I’m standing on the 1st tee at one of Scotland’s great courses and for the first time in my life I’m grasping a hickory golf club in my trembling hands preparing to embark on a life-changing round. We know golf is hard enough, but I’m on the wondrous West Links at North Berwick,…
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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, set among the towering dunes of England’s Golf Coast, is one of the finest courses in the UK. Known for its dramatic back nine, sweeping sea views, and immaculate conditioning, it offers a pure links test that has earned praise from legends and comparisons with its famous neighbours.…
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There is no shortage of life to live on any trip to the entertainment capital of the world but what about those Las Vegas golf courses? Where do you begin? Many people travel to Vegas for the casinos and the restaurants, some come for the shows and the concerts, while others are here…
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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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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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In 2023, Italy will host its first Ryder Cup. The Marco Simone Golf Club, just outside Rome, is staging the biennial contest between Europe and the United States, and while most fans will base themselves in the Eternal City for the contest, those looking to lengthen their trip would do well to consider…
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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 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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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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In my head the atmospheric Old Course was going to be lit up by autumnal sunshine, showing off the home of golf in all its picture postcard perfection. In reality, the stoating rain that had threatened to derail my morning round at the Crail Golfing Society, had followed us up the Fife coast.…
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It’s no surprise to find the Scots have more than 100 words for rain – several sprang immediately to mind as I arrived at Crail Golfing Society, the seventh oldest club on the planet. It was a dreich morning, the darkest and dankest of starts to an autumnal day at the easternmost point…
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Western Gailes Golf Club may once have been a hidden gem on Scotland’s Ayrshire coast, but these days is better described as a crown jewel. It offers a pure links experience shaped by wind, sand, and sea. Renowned for its natural routing, rugged beauty, and rich history, it challenges golfers in so many…
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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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A day or two at The Machrie Hotel is all it takes to understand why so many who visit Islay leave a piece of their heart behind. The idyllic isolation from the everyday would, on its own, be the perfect tonic to the bustle of modern life. But when you combine that with…
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There’s a rare sense of stillness and tranquillity as you walk Woodhall Spa’s iconic Hotchkin Course. This secluded, unassuming corner of Lincolnshire may be home to one of the best inland golf courses on the planet but there’s no fuss or fanfare here. The contrary is true, in fact. From the moment you…
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There’s no escaping that the Bracken Course at Woodhall Spa Golf Club is, like many other fabulous venues the world over, will always exist in the shadow of its more celebrated big brother. The New and The Old Course, St Andrews. The Cashen Course and The Old, Ballybunion. The Castle Course and The…
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As I walk towards the 18th green at Royal St George’s Golf Club, through the funnel of Open Championship grandstands either side of me, I allow myself a moment to take it all in. The magnificent lunar landscape of linksland here is exactly as I remember it. The vast dunes, verdant fairways and…
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A par-3 opener: 200 yards, into the wind, eight bunkers around the green, Walter Hagen looking on – Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club has it all. Ok, so I made that last bit up – sort of – but we’ll come back to Mr Hagen shortly. Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club is one…
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Ballybunion Golf Club, perched on Ireland’s Way Atlantic Way, is a place of legend—and rightly so. The Wandering Golfers journeyed to County Kerry and found a course carved by nature, sculpted by wind, and soaked in myth. Ballybunion doesn’t just stay with you, it lives on in your head and your heart. Until…
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