T P Dean

Having thus far limited my golfing CV primarily to the British Isles, Yale was my first real experience of playing template holes.From afar, the theory of template holes felt like a lazy cut and paste approach to golf design. Whether my preconceptions of template holes have any justifications can remain with others who have more experience of this type of design, but at Yale, it was a design scheme that I quickly forgot. Instead, my focus turned towards the quality of the holes, as opposed to their design origins. At Yale, this is partly due to the fact that the templates in various cases are loosely befitting of their description, whilst in other cases, the sheer vastness of the topography supersedes any noteworthy design template.The golf course at Yale is generally a wild ride from 1-18, albeit the 3rd is probably the highlight of the opening stretch. And here we also quickly see the failings of Yale. This hole should be one of America’s classics, with a blind approach reminiscent of an Alps-style hole, but the flat, lifeless green restricts the thrill reaching maximum potential. But I must emphasise the word potential, since Gil Hanse, my favourite modern golf architect, is soon to embark upon a restoration to a course that he’s yearned to redesign, and one that I anticipate will see the 3rd hole revert back to its double-punchbowl roots.Yale is a thrilling rollercoaster, where the adrenaline peaks towards the middle of the ride. What’s come before has been very good, but the 8th starts a stellar stretch of golf, with this hole being a glorious dogleg Cape hole where the green is constructed with a sharp ramp on the right-hand side allowing the ball to gather in for anything routed along that angle. The long 9th over the water to the large Biarritz green speaks for itself, whilst 10 is quite the climb. This is a rousing big-dipper of a hole, a quality that continues on its putting surface which made me look foolish.Yale is an extraordinarily rocky site that made it complex to construct, with some of the granite stone protruding above the surface just off some of the fairways. I’d hope that the restoration unearths some of these rocky features and turns them into bold visual borders as opposed to a potential wrist injury that exists right now. The way the stone eats into the face of the bunker on 11 was a visual highlight and a demonstration of what could be created. 12 is another stern climb, and the only hole where I felt that the template feature felt forced into its design, but it’s another wonderful green complex. Whilst 13, whether a genuine Redan or not, was a big carry-hole to a large, angled green. Pebble Beach dwarf-greens these are not. The sheer acreage of Yale’s greens was a continuous standout feature throughout.The raw ingredients at Yale are not the only element of the course that caught my attention, it’s a ballsy, rugged, grunt of a course too. The final three holes measured over 1,500 yards on the tees of the day when I played it, and represents a stout way to complete the round. Additionally, the 18th in particular was a bizarre conclusion to the course, and based upon my single outing whilst playing the hole blind with no local guidance, appeared too extreme to be considered a great finishing hole. The 18th features not so much a crowned fairway but more of a hillock. This massive mound in the middle of the fairway dictates the play and I’d probably need several attempts to try and figure out the strategy and whether the hole has merit given repeated plays. There’s also a lower slither of fairway that creeps around the hill that allows for a second line of entry towards the green so there are options available, but I doubt many people bother with this alternative approach. I’ll try not to let my getting deceived on the strategy on this hole to dictate my opinion though and I’d be open to hearing from others who’ve played Yale on multiple occasions as to whether the hole is indeed confused, or perhaps a classic that I misjudged on my first play?I’ve thus far limited my review to the course landforms and design, but I can’t sign off without leaving comment on the course conditions, which were truly awful. It’s a genuine tragedy that a course as revered as Yale should have been allowed to go into such a state of disrepair. Tees were bare, fairways scorched and putts often had to stumble on their path to the hole across crusted and cracked greens that resembled the wicket on its fifth day of an Ashes Test (apologies to our American friends for this cricketing analogy). Our finest courses, Yale being one of them, deserve to be nurtured. Yale is a work of art, yet the university has a recent history of neglecting its golfing masterpiece. As I mentioned earlier, the course is soon to be shut for a considerable period, whilst Gil Hanse and his team apply the knife. I have little doubt that this will see the course undertake a significant transformation for the better, but Yale has seen this before. The University then needs to understand that this course needs continued and sustained care, and the maintenance efforts that follow will be equally as important as the quality of work that will undoubtedly go into the restoration efforts.

Boston is a club with tragic history. Shortly after its opening, the club founder, John Mineck died whilst working on the construction of the clubhouse. Just a handful of years after, the club then went into financial difficulty and was nearly closed for business. Several years later however, the club has recovered into one of the most beautifully relaxed and charming venues one could hope for. Boston is a magical modern design across rolling New England land, but if you’ve yet to play here, finding the entrance will be the first challenge. Surprisingly hidden amongst the suburbs of Hingham, the single track to the clubhouse is tucked away with no golf club signage to speak of; one of private golf’s ‘if you know, you know’ entrances.I’m stretching the truth a little here, my generous host gave me clear instructions as to how to navigate my way to the golf club, and on my arrival, I was instantly full of admiration for what Gil Hanse had created. Boston is constructed across tumbling ground that is a big expanse with an enormous scale. The club even have room for a new short course with seven par threes holes currently under construction. Mr. Mineck would surely have been proud of the legacy he has left here, and the cabin in the woods style clubhouse that sadly stole his life suits the gorgeous landscape effortlessly.Cushing Street splits the course into two parts with the nines located on either side of the road. The course climbs Penniman Hill during the front nine on one side of the road, whilst it traverses over Mullein Hill on the back. Boston is a course that has a beautiful aesthetic, with isolated holes playing up and over formerly quarried land, so the topography is bordering on the extreme in places. But to Hanse’s credit, there remains a flow helped by a considered balance through the combination of short and long holes. Some holes were built to attack whilst others are more in need of respect, and which holes fit each description is not something that’s always immediately apparent from each tee.There is no gentle building of momentum at Boston for the 1st is a wonderful par five opener with the bunkering forming a slash across the face of the green site, the first example of various bunker schemes across the eighteen that I’d associate to Colt bunkering principles in the British golfing homeland. The rocky outcrop on 2 is a hint towards the ground’s previous life as an opencast mine. Thereafter come suitably vivid hole names such as Wizard’s Cap (4), Geronimo (9) and Knuckle Bucket (13) which are far more artful than whatever I could put into words to describe them, so I will leave these to the imagination. I must make reference however to the sneaky 5th, a short four that’s controversial for its narrow and guarded postage stamp slither of a green, tucked behind a mound and with a deep bunker lining the back side of the hole. Likely controversial only to those who prefer bland and predictable to those of us who don’t mind a taste for the wicked. Waste bunkering, or more accurately “Hell’s One-Third Acre” is then used to dramatic effect on the short 6th; an unsubtle nod to its inspiration at Pine Valley.After the front nine comes to an end, a golf cart will then whisk the golfers away from the 9th green to the 10th tee whilst more creative green sites continue to bombard you. Ridges and swales appear across most of the putting surfaces which are often wildly contoured. 12 in particular resembles an upside-down pringle that features steep run offs both front and back. Wide fairways are also a regular characteristic. A generous course off the tee for many but some lengthy carries perhaps make this not the most welcoming of courses for the higher handicap golfer.The bunker design remained a constant thrill throughout with roughed-in edges being in keeping with the natural shaping that flow throughout all eighteen holes, and Gil even found an appropriate spot for a Principal’s nose bunker which is plonked unceremoniously into the middle of the 16th fairway. Needless to say, this little blighter caught me unawares.My day at Boston was a delight from beginning to end, and whilst I confess that my familiarity with the upper echelons of the golf rankings in the USA is highly limited so I’m going out on a limb here, I do question whether there can genuinely be 60+ golf courses better than this across the States. And whilst my knowledge of Stateside design is limited, I have had comparable design experiences such as that at Hanse’s Castle Stuart or Doak’s most recent creation at St Patricks, both of which comfortably make the world top 100, yet the principles here and scale and grandness of the land at Boston is probably their equal.

Narin & Portnoo was something of an unknown quantity to me ahead of a recent golf trip to Northwest Ireland. Even with its entry into the GB&I top 100 this year, I could find very little by the way of photos or media promoting the course. Yet, to date, this is one of only three courses in the British Isles that has been touched by the mercurial Gil Hanse. But unlike the fanfare that Doak’s St Patrick’s has opened to, the news of the extensively redesigned Narin & Portnoo has gone relatively under the radar despite the club being under new ownership. So what exactly had the golfing world been hiding in deepest Donegal? The location itself feels endlessly remote. Frankly, it’s a long way from anywhere, yet here belongs some of the most spectacular ground for golf in Ireland. The course mixes a contrast of links styles, in some areas bordering farmland on flatter land, whereas closer to the sea, higher dunes and open sand scrapes are the feature. Being critical, this contrast reached a point where the course became a little disjointed and lacking in seamless flow, and even without being aware of the recent changes, Narin & Portnoo has the sense of feeling strongly tinkered with. As such, the golf holes themselves feel more like individual holes rather than a collective. This is accentuated in parts by some odd green to tee walks, whereas some of my favourite courses have a rhythm and flow such that they have a sense of being connected. That being said, when the course hits its heights, which is when the property sits on the banks of the shore, Narin & Portnoo has the most glorious golfing land with some of the most remarkably spectacular holes.This stunning landscape isn’t immediately apparent from the off, but the light touches created by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner are quickly recognisable, starting with the fact that the teeing ground for the 1st is shared with the practice green. Narin & Portnoo stretches out to 6,900 yards off the back tees and includes two par fives in excess of 600 yards. The first of these comes at the end of a relatively slow start, and either the mowing lines of this reworked 3rd hole, or the teeing location itself seemed a little off-compass for me, with the left hand rough feeling like a more natural line of approach into the green.As most will tell you of Narin & Portnoo, the course really starts to build from the 4th. Those first three holes mainly serve the purpose of getting out to the more impressive land. And after two climbing par fours to greens set up high, and a canny par three over a valley, come the two most memorable holes at 7 and 8. 7 is a drivable par four with a green that juts out into the beach, half hidden by a dune. I loved this hole, as it’s short, but easy to get blindsided by that small mound, or just as likely is to catch the crumpled ground at the end of the fairway leaving you with an awkward chip. The teeing ground for the 8th is set out on a grassed jetty that stretches into the sea. It’s a blind tee shot to one of the most severe fairways imaginable, and I couldn’t help but feel that a slight softening of the fairway landing area and a directional marker post for the tee shot would enhance what is otherwise a wonderful hole. After these two gorgeous, redesigned holes, the 9th felt a little lackluster considering that this is one of the course’s new holes and it left me questioning why they didn’t use the large dune to the left for the new green location.A tantalising, rolling par five and a beautiful, shorty of a par three continue what is otherwise a wonderful stretch of holes before returning inland and headlong into a trio of par fours that all play in excess of 450 yards. This stretch does feel a little like a punch to the gut after the delightful run of holes that came before and would have benefitted from being broken up with something less stern. If we take the last of this trio, the 14th, along with the next two holes at 15 and 16, I would suggest a leaf has been taken out of the Turnberry playbook. 14 plays longitudinally through a valley, and whilst currently a little penal, could be easily cleaned up by mowing the sunken bowl to the right of the green, a ball ending up in that bowl would be sufficient penalty without facing the consequence of a lost ball. The 15th is then a par three created to be the course’s showpiece. I wasn’t convinced by it however. It’s a hole that will look spectacular on drone footage with the large, broken waste bunkering, but from ground level, it’s an angled and inclined short three to a blind green and didn’t quite work for me. In contrast to this however, there can be little to criticise with the picture-perfect 16th that curves along the coastline. Like other holes that came before, just choose your tee carefully if you want to avoid another beasting.The last couple of holes return the golfer back to the clubhouse with satisfying holes, but lack the pizazz of what came before. And whilst I reflect on the mood portrayed in my review, I can recognise that I’ve been overly critical in places, but this is only because Narin & Portnoo is home to some of the most brilliant linksland, and I can still honestly say that the course had some of the standout holes of my trip to Ireland. It’s a course that is awash with beautiful undulations and comfortably justifies its new position inside the GB&I top 100. Whilst I usually like a lack of clutter on a golf course, some minor finessing and the introduction of some much needed signage would ease my criticisms of the flow of the course. At its heights, this is a spectacular links, and whilst the course currently feels a little unfinished, these finishing touches might just be what is required for the course to be dining at Ireland’s top table.

In this age of Instagram drone shots taken during the mega-light and absurd golf course rankings across gazillions of different publications, it’s a rare thing for a golf course to stay under the radar. Yet this council owned public course in Donabate has achieved just that. What’s even more remarkable is that it goes unnoticed despite the fact that it sits amongst the same dunes as the €180 green fee course next door. Yet Corballis can be played for just a sixth of that price. Now, I’m not going to get carried away with myself and stretch as far as to say that Corballis is anything like the quality of its distinguished neighbour, but I’d guess there are a handful of holes at Corballis that might just be considered the equal of those at The Island, and I’d suggest this makes it at the very least worth hauling a half-set around for a second eighteen of the day.Located within half an hour of central Dublin, Corballis is a surprisingly well conditioned and entertaining links course. I’d suggest it lacks notoriety outside of this neighbourhood partly because it’s only a par 66. Its 5,100 yards is never going to stretch the scratch golfer, but I doubt I’ve played a better wee course than this sporty links. The driver is best left in the bag for the majority of holes. Instead, thinking your way around this fun and quirky course with the odd mid-iron played from the tee will have you enjoying your round to its full potential whilst also giving you the greatest likelihood of a good score to par. The standout stretch at Corballis is undoubtedly from holes 3 through 7. The 3rd being a wonderful links hole that asks you to bite as much as you can off this dogleg by taking an angled drive over the tall dune to a wonderfully turbulent fairway. The quality of the fairway is then matched by a slippery green that’s shaped like a lightbulb. A charmer of a par three comes next before a picture-perfect short par four immediately follows. The 5th is channeled through a duned valley to a raised and strongly tiered green. A peach of a short, dropshot wedge hole greets the golfer at 6 where this green is surrounded by some deep and gnarly pot bunkers. The baffling and wobbly par four at 7 completes this strong quintet of golf holes. A measured tee shot on this hole is needed to set up a leisurely lob to a plateau green from a fairway that’s adorned with humpity lumps. To be expected for a price tag such as this, there is some mediocre fodder along the way too. The 8th and 9th are examples of this, probably the weakest part of the course, and an unfortunate departure from those stellar early holes. An ugly fence borders a caravan park that appears in plain sight along these two holes and where the land can only be described as more standard fare, and to be fair to the designer, was always going to be more challenging land from which to carve great golf. Whilst the course probably doesn’t ever quite reach the same heights as that early stretch again, the wacky climbing 11th and perched par three 13th meant that the back nine still offered several highlights through more splendid duneland. It could be argued that the most memorable hole on the back nine is the 14th that plays parallel to the Donabate beach. It's a hole where the fairway and green are separated by scrubby wasteland meaning restraint and thought is required in equal measure, and another example of a hole that adds distance to its mere yardage on the card. There is the slightest hint of the course losing its momentum towards the end of the round, but features such as the wonderful green complex at 17 with its uncomfortably bisected, multi-level green are enough to maintain the interest of any course architecture enthusiasts that should walk these closing holes.The wider Dublin region is hardly bereft of good golf so it would be easy to bypass a course such as Corballis, but if you’re fond of seeking out a local gem, I’d strongly recommend it. It’s the perfect antidote to the grand championship links tests over at Portmarnock and The Island and offers a pleasant departure from those tour-bus trails.

At only 4,500 yards, this is very much the low-fat, sugar-free version of Royal County Down. The Annesley is the place where you should go to rediscover your pride and get some well earned respite after the punishment you’ve likely taken on the Championship course. Mid-irons are the smart choice from the tee which will typically leave wedge shots into what can only be described as tiny greens. But whilst the greens are minute, all of the character from the big brother course still bleeds through to the Annesley, where bunkering styles and green surrounds are reminiscent of the Championship links.The course starts with nothing extraordinary, a slow tease if you will, but then a run of the most amazing short holes starts at the 5th and continues through to the 13th. Here the golfer will find plenty of funk. Crooked doglegs are abundant, and there's a coastal stretch as well as the opportunity to circumvent one massive dune, but ultimately plenty of awkward shots need to be handled with care throughout due to a combination of saddleback, tucked, and raised green sites. The Annesley will offer plenty of birdie opportunities, but there are perhaps even more opportunities to look foolish on a short course you’ll feel you should be eating up. And importantly, it’s a course you should be traversing in around 2.5 hours, so there’s no excuse to bypass it when in town. I’m not going to go as far as to say the Annesley is a must-play, but despite its shortcomings in length, if you consider yourself to be anything more than a big-game trophy hunter then it would be silly to avoid it.

The Dunluce course at Portrush is a delight, and starts with the scenic drive along the Causeway Coastal Route. On passing Dunluce Castle on your right hand side, the course quickly comes into view after just a few more bends in the road as it sits amongst the dunes alongside the beautiful strand down below. What instantly caught my eye about Portrush on first view is the massive sense of scale. The landscape here is vast in a way that only Turnberry has struck me to date. The Dunluce is an action packed round of golf from the off. There is no handshake opener here. A raised green adorned with a large trough bunker awaits and that’s only if you’ve safely negotiated the tee shot that features out-of-bounds on both the left and right hand sides of the fairway. Following this, it’s like working your way through a Tasting Menu from a Michelin Starred Restaurant; something to tantalise the tastebuds at every step, but with the occasional outrageous highlights such as the short par four 5th with the green that sits atop of Portrush Strand, or Calamity, the intimidating 16th, a beastly par three over a marram-filled precipice. The course is laden with beautiful contours and swales which extend their way into the green-sites creating some wonderfully undulating putting surfaces. The 1st, 6th and 10th were greens that struck me as being particularly impressive, but there isn’t a weak green complex amongst any of the eighteen. Small undulations, slopes and runoffs are encountered around each green, allowing for a cocktail of creativity of short game shot-making but with the slightest dash of jeopardy. Naturally, visitors to Northern Ireland will draw comparisons with the golfing smorgasbord that is Royal County Down. And whilst the Dunluce doesn’t have the linksland-fantasia appearance of Newcastle’s great course, the layout is arguably less flawed than its County Down rival. Our latest GB&I rankings sees Portrush drop two places to number six and my personal belief is that this feels harsh. Given the consistency of the course, the design strategy of each individual hole, the perfect and expansive golfing ground, a most wonderful set of greens and not to mention Portrush’s historical significance, I dare say it should be amongst the contenders for the top spot.

The Grande Dame of links golf sits next to the town of Newcastle beside Dundrum Bay and under the gaze of the Mountains of Mourne. Here we find the Championship links at Royal County Down, and undeniably the best setting for golf that I have ever set eyes upon. This is linksland perfection; sweeping dunes and turbulent slopes, but dunes not too gross in size to result in silliness. Tee shots are wildly demanding such that the pressure is felt on every drive, particularly when a crosswind is in play, for deep gorse and heather flank most of the holes. Accuracy of approach shots is also under scrutiny since many of the greens are raised slightly, so watching golf balls run off the putting surface into hollows is likely to be a regular occurrence. Hence, the middle of the green should always be the target from the fairway. Likewise, those hollows around the greens are tightly cut, so a silky touch for those recovery chips from the inevitable slippery lies is another pre-requisite if you’re hoping to make a score. Unusually for a links, there is an absence of revetted bunkers at Royal County Down, natural or bearded is the preference, and it has always remained that way. This means a hairy lie above the bunker may be the outcome for those less fortunate. A hole by hole account of the Royal County Down story has been described by others before me, so I won’t be providing a blow-by-blow review, but I will reinforce the fact that the front nine lives up to its reputation. This is a full-on adrenaline rush and comfortably the best nine holes of golf I’ve played anywhere. The view from the tee on the 4th might just be my happy place – enchanting delights sit in front of us from this beauty spot. The shot that follows however, more than two hundred yards over gorse, is somewhat less pleasant. This hole sums up Royal County Down for me. Beauty and the Beast.Various blind shots are found at Royal County Down, although where blindness is in play, the landing area is often fairly generous. The 9th hole that returns to the clubhouse is such an example. This hole is the poster-child of Royal County Down and the selfie at the top of the slope is the County Down equivalent of the Old Course photo on the Swilken Bridge. Take aim from the tee towards the tall steeple of the Slieve Donard hotel before absorbing the wonderment of one of world golf’s most magnificent sights. If anyone thinks that Royal County Down is just about the front nine though, then that myth is immediately dispelled with the opening holes of the back nine. The ground is slightly less grand in scale, nor is it as visually striking, but the golf still has that touch of class. The 13th is evidence towards this; a snaking dogleg and one of the more strategic holes at Royal County Down where one can plot their way through the hole to miss the trouble and make a safe five, or be more daring and take on the hazards.Despite what this website’s rating guidance suggests, perfection doesn’t exist on a golf course. Not on the basis of my own experiences anyway, and despite the visual feast of walking this golf course, which is without doubt, pound for pound, one of golf’s finest, there are aspects of Royal County Down that don’t quite stand up to other great courses in the same category. There’s a spell at the turning point of the back nine where the momentum drops a little and the less dramatic land is occupied, most noticeably at the par three 14th which, albeit a well designed hole, feels like you’ve just stepped onto another property. The makeshift bunker in the middle of 17 is a bit of a disaster and hardly an improvement on the much maligned mid-fairway pond that preceded it, albeit I understand that a further update is again planned for this area. And the putting surfaces, whilst fast and true, are a little too subtle in nature meaning straight putts or marginal breaks are more commonplace than anything more mentally taxing. There will be a debate however, that such is the severity of the landscape and run offs around the greens, that wild contouring on the greens themselves would turn the course into the golfing equivalent of self-flagellation.I wouldn’t dare conclude my review of one of the world’s finest golf courses on a critical note though, and the course itself also does its best attempt of avoiding a lacklustre ending. There are eighteen bunkers on the final hole, introduced in a later redesign by Donald Steel. Congratulations to you and your playing partners if you side-step all of them. So with the final putt holed, I departed the 18th green on that day asking myself if the Championship course at Royal County Down is the best course I’d ever played? I was undecided at the time, and still, weeks later, I’m yet to draw a conclusion. But there is a depth of sense and feeling that comes with golfing your ball around Royal County Down that I’d previously only experienced once before at St Andrews. Additionally, if I only had one more round of golf to play whilst I remained on this planet, then I would probably choose for it to be here, so conclude from that what you will.

I was fortunate to play East Devon on a beautiful Spring evening recently and I can’t think of many more delightful places to visit when the sun is shining and you feel the warmth on your back. Combining both rolling heathland and beautiful coastal views are not commonplace in the golf world, maybe Isle of Purbeck is the only course I can think of that offers something similar, but the coastal-heathland combination is one that I would suggest that the majority of golfers would find most pleasant.A feature of East Devon is that it is a course that benefits a fader of the golf ball. Holes 3, 11, 12, 14, 15 and 18 all turn left to right whilst it’s only the 7th that requires you to work the ball in the other direction. This probably suits most amateur golfers, as will the playing areas which are reasonably generous across the course, contributed to by the recent work carried out in removing areas of gorse and low-lying vegetation to help open up sight-lines. The first two holes, that head out and back to the clubhouse buck this trend slightly and give the expectation that the course will play tight and punishing since the heather cuts into the fairway on each of these opening holes, but thereafter, the additional width is pretty constant.In addition to its coastal-heathland identity, the greens are the making of the course. An immediate hint towards this is the two-tiered green on the 2nd hole whereby hitting the wrong tier will likely result in a three-putt. By the 5th hole, the land has moved away from heathland and now shares characteristics more akin to downland or parkland. 6 and 7 then lay upon a separate finger of land to the northwest of the property and there is an obvious sense of moving towards a different terrain. 6 itself represents a good birdie chance as a downhill par five, only the troll’s layer to the left of the fairway in the landing area for the second shot needs to be avoided. 7 meanwhile, represents an easy opportunity to immediately return that shot back to the course. I felt the course really started to awaken at the 9th, and unsurprisingly, this is where the heathland returns. Here, the golfer is asked to drive blind over a marker post to another wide landing area, but then I read in the course guide that avoiding long or right is the strong recommendation. This is where a steep shelf is located beside the green. Avoiding this side is easier said than done however since the fairway leans to the right throughout the length of the fairway so it’s easy to squirt one in that direction. This next run of holes represents the best part of the course. 10, a beautiful short par three with a three-tiered green is easy to hit with a short iron, but again, finding the correct tier is essential. The two naturalised cross bunkers that bisect the fairway at 11 provide visuals resembling a links on what I consider to be one of the course’s finest, whilst 12 is a good driving hole that sweeps to the right and back uphill. 14 was a hole I found to be not much more than a long, climbing slog, I suppose there ought to be one or two like this to test the power-hitter, but the fun then returns for the closing four holes. 15 gives the golfer the opportunity to go for broke on this short par four, whilst 16 and 17 then provide the crescendo, offering comfortably the best scenery on the course over towards the bay at Budleigh Salterton. Both of these holes are stretched out along the sandstone cliff and play downhill, with the 17th fairway interrupted by a large strip of heather meaning a long iron drop-shot is needed to access a plateau green with a valley front. East Devon is a fine course but unfortunately, it’s located on the wrong side of Devon to be accommodated within either a North Devon or Dorset tour, but I’d still strongly recommend visiting if in the general area. I must also mention the club’s excellent twilight rate of just £35; East Devon is a course that comfortably deserves its spot as an England top 100 course, and whilst most courses close to East Devon’s class are charging well over £100 to play at the weekend, East Devon demonstrates that there are still bargains to be had at some of our country’s best courses.

The Valley course, whilst connected to the Royal Portrush Golf Club, is more closely associated with both the Ladies Club and Rathmore Golf Club, home to GMac, he of Pebble Beach US Open fame. It’s the slightly poor relation to the Dunluce; less of a championship test, but one that’s more accessible, scoreable, and dare I say it, probably more fun for the average golfer. I visited the course for the first time this April knowing that two of its best holes were stolen to create the Dunluce’s Open routing. I was concerned that this might create a lesser course, but more on that shortly. When looking at the Valley course from up high, whilst playing the Dunluce’s infamous Calamity hole, the Valley doesn’t look like much. What you see below is War Hollow. A relatively flat piece of land that sits within a large valley, hence the course’s name, and where a battle once took place at the start of the 12th Century between the Chieftains of the Route (the home team) and the King of Norway (the away team). Within this valley, around half a dozen holes are located. These are decent holes, quite straight forward in their design and holes you can open your shoulders on, but they aren’t what the course should be characterised by. The 4th is the first hole within the valley and has a green that’s set in front of the large dune that Calamity sits upon, whilst the 5th and 10th have quite excellent green complexes, but it’s outside of this area where the best of the land sits. The 1st and 2nd play through and around small dunes and provide a relatively soft but pretty opening, whilst the drop shot 3rd is a cute par three, one that you’ll have taken a glimpse of earlier if you’ve warmed up at Royal Portrush’s fine practice facilities. Coming out of the valley, you play the 6th where you're required to thread your ball between two small dunes and over a sunken fairway. The 7th, Cradle, is a cracker of a short par four with a hidden dell for a green site, where a taller dune on the left can obscure the line of sight to the green. The 8th hole then takes you back towards the valley, and is a little madcap in its design. It’s a par five where the line of entry would be best suited from the fairway of the previous hole, but those meanies at Portrush made that line of approach an internal out of bounds. Instead, you need to take the left-hand passage which means the approach to this par five is semi blind, reaching across a huge dip in the land to a tucked green. Once past the next section of valley holes, the run into the clubhouse is electric. The 13th has a beautiful natural green site with bunkers hidden within swales, whilst the 14th, a short par four, naturally tempts you to correct your line of approach directly towards the green, rather than sensibly playing along the bend of the dogleg. 15 is one of the new holes, and an excellent par three framed by large marram grass covered dunes. This hole plays perpendicular to the angle of the majority of holes on the course. A par five - three - four combination finish then completes the round. The 16th having been extended into a testing long hole, whilst the 17th was rediscovered by Martin Ebert and co after a century of being in the wilderness. Any ball landing short here will find its way falling back towards the bottom of a valley. The new 18th meanwhile, was one I found out from a local caddie to be derided by Portrush members and there is talk of a redesign. I personally fall onto the other side of this argument. The teeing ground is set high in the dunes providing the only views of the spectacular beach setting. Whilst the fairway is of the lumpy, bumpy variety, so the design team resisted the urge to iron out these handsome creases when building it. I’d be worried that any changes to this hole would result in something more uniform and compliant. I’m not always a cheerleader for Martin Ebert, but I personally felt that the changes he’s designed at the Valley fit seamlessly with the rest of the course and should be allowed to stand the test of time.I recognise that my review of the Valley is a departure to some of those views below, but characterising the Valley around its half a dozen flat holes is really missing the delights of the rest of the course. If given the opportunity to create a personal top 100 of Great Britain and Ireland, the Valley would belong firmly in my list. I beg you to play it if you’re visiting the other top courses in the area. You may not agree with my personal ranking, but it’s a very pleasant departure from the more challenging links courses on the North Antrim Coast and allows for both an easier walk as well as providing entertaining matchplay holes. This is the kind of course for which I seek when I’m on my travels across the British Isles, and I hope my review goes some way to sway others to enjoy a wonderful course that they might otherwise have overlooked. Portrush might just be the best 36-hole links venue in the UK.

It’s fair to say that Sutton Coldfield flies under the radar. It’s also fair to say that there’s no such thing as a mediocre heathland course, and Sutton Coldfield reinforces this point despite not currently gracing England’s Top 100 rankings. The course is located within Sutton Park, a small nature reserve and SSSI on the outskirts of Birmingham and I’m sure makes a serene departure for those looking for an escape from city life. The golf course itself takes up just a small acreage within the park but both the golf and nature walks sit beside one another in relative harmony, with dog walkers and the like sometimes found crossing fairways or walking around the course perimeter. The course is a Mackenzie, so with that, there’s an immediate tick in the box. As we’ve become accustomed to with many golden age golf courses however, it hasn’t best represented its original self of late as trees and non-heathland vegetation had invaded the property and altered its character from its original artform. Considering that, I’m happy to report that under the careful supervision of their excellent Course Manager, Chris Roberts, things are a-changing, and Sutton Coldfield is on a return to its previous best.Some of the land here is pretty extraordinary. Largely a flat landscape, but with enough undulation to remain engaging, and with excellent, sandy turf conditions and super slick green speeds, it’s a course that deserves wider recognition. The course also compares very favourably during Winter time. Already complete are the bunker renovations which have been expertly shaped with roughed-in, naturalised bunker edges. These are some of the best recently shaped bunkers I’ve witnessed on my travels (see photos) and it's a pleasant departure from some of the overtly clean edges we see at many other clubs who've gone through similar upgrades. The routing of the course is an interesting one. A cluster of holes are concentrated near to the recently renovated clubhouse, which curiously is on the opposite side of the road from the golf course. Within this cluster are the more wooded holes. Still heathy in character but much more claustrophobic than the open character of the remainder of the course. The open heathland holes then fork off in two different directions, a segment on the front nine and then again on the back. Happily, these areas contribute to roughly half of the holes on the golf course, whereas it’s primarily holes 1, 2, 8, 9, 10, 11, 17 and 18 that would benefit most from some significant tree clearance – thankfully I’m reliably informed that the tree-harvester is already on order for some mass tree removal in 2023 so we’ll see more consistency in the width and visuals across the course. Aside from the tree growth however, this cluster of treelined holes are still good holes. In comparison, holes 3 through 7 and 12 through 16 are situated amongst much more expansive heathland and are an absolute joy to play, with the vastness of this area enhanced by the fact that both segments are separated by a larger expanse of common heathland.Unusually, it’s the par five holes that represented the real standout holes at Sutton Coldfield. Oddly, the front nine features three five shotters in a row, whilst the rear of the green on the one par five on the back nine has been opened up as a reveal to wider, expansive heathland views. Coming late in the round, it’s the short hole at 15 though that’s the biggest attention grabber and visually the most impressive, particularly since this isolated hole has been beautifully restored with some eye-catching greenside bunker work.If offered the opportunity to play Sutton Coldfield in its current form, then don’t hesitate in taking the opportunity. It’s already very good, and its combination of fantastic turf, impeccable greens, naturalised bunker work and open heathland will have you plenty satisfied with your trip. But a return visit will be immediately in mind for when the restoration is complete. I’ll certainly be paying the club a return visit and it’s one that I’m already excited for when the finished product is unveiled.

