51 - 75 Golf Courses
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List of Courses
- 51. Oak Hill Country Club
- 52. Ardfin
- 53. Rye Old
- 54. Cruden Bay
- 55. Sleepy Hollow Country Club
- 56. St. Georges Hill
- 57. Prestwick
- 58. Royal Lytham & St. Annes
- 59. Casa De Campo
- 60. The Lido
- 61. Haagsche (Royal Hague)
- 62. Whistling Straits
- 63. Kingsbarns
- 64. Ballyneal
- 65. Castle Stuart
- 66. Royal Melbourne East
- 67. Bandon Trails
- 68. Royal Liverpool
- 69. Bandon Dunes
- 70. Victoria
- 71. Te Arai North
- 72. Cabot Links
- 73. Royal Cinque Ports
- 74. Machrihanish
- 75. Te Arai South
51. Oak Hill Country Club (East), USA
I arrived early and was allowed to play 9 holes of the West course before heading out to play the East course which was a lovely treat. This place is magnificent. The clubhouse, the practice area and the staff were all top class. A very welcoming feel to this course which is not always the case in some private clubs. Read More
6 Best Holes: 7, 13, 6, 2, 18, 16
Best Par 3: 11
Best Par 4: 7
Best Par 5: 13
52. Ardfin, Scotland
We must love our golf. It took two flights and a ferry to get to Ardfin but it was worth the effort. Normally you have to stay at the hotel to play the course but my American pal Travis emailed me to say that they were doing a special without having to stay, so my cousin Sean and I booked. Read More
6 Best Holes: 10, 14, 8, 11, 17, 1
Best Par 3: 10
Best Par 4: 14
Best Par 5: 16
53. Rye (Old), England
The course was designed in 1895 by the great Harry Colt. When you arrive at Ryde Golf Club, you may wonder if you are in the right place. There is a clubhouse above the car park and the pro shop is across the road. It does not scream world class golf course, but four hours later you will change your mind as this is a brilliant golf course. Read More
6 Best Holes: 4, 5, 13, 6, 15, 7
Best Par 3: 5
Best Par 4: 4
Best Par 5: 1
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54. Cruden Bay, Scotland
If ever a golf course could be the drummer in a rock band then it has to be Cruden Bay. It is quite mad in places but excellent everywhere else. The 2nd is played to an elevated green that you must hit. The 3rd is a wild blind driveable par 4 that would not be designed nowadays. The 4th is a stunning par 3 with the bay to your left. It is world class. The 5th is a beautiful par 4 played between the dunes and is index (handicap) 1 for a reason. Read More
6 Best Holes: 5, 4, 17, 7, 14, 13
Best Par 3: 4
Best Par 4: 5
Best Par 5: 13
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55. Sleepy Hollow, USA
This course is located less than an hour north of Manhattan in a lovely part of the world. It must have one of the biggest clubhouses that you will ever see. The mansion was purchased by William Rockefeller and Frank Vanderlip in 1911 and the following year the Sleepy Hollow Country Club was founded. Read More
6 Best Holes: 8, 16, 13, 15, 18, 11
Best Par 3: 16
Best Par 4: 8
Best Par 5: 6
56. St. Georges Hill, England
St. Georges Hill opened in 1913 and designed by the brilliant Harry Colt. It is set in a private estate of houses and facilities that are 5 star all the way. The tennis club nearby looked top class. The cost of property in this area must be frightening. The clubhouse is famous. It is a lovely building that looks over the course from a height. Read More
6 Best Holes: 16, 17, 6, 10, 13, 1
Best Par 3: 8
Best Par 4: 16
Best Par 5: 15
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57. Prestwick, Scotland
In 1851, a group of 57 locals, who met regularly at the Red Lion Inn in Prestwick, decided to form a golf club and purchased two cottages opposite the tavern. The first cottage would become the members clubhouse while the other was given to the greenkeeper, ball maker and club maker Old Tom Morris who went on to design the course, albeit 12 holes at the beginning. Read More
6 Best Holes: 9, 10, 8, 17, 1, 13
Best Par 3: 11
Best Par 4: 9
Best Par 5: 12
58. Royal Lytham & St. Annes, England
A stunning old world clubhouse is the first thing you notice when you arrive here. The second thing you notice is that the first hole is a par 3 of between 174 yards and 204 yards depending on which tees you play from. That must make things interesting at the weekend when the time sheet is quite full with Members. It’s a super par 3 by the way. Read More
6 Best Holes: 3, 9, 18, 12, 2, 14
Best Par 3: 9
Best Par 4: 3
Best Par 5: 7
59. Casa De Campo, Dominican Republic
It was obviously a total coincidence that our family holiday ended up in the Dominican Republic and that two famous golf courses are located there. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! Casa DE Campo (Teeth of the Dog) and Punta Espada are two stunning golf courses and well worth playing if you ever visit that part of the world. Pete Dye designed this course and he did a super job. Read More
6 Best Holes: 5, 15, 7, 6, 17, 18
Best Par 3: 5
Best Par 4: 15
Best Par 5: 3
60. The Lido, USA
This course opened in 2023 in central Wisconsin and is a direct and pretty much exact copy of The Lido Golf Club which opened in 1914 on Long Island. The original was designed by C B Macdonald and contained many classic templates such as Alps, Eden and Redan style holes. Sadly the original was used as a military base in World War 2 and was destroyed. The people at Sand Valley resort have done an amazing job to replicate that old classic. Read More
6 Best Holes: 4, 16, 12, 8, 18, 17
Best Par 3: 16
Best Par 4: 12
Best Par 5: 4
61. Haagsche (Royal Hague), Holland
