Stockholm.Why is this? I think the vast majority of Stockholm golfers simply do not “get it”. They prefer their fairways tree-lined but also green and soft and therefore have a hard time picking out where that slice bounced into the high grass. The latter is actually no longer a factor unless you hit it very far and way off line at the same time. The club has done an admirable job of widening the semi-rough and holding it down, even to the point of significantly lower course and slope ratings compared to a few years ago.What you almost always get at Mälarö is good practice playing in the wind. Furthermore, if you pick the right time in the season you can also enjoy fast running fairways, certainly on holes 19-27. However, it is a pity that drainage is not better around the greens as more than one apron is often too soft to offer a more comprehensive links-like experience.Clearly behind the top names in the region (Bro Hof, Ullna, Drottningholm), but the design is good enough to qualify into the group of courses below. Design 4 balls, Conditioning 3 balls. Practice facilities 5 balls, Club-house/Ambiance 2 balls....Overall verdict = just about 4 balls

I have now been to Northwest Ireland to play golf three years in a row. Having played most links courses ranked top 100 in Britain and Ireland and many ranked just below, I think no other place offers a better combination of course quality and accessibility. (Not even factoring in the drop dead gorgeous scenery)I mean, where else can you look out the window and decide on the day – as a non-member - when on the day you want to play two top links courses.......and reasonably expect to play two rounds at your own pace, whether that is a fast 3-hour two-ball match or a game at a more leisurely pace?With the Glashedy course chosen for the 2018 Irish Open, I think there is a risk that more people will favour that course at the expense of the Old Links. They could not be more mistaken.To me, it is the combination of the Old Links and the Glashedy and the fact that they are very different design-wise, yet equally matched, that is the Ballyliffin experience. Drive up to the clubhouse in the morning, have a chat in the pro shop to make sure you know where any other groups tee off and then decide which course to play first. If the weather turns ugly (happens), just wait in the clubhouse until it blows over, then start/resume your round. Play 9, 18, 27 or 36 holes, whatever takes your fancy. Heaven.So, what could possibly be better? Well, you cannot walk from your hotel room to the first tee. At Rosapenna, two hours away, but at equal distance from Dublin, you can. That would perhaps be the one reason to go elsewhere....<a href="/news-item/review-of-the-month-december-2017-ballyliffin-old">Review of the Month December 2017</a>

Let’s deal with the conditioning point previous reviewers have mentioned straightaway. Greens on the West course have been relaid in 2017, so hopefully it should have its worst hair days behind it. Tee-boxes and fairways were not great on my both visits, but I played twice within a week after a serious downpour and during the period in the autumn when many Mallorcan courses overseed with a cold season grass. As a result the fairways were wet in places and looked quite uncut. (If you know a little about the water management issues on Mallorca and how they affect golf courses you also know that there could be other reasons but my Spanish was not good enough to tease that out of the green-keeper on this occasion...) On the other hand I was virtually alone on the course in the early morning and could play at my own pace, which those who read my reviews know I particularly appreciate.Now, what about the more permanent pros and cons? I like the design of many holes as they make you think already on the tee. The best example is hole no 6, a short par 4, which narrows significantly as you approach the green. First time I felt like an idiot after putting an almost perfect drive behind a tree short left of the green. Next time I made a wiser club selection on the tee.The back nine is significantly wider than the front nine, which I find a bit odd on a resort course, so I expect there to be quite a few balls lost on the opening holes before the resort guests find their swings. Understand completely why they steer beginners away from the West course with marketing and handicap restrictions. There is water in play on the course, but most of it is later in the round, primarily on holes 14 and 18, by which time you should know where you hit the ball that day. By the way, hole 18 is another example where judicious club and shot selection off the tee really pays off.Finally, should you bother about playing at Son Antem West unless you are staying there? Probably not is the answer. I have now played sixteen of the twenty 18-hole tracks on the island, most of them multiple times, and it is definitely not in the top five. If it is your first time golfing on Mallorca, stick with Son Gual and Alcanada as your first choices! The €100-odd standard greenfee is not value for money, but the €50 Early Bird rate certainly could be, if you can verify course conditioning before booking (in particular, check when they take the dew off the greens by cutting/rolling – not great to putt on greens with lots of morning dew on the them, however well relaid...). Three balls feels like a slightly generous verdict, given what I have written above, but I think it reflects what the course is capable of in normal condition.

