Benjamin Smith

The founder of The Wandering Golfers, Ben grew up on the links of Scotland learning the game from his beloved Grandpa. Previously a writer and broadcaster for The Times and BBC

Causeway Coast and Glens: the best golf courses

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The Causeway Coast and Glens is a place of incredible beauty and adventure but it’s also one of the best places to play golf.  This part of Northern Ireland is perhaps best known for hosting The Open Championship in 2019 when Royal Portrush won the hearts of so many golfers around the world.…

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Castlerock Golf Club: a special experience with real spirit

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Castlerock Golf Club is yet another unmissable stop on Northern Ireland’s spectacular Causeway Coast. To the west are the rolling hills of Donegal, to the east the towering dunes of Portstewart, separated only by the mouth of the river Bann. It’s a wonderful setting for two beautiful golf courses…

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Portstewart Golf Club: the best front 9 in golf?

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If there’s a better view from a 1st tee, it will have to go some to top The Strand at Portstewart Golf Club.  A scorching summer’s day has meandered into a lazy afternoon and the beach which sits to the right of the opening hole at Portstewart, is still bustling with surfers, day…

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The Dumbarnie Experience is Hard To Better

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The beauty of Dumbarnie Links speaks for itself on a morning like this. There’s barely a breath of wind as we look out across Largo Bay and take in the majesty of this dramatic meeting of land and sea. It’s not yet 8am and a thin layer of wispy white cloud hangs over…

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Chart Hills Golf Club: new dawn for epic inland wonder

It’s a stiflingly hot summer’s day and our journey to Chart Hills Golf Club is nearing an end, as we negotiate Kent’s charming country lanes – the garden of England is a truly alluring part of the world, even in this heat.  We turn through the gates and wind our way along the…

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The Lodge at Prince’s Golf Club is the perfect golf break

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From the moment you enter The Lodge at Prince’s Golf Club it’s clear you’re following in the footsteps of champions. A photograph hangs in the reception area showing Colin Morikawa drinking from the Claret Jug in joyous celebration. It was taken in the bar here on the night he won The Open next…

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Why picturesque Prince’s is one of England’s finest links

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There can be few places to rival Prince’s Golf Club as a place to watch the sun rise on a day like this.  We’re sitting by the putting green at The Lodge at Prince’s, waiting. In the dawn mist, Sandwich Bay itself is so still it’s as if someone has placed a piece…

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Hillside Golf Club: a joyous assault on the senses

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It’s early on a glorious July morning as I turn left through the gates of Hillside Golf Club. The place is abuzz with people. The team from the DP World Tour are on site constructing grandstands, measuring for yardage books, and preparing for a tour event which arrives here in the next few…

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Ireland golf: Is This Golf’s greatest Travel Destination?

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Scotland will always be golf’s spiritual home but when you travel around Ireland, golf clubs on your back, it’s hard to shake the feeling that somehow you’ve come home.  Full disclosure: I’m a proud Scot, one who has travelled the world in search enriching experiences in golf. I have been fortunate to explore…

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Why Mount Juliet is one of Ireland’s grandest golf escapes

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It’s early on a crisp spring morning and my eyes are sweeping across Mount Juliet golf course taking it all in – it’s hard to imagine a more tranquil, elegant place to spend time.  From the moment you drive through the gates of this sprawling country estate in County Kilkenny, Ireland, there is…

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The European Club: unique, mesmeric – a golf masterpiece

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Hidden away on the County Wicklow coast, just south of Brittas Bay, you’ll The European Club – a links like no other.  It’s a true one-off, a place where the rules of how to design and run a golf club haven’t applied since Pat Ruddy, the effervescent owner and designer, circled over this…

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Rosslare a beautiful links gem in Ireland’s capital of sunshine

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Rosslare Golf Club is bathed in sunshine as we walk up the final hole of a round that will live long in the memory.  It was Walt Whitman who wrote, ‘keep your face always toward the sunshine and the shadows will fall behind you.’ That was certainly how our day on this charming,…

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deWiz golf review: can wearable golf trainer make you better?

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Sigmund Freud once claimed all human behaviour is governed by our desire to move towards pleasure and away from pain and now the guys at deWiz believe that principle can improve your golf swing. When I was told I should try the deWiz golf watch, which delivers electric pulses or – whisper it…

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Wondrous Links House is one of Scotland’s best hotels

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The view from our balcony at the sumptuous Links House Dornoch is one you could never grow tired of. A few yards to our left is the 1st tee of one of the world’s greatest golf courses, abuzz with greenkeepers, golfers and walkers. To our right is the conservation village of Dornoch with…

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Royal Dornoch Golf Club: One Of The World’s Great Links

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For golfers the world over, Royal Dornoch Golf Club represents a unique call to adventure. It’s a pilgrimage which requires commitment, dedication and patience. After all this golfing outpost, tucked away in a stunning corner of the Scottish Highlands, sits 50 miles north of Loch Ness and just eight degrees below in the Arctic…

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Fyfe Golf: Made in Scotland – celebrating a rich golfing heritage

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Fyfe Golf unashamedly celebrate Scotland’s rich and storied manufacturing heritage. Their beautiful, handmade products and accessories already grace golf bags and golfers far and wide and each of them come proudly having been ‘Made in Scotland.’ All fabrics are sourced from the finest Scottish mills and weavers and their mission is to reconnect…

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Prestwick Golf Club is one of golf’s great cathedrals

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Tradition and romance are synonymous with Prestwick. This is, after all, the birthplace of The Open Championship itself. It may have hosted the last of its 24 Opens in 1925, but the significance of this club to our game, and the aura which surrounds it, endures to this very day.…

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Dundonald Links: the ultimate base for Ayrshire golf trip

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It would be understandable if Dundonald Links felt just a little threatened by Ayrshire’s embarrassment of golfing riches. After all it sits within minutes of storied Open venues such as Royal Troon and Prestwick Golf Club. Another, Turnberry, is 30 minutes down the coast. Wonderful Western Gailes is within a wedge. Barassie, Glasgow…

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