My lasting memory of Southerndown is the sheep. They’ll greet you when you arrive at the entrance, whilst on the course you’ll find them snuggled up in bunkers, you’ll see them standing resolute in the middle of the fairways (the safest place) munching on grass, and they’ll bleat at you when you’re on the tee. But they’re completely integral to the overall Southerndown experience and I hope they will forever remain in place.Yet Southerndown is more than just the shared golfing experience with our woolly friends. It’s a pretty, hilltop, lay of the land course routed over rolling and free-draining downland. And once you’ve got past the vertical hike to the 1st green (referencing BB’s comment below, Painswick’s opener is steeper, but it’s a marginal call), there are some gorgeous views that you can enjoy, particularly at the 2nd green over the Ogmore Estuary. And the golf itself is played across the most raw, rough and natural land.Aside from the lung-busting opener, the 4th was the first hole to really grab my attention at what was a lovely downhiller, playing over a marker-post and across a humpty dumpty lumpy fairway. The course then hits its pinnacle at the next; a pretty par three across a valley-type depression in the land to an elevated green set on top of a plinth of clumpy ground and a couple of naughty pot bunkers set into the bank’s face. There are more highlights that come after the enjoyable earlier holes though; an excellent set of diagonal bunkers heightens the quality of the difficult 6th whilst the double green across 10 and 16 is a feature that I always enjoy at any course. There were some minor negatives such as the forced walk back to the tee on the 8th and some bad green damage on the 14th (I hope that was temporary), but notwithstanding that, Southerndown is a joyful golf course to play.Recalling BB’s review again below, his comments are pretty much on the money; the back nine is indeed less memorable than the outward leg, but the closing stretch is a part of the course that has remained with me, and it’s where the tiredness from those hill climbs will be particularly tested. A pinched fairway on 17 has gorse that comes into play more so than any of the preceding holes - a noticeable departure from the openness of the rest of the course, and even if that element of the hole is safely negotiated, there is an area of dead ground through the final 100-yards that will catch any timid approach shots. The split, two-tiered fairway on 18 concludes the round with a hole that will likely divide opinion. In all fairness, the right hand side is probably not wide enough to make the average golfer pick that side, so I bottled out and just took aim at the shelf in the middle of the fairway and prayed for the best, but it’s one final element of quirk to provide a discussion point on the return to the clubhouse.Southerndown can’t be discussed in the same breath as the magnificent Royal Porthcawl, or even the beautifully bananas Pennard, but it’s a decent addition to a South Wales coastal itinerary and offers something diverse from anything else in the region.

Like the Ailsa at Turnberry, the Pat Ruddy designed Glashedy links is named after the large rock out at sea. The Glashedy is regarded as the younger, yet brawnier sibling of the Old and provides a more fearsome test. The course is grander and bolder than the Old course and would have required greater expense and substantial earth movement to create it, but the outcome is a fantastic challenge and a collection of holes that creates some excellent variety. The greens are also larger and the individual holes themselves more memorable. The wow moments at the Glashedy take place in and around the large dune system at the part of the property furthest away from the clubhouse and it’s easy to see why it was chosen as the Irish Open host a few years back. Ballyliffin has recently become overshadowed by neighbouring Rosapenna as the links resort of choice in Donegal, largely due to Tom Doak’s new course at St Patrick’s. And unlike Doak designed courses which focus on strategic design, the bunkering laid out at the Glashedy is more of a penal design with pots located on either side of the fairway on various holes. The club is going through a bunker project right now though, so it remains to be seen whether the final outcome retains the original bunker locations. That being said, despite the hardy nature of the course, it’s still a spectacular routing. The first three holes wend their way towards the rocky ground away from the clubhouse and escort you towards the large dune system through which holes 4 to 7 play. 4 is then a wonderful par five hole with a rise and fall to the fairway ahead of a dip in front of an isolated and raised green. The green is then framed with a low dune and there’s a large revetted bunker protecting the front right of the green. 7 is the course’s signature; a drop shot par three with the green located next to the pond and low-lying wetlands. Design-wise, it was far from my favourite hole on the course, but the views from the tee really make the hole. Turning towards the back end of the front nine, you’ll observe that both the Glashedy links and Old course return back to the clubhouse at the halfway point. I often wonder what compromises are made in the design when nines are forced to return in this way, but I could see no signs of the 9th being shoehorned in to achieve this at what was a fiercely bunker protected and climbing hole to the green. That large dune system mentioned earlier makes a reappearance between holes 13 and 15 which are all once again highly memorable holes. 13 is a rugged test that takes you to the most elevated point of the course through a valley between the dunes. This is one of the holes where the momentum pleasantly builds as you approach the green. But my pick of the Glashedy’s eighteen came at the next, the 14th, a long par three into a green that’s rotated at 90 degrees such that its width is greater than its length. It’s also a beautifully shaped green with the ground falling away gently to the right in such a way that it has the potential to spit your golf ball from the surface. After the 15th, the course returns to lower lying land with more sturdy holes in play to close out the round.Ballyliffin’s Glashedy course is one that has the potential to test the best and the Irish Open would benefit from seeing the course return to its tournament rota, rather than the strange move to parkland golf that the organisation have made in recent years. In the meantime however, Ballyliffin has two excellent layouts that would enhance any golfing holiday itinerary to this neck of the woods.

There is something about travelling to remote locations across the British Isles to play some of our best links courses that I find exhilarating. Much of the excitement and anticipation is in the journey as you pass through countryside and away from the hustle and bustle of city life. As Ireland’s most northerly club, and within easy reach of Malin Head, Ballyliffin represents the epitome of remote links golf without it being a real chore to travel to, and the Old course delivers exactly the kind of experience you would expect of such a location. Ballyliffin’s Old course is a lie of the land course, and being the original golf course at Ballyliffin, it’s the more traditional in style of the two layouts. My lasting memory of the Old will be the delightfully crumpled fairways that come pockmarked with impressive lumps and bumps. The walk itself is an easy one also, traversing the lower lying links ground rather than entering into the higher dunes like the Glashedy, but the Old is still plenty testing when the wind is coming hard off the Atlantic.The first three holes are a charming start and cover the most turbulent land and where those crumpled features are at their most prominent. A raised tee to a par five then follows as the flow of the course threads its way between the dunes rather than being more daring and playing across them. Maybe an opportunity missed here. One hole that bucks this trend is the 5th, the Tank, where a green is nestled, submerged within a hollowed-out dune. It’s one of the more memorable and noteworthy holes due to its diverse and visually interesting appearance, but to my own experience, is a little overly penal when played in a strong cross wind. Whilst I really enjoyed my round on the Old, I did feel that there was something of a lull towards the middle of the course. The green-sites maybe could have offered more interest and lacked feature as they were largely flat, extensions of the fairways if you will, but without those characteristic lumps. In general, the Old isn’t the exacting test of ball striking that the Glashedy is, and I found the closing holes to be particularly sporty, 14 being the obvious highlight of the round. This hole borders the beach which surprisingly few of the holes at Ballyliffin otherwise do. A clever centreline bunker interferes with the driving-line whilst the bulk of the interest at this hole comes close to the green. A rough-covered mound just short of the putting surface captures the eye whilst a swale is hidden immediately behind it meaning that the task on this hole is never quite over until the putter is firmly in hand.The Glashedy might be the jewel in Ballyliffin’s crown, but bypassing the Old would be foolish, particularly if you’ve made the effort to drive to Ireland golf’s most northerly point. As I referenced earlier, Ballyliffin is remote but well worth the journey, and despite its secluded location, there is still some excellent accommodation in the nearby village if one is not in a hurry. It’s also a visit that slots in particularly well with a Northern Ireland tour, being just over an hour from the likes of Portrush and co on the North Antrim coast, so my advice is to make the visit, stay the night, and play all 36. Given that the two courses offer quite different experiences, it would be a shame not to.

I’ve heard of the 1970s being referred to as the dark ages of golf course architecture, yet from this barren spell came one of England’s most iconic golf clubs, Woburn. The Duke’s was originally the championship layout and has hosted many prestigious events, but has since been overtaken by the Marquess as the premier layout, which is a position I’d also subscribe to. I feel that the Marquess is the better course of the two (I haven’t played the Duchess), but I considered that this might not be the case when I was playing holes 2 through 6 which is a spell of seriously good parkland fodder. The longer holes at the 2nd, 4th and 5th are all beautiful right to left dogleg holes where the land lends itself to some wonderful golfing terrain. The very pretty 4th hole through the valley concludes with a mischievous two-tiered green whilst the par five 5th hole skirts around a deep basin. These were what I deemed to be the two best holes on the course.I’m not a huge fan of drop-shot par three holes, but the 3rd hole at the Duke’s is unforgettable, albeit the green is a little too severely tilted. Another memorable par three comes shortly afterwards at the 6th where a large abyss needs to be cleared, although both par three holes described would benefit from some vegetation clearance. Nevertheless, by the time I stood on the 7th tee, I was very impressed. From that point onwards however, I didn’t feel that the rest of the course delivered upon the early-round promise. I’m sure there are some constraints in the land that led to its routing but with several holes going back-and-forth along the same line, the middle section of the course left me wanting more. Later in the round, the course does start to skip along quite pleasantly again as I felt that some of those famous Woburn treelined visuals returned to the course, but still without anything truly memorable and unique that competed with those outstanding opening holes. Overall, the Duke’s is a quite solid course and worth a visit, but it wasn’t one that quite lived up to its weighty reputation as far as I was concerned.

I remember once listening to a podcast ahead of the 2019 Women’s Open, ‘State of the Game’ with Mike Clayton and Geoff Shackelford, and they were highly critical of playing the Open at the Marquess. I’m not a fan of seeing either the Men’s or Women’s Opens played away from the coast either, but the disdain they had for the course was unfounded. It seems that modern woodland designs are becoming less fashionable in today’s world where woke is the order of the day, but their claim that the Marquess is “not even the best course at Woburn” was something I personally found unjustified and wrong. For the record, that year Woburn produced one of golf’s most charismatic winners in Hinako Shibuno, so for that at least, we can be thankful.Not unlike Messrs Clayts and Shack, I also unashamedly have a preference for golf design from the golden age. A post millennium design by an ex-tour professional was not a prospect that had me too animated, but of the UK parkland golf I’ve played, I would rank the Marquess amongst the best.It’s a course that is beautifully treelined throughout, particularly where the holes are lined with pines and spruces and there’s some thoroughly engaging golf, predominantly across the front nine with the 7th and 9th being the standout holes. The 7th is famous for its spilt fairway and unlike most split fairway design attempts I’ve seen where an average-Joe like me aims at the centreline hazard and just hopes the tee shot doesn’t find the middle of the clubface, such is the width of the divide between these fairways, this hole actually forces you to make a choice on the tee; left would be my suggestion unless you’re playing the course for the first time or are feeling suitably heroic, the hole plays much gentler from that angle. Just two holes later, the 9th delivered my favourite approach shot to the green, an old oak tree stands guard here short and left in front of a green benched slightly into the side of a hill. Lovely.The 12th is the often-celebrated hole on the back nine, but I’m yet to be convinced that it’s a great one. An island fairway with a green set back behind a pond creates drama for amateurs and the elite alike, albeit the wetlands made this inevitably the softest part of the course. The golf course then changes dynamic on the 15th where a contrasting open and rolling style of fairway comes into play. After this, I felt that 16 through to 18 sadly closed out the round with something of a whimper rather than a triumph.To keep my review brief, I’ve only touched upon the most memorable of the holes as it’s now a few months since I played the course, but my recollection was one of many quality holes that I very much enjoyed. I do also recall that strongly contoured greens were a feature throughout, large in scale and designed for the tour pro. This meant that long range putts were rarely simple, so a two-putt was often something to be welcomed rather than dismissed. Other than the slightly mediocre end to the round, my other primary concern is that lots of bracken lay underneath those fine pines meaning a ball is lost if you’ve been loose with a tee shot. Woburn would be best advised to find a way to better manage this vegetation and allow the pine straw to fall onto the ground and help provide an opportunity for an escape route. That would make the Marquess much more fun. I’d still happily return though.

Panmure is a must play if visiting Carnoustie. The course is right next door so please do yourself the favour of visiting when you’re travelling through the region. Unlike its more illustrious neighbour that lacks a genuine clubhouse (it actually has several), Panmure has one of the finest clubhouse establishments in the UK. The architectural style of the building is influenced by the clubhouse at Royal Calcutta in India and is decorated with a dome as well as several beautiful peaks and edges and ornate patterns. What’s inside also lives up to the exterior, with several different lounge rooms, red leather seating areas and beautiful trophy cabinets jammed full of historical gems. And despite the traditional style, the atmosphere is relaxed and unstuffy. Panmure’s clubhouse has to be one of the most charming I’ve visited in the game.The unique nature of Panmure’s clubhouse is then replicated on the course. This comes mainly around the middle segment of the round, with holes 6, 9 and 12 providing the showreel highlights. Firstly however, things start much more sedately. The holes nearest to the clubhouse are pancake flat, and other than the peculiarity of having a couple of buildings more or less in play, the holes do little more than direct your round away from the clubhouse. But more interesting holes await, for Panmure is an out and back course that is played across two distinctly separate areas of ground, and it’s not until hole four where the more fun, bumpy land starts to appear.Panmure is more tree-lined than most conventional links courses, and its links credentials are somewhat borderline, but what can’t be questioned is the run of quality holes from the 4th onward. The bumpy land starts to appear on the approach to the 4th green, with the lovely par three at the 5th that’s adorned with heather from tee to green highlighting a noteworthy step up in quality. Panmure is synonymous with Ben Hogan, it’s where the great man spent two weeks prior to winning the Open at neighbouring Carnoustie. Hogan famously recommended the bunker at the side of the 6th green, and I’d be inclined to side with Mr. Hogan when summarising that the 6th is probably the best hole in the Carnoustie area. It’s a perfect hole. Visually deceiving and somewhat intimidating from the tee, there’s actually plenty of room out there to a shared fairway. A naughty slope then means the hole plays uphill to a green surface that’s pinched on one side with a low dune and a sneaky run-off on the other. Hogan’s bunker waits for its prey on the front-right. Two strong holes then separate the next signature hole at 9, I particularly liked the 8th with a green that’s hidden in a hollow. Fluffy hillocks, the likes of which I’ve never seen before, divide the tee from the green at the 9th – are these man-made or natural? The other famous hole at the 12th has a green elevated above the fairway, hard-set against the border of the course behind what is the most ridiculously shaped snaking burn - I mean this as a positive. 13’s green is set amongst a lovely catchment area whilst the railway along the right-hand-side of the fairway provides character to the long 14th. Surprising amounts of heather then continue to separate one fairway from the next.The returning holes revisit to the more benign ground around the clubhouse, and other than the lengthy par three 15th, which I felt was in need of a face-lift, the closing holes had slightly more edge to them than those on the outward trek. Maybe it’s the reappearance of that beautiful clubhouse returning in the distance?Panmure is not without its imperfections, but the central part of the course makes Panmure a must-visit. The Course Planner concludes with the words ‘Haste Ye Back’. I might just be tempted to do so. This is a joyful place to play golf.

With only enough time to play two courses at Gleneagles, my travel companion was a little surprised that I chose the Queen’s as our second round as opposed to the Ryder Cup course. As a big James-Braid guy, and not a lover of modern penal designs, the Queen’s felt like the obvious choice. And it’s a decision I don’t regret as the Queen’s makes a lovely understudy to the King’s course. Whilst still played across the same rolling moorland as the King’s, the Queen’s has its own character. The folds in the land aren’t as prominent as they are on the King’s and I wouldn’t say it’s quite as dramatic, but the same scenic setting and beautiful terrain remain ever-present. Like the 5th on the King’s, the Queen’s has its own par three coming early in the round where a miss is severely punished at the 2nd. A series of beautiful holes follow; I particularly loved the swollen fairway on 4 that dips and then rises to the isolated green. The only blot on the front nine are the lampposts that border the out of bounds on the right of the 6th, albeit these are only a minor scar to another fine and challenging hole, probably the sturdiest test of par on the course. It’s also at this point you may realise that playing up to a raised green has started to become a feature.Personally, I was struck by the beauty of the gently curving par five 7th hole, a hole that bucks the previous trend and falls softly downward towards the green. As you approach the 8th tee, you also get the added excitement of being the ‘nosey-neighbour’ to be able to gawp over the fence at the great white elephant that is G-West in the distance – will that course ever be open for play? What follows shortly after at 9 and 10 are both stout swinging dogleg holes that play across some of the most turbulent and enjoyable land on the course. 10 is especially funky with a saddleback green after a blind tee-shot, but I did feel that the green at the 8th let down this lovely stretch, for its putting surface is too severely tilted to provide the necessary variety of pin positions when factoring in modern green speeds.I found the back nine to be more serene than the front nine, but very pretty and fun to play. In fact, there’s a lovely spell on the returning nine holes starting with the 12th that features a trademark James Braid dropped-green where the fairway dips severely around the point where most drivers will land. This hole also takes you to the sequence of holes around ‘Loch an Eerie’ - a large pond that plays centrepiece to two back-to-back par threes and then a gem of a reachable par four that plays perpendicular to the natural gradient of the land.I enjoy the feature of how both the King’s and Queen’s culminate at the same spot, in fact, there is a coming together of both courses at a couple of points throughout the round. Overall, my nod would go to the King’s for being the better course of the two, albeit the Queen’s may be the course that gets the most repeat plays from its members due to the greater playability and sporty nature of the layout.

I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Royal Porthcawl on two separate occasions over this calendar year, and on reflection I’d have to categorise it as one of the finest links courses in the UK. The routing is magnificent, the beachside setting is beautiful and the two-tiered hilly nature of the course means that views are ever present. The perfect blend of championship golf, providing a test of the best, and a layout that displays quirk and beauty can all be found here. Royal Porthcawl is no entry-level links, this is a course where your game needs to be sharp. And whilst not by any means unplayable for the masses, it’s a course more suited to the low handicap golfer for the greens are quick and tricky whilst the course is demanding of the long game.After the sublime first three holes that are located end-to-end along the bayside, the rest of the course constantly moves and switches direction. The longest par three on the course at the 4th is then quickly followed by the shortest hole at the 7th that’s only 120-yards. It’s a super short hole with knuckles and pot bunkers surrounding the putting surface that stand ready to gobble up anything slightly offline. This is a theme that flows throughout the remainder of the course. Porthcawl is a classy piece of design and the green surrounds are up there with the best in Britain.In addition to the 7th; the 9th and 10th both have devilish runs-offs whilst the 14th is a damn sexy mid-length par three and comes with one of the most beautifully shaped green surrounds I’ve encountered on a links. 11 and 13 are another two outstanding holes on the back nine. The 11th being a delightful par three with a string of bunkers embedded into the face of the bank into the green, whilst 13 is a triumph of a hole with a lovely walk down to the green as the hole pitches downwards towards the sea. A cunningly placed bunker 80-yards short of the green also prevents the golfer from playing the canny running shot downhill.Cross bunkers force decision making on 15 and 16, where only the genuine beasts among you will be able to clear them, mere mortals however will need to hold back. 17 is something of a rarity on the course as I’d view it as a connector hole, improvements could be made here to the landing area for the tee shots. 18 meanwhile, is not the kind of closing hole that invites you to ease your way to a restful conclusion. The final hole has a nasty 60-yard area of dead ground that you’ll need to clear or chip short of to avoid the worst of the punishment, but one can’t help but fall for the beautiful green-complex that sits neatly in front of the beach. In addition to the natural beauty and rawness of Porthcawl’s property, Martin Ebert has recently completed a variety of course enhancements, typically featuring natural bunkers in the fairways and pots around the greens, although I feel that some greater creativity in the shaping of the fairway bunkers wouldn’t have gone amiss and there are one or two that are a little misplaced. I guess this will be worked out over time as the course continues to evolve as they always do. Otherwise, my only other genuine criticisms that prevent me from escalating Royal Porthcawl into the ‘perfection’ category would be that the course is too unforgiving for the higher handicap golfer to truly enjoy, and the management of the brambles amongst the rough could also be improved.I saw recently that our learned friends at Golf.com omitted Royal Porthcawl from their newly released World Top-100 rankings. They should genuinely hang their heads in shame for being so absent minded. Royal Porthcawl remains one of the best, and any World list without it lacks credibility. Its omission is likely due to Wales not being the most fashionable place for the golf tourist, and let’s be frank, it’s usually raining when you get there, so the natural question when enjoying that post-round drink is whether the club needs to host an Open Championship to gain the recognition it deserves? It shouldn’t need to, and due to the lack of infrastructure available on and around the site, it won’t ever be blessed with this opportunity, but as a course, I’d suggest that it’s more deserving of hosting a major championship than various others currently holding down a place on the rota.

Carnoustie could perhaps be the world’s best tournament course and may well be the most deserving of all of the courses currently on the Open rota. It’s a course that provides the best and fairest challenge of the professionals, particularly in testing their nerve as they come down the infamous closing stretch. There’s also a tonne of strategy off the tee with narrow fairways and precisely placed bunkers to test your guile that makes this a beautifully designed course over what is otherwise a flat piece of ground. Carnoustie is a course that’s ultimately going to appeal more to the scratch golfer than the mid-handicap hack. I thought the opening three holes had a lovely variety whilst the 14th, Spectacles, might be one of my favourite par fives I’ve played. I did enjoy others too, but some of the oddities or charm that I search for from a GB&I top ten ranked course perhaps weren’t quite there across the middle segment of the course for me to rank Carnoustie amongst this esteemed company. That being said, to walk the same footsteps and test yourself across the same piece of property that has created more stories per inch than most of its peers is something every amateur should make the effort to experience. And if you manage to plot your way around whilst successfully avoiding the Barry Burn, then you’re a far more skilful golfer than I will ever hope to be.

My day visiting Montrose started on the practice putting green next to the main road. Whilst I was there, a couple with two young children came off the street with putters in hand to enjoy a family putting game. This was the first day of my latest Scottish golf trip and that scene perfectly summed up the essence of Scottish golf for me. In the same vein, the course at Montrose Golf Club gets to the heart of why, like many of us, Scottish links golf holds a special place in my heart. It’s unfussy, beautiful, rugged, and immersed within the community.I’m going to start my course review by describing the first two tee boxes which are both magnificent in their own, understated manner. The 1st tee is set back amongst the suburbs, backed up against the road and houses. It brought back fond memories of the opening tee shot of Gullane No 1. The 2nd tee is glorious for an altogether different reason. This time, the tee is a more picturesque setting, perched high above the beach with views out across the sea and back to Scurdie Ness lighthouse. Here you drive back over the 1st green and across the boundary fence that separates the beach from where the land blends into sea across the right hand side of the property. Combine this with the tabletop par three 3rd and Montrose has quite the memorable start. The course itself started life as a 25-hole course, back in the days before Old Tom made 18 holes commonplace. The course as we play it today is mainly Harry Colt’s work and is played closer to the coast than the original layout. Albeit this is something that is famously soon to be the course’s downfall as coastal erosion eats away at some of the holes that border the beach.Personally, I’m a sucker for links golf with lumpy, bumpy fairways and Montrose provides this in spades. The most sumptuous of these is on the 4th hole that turns you back inland, whereas the 5th hole returns you back uphill to the coastline with a driveable short four. 6 and 7 then follow the coastline, and are the holes most likely to be affected by the coastal erosion, before yet more lumpy land greets you on the 8th as you revert back to playing inland and move away from the coast. We’re almost halfway through the round and each hole thus far has been a gem.The course thereafter doesn’t quite have the same eye-catching nature of the opening stretch, but these are still good golf holes that are scattered in and amongst gorse. The most noteworthy holes include 12 and 14, the former being a lovely little par three with a line of four bunkers that protect the front of the green, whereas 14 returned me to nightmares of my golfing past with a nod to Conwy’s infamous closing stretch where the gorse pinches in from both sides. But thankfully, unlike the aforementioned course in North Wales, Montrose’s back nine opens up again shortly afterwards. 16 is a long par three graced by the most beautiful of contoured greens, and the closing couple of holes aren’t bad either. I particularly loved how the closing hole returns you back towards the more urban setting of the town; similar traits to St Andrews or North Berwick here.When we returned back to our starting point, the young family had long disappeared from the putting green, but the warm, welcoming spirit of how my experience started had remained throughout the round. This is a course laced with history and it’s a club that’s embedded amongst its community. It would be a horrible shame if this old relic ended up being washed away to the sea one day and those coastal holes became something of the past. I do hope a solution can be found.

I often see the cliched statement that ‘If course X was located in Surrey, then it would be rated much higher’. I’d actually argue for the contrary - better to be a big fish in a small pond, and I think West Surrey Golf Club reinforces my position on this matter. To my mind, West Surrey doesn’t receive the recognition it deserves due to the strength in depth of Surrey as England’s premier golfing county. So if you do decide to take a detour from the famed Surrey heathlands, visitors will find a gem of a golf course through its gates. But it’s the members here that are the real winners. West Surrey Golf Club is also the owner of three quality hardcourt tennis courts as well as a recently and beautifully refurbished clubhouse interior. It’s exactly the kind of place where you could lounge on the sofas all afternoon with friends or alternatively somewhere to enjoy your own company with a newspaper and a pot of tea.And the course itself isn’t too shabby either. It’s a lovely layout that’s been transformed by its recent bunker renovation. The wacky bunkering from a bygone era has now disappeared, and it’s been replaced by a fine example of strategic bunkering. Rarely have I found myself mentally challenged on the tee to this extent, all due to how the bunkers are located, staggered and angled. I loved how many of the bunkers pop up out of the ground and provide additional visual intimidation too. Like most of us, I don’t possess the game to execute my strategy from the tee on each occasion, but it’s fun to be asked the question once in a while, and West Surrey does just that.The course dances around a treelined property, very much in the traditional parkland sense, with the tightly mown aprons setting the course apart from many other parklands. It’s also a course that makes good use of the undulating ground that the holes occupy. The course itself starts sternly with three testing par fours well over 400-yards coming early in the round, but it does start to ease up after the 7th when more scoring opportunities are offered. It’s also balanced out with some par fives that are all reachable with two good strikes. I felt the par threes were a strong point of the property, with the wonderfully guarded 5th with its slanted green and the 12th with its back to front tilted green being the pick of them. Other holes are enhanced with grassy knolls or grass bunkers that traverse the fairways, used to good effect on holes 9 and 11, and something I feel is often under utilised in golf course design. The centreline bunkers on the short par fours at the undulating 8th and split fairway 13th are also creative ways of forcing strategic thinking from the tee where a choice must be made before hitting your tee shot.There is still room for improvement, the course would benefit with some tree clearance in some areas, most noticeably on the last three holes, and 17 remains a slightly strange hole that passes through a large drop in elevation before a heavy climb up to the green. The club is currently in observation mode as to how to make changes to that hole, primarily due to the disruption the members have already endured with the bunker renovation over previous years, but from the solid changes that have been made to the other holes, the future of the course will be in safe hands when the time comes to remodel 17. West Surrey will never have the turf conditions or be blessed with the abundance of heather that many of Surrey’s top ranked courses do, but what it lacks in raw ingredients, it makes up in course strategy and upkeep. Definitely one to seek out if you’re looking to add a little variety to a trip to the Surrey area with a high-class parkland venue. But do allow for a little extra time to enjoy the atmosphere in the clubhouse, it's a club you'll want to enjoy at your leisure rather than rushing onto the next course on your itinerary.

As far as I’m concerned, the King’s course at Gleneagles is one of the best inland courses I’ve ever played. Everyone who visits Scotland rightly wants to head to the coast, that’s where the magic happens. But if you can make time for one inland course, please make that course the King’s at Gleneagles. It’s an incredibly majestic place with a tumbling landscape amongst the most idyllic surroundings. I visited this August just past, and the course was playing wonderfully fast and firm, so I therefore can’t comment on how the course would play in Winter or after a long period of rain, but in the ideal conditions that I enjoyed for my visit, the place was just rolling perfectly. I like a golf course that starts with a gentle handshake opener, and the vast, wide open fairway on the 1st tee is the equivalent of hitting the fairway at the driving range. From there on though, it’s a case of buckle your seat belt as you’re in for a ride, the tabletop green sat intimidatingly above the fairway means that any sense of ease doesn’t last for long. I’m a die-hard James Braid fan, and the 3rd is a brilliant example of Braid’s creative work. Braid uses rolling land like no other course architect to my knowledge, and this is a perfect example of his taste for the wicked. He found a hidden and sunken dell that was ideal for a green site, and how you access that point is almost secondary in his thinking. How this plays out in practice on the 3rd is the most bizarre piece of land that climbs uphill with a deep hollow half way, before hiking up another section over a grass wall before you reach the putting surface. Braid was not one for taking half-measures in his course design with the 5th, the volcano design par three probably being the King’s most famous hole and with that, a do-or-die test of accuracy, although it’s a shame that the cart path blights the visuals from the tee on this hole – admittedly a minor grumble, but a grumble all the same. The 9th is another beautiful example of Braid’s brilliant work, on this occasion using visual deception. A marker post above a deep chasm of a fairway provides directional guidance to the line from the tee, but this line at first appears to be skewed too far to the left so your instinct tells you to aim further right. Trust the marker post would be my advice and then you’ll be ideally positioned to play a short iron to another tabletop green with rolling moorland providing the scenic backdrop.After ten holes, you’ll reach the halfway house. One of the previous reviewers criticises the compulsory ten minute break. Personally, if I could have made my visit to the halfway house a full hour, I would have. The variety of pastries, drink and particularly, their cookies are fit for a king, and the views from the patio outside of the chalet style building are of course, wonderfully scenic. If you can’t take time to take to stop for a pause and breathe in this most natural of settings, then when can you? One aspect that sets the course apart from other inland courses I’ve played is how you play across some incredible folds in the fairways and how the bunkers are embedded within them in a manner that appears quite unforced. This is best characterised with the consecutive holes at 13 and 14 which may well be when the course really hits its peak. The former being a brute of a par four with two fierce strikes needed to reach the green, whilst a much friendlier short four comes next, quite reachable with a well struck drive, but fraught with danger around the green. I could probably speak as glowingly about the closing few holes, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll jump to the turbulent par five 18th which is another one of the glorious roller-coaster holes that you’ll have become accustomed to at this point around the King’s course. This hole tumbles down towards the green like one of those funfair slides where you ride in a hessian sack at the fairground. It’s a quite eccentric way to finish, and in the same manner with how the round starts with an inviting drive, it concludes with a gigantic green accepting of a well connected, long-range shot.You can tell from my review that I liked the King’s course a lot. And I make no apologies for this. It’s one of my favourite places where I’ve played golf. Gleneagles is one of few household names in UK golf, and it amazes me that a course with such a revered history surpassed my expectations, but surpass my expectations it did.

Hillside was a course that had escaped me before this year, and a large amount of improvement work had already taken place on the front nine ahead of my visit. But on the evidence of my solitary visit in May, the widespread critique that the back nine is vastly superior to the front nine was one I thought was largely unfounded. A huge amount of work has been carried out and seemingly no expense spared over the last two years with an attempt being made to provide more parity to the two nines.Even from the first tee shot, the course provides an excellent challenge of your ball striking. Alongside Alwoodley and Burnham & Berrow, I now have Hillside to add to the list of England’s most intimidating opening tee shots. The tee on the 1st practically snuggles up amongst the onlooking golfers watching on from the patio. It’s also a tee shot that’s now easier on the eye since dunes have been constructed between the 1st and the 9th to improve the visuals, so you now face the daunting task of threading your drive between these newly created dunes and the railway track to the opposite side. Further dune construction has also taken place between holes 9 and 18 adding more definition to what I assume were previously deemed less striking holes.Typical hallmarks of Mackenzie & Ebert design have been added on the par three 4th hole where sandy wasteland has been introduced whilst wetlands have been created ahead of the back tee on the 5th. Holes 7 and 8 however were my favourites amongst the front nine. The 7th is beautifully framed by a copse of trees that sit behind its green whilst my fondness for the 8th comes from how it arcs like a brush stroke against the side of the large dune that backs onto the 11th hole. Admittedly, there is a stark contrast when you enter the back nine. I dare say it’s the most dramatic links land in all of England. It should therefore come as no surprise that the large dunes dictate the play on this returning nine as the fairways are cut through the valleys. Each hole here is beautifully isolated, and whilst it’s a shame that the fairways themselves don’t have the classic rumpled appearance, each hole is as pretty as a picture. The snaking par five 11th is often cited as the favourite hole of visitors, and it’s a gorgeous golf hole, but I did also have a soft spot for the short 10th that provides the gateway into the duneland with its raised and tilted green, embedded into the back of one of those dunes. In fairness though, you could probably pick up any of the holes between 10 and 18 and place it amongst many other links courses where it would automatically become the course’s signature hole.Hillside’s an incredibly strong course that doesn’t always get the attention it deserves as visitors to the area go about hunting Open venues, but it should be recognised as one of the crown jewels amongst this most absurdly strong golfing region. Any golfing itinerary to England’s Northwest coast should include Hillside, and I’ll be very keen to observe how the course will be judged once the work is completed and fully bedded-in. There’s a strong football connection at Hillside with ‘King’ Kenny Dalglish and Alan ‘you can’t win with kids’ Hansen both being members; Hillside might previously have been deemed a game of two halves, but the club is now taking big steps towards scoring a worldy.