Feel it is appropriate to come back with another review on Son Muntaner after the course was completely regrassed in 2016 and holes 5 and 6 rerouted back to their original design.First, both changes are clearly for the better. Conditioning is one step up on the previous situation now that the grow-in phase is complete (unlike the situation last year which Alex refers to) and the new Bermuda grass has been firmly established. It is great to see that they are able and willing to maintain the course in a drier, firmer condition than before. For me, Son Muntaner is now clearly in the top five on the island. Value-for-money is still a big issue (the standard high-season guest rate at €150 is not competitive as Son Gual costs less and still is a lot better). Pace of play can also be a problem, but if you know when and with whom to play (members can apparently buy a limited number of tickets for €50...) it gets an unequivocal thumbs up, albeit clearly below Son Gual and Alcanada.

It is easy to leave very good courses off the itinerary because there are great courses nearby. I would argue that anyone who ignores Portsalon and puts Rosapenna Sandy Hills and Ballyliffin Glashedy on their list instead makes a mistake as they risk being beaten up twice the same way!Pat Ruddy has also designed many of the holes at Portsalon, but the overall end result is a lot more benign without being tame.We played Portsalon in between the courses at Rosapenna and those at Ballyliffin and everyone in our little group really enjoyed the variety it offered between big, bold, “dunesy” holes and more understated flattish ones where placement and club selection mattered more than raw power. Case in point: hole 13, short par 4, probably not everyone’s favourite due to the non-linksy turf on the left, but that is not where you should be! The tee shot needs to be placed as far right as possible to avoid being blocked by the big tree on the left hand side of the fairway. However, the fairway slopes strongly, you probably guessed, from right to left! Wish we could have played the course twice on the day, but it was not to be this time. My first visit to Portsalon certainly will not be my last!

Coming back to Rosapenna, I noticed how much more I appreciated Sandy Hills. The course felt a lot friendlier than I remembered it to be.This hunch was quickly confirmed by the pro shop: there has been a lot of tweaking of mowing lines and other design details in the last ten years to make the course less penal and more playable. Having said that, Sandy Hills is still a difficult course, especially if the wind is up or driving is off. The two unfortunately tend to be related for most golfers. In any case, it is not a track I would recommend to a high-handicapper.However, I would advise anyone with the right game to give it a rematch sooner than I did (first visit 2008, second late August this year) because like any other Pat Ruddy design it is a lot less exhausting mentally if you played it recently and can sort out the real trouble from the imagined. Very seldom busy, which means you will likely play at your own pace, which could be fast or excruciatingly slow, depending on how many balls you have to search for.

This is a difficult review to write: I really enjoyed the variety of the previous edition of the Rosapenna Old Links with the Coastguard holes providing great views and quite modest quality golf and the Valley holes the opposite. It was also a very different experience to Sandy Hills.However, no one remotely objective can say that the course has not improved a lot with the Strand Nine (currently holes 1-9) and the new tees and driving lines on the Valley Nine (now holes 10-18). Many reviewers have over the years said that they prefer the Old Links over Sandy Hills and I think I also belong in that category, although the differences between the courses are smaller now.The recommendation therefore becomes: if you can only play one round at Rosapenna and your handicap is in double figures, play the Old Links.A final aside: On my two visits to Rosapenna, we have been almost alone on either course, which is fantastic. Unfortunately, this probably means that the two dormant courses at neighbouring St Patrick’s will remain just that for quite some time. Hope to be very wrong sooner rather than later as this is great golfing terrain.

Just came back for this year's trip to Donegal. Despite also playing the scenic and wonderful courses at Ballyliffin, Rosapenna, Narin&Portnoo and Portsalon, it is the crazy golf and breathtaking scenery at Cruit Island that our little group will remember the longest. Pick a clear day, only use the scorecard for navigation the first time....and do not forget to take lots of pictures! Almost impossible and irrelevant to rate as a golf course only.

Is this the best golf club in the South East ?If it is not, it must be a very, very close race with Sunningdale. We played both courses at Walton Heath in what must be very close to their best condition, two days after the U.S. Open Qualifying in June and they played magnificently, being testing but not at all unfair.As a visitor to this site you may use ranking as a basis for picking which courses to play. In that case my view is that you risk making a serious mistake of omission if you decide to skip the New Course at Walton Heath.Having played both courses with the New in the morning and the Old after lunch, I cannot see the disparity in ranking (78th and 28th respectively) to be justified and the recommendation must be the same as for Sunningdale: make a whole day out of it and play both courses.Some other reviewers have commented that the first two holes are too easy. Personally, I much prefer the easier start on the New Course: driveable par-4 followed by short par-3 to the more difficult one on the Old Course: long par 3 followed by long par 4. I know that I have Harry Colt on my side of that argument...at least in general.Finally, when the club and its members manage to use influence and financial resources to sort out the crossing of the very busy road in the beginning and persuade those who need persuading that resurfacing the M25 with a quieter surface is in the general interest, the non-golfing part of the experience will improve significantly.

Expectations play a big role in shaping the experience. Having read glowing reviews on Hindhead at this site and elsewhere, mine were unfortunately set too high. The topography for the holes 2-10 is undoubtedly very unusual in an English setting. I have played over 100 courses in England and Wales and cannot recall seeing anything similar. However, in other parts of the world where golf courses are sometimes put in the most unconventional terrain, it is not unique, so I would perhaps advise a Continental European visitor to pick more traditional heathland designs for a Surrey golf tour.What I would recommend is to play Hindhead more than once, or to play the course with someone who knows the course well. We did neither and had to spend a lot of time working out how much club to take on many shots as the changes in elevation are substantial.Also, if you have a non-golfing companion, this is the place to take them along, especially if the weather is clear. The vistas are simply fantastic and Mother Nature is at her best.On this tour, we played both courses at Walton Heath, St George’s Hill, Hankley Common, West Hill and New Zealand in addition to Hindhead. The views at Hindhead are perhaps the best, but the golf course as such is not a match for Walton Heath, SGH and Hankley.

If you have time for just one round of heathland golf, I suggest you choose Hankley. I immediately think of two reasons:1) Many heathland courses were built on open spaces which bear little resemblance to the tree-lined experience most offer today, a result of gradual encroachment by vegetation over 100 years. Today, when many have ambitious tree-removal and heather-regeneration programs to regain some of the visuals and firm-and-fast playing characteristics that originally made them stand out from parkland courses, Hankley offers the real deal: there are few trees, no expensive housing next to the fairways...and no motorway noise.2) On our recent tour, we played both courses at Walton Heath, which were in magnificient condition as the U.S. Open qualifier had just been held there. The rhodies were in full bloom at St George’s Hill, West Hill and New Zealand GC and the skies were clear at Hindhead. Despite all this, we still held Hankley as our clear no 1 in that company. The best of all: we could play at our own pace...starting at noon on a Bank Holiday Monday! Not a common experience at many other courses at this level.