The Grove has its market and they’re happy steering directly into it. There is a certain type of customer base in mind here. Within easy reaching distance of the cash rich folk in and around London, the accommodation is luxurious with spa facilities and an excellent set of restaurants. When you head to the course, one of the staff will greet you and make sure that you’re made to feel welcome. The starter at the tee comes with a smile and the complementary goodies, and naturally, the course is in superb condition. But strip all of that back and what do you have? The answer is a slightly better than average course on an average piece of land. The land at The Grove is gently rolling and the design is solid, it’s well bunkered, it provides a good test of your game and has a variety of interesting greens. The course never really gets out of third gear though. I felt the designer played everything a little safe and likely kept rigidly to his brief; nothing too risky or quirky that’s going to upset the customer base. This is ultimately golf for the mass market whereas I personally want to seek out something a little more inspired or see something original. Despite playing here twice, I never found myself truly engaged with many of the holes blending into one another. There are some good holes on the outward nine, and I particularly enjoyed the holes in and around the manor. I felt the tempo dropped a little on the back nine, and whilst the downhill par three 12th was the most eye-catching hole coming home, thereafter, the closing holes are slightly lacklustre to meet the high expectations I have for an England top 100 venue. Ultimately, I like to play a course that leaves me with some sort overriding emotion, but I found The Grove a little soulless. It’s a good day out and the course is plenty enjoyable, it’s all just a little too clean, corporate and safe for my tastes.

The joys of Cavendish do not just start when you set foot on the course, but on the beautiful, winding journey here. Cavendish is located near Buxton, in the heart of the Peak District, the backbone of England, which offers some of the country’s finest walks. The walk at Cavendish however should never be a good walk spoilt, as this fine course was laid out by none other than golf course architecture’s Master Craftsman, Dr Alistair Mackenzie; Cavendish Golf Club itself being home to the Mackenzie Golf Society. It’s somewhat shameful on us as golfers therefore, that this club nearly became bankrupt during the first Covid-lockdown. Fortunately, I’d assume that Derbyshire’s no. 1 ranked golf course is now on a more stable financial footing, and I hope that it’s a club that subsequently goes on to prosper.The reason for Cavendish’s financial woe is certainly nothing to do with the course itself, but likely due to its location. Buxton itself is no thriving metropolis, and the larger urban areas in the region are too far away for Cavendish to get high numbers of visitor traffic. This maintains green fees below £40. Surely there can’t be many other golf courses with the architectural heritage of Cavendish that will charge as little?Capturing my thoughts of some of the holes, aside from a couple of excellent greens (a recurring theme at Cavendish), the first three holes set to the side of the clubhouse serve as good getaway holes but nothing more remarkable. The first eye-catching hole comes at the splendid little drop-shot par three 4th hole with a green that’s set back over a stream and a large bank to one side with a pond to the other.I’ll describe the course in its current order of holes, but I did in fact play the course in its original Mackenzie routing which I felt is more balanced than today’s sequence of holes, the original routing avoids the majority of Cavendish’s strongest holes predominantly coming into play on the back nine. The front nine culminates with another par three where the tee is elevated above the green, a green that I understand was rebuilt. Whilst word on the street is that this green is seemingly not to everyone’s tastes, I personally enjoyed its imaginative contouring. I would also repeat similar sentiments at the short 15th, a hole that, in this case, I think is unchanged from its original, and rightly so since this is the best of the short holes with a brilliantly awkward and tilted putting surface that will never have you feeling comfortable when standing over a putt.Away from the par threes, the 10th hole must be the course’s signature. This is a glorious and long par four played over a couple of wonderfully natural chasms, etched into the earth by the erosion from the burn that passes through the course. It’s a tough hole too, over 420-yards with forced carries, it’s a nerve jangler and demands good ball striking. The par five 14th, the only par five on the card, with the dry stone wall lining the out-of-bounds to the adjacent farmland was another good hole, making the most of this man-made feature. But it was another excellent green with a severe false front that personally left me in tatters; three times it took me to putt my way up to the top of the plateau as the pin was devilishly perched just on top of the change in gradient – a true greenkeeper’s revenge. The turn home is made in front of the rustic-looking farmhouse that overlooks the course in a picture-perfect way that only the English countryside can deliver, whilst the 18th would be my other main hole of note. Like the 10th, this is a fiercely challenging par four over an undulating and unbalanced surface. A par here to complete the round would make a post-round drink in the clubhouse taste that little bit sweeter.I don’t think Cavendish is devoid of its shortcomings. There’s a modestly sized team of greenstaff here so perfectly kept surfaces are unlikely, and some areas of the ground were a little softer under-foot than optimal, but course improvements are already underway through the careful guidance of course designer, Jonathan Gaunt. Bunkers are currently in the midst of being renovated so there is a mixture of bunkering styles at the moment between the new and the old, but I expect that the club will be quickly upgrading them all to meet the same spec. The bare bones at Cavendish are plainly clear to see for anyone who plays here, and I do hope that the next couple of year’s work will see the course achieving its rightful potential. Cavendish’s website uses the marketing tagline “The course that inspired Augusta”. Whether it did or not can be debated, I’m sure many of Mackenzie’s previous works inspired the home of the Masters, but what can’t be debated is that this is a must-visit for all course enthusiasts. It’s a course that combines charm and excellent design qualities proving to be a delightful place to escape to the country for a few hours.

Delamere has one of the most exclusive memberships in Northwest England, but thankfully that exclusivity does not extend to visitors who have always been made welcome by the club. Additionally, the exclusivity of Delamere Forest means that membership numbers are limited hence congestion on the golf course is not commonplace. This all makes for a relaxed visit with a good pace of play. Also, given the countryside location of the golf course with little in the way of property and road traffic nearby, the experience at Delamere Forest is a very peaceful one.My suggestion for any first time visitor is to start the day with a coffee or breakfast on the patio so you can assess the panorama across the 1st, 9th, 10th and 18th which makes for excellent viewing from a seat next to the clubhouse. From here you’ll notice that trees are relatively sparse. The entrance to the actual forest of Delamere is a few hundred metres up the road with the golf course set aside from the dense woodland.A minimalist approach to course design has generally been taken meaning that there’s plenty of width from the tee with well positioned bunkers and an economical amount of heather used as hazards across the rolling terrain. Angles are an important part of the strategy at Delamere Forest too, and I’d expect that the sandy base for the course offers a good chance to get the course playing firm and fast in Summer making angles more of a priority.There is a slight imbalance to the course, with holes 1-8 being the more taxing since six of the holes play in excess of 400-yards alongside one 200-yard par three, whereas holes 9-18 are gentler in terms of distance, but offer the greater variety and more visual interest. The spells from 9-11 and the par fours at 14 and 15 are the main highlights and feature large, heaving fairways with a combination of raised and sunken greens. The green-sites and backdrops at holes 14 and 15 are the ones that I found deserving of a special mention and the most visually captivating, but overall, I’d probably struggle to name a weak hole on the course making this a fine experience. You’d probably have to travel across the Pennines to Leeds before you get to enjoy an inland course that has land and design of the qualities that surpass that at Delamere.

Wallasey is unlike any other course along the North-West links coast. Despite being only a short distance from Hoylake just a few miles across the other side of the Wirral peninsula, the two courses couldn’t be more different. Whilst Royal Liverpool is subtle, gently contoured and exposed, Wallasey is bold and dramatic with large dunes and lots of land movement. The golf holes at Wallasey are a real mix of all sorts of bits and pieces, starting amongst some rippling land and rising dunes before climbing to the stunning elevated platform of the 4th tee shot and then across some flat land at the back of the property. This all means that it’s difficult to characterise Wallasey in a single description. The vision that strikes you as you arrive for a round at Wallasey is the dramatic view looking back at the 18th, but more on that shortly. The opening holes are very good, interwoven between dunes they provide a fine start, and whilst the club are battling with the high water table in front of the 1st green, this is nothing that can’t be overcome. Otherwise, the opening five holes provide exciting topography with amazing views out to the Irish Sea. Before playing Wallasey, I’d probably seen more selfies from the 4th tee than any other images of the course combined, but it is a beautiful spot and it’s understandable that it’s the one place on the course above any others that has people reaching for their cameras. And whilst the sea to the right of the 4th tee might tempt us to guard against the right-sided miss, the sneaky snake mounding that divides the 4th and 17th fairways on the left will be sure to provide a nasty lie and enough punishment for those who choose that route as their bail out. It’s not quite all sunshine and roses at Wallasey though, the flat ground at 6 and 7 and then later on the back nine at 13 and 14 are a little lifeless, made particularly stark by the dramatic nature of the rest of the course. But at least the holes across this flatter ground aren’t all played in sequence. This is one of the really clever design elements of the course routing that I liked. The more modest section of the property is only short-lived meaning you get the chance to dip your toe in and out of the best part of the property on various occasions throughout the round.Touching upon the best holes, it would be remiss of me to not mention 11 which is the kind of hole I might expect if I was playing golf in County Kerry or Donegal. This hole sits within the most elevated stretch of duneland where the fairway dips at midpoint before you scramble your way back up to the wonderfully located and tilted green that sits proud above the rest of the hole where a shallow dune frames one side of the putting surface. The green on the following par three 12th, whilst located on the flatter land, is brought to life by some wonderful bunkering, but the closing stretch from 15 to 18 at Wallasey is really the part of the course to savour and provides a supreme test of your nerve. 16 is maybe the most penal of these holes; a par three of 200-yards in length isn’t in itself unusual, but the green-site that’s wedged against a dune to the right and exacerbated by a devilish run-off to the left has likely put many an excellent round of golf to the sword.But it’s the 18th hole that caused me the biggest thrill and amongst the finest finishers in England since we produced Gary Lineker. In some ways out of character with much of the course since it plays over more turbulent ground, it was as if the hole was air-lifted out of Prestwick, and the backdrop of the charming clubhouse and St Nicholas’ church tower provides a wonderful end to proceedings.A visit to Wallasey should be far more than just a pilgrimage to the home of stableford, but also a chance to visit a genuinely excellent course, and one worthy of fighting for a place amongst England’s top 50. I’ll be intrigued to revisit to see how the course has developed once all of the course improvements are complete. If the architects currently employed by the club can breathe more interest to those flatter holes furthest away from the sea, we might well see Wallasey starting to punch above its weight.

Growing up in Cheshire as I did, I was often informed of the magical Sandiway, touted by some members of my home course as the best in the area. I had to wait over 25 years after hearing these words to see the course for myself, but in May of this year, that moment arrived.I found the golf course at Sandiway to be very pretty and in some cases dramatic. And whilst the page notes on this website state that Sandiway is a wooded heathland, and I can see that there are some remnants of heathland with silver birch trees and even one or two pockets of heather, these elements are now sparse, and it’s better to be categorised as pure parkland. Various dogleg holes typically lined with deciduous trees is the general pattern at Sandiway, but by all accounts, the course still benefits from sandy and acidic soils.The 1st tee shot sets the tone for the round as you watch your golf ball plunge several metres to a fairway below your feet. I say this sets the tone, since there’s much more undulation at Sandiway than you’ll encounter at most golf courses around the Cheshire plains. And this fact, along with the course’s impeccable conditioning, is what sets Sandiway apart from most of its near neighbours. Not unlike the 1st, the 4th hole has a similarly styled elevated teeing ground, but this one was originally created not for the purposes of golf, but instead as a rifle range for our American comrades during the war. From this elevated tee, the 4th then doglegs to the right with just a narrow slot between tall trees presenting the challenge for the second shot into this par-five. Whilst the narrowness of this hole is a tactical choice by the club, some of the fairways do taper in a little too tightly for my liking, with trees encroaching the fairway from either side at holes such as 8, 15 and 16. But unlike nearby Delamere, it’s the treelined nature of the course that provides Sandiway’s identity, so I wouldn’t expect the narrow aspect of some of the fairways to be altered at any time.5 presents the first blind tee shot where distance and accuracy is fundamental to making a score. Other blind tee shots later appear at 9 and 10, and due to the number of doglegs around the course, many greens are out of sight from the tee. Indeed, as well as being blind due to elevation change, the 5th also doglegs. Here the hole turns to the right, but the fairway banks from right to left making this a tricky drive and easy to run out of fairway. At the 7th, we have a boldly benched green on what is probably the most interesting green-site across the course, but it was after returning to the clubhouse after eight holes where I felt Sandiway really raised its game.10, 12 and 14 are all challenging and eye-catching par fours that stretch well over 400-yards and are constructed across yet more rolling ground. A par score on these holes should always feel like a success. These are interspersed by par-threes. And whilst 11 felt like the only connector hole on the course, this long one-shotter takes you to the lake-side, whereas the well bunkered short three at 13 with its island-style green was more pleasing to the eye.Despite my comments about the narrowness of the last of the long holes at 16, this does force the golfer into making a decision off the tee and I enjoyed how the ground falls towards the green allowing a ball to be chased into the green. At 17, we then have the course’s most iconic hole with a large Oak tree that creates an obstacle just right of centre in front of the green. This is the “Sandiway Oak” which decorates the club’s crest. The oak can be safely negotiated by playing your tee shot to the left side of the fairway or laying back to allow yourself a pitch over the tree, so only the greedy need to be penalised here. And whilst I’m usually opposed to centre-line trees, this was a rare positive example.I’m glad that the website has found a place for Sandiway amongst England’s Top 100, it’s a course worth seeking out if in the area. I also don’t personally think the gulf between Sandiway and Delamere Forest, as depicted by the rankings, is truly deserved given the quality of the two courses, albeit they are polar opposites in appearance, and if pushed, I would still give Delamere Forest the edge. Cheshire is host to some under-the-radar gems and it’s sad that they are all too often bypassed by golfers on their way to the coast, so my recommendation is to give Sandiway a try. It’s without a doubt one of the best inland courses in the region.

Aberdovey is the archetypal links course. Not unlike nearby Royal St. David’s, you must cross a live railway line to get to the course that’s sandwiched between the sea and the railway. And whilst it’s a shame that views of the sea are effectively non-existent despite it being located adjacent to the beach, the high dune that flanks the coastal side of the course and dominates the scenery makes up for this minor quibble. Over on the opposite side of the railway is a large hillside with farmland and beautiful holiday cottages, so you really feel enclosed by the most captivating of natural surroundings. The other aspect that makes Aberdovey stand out as the archetypal, traditional links is that it’s routed in the classic out and back formation. Albeit the routing is in a figure of eight shape with the opening holes of the front nine and holes 12-14 on the back nine being the ones that pass closest to the dunes. A caravan park sits next to the 1st tee, and my immediate thought was how lovely a place it would be to come on holiday. Isolated, next to a beach, beautiful scenery, and an excellent golf course all on your doorstep. It’s no wonder Bernard Darwin enjoyed his time here so much. Those holiday dreams are quickly over once your round starts though since Aberdovey opens up with a 443-yard par four that demanded two stout shots directly into the teeth of the wind on the day that I played it. The opening three holes are packed into the dunes, with the 2nd being a short and lumpy par four before a funky and blind par-three into a bowl-shaped green then grabs your attention at the 3rd. Three holes into Aberdovey, and you’ve already sampled some of the best variety that links golf has to offer. 4 and 5 are in a similar vein, but the middle of the course from the 6th to the 11th are then laid out over much flatter land situated away from the dunes. The interest through this stretch is kept alive though, with the clever combination of revetted and naturalised bunkers that are topped with thick seaside grasses. The use of railway sleepers across the site, more-so as a decoration than a hazard, also magnify Aberdovey’s appeal.If you’ve been battered by playing into the wind on the outward holes, you turn around at the end of the site on the 12th tee and then it’s all in one direction on the return, so it’s an opportunity to recover your score. The golfing media seem to regard the 12th to be Aberdovey’s signature hole and it’s the only hole that plays to an elevated position. A recently constructed green is perched on the top of the dune after the previous green had been washed away in a storm, but they’ve done an excellent job with the rebuild. This is also the only position across the course where you’ll catch the full panoramic of the sea. The 16th onwards then drifts away from the dunes and follows the curve of the railway. The 16th hole itself, whilst only a short par four, wraps its way around the railway track in a manner that tempts you to pause for the train to pass and then go all-guns-blazing for the green. The smarter advice however is to lay back and place one down the undulating fairway to leave a wedge into the long and narrow green. The last two holes provide an honest finish and close out a round of golf across one of the most natural and authentic links properties that you’re likely to visit. Like some of the UK’s finest courses, Aberdovey takes some effort to get to, but it’s worth those extra miles.

I’ve known of the Ashridge Estate for many years now, having once lived in Berkhamsted and having visited the business school that lies within the beautiful grounds there. But those were the days when golf wasn’t so high on my agenda and my taste in golf courses wasn’t as refined as it is today (you can also read “snobby”). And so it was a joy to return to my old neighbourhood to visit Ashridge and visit what is a fabulous club. My first impressions of Ashridge were excellent, and I was immediately taken by the facilities in and around the clubhouse. The practice range is first class and sits next to the car park so there’s no reason to tee off the 1st hole feeling rusty. The clubhouse is also perfectly located with its first floor balcony overlooking the undulating terrain and many of the golf holes. The course itself is very good, with pockets of excellent stuff. My favourite holes were those that converge around the clubhouse around the end loops of both nines. 1, 9, 10, 12 and 18 are all very strong and their tees or greens are within a stone’s throw of one another making for some excellent post-round viewing with drink in hand. It’s also a course that offers different landscapes as you thread your way through the course. The opening holes are excellent valley-type holes, whilst 3 to 8 play through slightly less interesting terrain and is more treelined than the rest of the course, but this area still has a smattering of very interesting greens. In fact, most of the greens have some thought-provoking slopes and gradients to the point where much of Ashridge’s protection often comes on their putting surfaces. The new bunkering is also pleasant. Unusually for an inland course, many of these updated bunkers are revetted, including, in places, the backs of the bunkers which I found a little odd, but I’ll give Ashridge a pass here.The 9th is the best hole on the course and returns to the land in front of the clubhouse that’s more open and comes with more arresting visuals. It’s a hole that has a peculiarly raised green-site and is surrounded by three bunkers and punishing slopes. The next few holes then dodge back and forth along the same rolling ground before disappearing again into more typical parkland. The closing couple of holes then play alongside the main Ashridge Estate and are fun golf holes across the heaving ground that returns you back to the clubhouse with a beautiful view down to the closing green. I was fortunate enough to play the course in May when the rough was very playable and before the vegetation in the south of England had its growth-spurt this Summer, but I was warned by my host that the rough grows to brutal lengths to that described in Neil’s write-up below, although I can’t speak to that from my own personal experience. My overriding memory of Ashridge was one of a very tranquil and picturesque course to play, so choose your timing carefully and you’ll have a very enjoyable round. Just remember to close out your round with a drink on that balcony or you’ll have missed a key part of the Ashridge experience.

The walled market town of Conwy and its grand medieval castle has always made this seaside town well worth the visit, but it’s also home to one of the best and heartiest links courses in the country.Beautiful Conwy is a terrific course laid out under both the Conwy Mountain on one side, and the dormant volcano that is the Great Orme on the other. I’m particularly fond of a course that displays some quirk and character, and Conwy has just that. I played the course from the back blue tees and she was savage in the wind, yet I still managed to fall for her charms. It’s a course that features a wonderful set of holes in an honest and stern links test. Whilst much of the course is largely flat and open, it’s decorated with pockets of gorse dotted here and there as well as some classic pot bunkers. The course is bordered by the sea along two of its sides with the beautiful 7th that plays along the beach of Conwy Bay being the pick of the front nine. This hole has a green tucked into a bowl in the corner of the property and is a delight. Whilst largely flat, there are plenty of subtle slopes across the course with some elevated tees and greens preventing the course from feeling repetitive. Conwy is a classic links with plenty of personality. The 4th and 10th fairways that cross one another are just one example of this. The routing also regularly changes in direction, thus avoiding that out and back slog from which many traditional links courses suffer. The course returns to the clubhouse after ten holes, and of the back nine, the par five 12th was a highlight. This hole plays largely blind for the most part towards a marker post in the distance, but it’s a hole of classic strategy where you’re faced with a decision to lay up short of a large depression in the fairway leaving a wedge into the green, or the alternative of taking your chances at attempting to hit the green in two. This is immediately followed by a spectacular par three set in front of the beautiful backdrop of Conwy Mountain. But this beauty also bites as the green is a steeply tiered affair so hitting the correct level is a must or a three-putt awaits. And talking of biting, Conwy is a tough test throughout due to the gorse and its exposed site, but what comes before is nothing until what awaits during the closing stretch of holes. From 14 home, you play down narrow alleyways between gorse bushes with wayward misses certain to go punished with a lost ball. This is genuine card-wrecking material, and it was a conclusion to the round that overwhelmed my average game. I wonder how many great rounds the narrow 17th hole has put an end to?If I’m honest, the gorse through this closing run is probably a little too penal, and the course would benefit if it was thinned out a little. It makes me wonder how the elite amateurs will fare when the Curtis Cup arrives in August, but in all honesty, those girls rarely seem to miss the fairway so it might not have as much of an influence on them as it does for the average club golfer.Furthermore, unlike the never-ending drive to some of mid-Wales’ best courses like Royal St David’s and Aberdovey, Conwy is well connected to the North West of England by the A55 since it's within an hour’s drive of Chester, so it’s not difficult to bolt Conwy onto a North West links itinerary. I’d highly recommended Conwy, and whilst it might have gotten the beating of me on this first visit, I shall look forward to returning to see if I can get the better of the course on the next occasion.

According to the club’s website, Harry Vardon declared Ashburnham as his favourite course in Wales. I’m not sure how 1950s Ashburnham compares to the present day version, or whether Mr. Vardon ever visited the likes of Royal Porthcawl, Pennard, Aberdovey or even Tenby, but I think it would be a stretch to say that Ashburnham should rank above the best of Wales’ top ranking courses. That’s not to say that Ashburnham is without merit. Whilst the opening and closing few holes left me feeling a little flat, they play across meadow-like ground rather than what I would describe as bona fide links land, there is a smattering of very good golf out here at Ashburnham. For me, the course wakes up at the 3rd as the sand dunes start to come into play. 3 is a short par four with a green that’s hidden from the tee due to it crossing a low lying dune ahead of a green protected by a revetted faced bunker that’s placed directly in front of the green. I really liked this hole, but I did find the bunker placement a little odd. 4, 5, 7 and 8 are all decent enough links holes but offer nothing too noteworthy, but this run is divided by the splendid long par three at the 6th that plays towards a dune that doubles as a shoulder to this elevated green whilst there is a heavy drop-off to the right. 9, 12 and 14 provided the other main highlights. The par four 9th with its run of bunkers hugging the left of the fairway on the inside of the dogleg, an intriguing short par four at 12 that plays through a valley between two dunes, and the excellent long 14th with an amphitheatre shaped green site that’s cut through a sunken duned fortress all make Ashburnham worth the visit. The rest of the holes are solid without really ever wowing. I also didn’t find the turf to be optimal for links play, and it’s not a course that’s ever going to win you over with its beauty alone; the off-course views all are saved for the 16th tee. Overall, Ashburnham is a pleasant walk and a quite fine links course. If you’re planning an itinerary that tours the best of South Wales, it would be a shame to bypass it in favour of one of Wales’ more sedate inland venues.

I’d never planned on visiting Skegness. When it's described to me as a smaller yet worse version of Blackpool, it’s not going to end up high on my bucket list. Skegness was also recently voted as the worst seaside town in the UK. But all of this knowledge was presented to me before I realised where Seacroft Golf Club was. And being the links aficionado that I am, a day trip to glamorous Skeggy it had to be.Seacroft isn’t a refined links meaning the course is a little scruffier than most. I dare say that the budget on course maintenance is fairly limited. But Seacroft is still a good course that trundles over some rolling duneland with a central spine being the main feature. The club are also spending money on some bunker upgrades, generally a mixture of revetted and naturalised bunkers. Albeit it’s the local greenkeeping team making most of the practical changes on site as opposed to a dedicated shaper, and that does show itself a little in one or two of their finished products.The course routing is a very traditional out-and-back layout with only one hole on each nine bucking the directional trend. There’s also a road that runs parallel to the majority of the front nine which to the most part, should only punish the most errant of shots. That’s until the 8th, which is unlike any hole I’ve played and this is where the road comes right into view. The 8th has the narrowest of fairways that banks towards the out of bounds, and don’t think that bailing out to the left is an easy option as the most tremendous of blow-out bunkers sits yawning within the dune down that side. Otherwise, I found some of the front nine holes a little awkwardly shaped. Whilst the tucked green-site at 7 makes for an interesting approach shot, the 9th green, hidden by a tall dune and followed thereafter by a hundred yards of flat land is a little lacklustre. These holes are preceded by several elevated greens through the opening few holes, with the 2nd and short 4th both having interesting green formations. After the lovely par three 10th that comes decorated with some devilish run-offs on each side of the green is a real strong test of long back-to-back holes at 11 and 12. It’s after this point where Seacroft displays the best of itself as some clever yet quirky holes come into play, such as the particularly funky par five 13th that got the better of me as you hit blind over a dune for the second shot before doglegging right. A couple of valley fairways close out the round and there’s a tremendously shaped green at 16. The round culminates with a bizarre tee shot on 18 where our tee for the day was tucked against the boundary-line meaning a strong fade around the copse of trees was required providing a slightly awkward finish.Overall, Seacroft presented something of a mixed bag for me, but notwithstanding that, there’s plenty of opportunity to be creative like you’d expect of any good links and it’s extremely good value for money. I’d strongly suggest tying Seacroft in with a trip to nearby Woodhall Spa if you’re going to make the effort to travel to Lincolnshire for either course. And don't forget that you can always conclude your day by sampling the fried food delights of Skeggy as you pass back through that extraordinary place on your journey home.

Lytham was the last of England’s current top ten that I was yet to play, so naturally there’s a sense of anticipation of playing a course of this stature. It did not disappoint. I’d visited the course nine years earlier to watch Ernie snatch the Open from Adam Scott and I may be hard pushed to say that the conditioning at Lytham during that week was any better than the day I played it. Fairways like carpet, pristine fringes, greens like velvet and immaculate pathways. Lytham was hands down the best presented golf course I have ever played.Thankfully, Lytham is more than just an immaculately presented links. Indeed, this place is pretty special, and it would be a shame if the Open was taken away from the club. I’d previously heard negative remarks about the course being enclosed within a housing estate, but I feel that these are lazy comments. Everyone likes a links course to butt up against a beach with waves lapping against the dune-side, but the fact that the course is surrounded by houses only entered my mind on two or three occasions. You're kept captivated by what's going on in front of you at Lytham. The land is ideal golfing ground too. Low lying dunes create visual interest and carve out the holes, and whilst the close to two hundred bunkers do give rise to Lytham’s infamy and add to the difficulty of the course, I would argue that only a handful of holes could be considered over-bunkered. The opening few holes set you up for the stern test that is to come. Lytham demands a precise game. Large, contoured greens, shaven run-offs and thick rough keep you on your toes and the closing holes carry plenty of jeopardy that prevent you from ever feeling comfortable if you’re holding a score. There’s a lovely variety to the holes at Lytham, but it’s the middle of the round that will provide the fondest memories. The stretch from 7 through to 10 is one of the best within the Open rota. This sequence of holes starts with a gloriously bunkered long par five through the dunes and a railway lining the right hand side. No fewer than 15 bunkers are dotted through this hole. Then comes the wonderful 8th, the best par four on the course with a trio of cross bunkers wedged into the front of the green. Yet deception is everything on this hole as shortly after these bunkers is an area of dead ground before the putting surface that will naturally gobble up a ball from anyone fooled by the visual trickery of this approach when playing the course for the first time. 9 is just a wonderfully shaped par three. If this hole backed onto the seaside rather than suburbia, then it would be deemed to be amongst golf’s great short holes. 10 then wraps up this beautiful run of holes with some large mounding creating some visual intimidation and blindness to another clever hole. Royal Lytham isn’t flawless. Not everyone will share the joy of playing the course that I did, but I’d advocate that this is a course well worthy of its top 100 world ranking. Oh, and make sure you try the sausage roll with a splash of mustard at the half-way house. It’s to die for.

As a club, Royal Liverpool has to be one of the finest. The Hoylake membership is one of the friendliest and most welcoming I’ve encountered. There’s clearly a pride that their members and staff exhibit about their club and this revered links’ history and place in the game. There’s a real sense of warmth to the atmosphere at Hoylake. And whilst Top100’s rating criteria is to base one’s judgement only on the course, it would be remiss of me not to mention these elements of the club that help make it stand apart from others.The course itself is one that’s admittedly difficult to love, particularly at first sight, but it’s one that you must instantly respect. The course is classic in style. The ground is largely flat and it’s very subtle in its design. There are no gimmicks (if we ignore the new 15th) and the lack of dunes protecting the course means it’s completely exposed to the wind. The rough is also long and wispy so a genuine championship test is served to those who play here on a day when the wind is gusting. Fortunately, Hoylake is not an out-and-back course. Instead, the routing constantly changes meaning that it is not a constant slog into the wind. At Hoylake, you have to adapt your game with each change in direction and many of the holes actually play across the prevailing wind rather than with or into it. Also, as you’d expect from all Open venues, the condition is impeccable, and the crafty little slopes, bunkers and run offs, whilst understated, are all well located.Each hole has its merits and there are no poor holes as such, rather each hole providing a steady examination. The most memorable segment of the course comes between holes 8 and 12 which encroach upon the low dunes that line the perimeter of the course next to the beach. Due to the land movement around these holes, they are more distinctive with some raised greens, semi-blind shots and doglegs around the dunescape providing the features. The new 15th will naturally be the talking point after the round. Whilst the dramatic nature of the hole with its large waste bunkering and tight slopes and elevation change is out of character with the rest of the course, I consider it to be a strong hole and will now be considered the course’s signature, albeit the group of members whom we spoke with post-round remain to be convinced.Overall, I can understand how many people can be underwhelmed having paid over £200 for a green fee for an Open Championship course, but Open venues are chosen for many more reasons than their beauty alone. It may lack the wow-factor of other courses on the Open rota but Royal Liverpool is still graced with a very good course and moreover, this is a fine club and I’d highly recommend any visit should allow for spending some quality time in and around the clubhouse to soak in the atmosphere.

Maybe it’s my slightly eccentric taste in golf courses searching for something a little out of the ordinary, but I was dazzled by the opening holes at Tenby. Having read the modest reviews on this website before visiting and knowing very little about the course, my expectations were limited heading into my round. But Tenby presented my most pleasant surprise of all of the courses I visited on a week-long tour that had me passing through Wales and the golf coast of North West England.From the off, Tenby provides quality and brilliant land movement. The 1st introduces you to some fabulously turbulent ground and this hardly lets up through the opening nine. The 3rd has a high dune protecting the green and some deep run-offs on the green’s sides, whilst the devilish 4th is a double blind big-dipper of a hole with a massive hollow mid-way along the fairway before playing up-and-over again to a sunken green. This is golf as I’ve come to love it, and pure James Braid at his insane best. The 5th introduces you then to one of several teeing grounds that’s set alongside the sandy beach. 7 and 8 admittedly do visit some less interesting land away from the pure rolling links and towards the slightly unnerving firing range, before the 9th hole revisits the best of Tenby’s ground with a high elevated tee that comes with views to die for. This hole has another lumpy fairway where you hit towards a marker post in the distance and then a half-concealed but raised green.11 and 12 then provide the highlights on the back nine. Both play over more humps and hollows with 11 a par four playing towards the shore and the 12th being a do-or-die long par three over a valley. The 13th then almost plays on top of the 5th and is probably where things start to become a little confused. Still an excellent hole, but the best of Braid’s work is now behind you. The much maligned stretch between 15 and 17 come at the wrong time, and whilst they wouldn’t be poor holes on a parkland course as they still carry some links characteristics, given what’s come before these holes, the closing stretch leaves a bit to be desired. The 18th hole would also be a much more grand finish if they still used the high tee which is sadly now closed and cordoned off. Whilst it’s a shame that course ends on a low note, the majority of the course is blessed with the most wonderful rolling links land and sharp natural undulations that feed into various superb green sites. I felt comparisons with Machrihanish, Pennard, Perranporth and even Elie in places. It might not be for the faint of heart given that there are plenty of blind shots, but I’d suggest Tenby is a must-play for anyone visiting South Wales on a golf tour and for those who would like to play some interesting and thought provoking golf. Tenby is in a lovely part of the world and the town with its multi-coloured properties along the coast and thriving village life would also make it a great place to stay for a night or two, but if Tenby town’s too far away from the golf, the club comes complete with a seven room Dormy House.I personally rate Tenby as a pretty special place to come and play golf. If only they could find a handful more golf holes in the dunes somewhere. Then it would be really something.