I have friend who really enjoys the yesteryear atmosphere of clubs like Brancaster, Luffness, Swinley Forest and Rye. Unfortunately, he could not join us at New Zealand. The changing room alone would have been worth the visit for him. Having said this, it should also be noted that New Zealand has a much more female-friendly atmosphere than most places of its kind.However, two other things made the day for me: 1) the club truly treats you like a member for the day. You play as much as you like, start whenever the tee is free, choose your tees as you wish and settle your bill at the end of the day. 2) they really get on with it on the course, but in the nicest way possible, not in the "we-are-members-and you-are-spoiling-our-fun" way that you can experience at Muirfield or Rye, if you are unlucky. We played after a society in the morning and got round in under four hours. Had to wait a little bit, but it gave us the time to enjoy the scenery and plan our way around the course on our first round. In the afternoon we played the almost deserted course at under three hours as a two-ball.Highly recommended.

I have seen two very different views of Sand GC: 1) a fabulous modern inland links course, 2) an artificial course slightly out of tune with the surrounding landscape. Those in the second camp often mention the strange volcano-shaped bunker on the second hole featured on many golf magazine covers when the course opened in 2006. I am mostly in the positive camp, because if you have seen a few courses cut out of pine forests growing on top of sand dunes before, you know that woodland and undulations can mix in a very organic way. The other debate is where the course should be ranked. An early elevation by Golf Magazine into the top 100 outside the U.S. was probably premature, but I think that particular ranking is of interest to very few, even on this specialist website.... Anyway, having played all ten Swedish courses currently ranked above, Sand is one of my personal favourites. I think it is a more exciting and original design than those ranked above and therefore worth considering ahead of Barsebäck and Vasatorp to name a few.Logistics probably play a role in limiting visitor numbers (and reviews on this site) somewhat. Sand is at least a three hour drive from Stockholm or Copenhagen, so it has to be worth the journey on its own merits.Now, is it ? I think it is an excellent destination for a short break and the club has developed a hotel on site to cater for this. Some of you may argue that other resorts can offer two or more courses. My retort would be: you only have time for a few rounds during that break anyway, so why not get to know one really good course a bit better? Final point: chances of playing at your own pace might be better than at any course of comparable quality in Sweden. We had that luxury a few years ago and a quick look at booking sheets as this is written suggests it might still be the case on many days, including week-ends.Highly recommended.

Österlen, the eastern part of Skåne is a favourite vacation region for many Swedes. The golfers among them also seem to have a long-standing love affair with Lilla Vik. I can understand; the course has nice views over the Baltic, although without being a links course. It is not overly long either and consequently demands more of your golfing brain than your driving muscles, especially after the recent renovations by Pierre Fulke and Adam Mednick (disclaimer: I played the course before). Another great plus in my book is that you can stay at the course. There are few things that inspire to “just another round” like waking up to birdsong mixed with the soft sound of balls hit from the driving range!

Will you like Barsebäck? I think it very much depends on what kind of golf you prefer. Most Swedish golfers are brought up on parkland courses, or woodland courses which play as parkland rather than heathland. Most pro golf tournaments are also played on parkland courses, so many tour pros tend to prefer this kind of target golf, where they feel more in control than on windswept links or heathland courses where a bogey is just a poor bounce away. However, for those of us who love nothing better than firm and fast turf, Barsebäck tends to disappoint as it does not really offer the heathland/links golf the site looks capable of. Therefore, if you plan your first outing to the region and your golfing taste is close to mine, put Falsterbo and PGA Links on top of your list instead.All that said, it is a very capable championship layout which often is in very good condition. If you watch the European Tour regularly you may want to see to how the pros tackle the course 1-4 June, 2017, when the Nordea Scandinavian Masters comes to Henrik Stenson’s home course.

Coming from old, compact, hemmed-in golf courses in London, I felt at home at once when I played Biarritz the first time. As is the case with many clubs in such settings, “Le Phare” as the locals call it, has lost out to urban developments, but somehow manages to hold on to two pieces of ground barely big enough to squeeze in 18 holes. When you see old photos from before WWI you appreciate that this was once, at least partly, a seaside links course. Today, it is surrounded by the city of Biarritz on all sides and with tree-lined fairways it is managed more as a parkland course. Therefore, the sandy nature of the ground that Harry Colt wrote about 100 years ago (the club proudly quotes from his letter on its home page) is no longer apparent. What is very apparent is that neighbouring streets quickly come into play if your aim is wide and you take leave of your senses. We quickly abandoned driver and 3-wood, just as you are obliged to do if you visit the small practice ground beforehand.Leaving the big stick in the bag most of the time is actually a great idea, because the course rewards brain over brawn and placing your tee-shots not only avoids the bunkers but enables your approach, putting and recovery play to be up for scrutiny with a score still to play for. Despite this, most people in our group were surprised at the grim reading of their scorecards afterwards. By the way, if you come to see the original “Biarritz” style green (a concept better known in the U.S. than in France) you are too late. The original par-3 3rd hole by the ocean is long built over.

In the early 90s, the club had no irrigation, so playing it during a dry summer felt like going back to the early days of the game of golf. It is also a treasured personal memory, because it was here, at Wimereux, I got to appreciate the value of the ground game, of using the contours of the land to bring the ball close to the flag rather than artillery practice with short irons. These days Route d’Ambleteuse has become Avenue Francois Mitterrand and the club has also moved with the times. What you still get is undiluted, fun links golf with no fuss whatsoever. Therefore, you could do a lot worse than putting Wimereux and Le Touquet La Mer at the top of the list for your next golf week-end. Could easily have given it 5 balls for sentimental reasons, but I feel that a strong 4-ball rating is definitely motivated.

The first time I visited Maioris in October 2016 the course was in such awful shape that one ball would have been too much! The manager immediately gave us vouchers to come back and play for free. Have now just been back and experienced some of the course conditions that Jim McCann describes in his review below ....I think I am in a position to deliver a balanced verdict. 1) The course is long and not very wide, so avoid playing it from far back if it is wet or if you happen to be spreading it from the tee on that particular day, 2) greens are recovering from an awful state, but seem to be dominated by poa annua, so conditioning is probably going to be better early in the morning and it remains to be seen if the course can manage through the hot Mallorcan summer and still be decent in the autumn, 3) the course is currently not very busy in the afternoons so the layout which takes you to the clubhouse after 14 and 16 lends encourages fast match-play, which is otherwise a rarity on Mallorca.With conditioning this variable, it is hard to recommend, but perhaps worth taking a chance if you stay nearby and can go to check conditions yourself before deciding to play.

Why do we not play Dunbar every time we are in the region? The usual reason is that someone wants to play North Berwick and/or Muirfield. Sounds familiar? I am not going to tell you to drop any of these two icons for Dunbar if you can fit them into both your itinerary and your budget. However, in most cases that is not the case. Here are a couple of points to consider. They may be reasons to pick Dunbar, or to avoid it, depending on your preferences.First, it has a quiet start, a fact which causes some reviewers to mark it down. To me, it is a virtue. Who wants to start the round by being savaged or ridiculed? As the design nerds among you know, I have Harry Colt on my side of that argument! There are plenty of difficulties later on in the round. My view of the course would be very different if it started with the 7th... Second, it is a classic out-and-back layout on a narrow strip of land with the sea on one side and a high wall on the other. The stakes are clear, do not miss right... Even if that is not your exact idea of fun, you should still consider Dunbar for variation as Muirfield and Gullane are very different layouts. Finally, whether you love it or just like it, Dunbar is accessible. They take visitors morning and afternoon, weekdays and week-ends, so you can often play 36 in a day, which I personally appreciate. Together with the tightening of visitor access to Gullane No. 1, this helped Dunbar onto our itinerary last time after we had left it out so many times. We loved the course and it will very likely feature next time as well. Highly recommended.