I have to be honest and admit that North Wales left me a little cold. Given the seaside location of a course that hugs the coast as well as its strong reputation, I must admit that I’d been hoping for a little more than I got. The green fees here are cheap, so as regards to finding a course that fits within a more budget golfing experience, then North Wales presents quite a good option, but sadly I found the course land and design to be lacking.After an ugly start where the first tee is located hard up against a tall protective fence, the 2nd hole provides more promise of some links golf that I had hoped to soon come. Unfortunately, the course then traverses a bland and flat field that most courses would probably use for their practice range. It was at this point where I stared towards the adjacent Maesdu Golf Club over the other side of the train tracks and wondered if I’d decided to play the wrong course. The 6th and 7th start to push the direction of travel towards the coast but I still found the course very rudimentary. Circular greens and simple circular bunkers on either side of the green were a pattern throughout and left very little to be desired until things started to finally come to life on the 8th. This is a lovely little hole with two large humps and hollows along the fairway leading to a raised green, but this hole is sadly let down by some overgrown vegetation to what should be a lovely green site. The course then moves parallel to the coast, albeit the beach rarely comes into view. Again, this stretch of holes could be improved through some careful renovation although the 10th with its blind tee shot and cross bunkers in front of the green was more to my tastes and added some needed quirk and character. The 13th is then a charming par three that plays into the dunes and provides a taste of what’s to come later in the round, whilst the 15th tee is an interesting hole with a tee sat amongst the clubhouse patio and a fun saddle green-complex. 16 and 17 are the highlights though and these crossover par threes offer the main reason to visit the course. 16 plays into a sunken hollow whilst 17 is a beautiful elevated green on top of a dune with fall-offs on each side and a nasty pot bunker set like a plug hole on front of the green.All in all, there are probably a handful of holes worth the entry fee at North Wales and there is some definite potential in the course, but the infrequent highlights were let down too frequently by the poor design and simple maintenance whilst the land through the first half of the course is very un-links like. I’m also unsure what grasses they’re using for their greens, it’s certainly not fescue, and I hope they’d dressed them with fertiliser on the day that I visited as it had a bright sheen to them and felt like Astroturf to the touch. They rolled fairly well though. All in all, I hope other visitors get more from their visit to North Wales than I did, but if I was going to suggest a day’s golf when visiting Llandudno, I’d probably recommend heading a few miles across the coast to play 36 at Conwy.

The woke golfing crowd may flock to Mildenhall to visit the Sacred Nine, but just fifteen minutes east of there beside the historic market town of Bury St Edmunds lies another nine holer that should be every bit as well renowned. Flempton is a traditional club with a course that exhibits characteristics of Ganton as firm sandy turf and gently rolling ground are enhanced by wild bunkering and artificial yet stylish mounding. Uniquely, the course plays in three loops, all returning back to the clubhouse meaning that anything from a quick skip across three holes through to a full eighteen are a possibility. Bunkering is central to the course and it’s how the bunkers are embedded into the banks and bumps that provide the course’s most startling feature. The greens also, whilst maybe not blessed with internal features as strong as Royal Worlington, still have subtle breaks and borrows, and the surrounds are closely shaven providing for some interesting run-offs. Each hole is blessed with character, but it’s the 7th that remains most firmly in the memory. This is a shortish par four that has a distinctive string of bunkers across the fairway before a hidden green is surrounded by some nasty little revetted pots. Any minor criticism would be that the course has maybe lacked the investment that it should have over recent decades, but its potential is boundless. As such, the directors at Flempton have hired Martin Ebert as they now embark upon a three-year masterplan with the aim being that once complete, the club would see itself becoming one of the top 10 nine-hole courses in the UK. I for one think this is a hugely modest target as even without those improvements, I would suggest it already belongs amongst such company and maybe worthy of a full day out on its own merit.There’s already a lot to be admired and from the moment you drive into the clubhouse, you can immediately tell that this place has a special something. It's a course suitable for beginners through to the scratch player, and their new Head Greenkeeper has already started to make various improvements. With the new irrigation system that is on order, quality year-round conditions should soon be accomplished. I also like the switch to genderless tees and once the bunker work is completed with the main aim of making the sand lines more visible, I honestly think the club are onto a winner. I came away with a real soft spot for Flempton. It's relatively unknown to the wider golf community but they have a real gem on their hands and seem to be doing everything right. I look forward to a return to the club in the future and enjoying the fruits of their labour when that natural potential has been reached.

Painswick has fast been gathering cult status, and as Tim reflects below, this has led to some well-respected rankings now including Painswick within their top 100 lists. Personally, I find all of this a little baffling and somewhat insulting to some clubs who have found themselves missing out, for Painswick is seriously fun golf, but is it great golf? Not by my own criteria.Sadly, Painswick’s newly elevated status had left me with slightly unrealistic expectations entering the round. I’d taken it for granted that the course conditioning would be a little shabby, but there are a few too many weak holes that I just didn’t care for. My biggest concern however was that the flow of the round was all too often interrupted due to the limited course acreage. This is not land that’s fit for eighteen holes.The most interesting part of the course comes when climbing around Painswick Beacon. These holes are completely unique and make Painswick worth the visit on at least one occasion. This piece of land is cross-country golf. It’s fun as a one-off, but I’d need some convincing to think that I’d want to play this style of golf every week. The opening holes are frankly a little bland, with the steep gradient climb at the start of the round being a wicked way to activate those glutes. The 4th was the first hole of genuine note with its eye-catching sunken green, but then after another lung buster of a hill-climb to the top of the hill-fort at 5 comes the one legitimate world-class hole at the 6th. A long par three at over 200-yards, this hole is sublime and played across some beautifully bumpy links ground that would even enhance some of the best coastal courses in the country. There are other details at Painswick I enjoyed too, with a handful of the green-sites being excellent. Executing a decent shot into the speed slot approach at the 8th was a personal highlight whilst the climbing and blind entry into the par four 11th was the other standout hole across the eighteen. The 10th hole also plays across the same bizarre and linksy land formations, but landing your ball on the tiny punchbowl green felt like the golfing equivalent of needing to hit the bullseye. This all equated to golf on the edge of the extreme, but maybe it overstepped the mark a little too frequently for my own tastes.The holes away from the beacon lack the same interesting qualities whilst the shared fairways across 2/14, 3/13 and 8/9 just aren’t wide enough to allow two groups to play safely side-by-side meaning long delays became a regular frustration. Some areas of the course would also benefit from vegetation clearance with the 7th, 14th and the drop-shot 15th all coming to mind, but sadly this is a club operating on a shoestring budget and won’t benefit from being able to spend money on such luxuries. The 16th presented what I’d assume may be more grass covered iron-age structures meaning there were more interesting obstacles to negotiate from the tee, albeit this was another hole where fairways cross and you either need to be patient and wait for the 17th tee to clear or risk bringing the group ahead into play. And whilst I do enjoy playing commonland courses, I prefer it when walkers aren’t wandering blissfully unawares across fairways. All in all, with the various shared fairways where you cross paths with other golfers, the frequent delays became inevitable and led to a frustrating stop-start round of golf. We weren’t even playing on a particularly busy day. As for the end of the round, it’s probably best that I don’t expand too much on my safety concerns with the dogleg 17th, whilst the characterless short 18th brings a sad conclusion to the round.I don’t mean to do Painswick a disservice. There are pockets of brilliant stuff here including some bizarre and wonderful land formations. There are also two or three genuinely excellent holes and a handful of particularly interesting green-sites, so come and take a look at Painswick and decide on its merits for yourself. Take the opportunity to play a fun and unique round of matchplay with your friends, but it ought not be a course that’s taken too seriously.

There’s very little to choose between the 3Ws, but I’d make the case that West Hill is the most consistent of the three courses when measured across the eighteen holes. It may not quite hit the same highs as elements of Woking and Worplesdon, but the gentle undulations and well routed design means that West Hill delivers with first-rate heathland golf. As with Woking and Worplesdon, West Hill has excellent greens, some of which are huge and include some interesting undulations. The best of these can be found on the back nine at the 12th and 15th. The 12th is a short, perhaps reachable par four but a back-half pin placement would provide an excellent defence as the green is a big two-tiered affair. The 15th green on the other hand is more subtle. This is a long par three but the green is undulating and menacing, protected by a spine that runs through the centre of it. Greens aside, my favourite holes are those with the cross-bunkers, namely the 6th, 8th, 10th and 18th, all of which are memorable. The tee shot on 3 is also gripping as you drive across a diagonal ridge and a wedge of heather to an angled fairway whilst trains pass by on their return from London. The only hole that misses the target is the 14th which is sadly a bit of a mess from the tee and would benefit from the tee position being relocated to its left. The only options from the tee are a lofted drive over the trees or a big slice, hence I’m quite surprised that the club haven’t found a fix for this hole yet. Otherwise, there’s a lot to like about West Hill. It’s a course that’s always been beautifully presented on the times when I’ve played it, and I must also extend my positive reflections towards the clubhouse whose ambience is more relaxed than most highly ranked clubs making for a comfortable and welcoming trip for visitors looking for a day out on the Surrey heathland.

Not only does Sunningdale have two courses of the highest quality, but what makes Sunningdale particularly special is the contrast between these two golf courses that lay side by side. Whether you’re a fan of trees on heathland courses or not, there’s an argument that the heavily treelined Old course is enhanced by its trees. Rarely do they come into play due to the expansive width from the tee meaning they provide framing rather than an obstacle. By contrast, segments of the New course have been opened up somewhat in recent years so the wide expanses of heather are more obvious and come into play more regularly. Part of this is because the fairways play narrower, hence the New course being more unforgiving from the tee. It also plays marginally longer than its older sibling and hence provides more of a championship test.The New course is boosted by the fact that it backs onto Chobham Common giving parts of the front nine a slightly more open environment, and this is where two of the best holes in Surrey can be found. Somewhat disappointingly they don’t come at the 1st and 18th, holes which I think most people find slightly out of character with the rest of Sunningdale. The opening and closing holes mainly serve the purpose of taking you ‘away from’ and ‘back to’ the clubhouse, but the rest of the course is unquestionably excellent.As mentioned, the very best of the course is found towards Chobham Common. The 3rd hole is the first to approach this area and provides a birdie opportunity, but what gives with one hand is immediately taken back at the challenging 4th hole. The 4th is hugely demanding with a narrow fairway and benched green where heather pinches in throughout, but it’s the next two holes to which I was referring to earlier and are superb. I think it would be fair to argue that the short par three 5th and the reachable dogleg par five at the 6th hole are the best two holes at Sunningdale. These are well photographed holes, so I’m not going to describe each, but both benefit from beautiful, raised greens where steep slopes on the sides of the plateau greens narrow the target. Those steeply graded sides of the green are a feature used more prominently across the New course than the Old and are another reason for the New course being the greater challenge. Miss the green by a small margin and you can find your ball rolling away into heather requiring a challenging lob-shot recovery from a thick, tangly lie.Brilliant holes continue through to the 14th. I’d pick out the 9th, 10th and 12th as all being world-class. 9 again is typical of the smaller margin of error that the golfer is allowed at Sunningdale’s New course where an unduly tight fairway rolls down over the brow of a hill following a blind tee-shot. 14 is also a very pleasant short hole with some interesting shapes and ditches between the tee and green whilst 15 that bends and climbs around a pond contributes to the enjoyment. Whilst the closing holes don’t quite hit the same high notes, the beautiful middle section of the course gives rise to the reason for the New course’s strong reputation. Admittedly, it may be heresy for an amateur like me to talk of making changes to a course so acclaimed, but where the Old course in many ways benefits by the trees that line the path to the hole, I’d be tempted to go in completely the opposite direction with the New Course and open it up entirely, making the most of the visuals that come with the undulating land and thus allowing for some increased fairway width.Some rankings would have the New course ahead of the Old which I can only think is either an audacious marketing ploy in an effort to create a headline, or that difficulty has too much of a bearing in their rankings. That being said, Sunningdale’s New Course does far more than provide the understudy to the Old, and I’d have no qualms in any individual having a preference for the New course as it’s unquestionably a fine course at the most sought after club in the land.

It’s all change at Liphook. A club I’d previously considered to be relatively set in their ways has made the bold and progressive step to make some major course changes at one of Southern England’s most beloved heathland courses.I’ve always found there to be a charisma and allure to Liphook that’s unrivalled in this region until you get to Surrey and Berkshire’s top heathland courses. I’d sight one of the prime reasons for this sentiment to be the twisting lane that you drive down that meanders past parts of the course and alongside some beautiful houses before you arrive at the traditional timber-clad clubhouse. This really helps build up the anticipation before you arrive for your round.Onto the course, and Liphook has charmed many a visitor over the years with its beautifully shaped greens, naturally shaped bunkers and its selection of attractive heather-lined holes, albeit it has lacked the contiguous nature that you find at most courses due to the road and railway that divides the course into different segments. This to the large part hasn’t been a detraction for me, whilst some walks are long, I always enjoy the surprise that comes with visiting a course as you enter a new part of the property and arrive at each new setting. But what has been the course’s main downfall in the past was the death-march across the busy B2070, particularly when crossing beside the blind bend at the back of the old 14th. And with that, comes the primary reason for the major course changes that have taken place. Whilst the road crossing after the 4th hole hasn’t been removed, the much more treacherous walk after the 14th has now disappeared. This results in some major rerouting, hole renumbering, two brand new holes and some major reshaping of some of the pre-existing holes. And to Mackenzie & Ebert’s credit, I think the outcome has been a genuine success.The main area of change comes between holes 8 and 11. Outside of this, some of the holes have been re-sequenced but to the most part, they remain untouched. Before explaining the changes, I must make the point that I also had the good fortune to play Liphook earlier in the year when the changes were still taking shape. At that time, I quite honestly couldn’t figure out how the changes would fit together. But given the restrictions of this relatively tight property, I’m very impressed with how this complicated jigsaw has been assembled.New holes have been added at 8 and 9 in the portion of land where the old 14th used to be. The old 14th always felt like an awkward hole and had the odd feature of a bunker that was placed in the rough between a gap in the trees. The short 8th that bisects the old fairway is now a genuinely top-drawer par three where the ground falls away to the right of a large, subtly sloped green. The new dogleg 9th will probably take more time to bed-in than the 8th where this par four hole is shaped around a small pond, but the green here is wonderfully undulating in the tradition of Liphook’s many other excellent greens, and could easily catch many an accomplished golfer unawares when the green is running at full Summer speed. Quite frankly though, it’s remarkable that they’ve found the space to create these two new holes of such quality. As good as the new additions are, it’s the changes to the next two holes that are the course architect’s most outstanding work. The changes to the 10th, where the old 10th and 11th have been connected to form one long continuous hole are just tremendous. This is now a gorgeous par four that extends to 431-yards from the raised blue tee. A testing drive between the out-of-bounds and scrub to the right and a catchment pond to the left need to be negotiated before the wonderful former par three 11th green complex which is now used for the new green. There’s some masterfully reshaped bunkering around this green too that is the chef’s kiss finish to a wonderful, remodelled hole. Whilst “Two Counties”, the par five 7th (formally the 13th) to the raised green and carry over the diagonal stream is perhaps still my favourite hole at Liphook, the new 10th is now damn strong close competition. The extended 11th, Forest Mere, is another excellent change. They’ve somehow discovered an additional hundred yards from the copse of trees through the back of the old green that now turns this hole into a testing par five where the fairway pinches in around the area where the old green-site used to be.Whilst I’ve focused on the changes so far, I imagine that several readers will probably not have played Liphook before, so I must add that the original parts of Liphook that remain the same are best to remain that way as they’ve always been most enjoyable. The tough par three at the 1st is maybe a little awkward for a way to start the round, but after this, you have a genuine classic heathland that in my opinion is head-and-shoulders the best course in Hampshire. The par threes at the 3rd and 12th (previously the 7th) are perfect short holes, particularly the 12th that plays into a basin. The rest of the longer holes are all visually attractive, but also lend themselves to the golfer who can plot their way around a golf course as they by and large offer more than one way to play the hole - something I admit is not always present on tight heathland courses. Going back to the recent changes, and after the unchanged 14th (previously the 9th), which is another highlight from the original holes with clumps of heather that separate the green from the fairway and leaves the golfer with a semi-blind approach, you now walk through a passageway under the arch of the railway to the newly aligned and driveable 15th. 16 in all honesty probably still needs some tinkering, as I think the route to the green could be shaped more naturally than it is at present, but 18 is thankfully left untouched. A birdie is very much in play with a good drive on the last hole, but the big undulations and beautiful shaping and bunkering approaching the final green always means your round finishes on a natural high.I suspect the club will still be in observation mode over the next year or two as they’ll want to see how some of the changes play out, so they may develop some more contouring around the greens as time passes and as they react to how the new changes bed themselves in and are accepted by the members. But even without any further modifications, Liphook already compares well, and dare I say it, maybe even compares favourably with the likes of Surrey’s 3Ws. Given that there is some strong competition at the top of the England rankings, I’d make the case that the club could perhaps now go on to cement a place within England’s top 30. Admittedly, that’s never an easy nut to crack, but Liphook is now making a very strong case for its inclusion.

Machrihanish has always felt like a fairy-tale golfing destination to me, mainly due to the complexity with travelling to the lower Kintyre peninsula. And as our rotten luck would have it, due to a covid associated cancellation of the ferry crossing and a collapse of the road within the “Rest and Be Thankful” region west of Loch Lomond, a four hour drive from Troon did nothing to quell those preconceptions. But that long, scenic journey to this beautiful part of the world was ultimately well worth the effort.The opening nine holes of Machrihanish play across dunes almost foreign to most Scottish courses, for the contours across both the fairways and greens here are big, bold and wild. And rather than playing between the dunes, at Machrihanish you’re climbing right through them. The marketing of Machrihanish’s course annoys me though, the 1st hole literally gets all of the attention whilst information and photos on the rest of the course is scant. Whilst I’d be in agreement that Machrihanish probably has the best opening tee shot in golf, controversially I do think there are better opening holes elsewhere, the 1st at Royal Aberdeen being one. But the main reason I’m frustrated about the 1st hole hogging all of the headlines is after playing it, I found that the best was yet to come.The 2nd feels like the odd one out as it connects the lower ground with the higher duneland, but it’s a tough challenge as it plays to a lofted and handsomely shaped green. The 3rd is a blind tee shot ahead of a green that’s the most strategically bunkered across the course, and from that point on we have lift-off. This is the start of a most incredible sequence of holes and why Machrihanish has one of the best front nines that I’ve played. The 4th hole is the entrance to the most rugged and raw duneland where you’ll play across the most violently undulating ground. Other than the short 4th, the front nine is made up of a clean sweep of par fours, but the various lengths of holes in combination with the extreme land that paves the way to several proud and wavy greens means that the front nine never feels repetitive. In truth, the front nine is bordering on a sensory overload where it’ll be unlikely that you’ll be able to take it all in on a single visit. My host even informed me that many moons ago, a Himalayas-style bunker used to be in existence in the large dune on the 7th but over time, grass has taken root and grown over this sandy patch. So as good as the front nine currently is, exposing and restoring some of these wild dunes as big and natural sandy waste bunkers would really make it phenomenal. The bunkering around Machrihanish is in general infrequent in number, but what it does have can be deep and punishing. Pot bunkers on the 2nd, 5th and 12th are placed in troughs at the bottom of some brutal slopes so if you’re unfortunate enough to find these little monsters, I’m sure you’d be doing well to avoid them wrecking your scorecard. Whilst not at the same calibre as the front, the back nine has some highlights too, and I’d extend my praise as far as the 12th hole since two excellent but reachable par fives come in quick succession at 10 and 12. The 10th is at the far end of this out-and-back layout and has you bordering the air field as well as the sister course at Machrihanish Dunes. The second shot is the making of this hole as all but a fairway-splitting drive will have you needing to launch your second shot over some low dunes. Conversely, the excitement at 12 comes around the green where a rough and untidy swale protects this hole from being an easy reach in two, instead a large rolling green provides a big target for those taking the more comfortable three shot option.After the extreme highs over the first twelve holes, I think the first-time visitor is always going to have their experience tinged with a little disappointment through the last few holes, and I think this is why some people walk away with less than glowing opinions of the course. Whilst still sandy and linksy, the ground here is much less turbulent, but what doesn’t let up is the superb green contouring. A shelf at the front of the 13th green repels anything short whilst the 14th green is protected by a shallow swale that cuts across the end of the fairway. The mid-iron 15th is probably the best of the closing holes, this is an excellent par three with steep shaven run-offs on all sides of the green. Admittedly, the closing holes don’t hold the same appeal as what’s come before although I had read that there was talk a while back of finding another par three in the dunes which would then allow the club to create a brutal closing par five combining the existing 17th and 18th holes. I’d personally welcome such a change as it would help take Machrihanish to the next level, although I have the impression that the window of opportunity for this to occur may now have passed.Machrihanish seems to be short on love from reviewers recently so I hope I’ve gone some way to redressing the balance on what I think is a brilliant course. The closing holes shouldn’t overwhelm one’s overall judgement and I’m sure that if the weaker holes were interspersed between the stronger ones, or if they came at the start of the round rather than the end of it, more visitors would, as I do, hold the course in the highest of regards.

Does Gullane’s No 1 course have the best tee box views in the UK? It would get my vote. Based upon my own experience, the views here are unparalleled. I played here on a picture-perfect Summer’s evening with the sun setting during the back nine. The scenery from each lofty tee position was truly magnificent. White sandy beaches, the Firth of Forth, Muirfield, North Berwick Law and even Arthur’s Seat and Edinburgh were all visible in the distance and helped create a fine walk around Gullane Hill. Gullane No 1 is an honest, simple course that’s draped over the side of the hill. There are no template holes or hidden tricks and there’s nothing brash or flashy about the place. But I did like how you start the round close to the village where the practice green is set on a traffic island next to the members’ clubhouse and the 1st tee butts up against the road. Both the 1st and 18th then play in between the roads whilst the rest of the course traverses up and down natural linksland on the side of hill. The 2nd hole is unique given that it’s nestled between two dune ridges whereas the rest of the course is more exposed and open to the elements. The course then really shows itself at the par five 3rd hole for it’s the land on this side of the hill across which most of the golf is played. Thereafter, you’re faced with a winding journey as you traverse up, over and around Gullane Hill across green ribbons of fairway that are separated by deep yellow fescue.I wouldn’t say that any of the holes themselves are individually as memorable as many of Scotland’s other highly ranked courses, and I felt that the course misses the humps and bumps that I love to find when playing a links course, but the eighteen holes as a collective still make for a quality course. I’d probably select the par threes at 9 and 13 as the pick of the holes, along with the par five 12th with the teeing ground that sits on top of a steep cliff face. The anti-tank concrete fortification blocks on some of the holes on the back nine are also an interesting feature and make you realise that these are much more peaceful times, but thankfully the serene conditions of that Summer’s evening meant that any fierce battles on this land were confined mainly to the history books. Gullane’s a fine place to enjoy a round of golf and my only regret is not having played the other two courses as I left with the overwhelming feeling that Gullane is more about the sum of its parts rather than any specific individual highlights.

I’m sure if you took a straw poll of visitors to Scotland and asked them which course was their favourite, a general browsing of social media on the topic tells me that Kingsbarns would be near the top of that list. So after playing the course, I tried to answer the question as to why this is? The short answer is that it’s very pretty and it’s playable. Each hole at Kingsbarns is visually attractive and to the most part, in view of the sea. The large fairways mean that you don’t have to be fearful on the tee, big greens mean that there’s room for error for the handicap golfer, and there’s a nice amount of undulation to the putting surfaces without anything being particularly tricked up. The course is very fair too, there are no blind shots or awkward bounces and there is usually a side of the green or fairway which allows for a recovery if you mishit your first shot. And whilst it’s host of one of the championship days at the Alfred Dunhill (and here comes my attempt to be on-topic with the new WHS coming into play in the UK), Kingsbarns’ slope rating of 136 from the medal tees confuses me as I found the course quite scoreable, and I believe that this is a consensus opinion rather than just my own.I’d describe the course layout as being split into three sections; firstly we have the main part of the property where the holes are split between a lower section that sits by the sea, and the more elevated upper section that’s on the same level as the clubhouse. The third section of the property lies between holes 12 and 15 which follows a short walk through the trees and where you’ll get to enjoy playing one of the best par fives in Scotland under the watchful gaze of Crail in the distance. Kingsbarns is twenty years old now and it’s matured beautifully, the manufactured humps and mounds have weathered naturally and fit well within their surroundings and I hear that the course is always in excellent condition. As you’d expect of a course that ranks within all of the World Top 100 lists, it also has variety and its share of outstanding holes. I loved the approach to the 1st hole with the array of pot bunkers and collection points that await to catch a ball short of the green, whilst the aforementioned par five 12th that bends around the beach and the par three 15th where you have to carry the ball over the sea, are the holes that most visitors recall. Personally, I found the short 13th architecturally more stimulating than the 15th. This hole is bordered by a tall stone wall and has a small plateau green with an array of coffin-like bunkers surrounding it. I mentioned variety earlier too, as there’s a classic reachable par four at the 6th, a design concept which has been very en-vogue in recent years, but this shorty is the perfect marriage of both risk and reward with gorse bushes and revetted bunkers lying in wait. I do admit that the holes around the turn failed to excite me to the same extent as the previous holes, but they’re still solid and more than mere connector holes. There are no members at Kingsbarns which means that the sizeable green fees are targeted towards the foreign visitor market, and I’d argue that the course is also designed with the same aim. Kingsbarns is the ideal introduction to links golf for someone who’s not had much exposure to the links game before as well as the perfect remedy for those who may be underwhelmed by the visuals at nearby St Andrews, but I’m not convinced that Kingsbarns would stand up to repeated visits in the same way as the old classic a few miles up the road. That being said, Kingsbarns has plenty of eye-candy and is both very well designed and constructed. There has clearly been a strong attention to detail with a pleasant flow to the round and each hole coming with its fair amount of swales and borrows to keep things interesting. For my own individual tastes, I felt that the late Mark Parsinen’s effort at Castle Stuart is the slightly better of his two Scottish courses, and when I’m travelling up to Scotland, I’m personally looking for something a little more natural and authentic, but if you don’t mind digging deep into your wallet for a round of golf, I think Kingsbarns will find a way to please most that come through its gates.

Remembered fondly for Watson and Nicklaus’ duel in the sun and less so in recent times for Stuart Cink or its polarising owner, I’ll attempt to keep my review more to the experience of playing at Turnberry rather than the history or baggage that comes with playing it. Both my first and lasting impression of Turnberry is the hugeness in scale. It’s vast, it’s grand and it’s impressive. This extends from the colossal hotel that sits on top of the hill to just the sheer size of the property and the views on show, everything at Turnberry is big and dramatic. The land here is extreme, and as you’d expect from Donald Trump, the dial has well and truly been turned up to eleven. I didn’t enter the hotel, so other than the crudeness of the fountain that sits in front of the clubhouse and the overly manicured surround at the 16th green, most of the changes have been carried out tastefully. This makes the Ailsa course the most amazing visual treat and unquestionably the most spectacular course I’ve played.All is maintained to the highest of standards, from the roll on the greens to the revetting of the bunkers, which I must add was just impeccable. I think most people know the Ailsa course pretty well, so I’ll avoid the hole-by-hole analysis, but I do have to reinforce the fact that the coastal stretch from holes 4 to 11 justifiably receive the plaudits. Holes 9 to 11 in particularly are spectacular, my playing partner named these the “pornstar holes”, a fitting description – maybe Stormy Daniels was the inspiration?9 and 10 are the most photographed holes on the course, but the newly constructed par three at 11, where the green is perched on the cliff-side, is a masterful conclusion to this incredible sequence. What I must add however, for it’s something that gets overlooked, is that there are some excellent holes on the way in too. 12 is a sneaky-good hole with the green perched below the hilltop war memorial, the par five 14th with its newly elevated green that returns you to the lighthouse could be the signature hole on most courses, whilst the wonderful “Lang Whang” that plays through a valley at 17 is a beautiful yet robust crescendo to the round.Despite this, do I think Turnberry is perfect? No, not completely. The vastness of the course means that it doesn’t have the intimacy that I prefer when seeking out a golfing destination, and I feel that it misses some of the intricate natural detailing that other Open venues typically have. But there’s an impressiveness to the Ailsa that means if I gave anything less than full marks to the course, then I feel that it would be for other reasons than the quality of what must be one of the best golfing landscapes in the world.

Outside of a visit to the Old Course at St Andrews, I’d consider a day at Prestwick to be the next most sacred excursion that a golfer can make. A tour of the clubhouse alone makes Prestwick bucket-list material for any history buffs whilst the course itself is the embodiment of quirk. Prestwick is golf design from a bygone era so if you’re easily offended by blind shots and the odd unlucky bounce, then there will be other designs across Scotland that play more to your tastes. Personally, I found segments of the course just incredible, but simultaneously felt that there was an inconsistency across the full eighteen that prevents me from sharing the same passion for Prestwick as others. The first three holes are magnificent. The amazingly eccentric starting hole tees off beside the train station to a green jammed-in beside the railway wall, and after the pretty 2nd, the Cardinal hole at 3, with its back-to-back sleeper-tied deep bunkers and a gorgeously bumpy fairway ensure that Prestwick starts with a bang.The Himalayas at 5 is always going to be a novelty; not my favourite hole on the course, but blind par threes always provide their own sense of theatre as you crest the top of the hill to discover the outcome of your tee shot. But after that, I generally found the Elysian Fields through which 6 to 9 play a tad underwhelming. There’s a stark contrast to this run of tough par fours that play across flatter land adjacent to the dual carriageway and in full view of the airport that’s a poor contrast to the fun and wacky section of the course that’s played on the other side of the dune. I will admit that this run of holes is brilliantly well bunkered, but visually these won’t be the holes that bring golfers back for repeated visits. I also found 10 something of an uphill slog, so other than the first three holes, I was surprised to be approaching almost two-thirds of the way through the round and yet to be wowed by Prestwick’s charms.The course really takes off with the approach shot that plays between humps to a beautifully peculiar green at 12. Then after this, it’s sheer pandemonium. Sea Hedrig comes next, a hole that has the most crumpled of links fairways in advance of one of the most phenomenal greens I’ve seen. There’s less of a false front to the left-side of the 13th green, and more of a sheer drop. It just wouldn’t be taken seriously if a modern day course designer proposed anything similar yet we flock to places such as Prestwick to see such oddballs. Narrows at 15 is another delightful hole, my favourite on the course. I love the complexity of this hole as it threads itself across several elevation changes, around sandy hillocks and grass filled coffins. 16 and 18 are both driveable fours, 16 being particularly good and sees a reintroduction to the Cardinal bunker, whilst 17, the Alps hole, is the last of Prestwick’s famed golf holes. Another hugely narrow but this time particularly penal fairway is just the first challenge as you then play blind into a pudding basin of a green site where you’ll need to fly your ball over a tall dune and the famous Sahara bunker. Whilst it’s a hole like no other (before CB MacDonald came to visit in any case), I can’t help but feel a slightly more generous landing strip for the tee shot would be more visitor friendly on what’s otherwise a beautifully outrageous, but all the same, intensely challenging hole.The moral of the story at Prestwick is to not end your round early when you’re returned to the clubhouse at the 14th green as the final loop is in the discussion amongst the best final stretches in golf. But whilst Prestwick over the years has been hugely influential on golf course architects, the eighteen holes as a collection are just a little too inconsistent for me to be considered amongst the very best.

Dunaverty really is the most delightful location to enjoy a relaxed round of golf. Beautiful seaside views across sandy beaches are met with a distinctive set of golf holes that come with rectangular shaped greens located in dips and hollows. To plagiarise the words of Jim McCann in his review below, the description of this golf course being unpretentious captures the essence of Dunaverty perfectly. There’s a lovely rise and fall to the land and whilst those rectangular shaped greens are simple and rudimentary, they complement the land perfectly upon which the course was laid. Dunaverty is at the other end of the golfing spectrum from its championship counterparts. At a mere 4,800 yards, it can’t test all of the clubs in the bag, so a half-set will be all you need. If you’ve fine-tuned your game before visiting, there are plenty of birdie opportunities available, so on leaving Dunaverty you may be lured into the false sense of security thinking your golf is in better shape than it really is.After two fairly featureless get-away holes, the course really starts with the beautiful view out to the beach and the rocky outcrop at the 3rd tee. What follows are a combination of blind shots, undulating fairways, half-par holes, pot bunkers, micro-undulations and dell greens. There is also an amazing vista to enjoy from 11th tee that is a spot to stop and savour if visiting on a clear day like I did. I want to be careful not to over-analyse Dunaverty, just come here and have fun. It’s a place you can zip around pretty quickly and is the perfect little bolt-on to the trip if you’re going to be making the effort to drive all of this way to play the Machrihanish courses.