Falkenberg neither has the cachet of nearby Tylösand with Halmstad GK's flagship North Course, only slightly more than half an hour's drive along the coast to the south, nor the price tag that comes with it. Many of the aspects that make people wax lyrical about Halmstad are also true about Falkenberg: firm sand-based turf, challenging tee-shots into narrow woodland corridors, exacting approaches into small greens. Many of the critical points are also similar: lack of length, too many dogleg holes, flat bunkers which provide limited challenge. "Poor man's Tylösand" has therefore been a slightly unkind, but not wholly inaccurate description, not only of the golf course but the whole seaside town itself. Whether that is true to you or not, you can do a lot worse than spending a sunny summer's day at Falkenberg's beach at Skrea with a round at its nearby golf course.

First time I played Son Guál, all I saw was a course that was so much better in every aspect than virtually every other course on the island, except perhaps Alcanada, which occupies a much prettier site.Having played the course five times, I still think it is the best on the island, but it is the strategic aspect of the design that makes me come back again and again.Let us take an example: the hole most people talk about is the 18th, mostly because they fail to score well on it...and it is there in front of you when relaxing on the clubhouse terrace afterwards! At over 500 yards with water just in front of the green, the reflex is to try to get as far as possible in two so as to be able to hit a wedge into the green. Simple? Afterwards, you will appreciate that an easier way to make par is to place your second shot further back and as far left as you dare to have a lot of green to work with on your approach. Moreover, the penalty for a less than perfect contact is a longer putt or a straightforward chip or pitch rather than a penalty shot plus a reload or a nerve-wrecking recovery from rough into a green that slopes away from you towards the water.On the (very slight) minus side: too few ground game options hitting into greens.

Having played 15 of the island’s 23 tracks overall and Puntiró four times over the last two years, I can comfortably say that this course is the course I most like to return to! Of course, Son Guál and Alcanada are better tracks, but Puntiró offers me the fun of firm and fast conditions more often than any other course on the island. I have now learnt that this is partly down to not overseeding their Bermuda grass in winter, but also watering more sparingly. This means fewer “bad hair days” than other Mallorcan courses, but also less of the lush green optics. I am actually quite grateful as this turns off quite a few tourists looking for soft green carpet, resort style. The course is often much less busy in the afternoon if you fancy a round at a faster pace.

Still remember my first round on this course many years ago: having forgotten my spikes at home, I had to negotiate the course in worn docksides on a course which was wet after a downpour....Well, of course I played really well! Losing a bit of distance is not a huge problem here as precision and correct placement of shots is what builds a good score. It certainly helped that I played with long-time members, whose example I could follow and thus avoid some costly mistakes off the tee.Most visitors opt for the more famous North course, which is longer and has a few iconic holes that the South course lacks. Most golfers, however, would probably enjoy the South course more, especially if you get to play with a member who can add that crucial bit of local knowledge. Otherwise, get the course planner to enjoy your round to the full!Deserves to be much better known, probably also ranked higher, certainly if its tip-top conditioning is taken into account. Now, should it be four or five balls? Sometimes this feels academic: it is probably five balls for someone with the game to suit this course and perhaps three for the long-driving types. Four balls would be my verdict.

I went to play Vall d’Or for the first time in November 2016. There are two reasons why I hesitate to recommend it.First, the crazy design of the front nine, at least the first three holes. The first is a long par 3 to a semi-blind small green with little depth, surrounded by ankle-deep rough consisting of very coarse grass. The second, a par-4, has a very limited flat area to aim your tee-shot at. The approach will therefore often be played from an uphill stance up a slope that looks like a part of a decent World Cup downhill race. The third is a short par five, downhill dogleg left, but the green is tucked into a corner with no recovery if you miss. I played 4-iron, 7-iron, wedge, not the most exciting proposition. So, my problem with the design is that the round starts with three holes full of penal design elements. These elements can have their place, but perhaps better further into the round. The back nine is, as previous reviewers have remarked, a completely different proposition. The tenth is a benign par 4, which would be an ideal opener, and then the course gradually becomes more difficult. My own home club started out with a trickier and more difficult front nine, but took the sensible decision to switch the two loops around so the wider, more forgiving section is now played first. I wonder if my verdict had been different if Vall d’Or had done the same?Second, the conditioning on my visit in early November 2016 was not great. When some of your short iron approaches stay plugged into the green surface I guess the greens are as far from firm and fast as is possible.... In fairness, Vall d’Or was not the only wet course on the island during early November (Son Gual, Maioris, Son Vida, Son Quint), but there were also clubs which managed to create perfectly acceptable playing conditions (Pula, Son Servera) or even firm-and-fast ones (Puntiró).I have played 15 out of the island’s 23 courses over the last two years, many of them on several occasions. I believe Vall d’Or has the best placed club-house terrace; the sea views are nothing short of magnificient. Otherwise, it struggles to make my own island top 10.

Playing Pula was a relief during a week in late October 2016 when even Son Gual with its vast resources struggled to put up a presentable course. Greens were true and fast, albeit on the soft side, and fairways were reasonable. Tee-boxes were being overseeded, so they looked predictably awful. Learn to expect the unexpected when it comes to conditioning on Mallorca!This important matter aside, has Ollie created a really memorable design? Well, Pula is a decent track, mostly fair with its obligatory water hazards (greenkeeping life on Mallorca without being able to store water would just not be possible), but the site is quite awkward so he did not have an easy job. The course crosses (under) the main road twice and there are farms in the middle on whose land the course could have continued in a more organic fashion. There are also some suboptimal solutions: prime examples are the semi-blind 12th with its out-of-bounds to the left and the dangerous walk from the 6th green to the 7th tee when the next part might just be hitting their approach shots. To his credit, Ollie has created a course that is walkable which is a great plus in my book.The other plus is that it is possible to play 36 holes in a day for less money than 18 at other places. Also, we were able to play 27 of our 36 holes in splendid isolation and at our own pace. The other 9 holes, however, took over 2 ½ hours behind a large group of fourballs playing a competition, so it pays off to phone the day before to check the booking situation as there was no internet booking as at October 2016.

You might argue that any fool with a bit of a budget could dig a big pond and route a par 3 17th and a par 5 18th alongside it. If you have watched golf tournaments on TV I bet that you have seen a few examples. However, Kyle Philips has succeeded in making this course not just playable, but also enjoyable for all categories. Let us examine the par 3 17th as an example: it is 180 meters (208 yds) from the tips, water all the way to a bunker then bunkers behind and right, exactly where you might subconsciously think of bailing out. Wind almost always a factor. Anything remotely to the left is in the water. Tough? As it should be, the tee 68 (as in 6800 meters+, Sweden is moving away from the traditional white-yellow-blue-red tee colours to entice golfers to choose the right tee for their playing level rather than their gender) is built to decide tournaments for professional golfers at the top level. Now consider the proposition from the most forward tee 48: 96 meters (105 yds) angled so that a straight shot can roll on to the green. The water and the bunkers lurk more as lateral hazards than something that forces a carry out of a beginner/young junior/old senior uncomfortable with such challenges. Since you have come to this website to read this review you might have played a few courses in your life already. Now think how many of these championship layouts you could play with your beginner friend/loved one/young daughter/old parent with both of you enjoying it? Surprisingly many of the classics and disappointingly few of the modern beasts would be my answer. Thankfully both courses at PGA Sweden fall into the right category, which is one major reason I rate them so highly. Last point: you might conceivably also have come to this website to decide which courses to pick for a trip to the area. The tradition of Falsterbo, and its seaside neighbours at Flommen and Ljunghusen, is hard to argue with, if that indeed is what you are after. However, if you would be hesitating between a day at Vasatorp, at Barsebäck or at PGA Sweden my advice would be to pick PGA....and to – absolutely - play both courses. The Lakes course is only my no.2 at PGA Sweden!