Machrihanish Dunes uses a black sheep for its logo, and I feel that this is the way the club is characterised within some golfing circles. Locally, it’s tarnished by being the new boy in town and greater recognition is typically given to Scotland’s other new links courses at Kingsbarns, Castle Stuart, Trump Aberdeen and Dumbarnie. I for one feel that this is unfair to Machrihanish Dunes as it looks and plays more like a traditional links than any of those other courses mentioned. Its remote location means that it is not so accessible, and its SSSI status led to course designer, David McLay Kidd being hugely limited with how his team was able to shape the land, but I found the results surprisingly excellent. The hospitality is very good too, from the moment Lorna provided her greeting in the intimate and humble clubhouse, we were made to feel welcome and comfortable here.The course remarkably opened just over ten years ago, and you would never guess that to be the case were you not told in advance. That’s because this links dunescape has been lying here for centuries and the use of bulldozers or excavators was largely restricted when working the land, instead good old fashioned design principles had to be employed. As such, and what makes this course different from the other new Scottish links, Machrihanish Dunes is a minimalist design in the truest sense featuring lots of blind shots to marker posts perched on top of natural dunes. The routing isn’t as efficient as it could otherwise be and bunkers, rather than being located strategically, have often just been opened out from original animal scrapings, but their shaping all the same is still exceptional. The fairways are dotted with lumpy moguls everywhere, another aspect missing from most modern course designs. I also understand that the course has improved considerably over the last ten years. It’s matured properly now and the rough is better managed than when it first opened as they’re now able to use machinery to limit the height of the rough.The greens are big undulating surfaces. I understand that they have been softened over time, but I’d argue that they’re suitable for the undulating land upon which this course sits. Despite being gently softened, there are still some wonderfully crazy contours where you can play some fun chips into greens off backboards and across heaving slopes. The club also made the decision to switch the nines a few years ago so don’t be confused like I was when reading older reviews. The switching of the nines was probably a sensible idea as the 10th must have been a severe start and the 17th and 18th pack more of a grandstand finish than the current 8th and 9th.Onto individual holes of note and after a solid start through the opening holes, the 4th will be the first hole that sticks firmly in the memory. This short par four is played almost completely blind towards a cross in the distance and then into an elongated but hidden dell green that’s buried within a dune. Another hole worth mentioning on the front nine includes the stunning par three 5th that is the first of back to back par threes. The 5th green site is tucked into the corner of the property and guarded by a lone bunker having the appearance like it was always intended for golf, although they’ve recently had to erect a wind sheet to prevent salt spray from damaging the green. The long 8th was another of my favourites and reminded me of the 3rd at Royal Cinque Ports. The second shot plays blind to a rumpled fairway before a green that drops away heavily to the left hand side sliding anything in that direction into the mouths of two greedy bunkers.The back nine is also littered with strong holes with the 10th probably being the stand-out. After hitting a drive into a dip in the fairway from a high elevated tee, this hole then has a large punch-bowl style green. Later in the round, I found 17 to be something of a disjointed hole. Admittedly, I made a mess of this one, but after hitting what I felt was a good tee shot, I was then left with the most ludicrous shot to the green that offers no option of bailing out and making a safe bogey. This is a do-or-die hole where you’ll need to strike your ball cleanly over a big depression in the land before a deep bunker ahead of the green also stands waiting. A hole straight from the penal book of course design.That being said, despite the long drive and not completely seamless design, I’d happily return to the Kintyre peninsula at a point in the future to play this lovely course that harks back to the ages. Alongside Dunaverty and the old Machrihanish course, the Dunes course makes an excellent addition to this part of the world and definitely shouldn’t be bypassed.

Western Gailes is the genuine article. A strong, hardy links that combines links and heathland where a railway dashes alongside many of the holes whilst the beach and sea provide the backdrop to the other fence line. There’s a ruggedness that I love about Western Gailes that can’t be recreated on new courses as you’re routed across low and bumpy duneland. I could see many a wily Scotsman plying their trade here with low, fizzing tee shots and bump and runs to keep their ball below the wind. I really like how the course is skilfully routed across this slim piece of land. Rather than being out and back, 1 to 4 provide the appetiser along the train tracks, then comes the main course from 5 through 13 that bring in the lovely sea views including the best of the dunes, whilst dessert is served from 14 to 18 as they bring you back again along the railway.The course starts off strong with a beautifully bumpy fairway at the opening hole and a sunken green on the 2nd but most people who’ve researched Western Gailes in advance will know that it’s at 6 and 7 where the most exceptional holes appear. These holes would grace any links course on the planet, 6 being a short par five where the second shot plays blind over high dunes to a wiggly fairway and a hidden green, whereas 7 plays into an amphitheatre-like dune with beautiful revetted bunkering carved into the green sides. I’d probably argue that Western Gailes is maybe two outstanding holes shy of being a genuine world top 100 contender, although I could also throw the 9th and 17th into the conversation of world class holes at Western Gailes. The 9th fairway is insane, a humpty-dumpty of a crumpled fairway where no flat lies will be found. And at 17, the fairway snaps at mid-point as you play semi-blind over a heathery ridge before hitting towards a raised sighting-cross over another lumpy fairway where sneaky pot bunkers lie beside the green.In fairness, all of the holes could be described as being very good and I’d only have the minor quibble that the hidden burns buried in front of some of the greens felt a little repetitive in places. Also, whilst only my personal opinion, and I understand the reason for the fairway bunker changes where pot bunkers have been removed and blowout bunkers introduced, but pot bunkers are more to my tastes on a links course and I feel that the new bunkering takes away from some of Western Gailes’ unique character. I don’t want to finish on a downbeat note though as Western Gailes is pretty special and a course that I felt was better than nearby Prestwick and competes with its open rota neighbour at Royal Troon. A trip to the Ayrshire coast is not complete without a round at Western Gailes and you’ll be hard pushed to find a more consistently strong links across Scotland. This course with its thick rough will no doubt provide a test of your golf, but it’s a pleasure rather than a chore to be tested by Western Gailes.

I thought my usually reliable Sat Nav had gone on the blink as it took me up a country road telling me that I was arriving at Piltdown Golf Club. This looked like I was arriving at someone’s “escape to the country” home, but no, this half-tiled redbrick building really was the clubhouse for Piltdown Golf Club. And by and large, on arrival I was very impressed by the homeliness of Piltdown. A traditional clubhouse and practice area are located on one side of the road, whilst on the other lays what is recognised as one of Sussex’s best golf courses. Sadly, like so many courses this year, Piltdown is another that’s succumbed to the last twelve months of crazy conditions and it’s not currently in its best state. The entire 2nd fairway was GUR when I played it as they’ve reseeded it to try and get some growth back. The club has kindly reduced visitor green fees to recognise that it’s not playing to its full potential right now whilst “lift and place” is being practiced on all fairways whilst the improvement work is ongoing.The 2nd hole closure and course conditioning aside, I still had fairly mixed feelings during the opening nine. Given that it ranks higher than Crowborough Beacon where I’d played and enjoyed just a few weeks earlier, and the inaugural National Club Golfer rankings places Piltdown as high as 43rd amongst England’s top 100, I was left a little underwhelmed as I approached the halfway point in the round. The opening hole has a tricky green where my approach shot succumbed to its false-front and I’m sad to say that I didn’t share the same love for holes 3 and 4 that play around Piltdown Pond as other reviewers before me, good holes even though they are. Some interesting clumps of heather were arranged in a concertina effect towards the entrance to the green on what I think was the 6th hole, and to the course’s credit, through the use of heather, swales and mounding, the lack of bunkers was hardly noticeable.All pleasant so far but nothing outstanding. Personal opinion maybe, but I felt that it wasn’t until the 9th where I started to get a taste of why others refer to the course as a local gem. The entry to this hole is pictured and has a combination of lovely troughs and wrinkles in front of the green; I’m not sure if these are natural, man-made or a sign of where bunkers have historically been removed, but they work very well as a visual deterrent to the under hit or fat approach shot. These handsome features then become a pattern for many of the holes through the incoming stretch. Various fairways are split in two by stripes of heather, the short 12th and 16th being the most memorable examples. Added to this, 13 is an excellent dogleg featuring a blind tee shot to the crest of a bank and then turns towards a small sunken green. More swales and heathery troughs are again apparent with holes such as the 14th having a small heather-filled crater eighty yards from the green whilst the following par three is similarly decorated with clumpy ground. The best green is left until the 17th, alongside the 3rd, comfortably the toughest two holes to achieve par on across the course, but the penultimate green is wonderfully shaped like a drunken biarritz that’s just had a stroke. Coupled with this, there are quite a few small greens to get to grips with. The greens are usually demanding of good ball striking as there isn’t much room for manoeuvre given the interesting shapes around the greens if you’re hoping to get down in two.Comparisons with nearby Crowborough Beacon and Royal Ashdown Forest are going to be inevitable when finishing the round. Neither Crowborough or Piltdown are as grand as RAF, and I would give Crowborough the nod over Piltdown for sheer drama due to its undulating site, Piltdown being flatter than both of its peers, but there’s a lot to like at Piltdown, and that back nine does give Royal Ashdown Forest a run for its money.

Sunningdale is the best of British heathland golf and it’s an absolute delight to spend a day here. A visit to Sunningdale is widely considered to be the best single club golfing day in Britain, perhaps even the world, and whilst it’s an expensive day, please do yourself the favour and treat yourself, you will not go away ruing any lack of value for money. The facilities available at Sunningdale are all-world level wonderful. A tremendous practice area, well stocked pro-shop and mouth-watering food on offer at one of the most majestic clubhouses in the game all combine to make this the grandest of days out, but the standard of golf here is just pure unadulterated joy from start to finish. Whilst the New course is excellent and rightly considered one of England’s finest in its own right, the Old has to be considered the club’s showpiece.Each hole across the Old is crafted superbly through towering trees and sprawling heather whilst being set amongst perfectly undulating ground. A wonderful combination of varying green complexes are positioned at the end of fairways with jaw droppingly beautiful curves adorned with heather topped mounds and sculpted bunkers that fit effortlessly into their surroundings.It would be easy to lavish praise upon each hole in a love letter to this golfing land that borders on perfection but in an effort to not bore readers who I already congratulate for making it this far, I’ll start with the magnificent view from the 4th green which gives a beautifully elevated vantage point straight down both the 5th and 6th holes. This view through two holes slotted through a treelined corridor summarises the essence of Sunny Old for me. 7 is another triumph. If you can get over the fact that the tee shot is completely blind, when you climb to the crest of the hill, the most audaciously rolling land is presented in front of you. A wide fairway is gentle recognition to the fact that you’ll be unsighted from the tee, and the green site is sublime, set naturally into the seat of the hill, it’s one of my favourite green sites in Surrey.The 10th tee at the highest point of the course provides likely the most memorable outlook across the eighteen. This tee overlooks another sweeping fairway that’s pitched way below the tee, but I may prefer the short yet strategic 11th. Is there a better short par four in England than Sunningdale Old’s 11th? A wall of heather and a cavernous bunker set into the hill are intimidation enough from the tee where you’ll have to commit to your line over the marker post whilst guarding against leaking a drive to the right, for deep heather awaits as well as the likelihood of being blocked out by the row of pines that hide the upturned green. If 10 and 11 aren’t enough to have you in raptures, surely the 12th will win over the most ardent of cynics who hasn’t yet been won over by Sunningdale’s beauty and diversity? A softly curving hole where line and length from the tee are paramount before a string of diagonal bunkers and a tricky raised green attached to the side of the hill make this probably the toughest test on the back nine.I must also mention the magnificent end to the round with the view along the 17th fairway earning comparisons with the earlier scene from the 5th tee where you are once again gifted a glorious vista through the next two beautiful golf holes. This time the view is the homeward stretch to another beautiful piece of rolling land that’s littered with bunkers like golfing landmines before a final green that’s set under the shadow of Sunningdale’s iconic grand old oak tree.If I was to reach for a weakness to Sunningdale Old, there are only two par fives on the course and both are comfortably reachable in two. And as a whole, I wouldn’t consider Sunningdale’s Old course a genuine championship test (not necessarily a negative) and I was struck by the step-up in difficulty when playing the New which I found to be much more demanding of my game. Otherwise, Sunningdale Old is virtually flawless. Conditioning plays an unfairly weighty roll in the opinions of many an amateur golfer’s appraisals, but Sunningdale ticks this box as it is always in impeccable shape. Sunningdale Old represents my first 6-ball rating for a course that’s set away from the linksland, but it strongly competes with any other course I’ve played. This is one of golf’s most magical places and the only question you’ll be asking yourself when finishing a round here is whether there is still time for another eighteen? 36 holes at Sunningdale – what a treat.

The Doctor’s first effort might not be held in the same high regard as the golfing legacy he left behind at Augusta, Royal Melbourne or Cypress Point, but his design at Alwoodley would still be the golfing equivalent of acing your first exam. Alwoodley is a fine course in a real golden patch of heathland a short hop north of Leeds that is also home to neighbouring high achievers Moortown and Sand Moor. Play here as I did whilst the heather is in bloom this last August and this beauty can really bite. I thankfully had one of my better ball striking days so I was able to enjoy my round, yet I still couldn’t muster a score to challenge my handicap.The heather is endless at Alwoodley, a real purple haze if you can catch it in high season, but almost even more eye catching is the striking quality of the bunker work. I’m not well read enough to know how many of the bunkers have been restored to the original MacKenzie or even Colt designs, but if they haven’t been, they’ve maintained the true philosophy from both legendary architects. Strongly shaped into knolls and embankments, they provide a distinct visual threat from the tee. Sweeping, irregular and on many an occasion heather topped, Alwoodley’s bunkers provide strong competition to my favourite sandy hazards at West Sussex.Away from the heather and bunkering, it’s a quality layout too and deserving of its place in a tightly fought England top twenty. It’s difficult to pick standout holes amongst the eighteen as the whole course is consistently strong throughout but I’ll make my best attempt. The 4th hole stood out for me for its horribly intimidating carry off the competition tees whilst the 5th has an attractive left to right rippled and sloping fairway. The holes around the middle of the round would likely be the most memorable; the 8th is one of those wonderfully bunkered holes and a gettable par five whilst the 10th is a long arching hole that plunges into a deep hollow. 11 is a corker of a photogenic par three with a set of traps that are arranged like wicket keepers’ gloves around the front of the green, but don’t think you can protect your score by going long to take them out of play as the downhill putt from the back of the green is also perilous. 13 has a wonderful set of bunkers that semi-circle the entrance to the fairway, although they don’t really come into play, whilst the 16th is a delicious par four that criss-crosses the 3rd fairway and comes decorated with a snaking bunker on the left side of another beautifully shaped green.The drive to an infinity fairway on 17 is another highlight, although I’m yet to be convinced by the green site on this hole as it’s hidden half-blind on a downslope. Although visually they may have saved one of the best until last with a breath-taking elevated tee shot playing to another heavily bunkered par four with a green that’s set back to the side of one of the best modern clubhouses in the game. It’s fair to say that I really like Alwoodley. Playing here may feel like an elbow to the ribs at times – it’s golf’s equivalent to Medusa, she’ll draw you in with her beauty before turning you to stone, but you’ll still get your kicks out of it along the way.

Halifax is an old industrial town in West Yorkshire, a little rough and ready in places as the mills that once made this a thriving hub of manufacturing gave way when the country’s economy shifted away from making stuff. But what’s been left behind is a town with a timeless beauty as tall sandstone factories and low terraces sit within a large valley beside the barren moorlands of the South Pennines. Halifax’s golf club, a few miles away from the town that bares its name mirrors the town of Halifax itself, for this is an unfashionable golf club that won’t attract golfing trophy hunters, but scratch below the surface at Ogden and you may find yourself a diamond in the rough. You’ll get no airs or graces here, ask the locals and they’ll tell you that we’re in God’s country, and there’s no need for politeness in these parts, just get on your way and don’t cause any trouble. A driving-net with a modest pro-shop beside it will provide you with sufficient warm-up before you take the long march to the first tee past the practice green and the clubhouse whose retaining wall is adorned with golf shoes acting as plant pots. How very Yorkshire.The natural undulations of the course immediately hit you from the off. A tough, long opener with a large swale in front of a wildly banked and undulating green is laid out in front of wind turbine laden hills that climb off into the distance. “It must be blustery up on top of that hill” you’ll think to yourself, and you’ll get the chance to experience that later as the course climbs and climbs and climbs all the way up to the 13th tee.Some of the best holes come at the start of the round. A short but tricky par three is played at the 2nd with a green perched on top of a hill, whilst one of two shared fairways (the other being 1 and 18) presents itself across heaving angled land on the 3rd and 4th where you’re forced to cross two streams to raised and rotated greens – “James Braid was ‘ere” you’d be right to think. The holes roll and tumble after this playing into corners and up steep slopes and across thick bracken and diagonal streams with their stone bridges. Halifax is a course where club selection is pivotal, this was my first visit to the course, and being absent of any Rangefinder or Strokesaver, I never felt comfortable on the tee as distances were difficult to judge by the eye, so bear that in mind on your first visit. The course continues to sidewind its way up the hill until you surface for a breath at the green on the 12th, a quirky up-and-over short par four that plays blind to the green. And this is where you can take that big gulp of air for this is the time to breathe in those rolling hilltop views. The fairways finally plateau from 13-16 where the holes are moderately less interesting to what’s come before, but the wind will likely have you gasping, and if the wind doesn’t have you making a sharp intake of breath, Ogden’s signature drop-shot par three on the 17th from the side of the hill certainly will.Halifax Golf Club may be a little unkempt in parts but therein lies the beauty. I may also be a little generous with my four-ball rating for a course that will never threaten England’s Top 100, but I am partial to a bit of rough on the side (of a hill), and I do believe that courses such as this one at Ogden are the heart and soul of English golf and they need to be loved and cherished. Anyone can walk here, anyone can play golf here, and most of all, we can all enjoy it.

I’m not really the target audience for Remedy Oak. My traditional tastes are too hardwired that I often struggle to see the best from new designs. Yet I recognise that for some, this 2006 John Jacobs’ design will be some people’s idea of a dream course. First off, Remedy Oak is an unbelievably beautiful property, so if a routing through tall woodlands and playing shots over water hazards from pristinely kept turf is what turns you on, get yourself to Remedy Oak. Water hazards are plentiful, coming into play on roughly half of the holes. Bull rushes stand tall above the water on holes such as the double dogleg par five 2nd where the green is surrounded by a pond. The 5th, 7th and 8th also have water very much in play as you spiral around the front nine, the 5th being another tricky par five as you’re required to guide your ball down a narrow alleyway between water hazards and marshes, whilst the driveable 8th at only 272 yards from the white tees asks whether you’re going to be a hero or a chicken due to the large pond that extends across the width of the fairway. Not all of the design is as seamless as it ought to be though, long walks have been mentioned by others, not a massive irritation to me as part of my enjoyment when playing golf is the walk itself. On the other hand, the tall tree in the middle of the fairway on the 3rd is a little more bothersome for my own personal tastes – just hand me the chainsaw. The bunkering in sections could also have been more inventive, the 13th for example being one of the most uninspiring holes visually and could be enhanced with some more eye-catching shaping around the green.Unlike other reviewers, I found the par fives to all be quite enjoyable as you have to plot your way through each hole, one of the best examples is the 15th. Here the ideal line from the tee is blocked by a single tree (this one is strategically well placed on the corner of the fairway rather than in the middle of it) before water again guards the green at an awkward distance. The last par five at 17 has a fairway that squiggles up and over the brow of a hill before two hidden centre-line fairway bunkers come into play for those having a crack at the green in two. 18 finishes off the round with a par four that presents a fun finishing hole over water but I’ve always found 90 degree doglegs a little clunky and lacking natural flow. This hole hasn’t changed my opinion.In general, Remedy Oak is a beautiful and tranquil place to play golf where you get to enjoy the solitude of a woodland walk and each hole plays in isolation between tall pines. I could never tire of the echo my driver makes when connecting with the ball as you tee off amongst the trees. And whilst the design is littered with multiple forced carries which may be tough if you’re not a consistent striker of the ball, the serenity and impressiveness of the surroundings should win you over. Whilst I did enjoy my round at Remedy Oak, it’s still not somewhere I’m in a particular rush to go back to. If I find myself in Dorset looking for a round of golf, there are three golden age heathland courses just a short journey away which offer a more subtle and repeatable experience and are more likely to be the courses that get my return visit, but admittedly, other golfers with conflicting tastes to mine may think differently.

I attempted to visit Crowborough Beacon earlier in the year and surprisingly, given that I’d expected this to be a free draining heathland course, it was closed for several weeks due to flooding from the heavy early year rain. I eventually delayed my first visit to the club to last month hoping for better conditions. It was playable at least, but it seems that the wet winter conditions followed by the hot, dry spell that followed has really taken its toll on Crowborough Beacon more than most clubs, leaving a lot of bare, patchy fairways. If you’re someone who’s able to look beyond this, I’d give a big thumbs-up recommendation to visiting Crowborough as it’s a little peach of a heathland course with character and charm aplenty, and despite more torrential rain preceding my round on the evening I played, I found it to be one of the most fun games of golf I’ve enjoyed this year.There are some little crackers around Crowborough Beacon, with the 2nd, 5th and 6th being particularly memorable holes. After a nice wide fairway start on the first to ease you away, the 2nd offers up a stiff challenge as you’re invited to play this 449-yard par four tight to the corner of the treelined dogleg to a fairway that drops way below the elevated tee and is further enhanced by a punishing untidy depression in the land that’s topped with heather and bracken providing an obstacle to clear in front of the green. Similar to the 2nd, the holes at 5 and 6 take you across some more extreme land undulations; the 5th plays down then up over a stream where a lofty bridge offers you safe passage above the depths of the valley before you’re made to face a beast of a climb to the green. The signature hole at 6 then follows which is an all-carry par three over a pit of doom. The course flattens off a little after this to save those weary legs before some country roads then offer another surprising feature through the middle of the round. In total, six live roads are crossed with the beautifully curving par five 7th and the tilted 15th incredibly playing over those roads. There are also lots of footpaths and bridleways that zig-zag across the course which you’re constantly reminded of with a safety warning sign on seemingly every hole.There is a huge amount of diversity across the course, some excellent, some not so good. The 10th has a crazy tee shot where it appears like you’re trying to thread your ball through the eye of a needle, the 11th has trees in the centre-left of the fairway blocking the direct line to the green whilst a collection of gorse bushes are oddly planted in the middle of the 12th fairway. All quite bizarre, particularly when these are played as consecutive holes, but it works – well, maybe. A cute par three and a par five with an enormous expanse of heather are then negotiated on the next two holes before you’re returned back to the clubhouse via the more extreme landscapes from earlier in the round with features such as banked fairways, grass bunkers, false fronted greens and heather-topped sand traps.Given how peculiar Crowborough Beacon is, I’m surprised it doesn’t get more attention amongst golf course intellectuals as it’s a delightful variation of quite startling bulky features. It’s justifiably considered as one of the best courses in Sussex but some thinning out of the trees would help open up the land and allow the heathland to flourish whilst those fairways are in need of much more love and attention to bring them back to life.

The concept of a quirky, bumpy links course with a churchyard, coastal railway and blind shots, all situated on the cliffside overlooking Gwithian Sands is a description that for me, sounds idyllic. Sadly, playing the course on a busy day meant my experience of the course was massively spoilt as quite frankly, it’s the least safe place I’ve ever played golf. West Cornwall itself is a classic lay-of-the-land golf course. Greens and tees were located where, over a century ago, the architect felt they were most suited, yet I’m unconvinced that there was ever enough space here for a full eighteen. There are some positives to appreciate at Lelant which other reviewers before me have enjoyed; the 2nd for example is a lovely hole with its entry point to the green between two grand dunes, and the 11th too, another hole where the green is approached over sand dunes was a personal favourite, although the proximity of the dunes to the green on both holes is maybe a touch severe for the higher handicap golfer. The view from the 12th tee box is another highlight, a climb to the tee that will open up the lungs but the views out to Hayle and the adjacent long sandy beach provide a wonderful panorama.Now onto why I struggled with the course. What happens between holes 3 and 10 is just sheer madness. After nearly hitting someone on the 4th tee when I was teeing off blind on the 3rd and my playing partner nearly doing likewise to someone playing along the blind yet shared 4th and 8th fairways, I admittedly lost my head with the course. “The Triangle” then presents a separate, lower elevated section of the course whereby holes 5, 6 and 7 that form this part of the course are set by the banks of the Hayle Estuary. 5 and 7 cross one another to form fairly mediocre par threes whilst the 6th has one of the oddest tee shots with maybe the longest and thinnest tee boxes I’ve ever played from where a mid-iron tee shot is the only safe play such is the close proximity of these tightly intertwined holes. The one redeeming feature of this three-hole loop is the tremendous infinity style green and approach to the 6th that’s protected by a recently built Sahara-like bunker.Hard hats are needed again as you rise back out of The Triangle and come back down the same congested stretch where you played earlier. All a little crowded and confusing for my liking where the 9th tee is very much in danger for those driving from the 8th. Ducking and diving, being consciously aware of flying golf balls and shouts of “fore” again ultimately blighted my enjoyment on what should have been an idyllic Summer afternoon. Once you’re over the tee shot on 10, you can admittedly start to relax although safety netting has been required around the 13th tee to allow for this. The back nine opens up a little although doesn’t carry the same interesting lumpy ground as the front half. Other than the quality 11th and views on offer from the 12th tee box, the coffin bunkers around the green on 10 are a strong feature and 14 again brings in those dunes next to the 2nd green. The closing stretch is reasonable but not as noteworthy as the madness that’s come before, but by this time my mind was made up on the course and I probably wasn’t able to enjoy some of these later holes to their fullest. I have to also point out that having played the course this last July, we found crow damage on a couple of the greens and I also found the sand in the bunkers to be overly refined and soft, it looks like it’s recently been replaced and not reflective of what I’d expect in links style bunkers but maybe it will settle over time.I know a course is only blind once and there’s an argument that I’d enjoy the course more so on a second visit, but my overriding opinion was that this is a great piece of land with too many poorly laid out holes, particularly for the modern game where average players, myself included, can hit the ball 100 yards offline. I’ll conclude by saying that there is some good stuff at West Cornwall, and others may get much more enjoyment from playing it than I did, but I’d recommend heading out for a late evening round when the sun is low and the course is light on traffic rather than taking up a tee time in the middle of the afternoon amongst a congested tee sheet.

After staying for a night in the luxurious Headland Hotel last year (highly recommended), I’d dismissed Newquay Golf Club as holiday golf and travelled to Perranporth instead. The Headland overlooks the course and from the hotel front, Newquay appears to be a somewhat open field, but that’s far from the truth. Fortunately, on a recent trip back to Cornwall for a post-lockdown golf tour, I decided to give the course a shot and it massively exceeded my expectations. What a beautiful place this is. The holes are located on the incline overlooking Fistral Beach, a location famed much more for its surf than its golf. With a County Card I paid £27 for the pleasure and there are a lot of fun holes out there with a good degree of challenge making that excellent value for money. The course measures just over 6,100 yards and as a par 69, despite its openness and beautiful seaside views on display, this is no walk in the park. Whilst I’m sure that the course has been altered and upgraded over the years, the bunkering has stayed true to its Harry Colt roots and the conditioning was excellent, particularly considering the harsh Winter, dry Spring and what I’d expect was limited maintenance during lockdown.From the off, I found the bumpy fairways an unexpected treat and that instantly dispelled my presumption that this is just a linksy field on a hillside. There are some superb holes out there. The 4th is one of my favourites on the front nine and plays over a pair of large fairway bunkers uphill to a benched green - benched greens are a regular feature of the course, as they also reappear at 12, 14 and 17.The 5th too is a lovely par four that plays along the boundary line into the corner of the plot set beside the beach. Good holes then keep coming; 7 being a beautiful par three with a mounded green and a large vertical fall-away to the front left into an ugly deep bunker. This is before the footpath holes then start to come into play mid-round which represents an unusual challenge, and probably not something everyone will enjoy, particularly higher handicap golfers.9 is another lovely par three, also elevated and surrounded by bunkers, this hole felt very Colty. 10 and 11 for me then represented the most ordinary stretch of golf, but to remedy that, the best hole on the course at 12 then arrives with a wide angled fairway playing into another one of those benched greens set into the hillside with embedded greenside bunkers. This is all laid out in front of harshly contrasting swish apartment blocks. The repetitive nature of traversing over the footpath (there must be a half-dozen of these holes) started to wear a little thin later in the round but I wouldn’t want that to take away from what I’d consider to be a beautifully designed and well bunkered course. At £27 for a round, I can confidently conclude by saying that I’ve never played a better course with cheaper green fees. A must-play if in the area.

Burnham & Berrow has everything. And I mean that. It has everything. A beautiful clubhouse and a great practice area, views out to the Severn Estuary, rolling lumpy fairways, large undulating greens, big imposing dunes - sometimes you go over them, sometimes you go in between them, doglegs, short and long par threes, tempting par fives, strong bunkering, raised tees, both sunken and elevated greens, not one but two monument backdrops (a church and a lighthouse), lots of variation and excellent conditioning. Yet I’ve played here twice now and I just can’t fall in love with the place. I’ve been beaten to shreds on both visits, making a mockery of my single figure handicap. There’s no doubting Burnham is beautiful, but it’s just brutal. Go offline and your ball can be buried in thick, punishing rough - width and angles is not a concept that was invented at Burnham. Without repeating too much of the reviews that have gone before me, holes 1 to 5 and 14 to 18 play through the best of the dunes whilst you associate the holes in between with flatter wetland areas, although new dunes are in the process of being constructed on the 12th. The short 9th however is in a class of its own and breaks up this slightly inferior stretch, but then again, all of the par threes at Burnham are very strong.Some of the fairway mowing lines such as those at 10 and 15 are a little odd as they seem to favour the shorter hitter and steer you away from what I felt was the ideal line, but this is made up for by the excellent threes and 14 and 17 as well as the superb green site at 16. Like a well beaten boxer that’s had a couple of standing eight counts and is being held up by the ropes in the final round, the walk down the 18th is one that can leave you feeling slightly bruised and battered and thankful to be back at the clubhouse. Yet when I played the other week in bright sunshine, I looked behind myself on the final green to see the beautiful links ground over which I’ve just played and scratched my head. Maybe I’ll have fun next time? Maybe my game is just not good enough? Still a bloody good course though.

Holiday golf it might be, and for a low handicap golfer, Bude is there for the taking, but this is the epitome of fun, enjoyable golf. Bumpy links ground? Check. Sneaky hollows? Check. Pot bunkers? Check. Marker posts and blind drives? More than you could ever hope for. Bude may be rough and wild and most of the course can be played with a drive and a wedge but boy, is this place a hoot. The first five holes play on the other side of the road from the clubhouse across supreme bumpy links turf - the 3rd hole playing to a raised green that’s routed alongside the boundary edge being the pick of the bunch. The course also borders the fronts of colourful terraced houses through this section reminding me of playing at Elie in Scotland. Unless you’re in the market for some post-round supermarket shopping, the Sainsburys that neighbours the course is a bit of a visual blight on the opening holes but the course is too much fun to let such details get in the way.On the other side of the road, we have the remaining 13 holes that traverse back and forth over lovely linksland. This stretch also starts with a couple of beauties. The raised greens on the 6th and a similar but more extreme greensite again on the 7th are both charming and a challenge to make sure you get the right number with your yardage or you’ll end up with a bugger of a chip back up to the flag. I also loved the numbered marker posts that paved the way for the many blind shots, adding a real sense of character to the course.After teeing off beside the school on nine, the terrain takes on a parkland setting which admittedly always feels a little out of character on a links, but this quickly sweeps back to the fun links ground at 11. The holes thereafter from 11 through to 18 then scissor back and forth parallel to one another up and back down the dunes. The rise and fall of the land means that there’s hardly a level lie to be had and the green complexes through this section are a real smorgasbord of delights. Not all of them may be welcomed by the modern golfer as some of the flags were near impossible to access, but this is a course that stands firm with its architectural principles that hark back to its original design 100 years ago; but a couple of dell-like greens, 14 being the best example, should give any keen golf enthusiast worth their salt a reason to make the trip.

Recognised for being the oldest links course in England, Westward Ho! is one of those marmite experiences that either falls well short of expectations for a club with royal pedigree, or for others, provides a unique, traditional encounter like no other.Grazing sheep, sea views and fast and true fescue greens, combined with a historic clubhouse that offers a window to golf’s past is a given. Whilst the course, in its current layout since 1908, has the feeling of being untouched.The flat appearance of the course is immediately apparent on arrival, but rather than being deterred by this, the open expanse of links turf and swathes of sea rushes was one that stirred my golfing soul. The first two holes represent a challenge as burns zig zag across the fairways on both holes. The 1st a par five and the 2nd a par four, both play a similar distance more representative of par 4.5 holes. The public access road to the beach comes into play on the 2nd as you negotiate these deep sea rushes and unless you have the brawn to make the green in two despite the prevailing wind, will leave you with a pitch that plays to a lovely upturned green. Immediately, within two holes, despite the flat land, I found myself thinking and plotting as to how I need to strategise my way through the holes if I’m going to make a score. A flat, featureless field this is not.That being said, the stretch where dunes do come into play from 4 through 8 is as good as I’ve played anywhere. 3 gives a glimpse of what’s to come, whilst, 4, Cape, RND’s most famous hole with its enormous sleepered bunker shouldn’t come into play for most decent strikers of a ball as a generous fairway lays beyond it. 5 is a glorious raised par three and the uneven fairway on 6 is unparalleled. 7 and 8 then have you playing out to the beachside where sand and fairways merge, 7 playing as a par four over the reeds and 8 a par three playing to the furthest point away from the clubhouse to a green framed by a sea wall.Outside of this most amazing stretch of golf, 9 represents one of the more interesting flatter holes where again you’re required to plot your way down the fairway before the bumpy lumps return on your route through 10 and 11. Admittedly, the second half of 12 and all of 13 is indeed field-like and I was worried that the course was going to spiral downhill quickly at this point, but the 13th green, perched up in a plateau above this starkly flat gradient makes up for a disappointing patch of land. For many a golfer will likely be left bemused as they see their ball roll off the other side of the putting surface on what seems like the most bland hole tee to green, yet they still manage to walk away with bogey. The flatter stretches of the course that come after this, whilst not at the level of the front nine are still well designed and are carved through the sea rushes with strategy still in play, and all the while being enhanced with interesting green complexes that come with drop-offs and in places, some excellently wicked slopes. Those sea rushes are a real feature across the course, and whilst some may find them a little unsightly, make for some interesting and blind tee shots. The round closes at 17 and 18, firstly with a five shot hole oddly playing over the live road - a little frustrating where we had to wait for several minutes to play our approach shots for the traffic to pass, whilst 18 makes a mockery of its stroke index 18 at 414-yards into the wind with a large ditch in front of the green.On finishing my round, I had to think “seriously, what’s not to like?” It may not have the dunes that many associate with and seek out when playing links golf, but this course is a haven and a museum to golf’s historic past. Accept that you’re going to face a pretty sparse terrain when playing here and instead enjoy the intricate test and rugged beauty that the course offers.

Blackwell is one of those courses that demonstrates the quality of strength in-depth that we have across England. Parkland courses aren’t usually places that stimulate me, but the sense of fun, creativity and enjoyment that often seems to be absent in parkland courses is often at the fore at this quaint and traditional club. The aspect of the course that struck me most is the layout around the clubhouse. Whilst the routing does seem a little contrived to bring each loop of nine back to the clubhouse, those holes and their close proximity to the clubhouse are a real unique feature about Blackwell. The first tee, playing over a marker post on the crest of a hill plays blind, but take a couple of steps back and your playing partners can watch you teeing off whilst leaning against one of the clubhouse walls. The 9th, a classic par three playing over the lake is adjacent to the opening hole and no doubt brings a little Sawgrass drama to those watching on from the balcony. As we switch around to the reverse side of the clubhouse, we have the practice green and 10th tee, a hole that kicks off the stronger of the two nines, and a hole that presents a test of driving length and accuracy due to two snaking jagged bunkers 200+ yards down the fairway. Whilst 18, returning you back home is a beautiful closing hole playing to a raised green that’s backed up against the clubhouse under the shadow of a tall oak. I can’t think of any other club that I’ve played that has such a wonderful arrangement of holes around the clubhouse and it must make a splendid day for the 300 or so members here to watch their Club Championships played out under their noses whist watching on from the bar, it really is a great place to watch golfers come and go.I can’t provide a balanced review of the course without offering some minor criticism. The routing, at times feels a little squeezed into the land upon which it sits, particularly through the front nine and lacks genuine flow at times, particularly the transitions from green to tee from 3 to 4 and 7 to 8. But a positive aspect of that rapid zig-zagging change of direction is that the golfer is never allowed to feel settled, particularly if it’s a day where the wind is whistling. My other minor critique is that whilst the Frank Pont bunker renovations are a real improvement on what was there before, I’m failing to warm to the style. I’ve seen some old pictures of the original raggidy edge bunkering that the course had when it was first built, and this appears something they’ve tried to replicate, but this modern version looks too manufactured. Allowing the rough to grow out on the tops of the bunkers may help create some slightly smoother lines and a more natural flow to the bunker face.It would however be careless of me to only mention the holes around the clubhouse as there is much to enjoy about the course as you step further away. For example, the 6th is a delightful short par three with bunkers that bury themselves into folds in front of the green whilst the sequence of holes from 15-18 is a really great closing stretch, I particularly enjoyed 15’s benched green and 17’s uphill fairway which is wonderfully rippled like someone just dropped a coin into a small pond. Throughout the rest of the course there is also an array of blind and semi blind shots as the course traverses some elevation changes and the eccentricities continue on some holes where various tee shots play back and over the previous green. I’m happy to also report that the greens are excellent. During my round they were rolling beautifully and smooth, albeit some of which have tricky undulations, fall-away areas and tiering so your putting game does needs to be sharp.To offer some transparency, I’m a heathland and links purest by heart, but Blackwell immediately enters the list of one of the best parkland courses I’ve played, competing favourably with the best in the Midlands and unquestionably somewhere that would be a great place to be a member, and a club that they can be proud of. I’d return another time and pay a full green fee again quite happily.

In the midst of a private estate that oozes wealth and greeted by a clubhouse that has a grand feeling of tradition, you can tell you’re somewhere classy when you arrive at this sought-after Midlands golf club. And welcoming you before your round is without doubt, the most inventive practice green I’ve come across as it loops and bends around beds of flowering shrubs. Due to the clubhouse closure during these Covid-19 restricted times, I can only imagine the fun that could be had on a lazy afternoon with putter and pint in hand.The course itself is a very pretty, mature tree-lined parkland and whilst I’m not typically a lover of parkland courses, Little Aston is certainly one of the better that I’ve played. The Colt bunkers are creatively built and well positioned, many of which, with their clean smooth lines, pop up above the ground. Whilst unmistakably parkland, there are also patches of heather, most notably on some of the par threes such as the long 9th. And as you’d hope with any top inland course, you’re also presented with immaculately kept, slick, sloping greens. The course itself is very pleasant, the holes having varying degrees of modest elevation change, but it’s generally an easy walk. The club must have a good tree management programme for the fairways are kept at a fair, bordering on generous width and trees are thinned out meaning balls are easily found and escape shots are often available.I did feel that the course got off to a relatively slow start albeit with no obvious weak holes, but it wasn’t until the 6th that any of the holes particularly caught my eye, for the 6th is blessed with a nice ridge of heather that cuts diagonally across the fairway before opening up into some fairway bunkers. The back nine is definitely the stronger of the two nines and the 10th for me was probably the best designed hole on the course. Here you’re faced with a decision on the tee as to which side of the tree to angle your tee shot, then what follows is a fairway that chicanes its way up to the green. I also enjoyed the holes where water comes into play on 12 and 17, the former a pretty par five and the latter a peninsula green that plays left to right from the tee due to the skewed teeing ground. 14 is another good hole, a tempter of a doglegging short par four but with a tricky green and trees to block out the direct approach, so only the foolhardy would go for this one, whilst the par five at 15 is another excellent hole where the fairway is blocked with mounds and bunkers before a well constructed tiered green. Otherwise, most putting surfaces are graded but not severely contoured, so a good iron player should be aiming for a position below the hole if birdie opportunities are expected to present themselves. Overall, Little Aston’s current Top 50 England ranking comes across a little generous, maybe reputation has a part to play here. But it’s a very enjoyable location to play your golf amongst the isolation of some beautifully wooded suburbs, but to be considered the best parkland course in the country, I’m probably left wanting a little more; personally I feel it lacks sufficient elevation change and stronger architectural features for it to achieve that status, but it’s still a grand day out and one that I’d recommend.

I remember playing the Himalayas nine in previous years and finding it an uncomfortable hybrid of a course that transitioned between links and woodland, one that perhaps struggled to find a true identity. But now, and I hold my hands up at maybe being a little late to the party here, under the careful guidance of Martin Ebert, the Himalayas nine has been completely transformed. Standing alone on this website as a nine hole course, I had questioned the rationale behind a nine holer sneaking its way into the England Top 100 at the latest rankings’ revision, but having now seen the course for myself, it’s a decision that I’d support.A huge amount of trees have been removed to return this nine back to its links characteristics whilst raggidy waste bunkering with rustic style, torn edges are introduced throughout. And aside from the tree removal and sand scrapes, two of the holes are completely new. The old par four 2nd and par three 3rd holes have been adjoined and converted into one long par five, stretching to over 600 yards from the tips. The isolated tree to aim at on the corner of the fairway adds a nice little visual touch too and something to aim at for your drive. The rest of the course is funky, and I mean that as a positive for it’s full of interest and quirk which ticks my boxes. The shared green across 3 and 8 is a feature that I’d like to see more used in links golf, for it’s a lovely nod back to the home of this glorious game. The Sarazen bunker still stands as a prominent feature on the last hole with its shored-up bunker face, and through careful landscaping, the sea has been now been brought into view on some of the holes too, something that had previously been missing from the course. But it’s the new 5th, ‘Bloody Point’ that is the hole that grabs the headlines for me and I make no apologies in upping the hype around this hole. Converted from what was previously flat waste grasslands, they’ve created one of the finest short holes in the UK links golf. This hole is now a triumph, protected by a solitary revetted bunker on the front left, with a raised green sitting behind a large waste area to the side of the tee, the fall-offs from this green are treacherous. The wind was subdued when I played it, but it must be a hole that causes all sorts of havoc in a strong cross-wind.I’m quite the admirer of the work that’s been done on the Himalayas nine. It’s now a unique links that holds a character of its own, and with the large wetland areas is quite distinctive from most typical links layouts. I could even argue that this nine is marginally more interesting and diverse than the Shore nine, albeit the Shore remains probably the more pure and traditional links experience. 27 holes combined with a stay in the Lodge would be a great day away so if you’re a first time visitor to Prince’s, don’t skip the Himalayas or you’ll be left wondering about that nine hole stretch that you missed.

It’s been the best part of a decade since I last played Prince’s for I’d previously always regarded it as the poor sibling of nearby world top 100 layouts at Royal St George’s and Royal Cinque Ports, but there’s a lot that’s been happening at Prince’s in recent years to rectify that. Admittedly, the starkest changes have taken place on the Himalayas nine, so much so that there’s now a strong argument to be had as to which nine hole loops should comprise Prince’s best eighteen, but whilst the work on the Shore/Dunes eighteen has been more subtle, the impact has still been powerful.Having the flattest terrain of the three neighbouring clubs, Prince’s will never be blessed with the extreme undulations that grace parts of Royal Cinque Ports or the high dunes that adorn sections of Royal St George’s, but it’s the details at Prince’s that stand out. Other than the Old Course at St Andrews, the run-offs that have been created around the greens are as good as I’ve seen. Closely mown shoulders and contours have been widely used to protect the greens, something I’m a big fan of and something I look for in a quality links course. The sides of the greens have been closely shaven meaning a slight miss can slide into a revetted bunker or a gnarly hollow. Such are the quality of some of the green surrounds that there are several holes where I can imagine myself as a junior golfer wanting to sneak onto the course to play crafty chip shots, flops and bump and runs with a bucket of balls around the greens. Raised tees and new teeing sites now also provide improved angles and visuals for the driving holes whilst the clean, flowing transitions from green to tee are sublime. One critique that I’ve had for Prince’s previously is on a single visitor play, some of the holes had been difficult to distinguish from one another when trying to reminisce after playing the round, primarily due to that lack of land movement, but along with those new tees, newly built dunes have been created providing an enhanced sense of isolation to the holes. These dunes have the combined effect of providing framing to the greens as well as opening up a combination of open sandy wasteland as well as ecologically friendly wetland areas. These efforts have now delivered some of that previously needed identity. Furthermore, a new 5th hole has been constructed on the Shore nine, creating a much needed mid-round interval to break up the parallel holes and provide a short tester of a sea-facing par three.Whilst my previous ramblings have all been about the superb changes to the layout, there are some elements and features that Prince’s has always been blessed with, but the cleaning up of the areas around the fairways and greens has now accentuated these characteristics. On the Dunes, the upturned green on the 1st hole and the crazily rumpled fairway on the 3rd, along with the crooked spine that goes through the fairway of the 9th of the Shore are examples of exactly what you want delivered from a links course. The tucked green that plays peak-a-boo on the 7th on the Shore nine that’s hidden behind a newly created bearded bunker is a lovely hole; whilst on the Dunes, still my favourite of the three nines, we have a gorgeous sandy wasteland area with a sleepered walkway in front of the delicate short 2nd. The consecutive holes on the Dunes at the raised green 5th with its beautiful entrance and contrasting bunkering, and the doglegging par five 6th that follows, with its elongated tiered green, also stand out.Prince’s has now really gone up in my estimation due to the vision that the club’s management have shown in making some brave improvements, all of which have been a resounding success. As a consequence, it should no longer be considered the poor relation amongst this stretch of Kent seaside coast, for the gap to the big boys has started to close. Its contrasting style to the other two clubs also now means that it provides something architecturally different, worth seeking out even in isolation of a visit to its near neighbours.

The Forest Course can’t be considered the premier course at Bramshaw, but being a complete contrast to its sister course, the Manor, the Forest will be the one to attract the purists. This is the oldest course in Hampshire, dating back to 1865, and it’s played over commonland so the experience is much like taking a step back in time. If I was that way inclined, a set of hickories hauled over one shoulder would seem the appropriate way to play here, for the course is charming, yet raw and wild. Course maintenance is truly minimal, a limitation set upon the club by its location in the New Forest National Park, but this is a course worth seeking out for those of you who may have a penchant for back-to-basics golf.The Forest Course provides fun in spades and it’s playable for all standards of golfer. Driver dispersion patterns matter not since there are no fairways to speak of since the grass height is generally reduced to the length dictated by the animals who graze here. Wild ponies, pigs and cattle will likely be obstacles during the round and the rudimentary fenced-off greens provide the necessary protection for the putting surfaces from any overly inquisitive bovine.There’s more to the course than simply taking a step back into yesteryear though as there’s a handful of really quality holes. These tend to be concentrated around the far end of the course where a narrow stream cuts through the ground and has helped provide some elevation change. In particular, the two sunken greens at 6 and 9 as well as the raised green site at 11 being the holes that particularly etched themselves into my memory.Admittedly, you’re not going to have a course that’s staying true to its 19th century roots without some of the holes being a little clunky in their design. The 8th for example is a blind par three that asks you to clear a brow of a hill before running heavily downhill to a green that’s backed up tight against a stream. The bunkers at the rear of the 12th, the only examples of sand on the whole course, are hidden from view and seem a little unnecessary. They’d honestly benefit from being reshaped into mounding but even so, this is clearly the standout par three across the course. The changes they’ve made to turn the 15th into a par four have been awkwardly laid out too meaning that it doesn’t quite flow as seamlessly tee-to-green as the other holes. These are minor quibbles though since a day out on the Forest Course shouldn’t be assessed for its standout architecture, nor is it a course that’s ever going to climb particularly high in the county rankings, but it’s a beautiful place to spend a lazy Summer’s afternoon and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who’d prefer to play golf that’s in keeping with the game’s origins.

Every once in a while, a course less heralded in the rankings provides a pleasant surprise where expectations are exceeded. My recent afternoon at the picture-perfect Knole Park happily provided one of these such experiences. JF Abercomby laid out several excellent courses across England during his lifetime and Knowle Park is another cracker. It’s the hundreds of deer that roam the course and wider estate that Knole is probably famous for, but it’s a course layout that deserves greater credit amongst top course enthusiasts. Parkland by name but truly a hybrid of different course terrains, the ’87 storm cleared many of the trees that have opened up the landscape meaning that it’s less penned in than most parkland courses. Knole Park also has a strong blend of heathland, moorland and even downland characteristics woven through various segments of the course. Hilly in nature, but still plenty walkable, the constantly changing physical attributes of the course provide some lovely variety to the routing. The benched green at 2 and trio of gorgeous valley holes from 3 to 5 mean that you don’t have to wait long for the delights to appear at Knole Park, but it’s when you climb out of the valley at 6 where you’ll discover the contrasting terrain which Knole Park is blessed with. Comparable to moorland in style and sharing its boundary with the walls of Knole House, holes 6 and 7 provide less of a visual feast from what’s been presented previously, due to it being played over anthill pockmarked grassland, but they’re holes that provide a stern challenge and I personally enjoyed the juxtaposition in panorama and the strategic thinking required on these holes.8’s a delicious par three that offers a wonderful view back into the undulating terrain where you’re greeted with a lovely vista from the tee with three greens stacked one behind the other in tiers. The next few holes immediately after the turn are typical parkland and pleasant in nature, but aren’t graced with the same beautiful terrain that the rest of the course is afforded, so this was admittedly the section of the course that I was less taken by. Having said that, Knole Park then knocks one out of the park at 12. A rip-snorter of a long par three, this hole is played to a raised green over a depression in the ground where four bunkers are then embedded into the hill-face guarding the green from a mis-struck tee shot. But it’s the humped-back ridge through the middle of the green that provides the cherry on the top of this fine short hole. Simply delightful.Following this, Knole Park then returns to the rolling ground, routed back through the dips and valleys that you visited in the earlier part of the round. I love how the flag is perched high upon a hilltop at 13 as if Sir Edmund Hillary planted it there, staring down on you as you climb your way up the inclined fairway. The big dipper of a par five on 15 returns you to the plateau where the round started whilst the WWII crater on the edge of the 17th fairway to gobble up that pushed tee shot offers another fun architectural highlight. Knole Park is a true Kent gem, and given its status as the county's premier inland course, would be my recommendation for a warm-up round to those visitors hopping fresh off the plane before travelling to fight with the links on the Kent seaside coast.As a final side-note, but none less noteworthy than what I’ve written before, Knole Park recently offered free rounds of golf to NHS workers as we came out of the Covid-19 lockdown. Philanthropic golf clubs are a rare breed and the team at Knole Park should be applauded for this generosity.

Don’t judge this book by its cover as behind the architecturally dreadful 1960s clubhouse is one of heathland golf’s true hidden treasures. For starters, the ground conditions must be the envy of courses for miles around. Woodbridge is laid across some outstanding sandy turf that’s a joy to hit from making this a remarkable Winter course. Considering that this has been one of the wettest periods on record for the UK, the course was bone-dry and I was informed by some proud members in the group behind us that the course never shuts for frost and the greens are always in play.

The club has employed course designer Martin Hawtree and taken the brave but rewarding step to undertake large scale tree clearance to allow the heathland to regenerate, returning the course back to its origins and it’s already coming on a treat. Sand has also been replaced in all of the bunkers over Winter, some of which have been rebuilt.

The front nine of the course as a whole is <img src="/images/woodbridge-heath-golf-course-review-WOOD014.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Woodbridge (Heath) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Woodbridge (Heath) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> good without being outstanding. Scoring chances present themselves through the first few holes via a combination of short par fours and an uphill par five, whilst doglegs, cross bunkers and smatterings of gorse keep you on your toes through the next few holes. The opening nine ends on a high though as a medium length par three from an elevated tee plays towards a green encircled by bunkers, reminiscent of the 13th at Worplesdon.

However, it’s the returning nine that is the reason to visit Woodbridge as the terrain takes on more interest and rolls through some gorgeous heathy land. The holes have some delightful names too; Lion’s Den, the 11th, plays through a dip with a mid fairway marker-post reminding me of the Cairngorms gem that is Boat of Garten. 13, The Ditch, is the doppelganger of the 14th at Broadstone as you play to a steadily rising fairway before yet more cross bunkers impede your journey and need to be negotiated on your approach to the green. As others before me have said, 14, St Andrews Hill is the star of the show. This is a downhill curving par four to a two-tiered green embedded into the side of a hill and stands up to some of the best heathland holes I’ve played. After playing another lovely par three, the 16th fairway crosses back over the 14th before 17 and 18 play parallel to one another across another large depression, 18 being a charming finishing hole with a sharp dogleg playing semi-blind around an incline.

Even with the course improvements that are ongoing, I still think the course has more potential. For example, 17 would benefit from some major bunker reconstruction around the green. Extending the right-hand side bunker so it sits more square-on to the approaching golfer would make the second shot to this green more attractive whilst simultaneously introducing a fierce, deep hazard that allows for a little jeopardy toward the end of the round. Hopefully the club’s investment continues.

Wrapping up my round, there was an overriding sense of joy that I got from completing my eighteen holes on the Heath course that I haven’t had when playing some more high profile clubs. It’s the ideal Winter course, but I may have to pay a return visit when the heather is in flower towards the end of Summer and all of the upgrades have had time to fully bed-in. Once it fulfils its obvious potential, I’d like to think Woodbridge will start to get more attention from those travelling from further afield.

As far as popular golfing destinations go, Suffolk unfairly flies under the radar. As a consequence, surprisingly few golfers have been to or are even aware of the Purdis Heath course at Ipswich Golf Club. This is something that needs turning on its head as there’s some quality heathland golf in this region and Purdis Heath sits at the top of the tree. I say heathland golf, but Purdis Heath actually plays as a parkland-heathland hybrid due to its treelined fairways; a more modest version of Wentworth wouldn’t be a too unfair comparison. From the tunnel entrance through the stylish powder-pink clubhouse that provides passage to the first tee to the course’s manicured fairways and Martin Hawtree inspired renovated bunkers, this is quite the chic golf club.

The course is interestingly routed with holes that wend their way around the large Decoy Pond before doubling back upon itself. Some of the holes are nothing short of outstanding and with this originally being a James Braid design, his courses always offer something unique. His gift to Ipswich Golf Club is the unconventional par four 4th hole that <img src="/images/ipswich-purdis-heath-golf-course-review-IPSW063.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Ipswich (Purdis Heath) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Ipswich (Purdis Heath) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> features a blind drop-shot down a bank to the green that characterises Braid’s design creativity, so be sure to check the position of the pin using the illustration on the tee before playing this hole. The opening and closing few holes are polished golf holes, but it’s the middle section of the course where Purdis Heath hides its delights. The 6th is a gorgeous par three to an elevated green and comes sandwiched between two of the toughest holes on the course. The 9th provides a chance to recover with a birdie opportunity as this beauty of a short par four is played amongst some tall, elegant pines whilst the 10th is the prettiest of par threes, circled again by trees, but you’ll need to avoid the sharp, treacherous drop to the left of the green. The backdrop to the long 11th is sadly blighted by static cabins but the wonderful second shot to the rising uphill 12th presents itself as a glorious golf hole as you play up and over bunkers embedded into the face of the climb.

Having played Woodbridge in the morning, I found the course lacking the turf conditions of its near neighbour or similarly Aldeburgh up the coast, but that’s undoubtedly an unfair comparison given the extraordinary sandy sites that those two courses are blessed with. I also felt that whilst the bunkering was stunningly presented, it came across slightly clean and generic, a little templated if you will, but it still makes for spectacular visuals. I’m admittedly guilty of nitpicking of the highest order with these last two comments though given that my overriding opinion of Purdis Heath is that this is a very high quality course, justly deserving of its England top 50 status.

Champagne, benedictine, moussec, brandy, Pimms No 1, a few slices of lemon, a dash of soda water and serve with lots of ice. These are the ingredients that make up the infamous Pink Jug that can be ordered in the charming Royal Worlington clubhouse. This potent concoction isn’t equivalent to your standard post round ale, and the ingredients that create the course that graces this Suffolk countryside don’t conform with the norm either.
Bernard Darwin christened this The Sacred Nine whilst architect Tom Doak gave the course a rare score of nine out of ten in his Confidential Guide. Royal Worlington seems to have gained prestige amongst course architecture purists and golf writers alike. And in <img src="/images/royal-worlington-and-newmarket-golf-course-review-ROWO027.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Royal Worlington & Newmarket Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Royal Worlington & Newmarket Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> some ways rightly so. It’s a remarkable feat of design how they fit nine holes into this small pasture that also plays as the home to Cambridge University’s golf team. Shared fairways, tee shots across greens and some clever routing has allowed a nine holer to be constructed over a space where you wouldn’t think it possible. Combine this with the mounded greens with sharp fall-offs and sunken hollows and you can understand why course designers fall in love with this place.
My issue with Royal Worlington being so lauded though is that the plot of land is essentially no more than an open field. The land is distinctly average, and I can’t agree that a great course can be created purely on the basis of solid architecture alone. Aesthetics and land movement must also be a factor?
Onto specifics, and whilst criticism is sometimes thrown at the first for being a benign hole, I personally didn’t have much love for the second. I felt that at 200+ yards, the hole is just too long to be paired with such a severe green. That being said, the rumpled fairway on the lead up to the 3rd is beautifully reminiscent of a links, whilst the humped 5th green is genius, this time because the length of the shot is appropriate for a green of that shape and undulation. The course is full of ideas to create the most from the land, with back to back bunkers across the shared fairway on 4 and 6 and the public road that crosses the 9th helping create a memorable experience.
The green sites were a lot of fun to play, but I do need a golf course to provide more interest from outside of 50 yards, I also like to be stimulated from the tee. Different teeing grounds for the front and back nines might be a start. Admittedly, I only played 18 holes so I may have missed some of the course’s subtleties that the golf architecture enthusiasts opine after, but perhaps this is just an average bit of land with some interesting features? Maybe I’m wrong and it’s one of the world’s best as many educated golfing folk have testified; or maybe too many Pink Jugs were enjoyed during their visits and have clouded their judgement.

For someone who’s a self-confessed links and heathland snob, I had a lovely day’s golf at Bearwood Lakes recently. Frustratingly, this is one of England’s few privately owned clubs that’s closed to the masses, so whilst its access is limited to members and guests only, it’s well worth a visit if you’re able to rustle up an invite or play in one of the rare charity events that are hosted here.

As you’d expect for a relatively new and exclusive club such as this, the facilities are out of this world. Despite the clubhouse exterior being architecturally a little disappointing and unimaginative in its design, <img src="/images/bearwood-lakes-golf-course-review-BEAR029.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Bearwood Lakes Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Bearwood Lakes Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> it’s fairly plush inside and the practice facilities, a stone’s throw from the clubhouse and proshop are wonderfully well equipped, suitable for a tour professional to use as a base.

The course itself is located in the grounds of the classically beautiful and historic Bearwood College and has a really pleasant balance between parkland and lakeland. The holes skirt around large lakes and between pinetree-lined fairways, but the real distinctive feature that makes the course stand out from other parkland courses I’ve played is the thick fescue rough. There are even patches of gorse and heather, which to my own disappointment the club have tried to eradicate due to it not fitting the appearance of the rest of course. The turf also lays upon a clay base which is at the detriment of drainage, so like many inland courses, can become saturated after spells of heavy rain. Otherwise the conditioning is excellent with the greens, which themselves have been laid on a sand-base, running smooth, true and quick.

Whilst the beauty of the lakes will draw visitors to the course, I was surprised to find that I personally enjoyed some of the more tightly treelined holes such as the 6th that has the direct line to the green obscured by <img src="/images/bearwood-lakes-golf-course-review-BEAR030.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Bearwood Lakes Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Bearwood Lakes Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> a large fir, or the majestic 11th, itself a fantastic driving hole that scrambles up to a raised angled putting surface from a fairway that bends around some bearded bunkers ahead of the green being my favourite hole of the course. The lakes themselves don’t come into play on every hole but beautifully frame the holes where they dominate the surroundings such as at 8, 9, 10, 13 and 14. Architecturally, there’s plenty of interest too. Most notably, an interesting walled timber structure that bisects the fairway 40-yards in front of the green at the 16th attempting to answer the question of how to make the second shot on a par five more interesting. Design-wise this won’t be to everyone’s liking, but it’s a good example of Bearwood going the extra mile to differentiate itself from other parkland courses and create a more engaging design.

As inland courses of the non-heath variety go, I’d rate Bearwood Lakes as one of the best I’ve played. I’m yet to have the honour of playing Wentworth (I’m open to an invite), but it’s in the same league as Lough Erne in Northern Ireland and a notch up from my recent experience of playing The Belfry. So if this style of golf is indeed your bag, then a visit to Bearwood Lakes is a must.

The Red course at The Berkshire is every bit as beautiful as many of its peers in the local area. This is a serene, picturesque course with lots of land movement, rolling through birch and pine woodland all making this a beautiful setting for golf. As most acknowledge when writing a review of the Red course, its USP is that it has the highly unusual feature of having the same number of par threes, fours and fives through its card which means the challenge on the tee never feels repetitive. Appearance wise, there are many similarities with its near neighbour <img src="/images/berkshire-red-golf-course-review-BERE026.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Berkshire (Red) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Berkshire (Red) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> Swinley Forest, or nearby St George’s Hill. Greens with banked shoulders and bunkers with heathery surrounds are a regular feature, and the feedback from some critics that the trees encroach too much on the playing characteristics of the course were visibly being addressed during my playing of the course where the clearance of trees and shrubbery was being carried out. This should open up some of the wonderful vistas from the higher ground and make the undulating land features that the course is blessed with more prominent.

There are enough inherent qualities to The Berkshire’s Red course to make it potentially worth consideration for a World Top 100 list. At present, I’d probably say what holds the course back in this respect is that the individual holes themselves maybe lack the memorability to achieve that status. It remains to be seen whether the tree clearance has the desired impact to elevate the course’s ranking, maybe some feature bunker-work and mounding would also help. However, what it perhaps lacks in individuality it gains in strategy. Herbert Fowler did a great job here with many of the holes having a more obvious side of the fairway that needs to be struck from the tee to get the easier angle of attack into the green. To reference the individual holes, the clear standout for me was the par three 10th that shares many similar characteristics to the 17th at Royal Portrush, the Calamity hole. The quality of this middle stretch of the course is reinforced by the excellent back-to-back short par <img src="/images/berkshire-red-golf-course-review-BERE027.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Berkshire (Red) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Berkshire (Red) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> fours at the 11th and 12th; the former with its raised green guarded with sand embedded into the climb to the green, and the latter, doglegging slightly across heather to a rising fairway with a green that stands proudly, semi blind above the golfers approaching it. The short par five 13th with its raised tee and mid-fairway dip, recently improved strong par three 16th and the wonderful five shotter over the stream at 17 round off why I felt that the back nine just edged the front in terms of quality, but frankly there is no weak spell across the whole course.

Before mine, there have only been seven reviews of the course since 2012. I was surprised to read so few reviews for a club as prominent as The Berkshire so I’m not sure whether this is a reflection of a relatively infrequent number of visitors’ rounds or the club being passed by due to the quality of the competition on its doorstep? The Berkshire is less private than Swinley, less expensive than Sunningdale and better than each of the three Ws. A tour of the heathland belt west of London needs to include a day at The Berkshire or you’re truly missing out on a real gem. This is one of England’s best heathland courses.

The Belfry is synonymous with the Ryder Cup and represents the turning point between prior American domination and the current European stronghold on the event. For that reason, every amateur golfer has heard of the Brabazon course as many descend upon this venue to inevitably try their hand at replicating shots from yesteryear. It’s also located in the middle of the country meaning that the resort has easy access for most of England’s population. Whilst this must drive a phenomenal revenue through its gates, there’s just something a little gaudy about The Belfry. The arrival feels a bit like a business park as there are an array of red brick buildings that house offices and hotel accommodation, and you even pass a nightclub on the left hand side as you drive through the entrance. <img src="/images/belfry-brabazon-golf-course-review-BEBR024.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Belfry (Brabazon) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Belfry (Brabazon) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> I hate to be considered the golfing equivalent to a Muso (a Guso?), but this attracts the less golf-educated and dare I say it, less refined visitor to The Belfry. By this, I mean stag parties and boys’ weekends, so when you arrive at the tee, it just feels like you’re being churned through the system. So if all of this isn’t your bag, then don’t bother reading the rest of my review as I’d suggest to steer clear.