Should you put Connemara on your next Irish golf trip itinerary?The honest answer is “probably not”. This is not because the course is bad in any way. In fact it is almost visually unique among links courses with all the bare rock close to the playing surface. The sea and landscape views are as lovely. The layout is also sympathetic with the more forgiving golf on the front nine and the longer, tougher holes on the back nine. For matches and twilight rounds it is also great to come back to the clubhouse after hole no 16. We saved the third “C” loop of nine holes for our day two but quickly decided that once was enough. Some of the holes are fantastic designs on their own, but the long walks between holes make this nine feel like an afterthought. My advice is to play two rounds on the main 18 holes instead, unless you are a keen student of golf course architecture.So, indeed, why not Connemara on your next Irish golf trip ? You go to courses like Connemara for two reasons: (1) they fit into an itinerary where you play also other courses over 3-7 days or (2) they are great, out-of-the-way weekend type destinations on their own, a bit like Machihanish if you like.Ballyconneely does not fit into the first category. It simply is too far away from other top-ranked Irish golf courses. It took us almost three hours northwards to get to Carne; it would have taken about the same time had we gone south to Lahinch. In the second category there are better combinations of accessibility, affordability and quality in Ireland: Ballyliffin comes to mind.Therefore, I am afraid that future reviews on this site may also comment on the remoteness of this place and, perhaps also, praise Connemara as an undiscovered gem.

Went back to enjoy this favourite in August 2016. Coming back to play it again in much less wind was so much more relaxing. Also interesting to see how the course transfixed and mentally exhausted those in my group who were here the first time. Therefore, the advice must be to make sure you allow for at least two rounds at this fantastic place, especially as the second round will cost a lot less (we paid €70 for our second round). The first time you will marvel at all the great views over the sea and worry about hazards at almost every shot. The next time you will know which bunkers are truly in play and where to best place your shots to take advantage of the undulating land forms. You will also start appreciating the slightly less spectacular holes. Everyone I know who has been here absolutely loves this course, just like most reviewers below. One of the reasons why The European is my Dublin no 1 and my Irish East Coast no 2, after Royal County Down, is the ability to play it at your own pace. We asked nicely when phoning to book and followed their advice on when to start. As a result, we have never had to wait on any of three days we have played it. I guess we should be grateful for all who prefer to crowd Portmarnock or The Island (fully booked on the same dates) rather than spend one hour on the motorway to be able to play this links masterpiece!Finally, if you are the slightest bit interested in golf course photography and architecture, get one of the books Pat Ruddy has written about his own place when in the pro shop! The pictures are superb and the text is full of dry wit in his very personal style. Reading it will make you want to come back very soon, which perhaps is why they price it so keenly or even give it away.

Other places try to make the most of their one or two high dunes on the site. At Carne, they had to avoid them in order to create a playable course! These 18 holes are located on such undulating terrain that bunkers are few and greens are essentially flat, the latter a point of criticism and what prevented me from giving this course the highest mark.Seldom crowded, which means that you can pick your starting time and your playing pace. Try that at the popular courses further south...The golf package with the Talbot Hotel was fantastic price/quality.

Set up for golf with a buggy, which I really do mot like. This means that if you decide to walk anyway, you are in for a real workout as many tees are placed on small hills (of course). Also, some greens are turning into poa annua, which meant that that they were not that uniform when I visited in July 2016.So, how to rate it? Putting aside my personal dislike of "buggy-centered" golf courses, it is clearly not in the same league as Bro Hof, Sand and PGA to compare it with some newer courses in Sweden. Actually, the Swedish course I kept thinking of what was Vidbynäs, but Hills offers a better overall experience.Regionally, I would also place Vallda ahead of Hills.So, overall maybe correctly valued.Positives ? It should be possible to play fast...if you take a buggy on a less crowded time. Great clubhouse, good practice facilities. Lots of good golfers at this club....but the course is not my cup of tea.4 balls it will be.