In fairness, the course itself is pretty good. There’s plenty of water which you’ll need to avoid, the conditioning is par excellence, greens are immaculate and run at a good speed and there are some interesting, well contoured green sites. There’s also some well designed strategy in the hole design. Bunkers are well placed and in play off the tee where the golfer is forced into thinking their way through the hole, requiring more than just bashing the ball off every tee with the driver so I applaud that element of the design to get the most from what is otherwise fairly uninspired land.

The best holes are undoubtedly those around the water and some of these are excellent. Of the opening holes, I really enjoyed the 3rd, a par five that doglegs <img src="/images/belfry-brabazon-golf-course-review-BEBR025.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Belfry (Brabazon) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Belfry (Brabazon) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> around a copse of trees and a small lake, playing into a two tiered green complex. The other standouts are the 9th and 18th. The finishing hole has not one, but two lake-carries whilst the 9th plays across the same greenside lake as 18, both of which are situated in front of the pretty ivy-clad clubhouse. The driveable risk-reward 10th also gets lots of attention, albeit it feels a little gimmicky to me, but it’s a fun and memorable risk-reward hole which is always a tick in the box. Despite these upsides, there are just too many forgettable holes for the Brabazon to deserve its reputation as one of the country’s premier courses. As the course inevitably has to move away from the lakeland holes at some point, it loses a bit of identity. The Belfry’s three courses are played across flat, arable land and the Brabazon’s design whilst being solid, lacks some visual interest from tee to green through parts of the course. So all in all, a good course, but please don’t pay three figures for the pleasure, there are better, lower cost and more intimate experiences that can be found elsewhere. 3.5 - 4 ball rating for me, but for the lack of atmosphere and absence of personal touch for the high green fee paid, I’ve decided to round down.

Perranporth. What a roller coaster ride. Be sure to visit Perranporth wearing your best suit of armour and come prepared for the battle as this course is routed across some of the craziest links terrain you’ll have seen. The course is dotted with marker posts as blind shots are found at every turn. There are large climbs and steep drop-offs as you play across elevated duneland on the side of a hill surrounded by beautiful views of the nearby bay area.

I personally love the <img src="/images/perranporth-golf-course-review-PERR032.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Perranporth Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Perranporth Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> course, but if there were going to be criticisms, one could maybe suggest that the topography is on the cusp of being too severe for routing a golf course over, so this place won’t be to everyone’s tastes. Greens are set high on plateaus and on the side of hills as well as being sunken into dunes. Elephants and all sorts of other beasts are seemingly buried into fairways, and hardly a fair bounce exists out there, so do yourself a favour and leave the scorecard in your bag and just enjoy the ride.

I’ve spoken to many people who think this place is criminally underrated, and for me it competes with Silloth in being the best value round in the country. If your time in Cornwall is limited, then you’ll find Perranporth makes a far more unique experience than the more lauded Trevose, and it comes without any of the flash presentation that often blights the more tourist friendly courses. Believe me, just go.

Rye was Harry Colt’s first design but due to the original course being played over the busy road to Camber Sands, today’s routing is very different from when he first designed the course. Rye is also as much famous for the off course experience as the links itself. It has a reputation for being private, stuffy and traditional, all of which are true to a large degree, but once you’ve been granted access to step foot on site, the experience is first class.

Golf is played in foursomes or two-balls with a good pace of play being a prerequisite to a round at Rye. The course itself is excellent albeit wacky and unconventional in the way I often <img src="/images/rye-old-golf-course-review-RYEO030.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Rye (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Rye (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> hope a traditional links will be. You’ll find yourself playing a few blind shots, there’s a traffic light “go/no go” system on the 6th tee, bunker rakes are inserted into housings to stand vertically on end whilst small wooden struts have been constructed to guard against the ground game approach into some of the greens.

As others have mentioned, the course is defined by the long dune that runs through the centre of the course like a spine and its around this dune that the most interesting holes are played. Two blind par fours play over that centre ridge, the 6th with its traffic light safety system where the tee shot is played over the dune, and the other an Alps-style hole on the 13th where this time it’s the approach shot into the green that is played blind.

The spell between 4 and 7 is the highest quality run of holes at Rye. Following a relatively gentle opening three holes, you climb the dune where this long par four is unusually played along the back of the ridge. Miss left or right and you’re faced with a perilous shot back to either the fairway or the green where your stance will no doubt leave you off-balance. 5 is a gorgeous short par three over a large crater-like hollow to a funky green complex, before the blind par four 6th and delicious par three 7th with its green embedded into the dunes combined with dangerous run-offs on all sides complete this splendid stretch of holes. The driveable 9th with its wonderfully rippled fairway is then another fine hole that returns you back to the clubhouse.

I have to admit that the start of the back nine felt a little out of place, 11 particularly. I didn’t personally find driving your ball over a small lake decorated with a water fountain in the slightest way agreeable for an old links such as this. If redesigned today, <img src="/images/rye-old-golf-course-review-RYEO031.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Rye (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Rye (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> I’m sure the land from the Jubilee course would have been used instead; on which point, whilst I didn’t get the opportunity to play Rye’s second course, there are one or two great looking holes out there too.

Of the back nine, other than 13, the holes at 16 and 18 would probably be the standouts. Both are tough par fours where avoiding a dropped shot should be celebrated. The 16th has a delightfully bumpy fairway where a menacing bunker set into the bank stares directly at you as you hit your drive, the green on this hole is also tremendous. The 18th on the other hand is a fierce test at 439 yards. It plays over a rise and twists around the clubhouse. That building must surely receive some heavy punishment from wayward shots? Take note that the experience is only partly completed when you shake hands on the 18th. Enjoy a drink on the terrace post round, then shower and change into a jacket and tie to enjoy the marvellous history on display and excellent food on offer within the clubhouse.

For the general golfing public, Rye might be one of the more off-limits links courses in this country, but if you’re lucky enough to get an invite then don’t turn down the opportunity. Rye may have its oddities and inconsistencies, but it’s a delightful day spent with some golf holes to savour.

West Lancs is a beautifully pristine links, in the brilliant condition that you’d expect of an Open venue so it’s no wonder this place is often used for final qualifying. Routed with two loops of nine, this is a strong and true test of links golf where closely mown run-off areas are combined with thick rough to keep the examination tough and proper. Combine that with views out to the Liverpool Docks, the hills of North Wales and Gormley’s statues on the beach adjacent to the opening holes, and West Lancs has some great ingredients.

If you like your links golf <img src="/images/west-lancashire-golf-course-review-WELA033.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="West Lancashire Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="West Lancashire Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> unfussy and in front of you, then West Lancs is a course that you’ll thoroughly enjoy. Personally, I favour courses with quirk and character, and as good a course as this is, I felt West Lancs a little lacking in this department. There are no particular stand out or memorable holes, but instead it’s a series of strong holes, one after the other. If I was to name some of the more noteworthy, the 2nd with a centre line bunker in play from the tee and a sneaky pot bunker behind a dune before a slightly hidden green had some interesting traps up its sleeve. The 7th, a short par four with a grouping of bunkers protecting the corner of the dogleg was another of the picks from the front nine.

If we’re talking charm and character, I felt that the back nine had the edge over the front. A lovely mid-length Birkdale-esque par three at the 12th is followed by the excellent 13th, played from a raised tee box to raised green, with a view of the sea in the distance and a depressed dogleg fairway in between, this was the middle of my favourite stretch of holes through the course. A change of scenery follows at 14 and 15 as trees come into play, the first hole of these being long and blind and the other short and tight, both making good, strategic holes.

Overall West Lancs provides a good day out and is a hearty, genuine links but it’s probably a level below some of the other top class courses in this golf-rich region.

Positioned in the middle of a horseshoe of where the M3 and the M27 motorways collide, Stoneham’s location is an odd one. You wouldn’t choose to build a golf course in an area surrounded by such traffic, but considering that the club was established in 1908, I think we can safely assume that the course came first. Fortunately, you don’t hear the motorway traffic, but the heavy construction traffic that you meet on arrival isn’t something you can avoid. The club <img src="/images/stoneham-golf-course-review-STOH004.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Stoneham Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Stoneham Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> embarked upon a major remodelling project in 2012 which is now thankfully close to an end. The practice area is still under major renovation, but there was minimal disruption once out playing the course.

To my untrained eye, Stoneham visually appears to be more naturally a parkland course than heathland. This could be due to changes the club have made over the years, but recent enhancements to the course’s appearance by introducing strips of heather, particularly around the bunkers, are starting to change the appearance.

Whilst I enjoyed the opening stretch of holes, it’s from the par five 6th where Stoneham starts to shine as you play across the part of the course that takes you furthest from the clubhouse. After the charming approach to the 6th, two consecutive par threes arrive immediately thereafter, the 7th being brutally long, and the 8th, with a wooden trestle bridge over a valley to a heavily bunkered raised top green, the prettier of the two short holes.

Stoneham’s a rolling course with <img src="/images/stoneham-golf-course-review-STOH005.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Stoneham Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Stoneham Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> most holes playing downhill or up and across valleys and it’s during this middle stretch of the course where the topography is at its most distinct. The 9th is another cute hole, at 383-yards, this might not seem like a driveable green, but if you catch the downslope correctly in firm conditions, your ball will just run and run. 11 and 12 continue this splendid run of holes; the former being a par four over a stream within the same valley that was encountered earlier, again to another one of those plateau greens, and the latter being a reachable par five with a beautiful, heather topped cross bunker and a green that falls away heavily to the right hand side. After the acutely strategic tight and blind short par four 13th with its angled green, the last noteworthy hole is the 14th. Not long for a par five at 481 yards, it’s played to a steeply banked humpback fairway that’s like someone threw a grassy tablecloth over a whale.

It's been four years since I previously played at Stoneham and the improvements are significant, this has been time and money well spent. Whilst already ranked fourth in the county, I could see Stoneham climbing the Hampshire rankings as more people get to enjoy the finished product.

If you listen to the rhetoric coming out of golf organisations recently about the diminishing numbers taking up golf due to the length of time it takes to play, short courses should become increasingly popular. But if they’re going to attract serious numbers back to the game, then they need to be quality courses. Reigate Heath is an example of this, and is by all accounts one of the best nine-holers in the country.

On the drive to the clubhouse and car park, it’s clear that the surrounding heathland terrain is perfectly suited for a first-rate course, and the course is indeed a good one. The layout itself has some very <img src="/images/reigate-heath-golf-course-review-REIG019.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Reigate Heath Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Reigate Heath Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> positive features of architectural interest; there’s a variety of bunker styles as well as some interesting green complexes, with the green-site at the first setting the tone. The main two highlights that have stayed in my memory are the bending, uphill 5th that plays tight between trees to an elevated green, and the superb 7th with its revetted face bunkers reminding me of nearby Walton Heath. The course also offers separate tee boxes for the back nine which provide some welcome variation should you choose to play eighteen, creating different angles and yardages from what you’ll have played across the front nine.

If I was to offer a slight negative, due to the short yardage, I did feel that other than the one-shot holes the better than average ball striker wouldn’t find the course to be a full test of all of the clubs in the bag. I’ve also downgraded my rating of the course by a half-ball simply because it’s easier to create nine good holes than eighteen, but this place is still well worth the visit. Even if you just play nine, there are few better places to sit, admire the views and enjoy a post-round drink than the clubhouse with its famous windmill alongside. Both are located on a wonderful elevated spot where you get to gaze down upon the opening few holes of the course.

Seriously, seriously good golf course. S&A has a really cleverly routed layout where the first six holes play in a loop, with the other twelve holes wrapping around the outside of that loop. Whilst its claim to be a genuine links can’t be questioned, there are heathland characteristics with heather scattered throughout some of the holes. Prepare yourself to also be attacked by bunkers from all angles. A critical reviewer could say that there are a few too many around the course, so undoubtedly the strategy to scoring well around S&A is one where you avoid those pot bunkers that are dotted up and down every fairway. This all makes for a great test of <img src="/images/southport-and-ainsdale-golf-course-review-SOUT046.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Southport & Ainsdale Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Southport & Ainsdale Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> discipline from the tee, is it worth being aggressive with the driver or is a long-iron the smarter play?

With regards to the standout holes, whilst courses that commence with a par three are normally a pet hate of mine, the long first with five pot bunkers protecting the opening to the green, all coming in combination with a backboard and bowlshaped surround, is an absolute pleasure to start the round with. The second provides a better insight as to what’s to come as you face a climbing par five that’s dotted with no fewer than sixteen sandy coffins. Two great holes in quick succession to start the round. And the excellent holes continue too. After threading your drive between the dunes on the 6th, next comes a semi-blind yet right-angled par five at 7 where you’re forced to play around bumpy dunes that obstruct the direct path to the green. The par three 8th is another unique hole with its raised green. My ball landed a foot short of the putting surface here to only then be propelled unceremoniously to the bottom of the hill leaving me with a forty yard pitch back to the plateau.

The club have made some good improvements too, bunkers have been upgraded and re-revetted in many areas and they’ve removed the gorse in the middle of the 14th, something I expect will be a welcomed decision by members and visitors alike. Gumbleys, the long 16th is the star of the show on the back nine though, a hole that now makes it very close to the <img src="/images/southport-and-ainsdale-golf-course-review-SOUT047.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Southport & Ainsdale Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Southport & Ainsdale Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> top of my all-time favourites list. The tee shot plays parallel to the railway line before you’re then faced with an intimidating sleeper walled bunker structure in the middle of the fairway that you have to clear, after which the fairway snakes and creeps up around bunkers to a wildly undulating raised green set into the side of a dune. A tough penultimate hole with a raised tee is negotiated at 17 before a fitting finale at 18 threads its way through a valley of dunes after which you’re then presented with an approach shot into a raised green set in front of the clubhouse. And what a clubhouse this is. Traditional in style from the exterior but one that oozes charm from the inside where the inner refurbishment captures the perfect balance between the plush and the charming.

All being said, I’d go as far to suggest that S&A is a must-visit if you’re making a visit to play the best courses in the North-West region. I’d also argue that the gulf in the rankings between S&A and its more esteemed neighbours is too wide, I’d make the argument that S&A should reasonably be 20 or even 30 places higher in the UK & Ireland rankings.

North Berwick West Links looks so perfect on arrival that it’s hard to think of a better setting for a golf course. The course is laid out beside a beautiful sandy beach in what can only be described as a highly affluent area, so even without the clubs it would be a lovely place to go for a walk. But when you look out from the clubhouse to the course, the instant impression is that you’re somewhere special.

The first two holes are straight out of the top drawer, you play over the beach and cross naturally bumpy rock formations. A stone wall splits the fairway in two on the third, a feature that then reappears at other moments through the round, before the gaping bunker that sits below the green on the par three 6th being another memorable highlight of the front nine.

The holes leading into the turn don’t <img src="/images/north-berwick-west-golf-course-review-NOBE136.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="North Berwick (West) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="North Berwick (West) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> quite have the same character as to what came before, but this is only because the other holes nearer the town are just sublime. The patch that comes mid-round are still well crafted golf holes, but they just cover slightly inferior land. Even with that being the case, hole 9, Mizzentop is still a really strong climbing par five with two very well placed bunkers located to the front-right of the green protecting the obvious angle in.

Then comes the closing stretch; holes 12 through to 18 would have to be in the conversation when discussing the finest sequence of holes in world golf. 12 with its cluster of bunkers protecting the corner of the hole before playing out to the fence line. 13 and 14 then represent the best back-to-back holes I’ve ever played. The 13th “Pit”, with a stone wall diagonally crossing ahead of the green and 14, Perfection, the most breathtakingly beautiful hole playing over a rise before dipping over two bunkers and out to the sea. So many architectural features of the course have been borrowed and replicated elsewhere. The Redan at 15 and the Biarritz valley green at 16 will test the best with the flat stick. And whilst the club have made a mess of the changes to the 17th bunker, it’s still an incredible hole as you play to the high raised-top green.

To conclude your round, there can be no more nerve-racking hole than 18. What sort of maniac decided that the best place for a car park was tight to the right of the 18th fairway? “Bail left, bail left” is all I had in my mind. Thank goodness the fairway is as wide as they come, but God help you if you’ve parked your car in the heart of the kill-zone and suffer the misfortune of your windscreen coming face to face with the ball of some over-confident youth. Ah well, if you do, then at least every green fee comes inclusive of free liability insurance, and you’ll always carry the memories of having spent three to four hours on one of the best links courses in the game.

A stone’s throw short of the border near the holy island of Lindisfarne lies Goswick, a tremendous little links course that warrants a stop-off if you’re making the long drive up to Scotland. Goswick is an open qualifying venue, surprising in some ways in that it maybe a little untidy in places around the fairways, but the course comes to life and has the championship feel when approaching the greens, for its bunkering and green sites are first-class. A collection of dogleg holes come early in the round which seems a little repetitive early on, but there’s enough variation throughout the eighteen holes to keep this course in high regard. The fisherman’s hut beside the side of the tough 6th with a raised banked green adds character, whilst back to back punchbowl greens across 14 and 15 highlights the most enjoyable section of the course. It’s a course that’s relatively straight forward from the tee with plenty of room available to hit driver, but the green approaches come complete with the full variety of humps, lumps, slopes and opportunities to play off backboards to manoeuvre your ball toward the hole. There are some quirks that I wasn’t a big fan of, the 9th feels like an odd bolt-on hole that’s hemmed in by the driving range, and the internal out of bounds between the 1st and 18th is a little untidy, but don’t let this put you off. Goswick is excellent value for money and plays like and feels like Silloth’s little brother. If only they were allowed the opportunity to expand the course across the dunes that appear nearer to the sea and come into view from the 2nd tee. What a delightful course this could be then.

Kington Golf Club is located on the most spectacular little spot at the summit of Bradnor Hill adjacent to the Welsh border. Considering that it’s the highest eighteen-hole golf course in England and since this game was born on the linksland by the sea, its elevation alone wouldn’t make this the most natural location for a golf course. The mile long climbing stretch of single track driveway to get to the course is fairly treacherous, but there are some truly stunning views and <img src="/images/kington-golf-course-review-KINT014.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Kington Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Kington Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> quite sublime golf to reward you of the journey once you reach your destination.

Firstly, ignore the sub-6,000 yards as an indicator of the examination you’ll receive at Kington, for it’s no push-over and local knowledge will be fundamental to scoring well. Wind aside, there are two primary forms of protection here, firstly the green surrounds where chunks of earth have been torn up to create bumps and craters that feel both natural and alien, if that description in itself isn’t a contradiction. Secondly, there’s the heavy bracken that lines every fairway, so accuracy from tee to green is key or you’ll need the mercurial touch of Seve Ballesteros if you’re hoping to make a score with creative recovery shots around these greens. Those amazing green complexes can also throw your ball way offline and there are times where you’ll feel downright hard done by with what you assumed to be a decent shot. There’s also hardly a level lie to be had.

There’s no hint that any attempt <img src="/images/kington-golf-course-review-KINT015.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Kington Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Kington Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> has been made to flatten out the fairways as they’re made up of a collection of small but natural bumps. I suspect the sheep that roam these fairways have had a lot of influence in the lies you’ll receive and the general grooming of the land.

The holes themselves usually feature gradients of one type or the other. Blind drives are met with steep drop-offs with each hole expressing individuality whilst being isolated from the next. The driveable 18th in itself typifies Kington with the most amazing green that’s plonked onto a side-slope where the line of attack is high and left above the green whereby you’re left to watch and hope that your ball will tumble back into a sensible position.

I found the course to be in good condition also, something that often blights these common land courses; the greens rolled very nicely in mid-Summer and I’ve been reliably informed that the course maintains a similar high standard year-round. Kington’s a delight to play and should be on everyone’s radar as it’s a wonderfully unique experience and too much fun for me not to consider a revisit one day, so it’s well worth the excursion, even if it is in the back-end of nowhere.

The Castle Course has its detractors, mainly the local folk of St Andrews as well as golfing traditionalists, but I’m going to speak up and make a case on behalf of the defence. We heard damming reviews from several people whilst in Scotland, including course marshals at the original St Andrews’ courses, but I found its reputation undeserved. Visitors to the Castle surely can’t deny that this course is truly spectacular when it hits its highs.

The Castle is a modern links in style, and although it lived its previous life as a simple potato field, the earth was pushed around by machines to create a more interesting bumpy landscape. And before you make comment, I’m fully aware that the Castle isn’t a genuine, bona fide links, but it does play very linksy due to the fairways and greens being made up of fescue grass and heavily top-dressed with sand.

The course has mainly been set up for visitor golf, as its main reason for existence was to reduce overcrowding on the courses located in the town. <img src="/images/st-andrews-castle-golf-course-review-SACA095.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="St Andrews (Castle) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="St Andrews (Castle) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> Everything is catered for on-site with excellent service levels. Whereas the older Links Trust courses are simply accompanied by a starter’s hut, there’s a more polished welcome for visitors on arrival at the Castle where they’ll take care of your golf bag and you’ll have the opportunity to hit from a pyramid of balls on the range.

As nice as this all is, I generally regard these extra services as pretty materialistic fluff. We’ve come to play the golf course, and it’s one that I really enjoyed. Firstly, being a cliff-top course, there are the great views, so that’s an immediate tick in the box. There are also some pretty crazy and daunting greens, but if the flags are located in sensible pin locations, which they generally were during my rounds, they’re entirely playable. I understand that they’ve been softened since the course opened ten years ago and I genuinely found them to be a lot of fun, adding to the on-course experience rather than ruining it like others have suggested.

To pick some of my favourite golf holes, I’d have to highlight the 6th with its blind tee shot over the crest of a hill and where using a putter is a genuine option for your approach into the second. Choosing a side of the fairway on this hole is vital as to whether your drive will kick down and gather an extra 80-yards. The land then slopes severely downward towards a raised green that comes complete with views over the water and across to the town of St Andrews. The 7th has another of these elevated greens and hugs the cliff-face that borders the entire left-hand side of this hole. <img src="/images/st-andrews-castle-golf-course-review-SACA096.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="St Andrews (Castle) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="St Andrews (Castle) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> The 10th is all about the wacky, multi-tiered green whilst the 12th, easily the most fearsome of the Castle’s holes, plays 454-yards up a disheartening climb to a green that peers menacingly down on those struggling their way up the fairway. If that wasn’t enough, it’s lined with nasty bunkers where advancing your ball 20-yards up the fairway is about the best you could hope to achieve. The round then has an iconic finish with the signature par three 17th that’s played over a deep precipice, and then the 18th that curves around the top of those same cliffs to a giant, infinity double-green.

If I was to look for negatives, the course does feel somewhat manufactured, but given the ground they were provided with, it would have been a minor miracle if this wasn’t the case. My bigger gripe is the bunker aesthetics. I can understand that there may be reasons such as drainage and wind as to why traditional revetted or waste bunkers might not be workable, but I didn’t feel that they fit in sympathetically with the landscape. Maybe it’s the gleaming white sand, or the artificial raggidy edges, or probably a combination of both, but I felt that the bunkers should have been more in-keeping with the rest of the St Andrews Links courses. But there you go. That’s it. That’s honestly all I have to say that’s negative about the course.

The Castle Course therefore has plenty of merit. It offers something different to the other courses around St Andrews, and variety is the spice of life after all. It’s also not as difficult as everyone makes out, just be careful with your shot selection and a score is gettable. Having been made aware of golf architect Tom Doak’s ‘zero score’ in his Confidential Guide ahead of playing the Castle Course, on reflection this assessment now comes across as being a little rude and jealous of the opportunity afforded to David McLay Kidd.

Split only by a low stone wall from the adjoining Leven Golf Club, Lundin is an excellent hybrid of a course that crosses seamlessly between links and parkland.

The best sequence of holes is probably the opening four-hole stretch that follows the line of the sea, culminating with the superb 4th hole that plays towards a green on the crest of a hill and surrounded by a moat-like water hazard. Whilst it’s a shame that the best holes come early in the round, there’s still some real quality after this point. You’ll need to negotiate perpendicular burns and internal out of bounds, so the key to a successful round is most likely one where these hazards are avoided.

Other than the hybrid characteristics, Lundin also has some other distinctive features such as the doughnut bunker on 10 and the tightly pinched-in green on 18, although the removal of the spectacles bunkers on the <img src="/images/lundin-golf-course-review-LUND084.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Lundin Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Lundin Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> 6th that provided this hole with its name and identity feels like a mistake.

The majority of the course plays back and forth along the same orientation as the coastline with only the short holes at 5 and 14 bucking this trend. Stubborn links-seekers may not love the elevated parkland holes on the higher ground, but I found them to be immaculately conditioned whilst bringing a lovely balance and variety to the round, not to mention also providing some breath-taking views across the course to the Firth of Forth. I even found the par five 13th that runs along the top of this elevated section to be one of the course highlights, as it threads its way amongst tall pines to a green situated within a narrow opening. But even if this doesn’t float your boat, fear not as the links holes far outnumber the parkland variety as the routing soon returns to the lower links ground with a drop-shot par three at the 14th.

For a reason unknown to me, Lundin doesn’t have the wide reaching reputation of other courses in the region, but surely this course must be considered as one of the best in Fife. If like most, your main reason for visiting the area is to play golf at St Andrews, I’d highly recommend finding time for a 36-hole outing to visit both Lundin and Elie. This combination not only offers some great links golf, but you’d also get to experience two wonderfully contrasting courses which will undoubtedly create some lively debate amongst your group as to which is the better.

Located by the twin fishing villages of Elie and Earlsferry, if you’re searching for golf with charm and character when visiting Fife, then look no further than Golf House Club Elie. Routed surprisingly close to rows of seaside cottages before heading out to a breath-taking stretch along the coast, Elie is one of the most eccentric courses that I’ve played.

Starting bizarrely with the famous periscope located by the first tee and featuring double flag greens at both 9 and 18, Elie is nothing if not quirky. But there’s more to Elie than just its oddities. It’s a course that combines architectural diversity with, at times, outstanding beauty. Of the opening holes, the 2nd would be my personal pick where this modest length par four is played uphill to a raised green that marks the most elevated point of the course. After passing by, or preferably via the pub adjacent to the 4th tee, the 5th is the next most memorable hole amongst the front nine, notable mainly for how you’ll be challenged with bulges and <img src="/images/elie-golf-course-review-ELIE071.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Elie Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Elie Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> lumps when approaching that green. Otherwise, whilst the residential surroundings make for an intriguing setting, my observations regarding the opening nine are that it can get a little fieldy in places, and the rough can be somewhat clumpy making it easy to lose your ball if you have a tendency to be a little wayward from the tee.

Elie’s qualities really begin to shine when playing the second shot into the 9th, a half blind approach shot into a sunken green that provides a taster of the world-class series of holes that’s to come between holes 10 through 13. The 10th is a big dipper of a hole that rises to a high summit before crashing back down to the rocky beach at the shoreline. A sweet little par three follows, where the tee is set back against the coastline before a curving, yet demanding par four guides you along the grassy bank beside the seafront at the 12th. The beautifully photogenic 13th must be regarded as Elie’s signature hole where a shelf-top green hangs under the cliffs of Kincraig Point at the far corner of the property. 14 and 15 then play parallel to one another before the course returns back to the clubhouse via the closing three solid, albeit less dramatic holes.

My honest assessment is that Elie is probably a little inconsistent to be labelled amongst Scotland’s great courses, but beyond the quirk and the handful of spectacular holes mid-round, there’s also a sense of wistfulness and melancholy about a round at Elie that I’ve never experienced before on a golf course, something that borders on the eerie, and it’s for this combination of factors why Elie must be included on any golfing itinerary to the region.

Albeit flatter and more tree-lined than its neighbours at nearby Parkstone and Broadstone, Ferndown is another Dorset heathland gem. It must be a great course to be a member; you could throw a blanket over the practice green and net, first tee and clubhouse, whilst that golf-fix for a few evening holes can be easily satisfied as options of both a loop of six or eight are available at the start of the round due to the multiple loop options that return you back to <img src="/images/ferndown-old-golf-course-review-FERN019.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Ferndown (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Ferndown (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> the clubhouse.
The course is an easy walk since there are no severe hills to climb and tees are typically less than a half-wedge away from the previous green making Ferndown a very compact course. I’ve played the course twice now, spanning a period of four years between rounds and the bunker rework carried out over that period is of the highest calibre. Many of the bunkers, with the 4th hole probably being the best example, pop up above the ground providing extraordinary visual features rather than being embedded below the surface like most courses’ bunkers. The sandy areas on the 1st and 6th holes are especially remarkable examples of bunker design with the latter being beautifully natural with its shredded turf appearance. The 8th is another hole that’s defined by its bunker; a smidgen over three hundred yards, you could be mistaken to thinking this hole presents an easy birdie opportunity, but with the massively intimidating Warren bunker combined with an upturned saucer green and bushes tight to the rear, there’s plenty of protection on this hole to punish any slightly miscued shots.
Aside from the bunkering, a couple of the par four holes are protected by their proximity to the boundary line, 3 and 16 both coming immediately to mind, where the rhododendron bushes and white ‘out of bounds’ posts <img src="/images/ferndown-old-golf-course-review-FERN020.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Ferndown (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Ferndown (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> immediately at the rear of the greens offer plenty of intimidation. The 16th is also best characterised by its green; whilst in general, the greens at Ferndown are interesting without being wild, 16 breaks this mould as it’s a fantastical multi-tiered surface where placing your ball on the same tier as the pin will mean you’ll have relied on luck as much as skill and good judgement.
The course is by no means long, and its par fives all offer genuine opportunities for birdie, but to offer contrast to this, the dogleg par fours at the 9th, where there is a tiger-line available to cut the corner, and the rising left to right dogleg 13th, that extends to 452 yards uphill before approaching an oversized false-fronted green, help bring some needed muscle to the course. Ferndown is not an easy place to score though, due to its tight tree-lined routing and tricky bunkering arrangements, accuracy will be key to any golfer who wants to play a round that does justice to their handicap.

The Jubilee Course at St Andrews was the surprise package of a recent golf trip to Scotland. The closest of the St Andrews courses to the sea, the Jubilee brings dunes into play and offers plenty of variation. Like the New Course, the Jubilee starts out from the St Andrews Links clubhouse and then dances its way past and around the sand dunes with some well framed and strongly designed holes, all <img src="/images/st-andrews-jubilee-golf-course-review-SAJU027.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="St Andrews (Jubilee) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="St Andrews (Jubilee) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> accompanied with the soundtrack of families playing along the beach. At the end of this strong starting stretch that takes you out to the Eden Estuary, the 8th hole is where you make an about-turn and slots itself through the middle of duneland as the fairway follows a narrow flattened out shallow between two sets of dunes.
The next hole pops up to a tough downhill par three as the course is then routed through some flatter land with back to back par fives offering a chance to recover a score. This flatter and more open landscape provides some welcome mid-round respite away from the tighter dune framed holes that reappear as you make your way back into town. A raised tee plays to the par three 13th before the tough as nails closing stretch takes you into and across the dunes. My pick of the eighteen holes then comes at the 15th hole where the raised green is hidden, doglegged from the tee due to its green being tucked and enveloped within a high dune. 16 is also a similarly fashioned hole, until 17 and 18, <img src="/images/st-andrews-jubilee-golf-course-review-SAJU028.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="St Andrews (Jubilee) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="St Andrews (Jubilee) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> which sadly come as a visually weak finish due to exiting out of the more interesting land formations; albeit this returns you back to the familiar backdrop of the old town of St Andrews, something which never disappoints.
I’m going to wrap up by using a tired old cliché so I apologise in advance, but if this course was located elsewhere, it would be much more celebrated. In my opinion, a trip to St Andrews without a round at the Jubilee is an incomplete experience as I personally felt it was more enjoyable than the more acclaimed New Course as well as other more celebrated courses in the area.

Dunbar is one of the less fashionable clubs along East Lothian’s “Golf Coast” with the likes of Muirfield and Gullane receiving the bulk of the attention. But the rocky coastline along which Dunbar is laid out makes excellent ground for a links course where an array of holes are played right along the coast, hence the self-proclaimed title, “The Pebble Beach of Scotland”. Despite that boast, the club itself is modest with a scruffy clubhouse interior where an update would do no harm, so visitors shouldn’t go expecting the Muirfield or Kingsbarns treatment as this is a real members’ club.

There’s a homely feel to an arrival at Dunbar and a warm reception from the team within the pro-shop instantly made us feel welcome. My feelings about the course are mixed however, it’s a lovely setting to play golf and worth a visit if you’re in the region but the opening two holes and the closing 18th, set on the other side of the wall that <img src="/images/dunbar-championship-golf-course-review-DUNB036.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Dunbar Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Dunbar Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> lines the course are a little non-descript. Outside of this inland patch however, there are some excellent holes once you pass through the long red-brick wall. The blind par five 9th is a delightful surprise to the senses as the views open up after you’ve climbed to the summit of the hill to then be greeted with a panoramic view towards the lighthouse in the distance on one side and the more industrial outlook of the nuclear power station on the other. The 12th is another wonderfully picturesque hole that curves along the shape of the rocky coast featuring a green that juts out into the sea. The green complex at the following par four 13th with a partially hidden but magnificent punchbowl green is also a standout highlight of the course.

Whilst there’s much to enjoy, my main issue with Dunbar is that parts of the course just have the feeling of being shoe-horned in. Sometimes potential greatness is lost from courses for the need for this to be an eighteen-hole game. Dunbar could have been an all-world twelve or thirteen holer, but it’s a course that’s been limited by its boundaries. There are three or four holes, the 6th and 17th immediately springing to mind where the course is at its narrowest, where the holes feel jammed in amongst its narrowing perimeter.

All in all, a nice addition to an East Lothian itinerary, but due to it being a mixed bag, I think Dunbar is fortunate to rank as highly as it does amongst Scotland’s Top 100.

Amongst certain circles it’s bordering on treason to say the Old Course is overrated. That being said, it seems to be a popular, if less outspoken opinion to say that whilst the experience is great, the course in comparison is a little disappointing. And if I’m to be frank, when it makes its appearance on our TV screens, it’s not a course I find particularly alluring, so I fully expected my own assessment of the course to conform with this ‘overrated’ opinion.

So with my expectations in check, <img src="/images/st-andrews-old-golf-course-review-SAOL110 a.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="St Andrews (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="St Andrews (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> I headed to Fife for a week-long golf tour, and I’ll happily admit that I was looking forward more to my day trip to East Lothian to play North Berwick than I was to my round on the Old Course. Notwithstanding these preconceptions however, my sense of anticipation quickly changed as soon as I reached The Home of Golf. For this university town must itself have a first-class degree in marketing and self promotion, because if you hadn’t been particularly excited about playing the Old Course before you arrive, you damn well soon will be. Once you’ve seen golfers teeing off the 1st and playing out 18, all whilst being situated slap-bang in the middle of the town, and then had this sense of anticipation compounded by facing ballot-place rejection for two consecutive days, getting that Old Course tee time suddenly gets an elevated sense of priority.

Anyway, I’m happy to report that the ballot came through third time lucky, saving us from the burden of lining up at an ungodly hour to join the singles' queue. So at dawn, allocated with the first open-ballot tee time of the day, an empty St Andrews Old Course with its centuries of history would greet us to what proved to be the most <img src="/images/st-andrews-old-golf-course-review-SAOL113 b.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="St Andrews (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="St Andrews (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> exceptional morning of golf.

I’m not going to even attempt to start trying to describe each hole. Countless articles, dissertations and books have been written about St Andrews’ hallowed turf in a far more eloquent and intellectual manner than I’d be able to, and in truth, I can’t recall every hole, but I can remember distinct features. Hollows, undulations and natural shapes, swales, gullies and run off areas all combine to mould a course like no other. It’s no wonder the Old Course represents ground-zero for golf architecture enthusiasts. You’re faced with mounds obscuring views, extreme contours and enormous yet severely undulating double greens. Each and every shot proves to be thought provoking and captivating. It’s the most intelligent course I’ve played, for it’s full of magic tricks and allows you to use your imagination like maybe no other course in golf. “How on earth did my ball end up there?” becomes a frequent thought due to the hidden hazards dotted here and there such as the crazy reverse bunkers on 12 which only come into view once you’ve idled your way past them.

The bunkers themselves are <img src="/images/st-andrews-old-golf-course-review-SAOL111 c.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="St Andrews (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="St Andrews (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> tremendous, many of which are monstrous in size and depth. Similar to many other natural catastrophes like typhoons and hurricanes, they’ve been given names to add to the sense of terror that comes with approaching them; Cartgate, Seven Sisters, Spectacles, Shell, Strath, Hell and Roadhole, to name but a few. But whilst the features themselves are distinctive and memorable, I can’t say the same for all of the holes individually, which is why some people probably don’t hold the course in the same high regard.

Nevertheless, the closing stretch from 11, where you play a mid iron to a raised green ahead of the Eden Estuary, and then make your way inward and back into town is just phenomenal. And each hole here along this closing sequence, together with each shot I played, for better or worse, has been etched into my brain. Then comes the crescendo at 17, a real tough old dog of a hole, a reputation well deserved as I fell foul of a triple bogey, before playing the glorious albeit simpler 18th for the first time. There are much better holes across the Old Course than the 18th, but this final hole is pure theatre and sense of occasion. <img src="/images/st-andrews-old-golf-course-review-SAOL112 d.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="St Andrews (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="St Andrews (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> It’s a hairs standing on end experience and one that’s unrivalled in that to my knowledge, no other course has a closing hole that gets amongst the public like this one. The drive with danger down the right, the photo for old time’s sake on the Swilken Bridge, playing your approach in front of the R&A building and Hamilton Grand hotel and then putting out on the 18th with the knowledge of what history has been made here before you. Then you have to hold your nerve in front of all of the people that gather to watch around the green; why oh why did I leave myself a three-footer on the last? There must be 20-odd people watching from the street.

So sink the putt, gesture to the watchers-on like it was never in doubt, and enjoy a well earned pint in the Jigger Inn. The course and the experience are inseparable, and this is an experience that any golf lover must pay homage to during their lifetime.

The Old Course overrated you say? Not for me.

I doubt that my opinion of the Balcomie course at Crail is going to be met with universal popularity, but despite its scenic setting, I just didn’t warm to the place. My visit came towards the end of a week-long golf tour to the Fife region where from the outset, everything appeared promising. The course is set serenely against the coast just a short hop away from Kingsbarns where there are beautiful views of the sea from the car park and across most of the golf holes. A fairly modern well-appointed clubhouse, pro shop/starter’s hut as well as caddies available on request also go to demonstrate that Crail isn’t short on attention from visitors to the region. Despite all of this early promise though, Balcomie didn’t deliver for me.
The course does indeed start <img src="/images/crail-balcomie-golf-course-review-CRAI053.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Crail (Balcomie) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Crail (Balcomie) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> well, holes two through five in particular being lovely holes that hug the shoreline featuring a couple of heroic carries from the tee and include typical bumpy links fairways, but after this, I just felt a bit flat with what was delivered. Undoubtedly, the course is pretty, but it lacks complexity. Sure, there are some nice touches along the way such as the boathouse next to the second tee, a double green mid-round as well as two enjoyable raised green par threes, but nothing to really stir those links-juices. Too many of the holes feature large expanses of ground to aim at with your driver, and whilst I’m far from opposed to width on a golf course, this needs to be supplemented by better strategic bunkering or gorse to frame the holes, something to keep you honest and to make you more considerate of your line of attack from the tee.
The round also ends on a slightly flat note where, despite once again being located close to the shoreline and under the gaze of the members watching on from the clubhouse, the journey from tee to green seemed to involve little in the way of truly thoughtful design. Ultimately, I was left wanting more substance than the holiday golf I was presented with. Crail’s Balcomie course makes a pleasant introductory round to someone visiting these shores, but if your trip is short and you’re looking for a purer links experience and some diversity if travelling outside of St Andrews, there are better options elsewhere.

Let’s make no mistake here, Cleeve Hill is municipal golf. The course is scruffy and tatty, basically being shared farmland where sheep graze and maintenance is minimal. The greens are very poor with most surfaces suffering damage from animal scratchings, there are even heavy tractor tracks to the right of the 11th hole.
I say this not to criticise the course but manage potential visitor’s expectations. Cleeve Hill is not a premium product, nor is it trying to be. And for £12 per round on a Saturday afternoon in February, you’re getting what you’ve paid for. Actually I’m being unfair, I’ve had lesser experiences for far more expensive green fees. If you look past the on-course presentation, you have the very definition of a rough diamond. The bare bones of a great course are all there.
Set high above the Cotswolds’ countryside on Gloucestershire’s highest point, prepare to be joined <img src="/images/cleeve-hill-golf-course-review-CLEE012.jpg" alt="Cleeve Hill Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Cleeve Hill Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;"> across the course by more than just golfers. Due to the breathtakingly beautiful scenery and pleasant hike, you’ll have to hold back from hitting your tee shot at various points through the round to wait for a fell-runner to pass or a group of walkers to cross the fairway with their dogs. If you’re able to put course conditioning aside….and a really pleasant walk with gorgeous views, amazing green surrounds and clobbering your ball across ancient quarries sounds like your thing, then come and visit Cleeve Hill.
The fairways are generous and that’s putting it mildly. Due to what I assume to be a small maintenance budget and some greenstaff disguised as livestock, the rough and fairways are both cut to generally the same height. The course sets itself up well for creativity rather than placing a premium on accuracy and whilst the course is in no way a links, it shares many characteristics with links golf; the soil is free draining, there are blind shots aplenty, the land is clear of trees and gorse bushes are scattered here and there. The high winds I experienced were also verging on the extreme, so the playing strategy lends itself to keeping your ball low and bumping it along the ground.
When the highlights of the round come, they’re of extremely high quality. The 2nd has a wonderful stepped green, sculpted into the side of the hill and the long drop-shot par three 10th across gorse is a great test of your long iron accuracy. The signature 13th has a bell-shaped green sat between earthwork ruins, themselves surrounded by treacherous moat-like gulleys; this is all set before a beautiful panoramic view of Cheltenham in the distance. 15, the first of two back to back par threes has the most noteworthy of <img src="/images/cleeve-hill-golf-course-review-CLEE013.jpg" alt="Cleeve Hill Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Cleeve Hill Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;"> canyon carries, don’t scuff or top your tee shot here. 16 was an amazing yet bewildering hole where I gazed around unknowingly for longer than I ought to before I finally figured out where the green was located; perched over a hill, semi blind with two quarries separated by a grassy spine above which to keep your ball aloft, this is a hole to intimidate even the best of amateur golfers.
Take the time to breathe in the views whilst walking Cleeve Hill, golf doesn’t have to be a rush. The views are truly outstanding and both the triangulation marker at the pinnacle of the hill and the isolated tree doubling as a memorial to loved ones passed at the 13th should offer the wandering golfer a time to reflect.
Despite the sheep poop and scratchy greens, I liked Cleeve Hill. Some heavy investment in combination with the engagement of a top course architect could make this place pretty special, but maybe it already is, maybe upgrading the course would ruin the experience that the likes of Cleeve Hill provide. It’s a course that’s at one with its community and environment and the type of golf that people go on a pilgrimage to play at places like Askernish, so just maybe this is golf the way it’s meant to be? Personally I’m not there yet, but my inner eco-hipster wants to be.
<a href="/news-item/review-of-the-month-february-2019-cleeve-hill">Review of the Month February 2019</a>

Cards on the table, I’m not the biggest fan of flat courses. If there aren’t strong features, land formations or elevation changes to command your attention then there’s only so much that can be done through course design and conditioning.
The first hole didn’t do much to inspire me, essentially a field with a few bunkers and less than 300 yards from tee to green, Littlestone gets underway with a birdie opportunity. What land movement there is, primarily comes across the stretch of ground which covers holes 2, 3, 16 and 17. The 2nd, the best hole on the front nine has a perpendicular ditch that should only impact the longest of hitters. This is closely followed by a dune that’s been carved in two, now creating two sandy mounds forming a gap that allows a sight-line to the green. Once over the blind drive at the next, the rest of the front nine is well designed, beautifully conditioned <img src="/images/littlestone-championship-golf-course-review-LITS042.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Littlestone (Championship) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Littlestone (Championship) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> but largely pancake flat.
What Littlestone lacks in aesthetics, it makes up in design and strategy. The 5th has an intimidating line of bunkers that captures your attention off the tee whilst the redesigned bunker that pops up out of the ground to the left of the 6th green is an impressive example of bunker reshaping. Moving through the round, it’s a shame that the busy road on the 8th damages what would otherwise be one of the better holes across the opening nine.
Reinforcing what other reviewers have said, the back nine is a step up in quality from what’s basically an average links course for the front nine. The combination of burns, small dunes, run off and collection areas, and some high quality green complexes on this back nine are what people will enjoy at Littlestone. Highlights include a fantastic shelf and hollow to the left of the 15th green and the beautifully rumpled fairway on the lead up to the 16th, a dogleg hole that’s blind from the tee and features some well positioned centre-line bunkers that need avoiding along this most extraordinary of fairways.
Sadly, due to the sea wall, sea views aren’t available until you get to the tee of the 17th, a hole that delivers in every way imaginable. The par threes across Littlestone are probably the course’s best asset, but 17 is in a different league entirely. Teeing off from an elevated position, the golfer is faced with two bunkers 30-40 yards short, whilst a blow-out bunker to the left and revetted face bunker to the right guard the wide but shallow undulating green. The interest on the hole doesn’t stop there either, with a false front and wicked drop off to the rear and overlooked by a converted water tower, this is one of the best par threes I’ve played.
The closing hole then provides a pleasant finish and a chance to close with a birdie although the raised green offers plenty of protection; missing left or right on this hole effectively ends any opportunity to make a good score such is the degree of difficulty associated with a chip or sand shot from either side of the green.
Overall, whilst flat courses don’t really do it for me, they often bring out the best in the course architect and Littlestone offers a good example of this. Whilst I was a little disappointed in the front nine and overall, there are only a handful of truly memorable holes, the challenge offers questions of strategy most of the way around. And despite not being overly contoured, the green complexes are otherwise excellent. Considering I played in January, the putting surfaces were rolling beautifully for the time of year. The green staff at Littlestone have done a grand job as the bunkers too are faultless. Due to the lack of land movement, I’d agree that the rankings are correct and that the south coast courses at Hayling and Princes offer slightly more enjoyable days on the links, but Littlestone still has its merits and warrants visiting if you’re in the region and a fan of coastal links golf.

The Old Tom Morris links may be the lower ranked of the two courses, but its popularity provides sufficient evidence that it should not be ignored. I walked eighteen on Sandy Hills and hardly saw a soul whilst the Old Tom Morris course was packed. The Old Tom Morris course is both more forgiving and classic in style than its championship sister course. <img src="/images/rosapenna-old-tom-morris-golf-course-review-ROSP071.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Rosapenna (Old Tom Morris) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Rosapenna (Old Tom Morris) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> Playing across two contrasting halves, rather than the nines being positioned side by side, the course is bisected down the middle by the gigantic dunes that Sandy Hills is played across.
The “Strand” front nine is played across smaller, more traditional duneland and starts off with a steady, if unspectacular first few holes but rapidly ramps up in quality at the 6th. This was my pick of the holes across the eighteen, played towards a green swallowed up by a large dune, it’s a hole that would grace most top level courses. The next hole, a par three played over a hollow of sandy wasteland is also first class. The last two holes of this front nine return back towards the clubhouse with the closing hole channelled through a duned valley.
As you then take the walk across to the back nine “Valley” holes, there’s a change of gear. In no way inferior to the front nine, it’s this time played across flatter land against the backdrop of Sheephaven Bay. The first four holes are set parallel to the shoreline that’s blessed with a beautiful sandy beach, whilst another wonderful <img src="/images/rosapenna-old-tom-morris-golf-course-review-ROSP072.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Rosapenna (Old Tom Morris) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Rosapenna (Old Tom Morris) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> par three, complete with a tremendous elevated green complex, takes you towards the end of the property. This nine then loops back around and plays in the shadow of those mountainous dunes which border it and closes out in front of a statue of Old Tom who watches over those putts and handshakes on the final green.
For the resorts so called “second course”, I was very much pleasantly surprised with the quality of the course, and in my mind holds its own with others in the region, even if it hadn’t been part of a larger golf complex. That being said, with the right investment, including the development of the St Patricks course by Tom Doak’s Renaissance team (which also has bags of potential), Rosapenna has all of the ingredients to become the go-to golf destination in Ireland.

Rosapenna is the real deal, proper linksland. You get sight of this on the drive in as huge rolling dunes catch your eye. I’d go as far as to say that it’s the most impressive duneland I’ve ever seen around a golf venue.
I’d highly recommend starting your Rosapenna experience on the Old Tom Morris Links first which is well worth playing on its own merits, and it’s on the back nine of the Old Tom Morris Links where you’ll catch your first glimpse of the massive dunes donned with orange flags. That my friends is Sandy Hills, and she’s a beauty.
In truth, I first visited Rosapenna six <img src="/images/rosapenna-sandy-hills-golf-course-review-ROSA102.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Rosapenna (Sandy Hills) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Rosapenna (Sandy Hills) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> years ago and played Sandy Hills in a three-club wind. All I can say is that I’ve never been so badly beaten up by a golf course. The bones of a wonderful course were there but it was just far too tough to be enjoyable and the condition of the course, still being fairly new, also needed improving. I made my first return to Rosapenna this month and I’m so happy that I did as the course has improved immeasurably. The greens ran perfectly smooth, maybe the best links greens that I’ve played. The turf conditions are now perfect with that springy links feedback pronounced on every iron shot and the fairways are now much wider and fairer. The blind shots are still there but bunkers have been removed from positions where they didn’t really belong. The green surrounds are closely mown, so whilst many greens are elevated, I found the ground game a realistic option.
What remains from when I first played the course is the sheer beauty of this place. Donegal’s a delightfully scenic county with rugged hills set alongside perfect sandy beaches meaning that the views from this elevated property through the first six holes are spectacular, culminating in the dramatic “up and over” 6th with its green perched <img src="/images/rosapenna-sandy-hills-golf-course-review-ROSA103.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Rosapenna (Sandy Hills) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Rosapenna (Sandy Hills) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> in front of the backdrop of the sea. The rest of the course is very much submerged within the dunes such that each hole plays in isolation. Those dunes are covered with long and wispy marram grass meaning each hole is an absolute picture from the tee.
Being set amongst these gigantic mountains of sand, severe drop offs are inevitable. A prime example is the par five 8th where a ball played to the left of the green will just get ejected, so whilst the course is much fairer than it was, accuracy still plays a key part in the course management strategy.
From the first hole with its green located in a trough created by flanking dunes, through to the 18th that’s routed through a valley, there are few places more dramatic. Rosapenna proves to be one of the most spectacular places that I’ve played golf and I hope to see the course rise higher in the rankings as its more mature, fairer self starts to get more recognition. Given time, I firmly believe that Sandy Hills could be making its way into the World Top 100 so get there first before the prices start to be more reflective of a course of this stature.

This latest visit was my third to Lough Erne, it’s a gorgeous place to relax and stay if you’re visiting the region. On my first visit a few years ago, I played in mid-Summer and the course blew me away. It’s a nicely routed layout played in several small loops, snaking its way back and <img src="/images/lough-erne-faldo-golf-course-review-LOUG062.jpg" alt="Lough Erne (Faldo) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Lough Erne (Faldo) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;"> forth across a spit of land between loughs Erne and Castlehulme in what is an undeniably picturesque setting.
A raised wooden footbridge takes you across the wetlands and reeds before the first five holes wind their way pleasantly around some evergreen woodland. After a testing par three over a small lake you’re faced with a climb to the only hole that’s prominently elevated above all others, but it’s worth the trek since the 6th is my pick of the holes across the eighteen. The 6th is a par five played along the top of the hill in between loughs with a semi blind uphill approach to the green from which you get some marvellous views.
The elevation of the next few holes dip and rise thereafter, this time around the perimeter of Lough Erne with the signage on the 7th tee boasting that Rory McIlroy was the first golfer to ever drive the green. At almost 400 yards with water along the right hand stretch of the hole, this is something close to a superhuman feat. The 9th hole is a little marmite, a blind tee shot tightly hugs the shore of the lough where, unless you’re happy with leaving yourself a 170-yard iron into the green, there is only the smallest slither of a fairway area to land your second shot. Despite its failings <img src="/images/lough-erne-faldo-golf-course-review-LOUG063.jpg" alt="Lough Erne (Faldo) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Lough Erne (Faldo) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;"> though, I still like the hole. The 10th is the signature hole at Lough Erne and features the first of two cape holes, the other being the 17th where the island greens are built from reclaimed land. The pace slows a little through the next few holes as the routing inevitably has to return inland before the last three holes present a block-buster finish over and around the waters of Castlehulme Lough where a watery grave is never far away.
Now that I’ve played the course on three different occasions at different times of the year, I’ve become less enamoured by the course than I was on my first visit as it does come across a little manufactured and unnatural in parts. The widow’s peak style bunkers, clover-like in their appearance also aren’t quite to my tastes and the fairway conditions can play very soft. The location of this course between two wetlands is hardly ideal turf for golf and maybe should have been sand capped, but ultimately there’s no denying the beauty of the setting or some of the golf holes. I’d recommend anyone to make the visit to Lough Erne once, particularly if you’re combining it with an overnight stay as the hotel is wonderful, the course just lacks the complexity and nuance to make it continue to be enjoyed to the same extent on repeat visits.
<a href="/news-item/review-of-the-month-october-2018-lough-erne">Review of the Month October 2018</a>

Whilst it’s never going to be on the radar for the bucket-list golfer, Wrotham Heath is an enjoyable, sporty course and offers much more to a visiting golfer than what you’d expect given its lowly position in the Kent county rankings.
For sure, there’s a scattering of very ordinary holes at Wrotham Heath. The opening and closing stretch of land is typical flat treelined <img src="/images/wrotham-heath-golf-course-review-WROT003.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Wrotham Heath Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Wrotham Heath Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> parkland that you find at most inland courses up and down the country and I wasn’t particularly enamoured with the holes where you cross the road on the back nine either, but boy, there’s a few gems out there too that make Wrotham Heath worth the visit. I’m mainly referring to the elegant and undulating heathland stretch on the front nine that starts at the third. It’s a shame that this hole comes so early in the round as it’s undoubtedly the real standout hole. It’s reminiscent of a couple of par fives at the Addington with position being key; a well struck five-iron is all you’ll need from the tee with the primary strategy being to avoid your ball ending up on either side of the heavily banked fairway. The next shot is then played completely blind with an enormous drop-shot to the green. The fourth hole then reminded me of some of the early holes at West Sussex as again, an iron off the tee is the smart play here leaving a wedge into a green that’s surrounded by pine trees. The 5th is an absolute gem of a par three played between a steep heathery valley before a sharp dogleg par four takes you to the end of this glorious stretch before you climb up and out of the heathland.
The par three 7th then skirts this heathland stretch, playing over a gulley in front of a raised green that proves deadly if you push <img src="/images/wrotham-heath-golf-course-review-WROT004.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Wrotham Heath Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Wrotham Heath Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> your approach shot right. 8, 9 and 10 take a break and return back to the parkland whilst 11 and the short 12th again return to skirt with the more interesting heathland stretch of property. Of the remaining holes, 16 offers the most interest, it’s yet another peculiar dogleg hole where an iron off the tee should suffice before hitting up to a raised green sitting proudly on top of a hill. The walk to the next tee is some hike, but the 17th tee provides glorious views of the surrounding hills, albeit the hole itself is relatively uninspiring from the tee. The green however is surrounded by hidden pot bunkers, so raising the teeing ground could bring the hazards into view thus making a simple improvement to the appearance of the hole.
Overall, I enjoyed Wrotham Heath. It’s full of quirk where positional play is king and there are pockets of the course where the quality of golf reaches a very high standard, it’s just a shame the course couldn’t be more consistent throughout. Sometimes I’d prefer to write a review without providing a rating, and this is one such case, so please excuse the three-ball score as admittedly the course deserves better. An average this course is not, I just can’t justify putting the course alongside other more superior courses that I’ve put in the four-ball category.

Walton Old hardly needs an introduction, this place is unique and it’s jam-packed full of history, and it’ll soon be adding to this history when the British Masters comes to town in October.
I’d previously only played on the New course and I’m happy to report that I found the Old more compelling. Whilst both courses cover the same largely flat piece of land, the structure of the holes on the Old offers more interest and is deserved in its reputation as the premier of the two layouts. The greens whilst still relatively flat, offer more undulation, and <img src="/images/walton-heath-old-golf-course-review-WALO037x.jpg" alt="Walton Heath (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Walton Heath (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;"> by and large the Old has better green sites and general shaping. And whilst the bunkering offers some of the best features across both courses, the Old mixes up its bunkering styles making excellent use of revetted faced bunkers that again elevate the course above its slightly younger sibling.
Many are critical of the course for starting with a par three and it’s far from my preference for an opener but once you cross the road, there’s no doubting that Walton Old gets off to a quality start. Two through six are toughies with strategic bunkering and heavy heather lined fairways thankfully blocking the opportunity for the pros to play the bomb and gouge golf they’re familiar with over on the PGA Tour. Admittedly, the level dips before the turn with some holes verging on the mundane, but the back nine offers a handful of excellent holes with the doglegs at <img src="/images/walton-heath-old-golf-course-review-WALO038x.jpg" alt="Walton Heath (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Walton Heath (Old) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;"> 12 and 13 as well as both the 14th and 16th being highlights. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that 16 is the hole that remains most firmly within the memory, it sweeps and curves in a fashion that almost seems foreign to the rest of the course and comes complete with a monster of a sod-faced bunker guarding the right-hand side of the green. A real beauty. I also particularly enjoyed the built-up mounds that offered some variation in the landscape, albeit one or two of the new ones were a little untidy and artificial in their appearance and will take a little time to bed-in. I’m also still in awe of the open landscape and vast internal views across the property.Overall, my advice to visitors to Walton Heath is to prepare yourself in advance for the type of environment and challenge you’re going to face, it won’t appeal to everyone. If your preference is treelined target golf with pristine playing conditions and neatly mown fairways then Wentworth is a few miles up the road. Walton Heath will appeal however to those who want to be challenged technically and mentally whilst playing across a classy course with flawless turf conditions and excellent sight lines.

When excellent land is complimented with great course design, you have a classic, and that’s exactly what you have at Swinley Forest. The course, with free draining sandy soil, is set amongst pines with oodles of heather dispersed amongst the rough. And whilst I wouldn’t describe the course as hilly, it’s a rolling journey with what felt like every tee positioned such that you’re found playing towards angled fairways throughout.
The course is a layout without weakness. There’s no drop in quality throughout the round but there are two aspects of <img src="/images/swinley-forest-golf-course-review-SWIN059.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Swinley Forest Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Swinley Forest Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> Swinley Forest that really propel the course into World Top 100 pedigree; the first is the wonderful greens whilst the other standout feature is the fantastic collection of par threes. Swinley has some beautifully sloping, contoured and undulating greens but not for one second do they feel tricked-up in any way. The greens run true like carpet, but to keep them playable, they’re kept at a medium paced, sensible speed. The par threes are sublime; typically played to raised greens with intimidating bunkering and shelf drop-offs, these must be the finest set of par threes in England.
Touching upon a few holes briefly, some people have commented that the round starts slowly but I personally loved the 2nd. You play a blind tee shot over a bunker in the foreground guarding the start of the fairway akin to the tee shot on the 11th at Sunningdale Old. A grassy sunken hollow to the front left of the green provides a feature that you’ll want to avoid whilst the putting surface itself slopes from front to back forcing a deft approach shot; as with all great short par fours, an easy par but a tough nut to birdie. As good as that hole is, you know you’re really playing a <img src="/images/swinley-forest-golf-course-review-SWIN060.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Swinley Forest Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Swinley Forest Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> special course just a couple of holes later as the 4th/5th par 3/5 combination is simply world class, one playing up to a wide angled plateau green, with the other being a beautiful long downhill hole with forced carries over sand and water.
The back nine is every bit the equal to the front and other than the par threes, the 15th was my pick. A sumptuous uphill par five, comparable to the 5th in that it’s reachable in two but there’s more hidden danger lurking here. The 15th green has a wicked false front that will repel anything short whilst anything long or left is gone. This is one of a number of holes where the golfer can be forced to look silly whereby an under-struck chip shot could quite easily return its way back to one’s feet.
Swinley Forest is a short course, particularly by modern standards and has the benefit of being both playable and scoreable for most golfers, but what sets Swinley Forest aside is that it’s brilliantly consistent throughout. Each hole offers a different set of questions whilst providing plenty of opportunities for you to stand back on the tee and admire the beauty of what lays in front of you. The biggest surprise to me however was the wonderfully relaxed ambiance within the clubhouse. With its reputation of being a private and elitist club, I had expected the atmosphere to be much more snooty and pretentious.
Full marks to Swinley without much hesitation, she’s a charming old lady with grace and beauty rarely paralleled.

I played Formby earlier last month when two months of hot sun had proceeded my visit and baked out the course to a parched brown colour. Through a combination of these course conditions and the narrow fairways found on a selection of Formby’s holes (some of which are as little as 15 yards wide), there was a premium on accuracy. I don’t quite understand the ecological and environmental conditions that need to exist to have a treelined links, but Formby seems to stand on its own in this regard. Since this is the only time I’ve played Formby, I’d be intrigued to see how it plays in the off-season, but at this time of year every hole played like a genuine links.

Formby has a wonderfully varied layout, some holes played amongst dunes whilst others are flat and treelined with a few areas even having clusters of heather scattered amongst the rough. Train tracks accompany the opening holes whilst combinations of long and short holes of varying pars are enough to keep an amateur like me on my <img src="/images/formby-golf-course-review-FORM036.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="Formby Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="Formby Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> toes, but it’s the holes around the middle of the round that make Formby a “must” if visiting this region. The 6th is the start of this great run of holes. This is where the course really changes complexion as you start to approach the woodland. Strategic bunkering greets you along the right hand side of this hole, placed just where you want to hit your tee shot before dunes and mounds lay in front of the green making it semi-blind. The 7th, played into a meandering valley fairway that is less than twenty yards in places is a unique dogleg where the raised green sits enclosed within more sandy dunes. The 8th meanwhile is bizarre and I mean that in a positive respect, played to a table top fairway with sharp ledges on either side, it’s a par five that’s well short of 500 yards making it easily reachable in two, but is well guarded by the natural land formations that will punish an offline golf shot. The 9th is a beautiful hole played into a copse of trees and only one of probably two holes where you get to view the sea whilst the 11th also proved to be one of my favourites with a half obscured shelf-top green circled by mounds.

Whilst it probably lacks the consistency or wow factor to be a genuine World top-100 contender, it’s a very strong golf course and hugely worth fitting into the itinerary of England’s premier golfing region. For Formby represents somewhat of a hybrid between links golf and its parkland cousin making it a perfect starting point for any visitor to the Lancashire coast hoping to ease themselves into links life before taking on the more wind-exposed links courses in the area.

Big, bold and grand, St George’s Hill is an experience that starts at the private entrance to this opulent estate and doesn’t lower its level throughout. Taking the long drive past the multi million pound mansions to arrive at one of golf’s most iconic clubhouses is mere foreplay; played through pine and birch woodland, St George’s Hill <img src="/images/st-georges-hill-red-and-blue-golf-course-review-STGE042.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="St George's Hill (Red & Blue) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="St George's Hill (Red & Blue) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> stands equal to any inland course I’ve enjoyed to date.
With elevation changes throughout and complete with raised tees and greens, the vistas through treelined corridors are beautiful and serene. The bunkering across St George’s Hill is a key characteristic throughout, with the cross bunkers on the 5th (Red) and 16th (Blue) being stand out features that add a photogenic quality to these already beautiful holes. The same can be said of the 8th, a magnificent par 3 across a shallow valley, but having seen the old photo of the gigantic classic Colt bunker in the clubhouse, I’d love to see the club return the bunkering here to its former shape. The tee shot on the 9th meanwhile demands a momentary pause to take in the glorious view and makes a perfect closing hole, I have to wonder why they don’t switch nines?
Once you’ve completed the Red loop (there’s very little to <img src="/images/st-georges-hill-red-and-blue-golf-course-review-STGE043.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;" alt="St George's Hill (Red & Blue) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer" title="St George's Hill (Red & Blue) Golf Course - Photo by reviewer"> choose between the two main nines), you’re then confronted with the opening hole on the Blue, perhaps the best hole on the property. Played over a heathery hump with a fairway that leans heavily to the right, the back nine starts with a visual feast as well as an excellent strategic challenge. The greens at St George’s Hill are to the most part only modestly contoured with the exception being the par three 14th which has a superbly undulating putting surface. 18 is then probably the most unusual hole on the course, a drive to a steeply inclining uphill fairway angling around the trees to the right with the green perched in front of the clubhouse bringing to close one of those unforgettable days in golf.
Take a moment to quaff a well earned drink at the halfway hut between nines or even after the round and soak in the views from up high. St George’s Hill is fabulous, and needs to be experienced to savour one of the best courses that Surrey’s prized heathland has to offer.