A beautiful clubhouse is the first thing you notice when you arrive and the view you get of it as you walk up the 18th hole is even more beautiful. We were a 3 ball and we teed off behind some 4 balls and we thought we would be held up. That is not the case in Holland. We never got to see them again. Pace of play in Holland is the most important thing for local golfers. We spoke with a member afterwards and he said if a 4 ball takes more than 3 1/2 hours to play 18 holes then they run the risk of being reported to the club’s committee. Interesting. Read More
6 Best Holes: 18, 6, 14, 13, 7, 15
Best Par 3: 8
Best Par 4: 6
Best Par 5: 18
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62. Whistling Straits, USA
Whistling Straits is a public course and if you can, you gotta play it. It’s brilliant. When we played it the fog came in and as the round went on we could see less and less. Eventually, we asked the caddies to put down a towel in front of us so we knew where to aim. When we finished we asked the head pro David Albrecht if we could play the course again the next day as we had flown from Ireland and he said no problem which was very nice of him. David is a super guy. The following day was perfect with blue skies. We had a wonderful time. Read More
6 Best Holes: 18, 17, 4, 8, 7, 5
Best Par 3: 17
Best Par 4: 18
Best Par 5: 5
63. Kingsbarns, Scotland
This beautiful links course sits upon 1.8 miles of shoreline and only opened in the year 2000. It certainly feels like it has been there a lot longer than that. Since then it has been one of the 3 courses that host the Dunhill Links Championship along with St. Andrews and Carnoustie. In 2017 it hosted the Women’s British Open. It has the most brilliant location as it is only a fifteen minute drive from St. Andrews itself. The clubhouse is discreet and is certainly not overbearing on the course.. Read More
6 Best Holes: 12, 15, 7, 18, 11, 4
Best Par 3: 15
Best Par 4: 7
Best Par 5: 12
64. Ballyneal, USA
This course only opened in 2006 and was designed by Tom Doak. The name Ballyneal comes from a combination of the two owners Jim and Rupert O’Neal’s surname along with wanting to have an Irish feel to it and so the name Ballyneal came about. Read More
6 Best Holes: 2, 13, 8, 17, 7, 9
Best Par 3: 11
Best Par 4: 2
Best Par 5: 8
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65. Castle Stuart, Scotland
Located in northern Scotland, this course is a handy 5 minute drive from Inverness Airport. It is beautifully located along the banks of the Moray Firth. The course opened in 2009 and was designed by two Americans – managing partner Mark Parsinen and the brilliant Gil Hanse. Gil is one of only a few modern designers who deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as designers from 100 years ago. Read More
6 Best Holes: 11, 13, 7, 5, 15, 3
Best Par 3: 11
Best Par 4: 13
Best Par 5: 18
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66. Royal Melbourne East, Australia
This course may live a little in the shadow of the West course but make no mistake the East course is top class too. When the club hosts a pro event they usually take six holes from the East course and twelve from the West course and that shows that both courses are of quite a similar standard. Read More
6 Best Holes: 16, 2, 18, 13, 9, 12
Best Par 3: 16
Best Par 4: 2
Best Par 5: 10
67. Bandon Trails, USA
Bandon Trails starts out as a links course, then moves inland and finishes back up as a links course again. That might sound a little odd but it works really well. All credit to Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw for a great layout. Everyone that goes to Bandon Dunes has different opinions on what order they would rate the 5 courses but my friend Ben and I had the same order. We put Bandon Trails in second place out of the five. Read More
6 Best Holes: 13, 7, 16, 6, 18, 4
Best Par 3: 17
Best Par 4: 13
Best Par 5: 16
68. Royal Liverpool, England
This course is also known as Hoylake and opened in 1869. Before that the land was used as a racecourse for the Liverpool Hunt Club. The course was redesigned by Harry Colt early on in the 20th century. It has been host to 13 British Opens, most recently in 2023. Read More
6 Best Holes: 11, 10, 5, 12, 16, 9
Best Par 3: 11
Best Par 4: 10
Best Par 5: 16
69. Bandon Dunes, USA
This was the first of 5 courses to open at the resort and did so in 1999. The course is perched on a bluff high above the Pacific Ocean where the views may distract you on many occasions. It is one of the best golf resorts in the world where nothing is overlooked as they say except the ocean. You will need to book at least 12 months in advance if you wish to play and stay here. Read More
6 Best Holes: 5, 16, 15, 4, 6, 12
Best Par 3: 15
Best Par 4: 5
Best Par 5: 18
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70. Victoria, Australia
Yet another beautiful sand belt course in Melbourne. You get a real sense of Victoria GC being a great members club. There was a lovely atmosphere in the clubhouse. They raise national flags for visitors right beside the putting green and it was nice to see the Irish flag blowing in the breeze. The course opened in 1927 and the Prime Minister at the time, Stanley Bruce, hit the opening tee shot. Since then it has held the Australian Men’s Open 4 times – 1961, 1981, 2002 and 2022. Read More
6 Best Holes: 4, 7, 11, 6, 13, 16
Best Par 3: 4
Best Par 4: 11
Best Par 5: 9
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71. Te Arai North, New Zealand
This course only opened in October 2023 and I got to play it a year later. You would think the course was there for 20 years. Tom Doak did a super job with the design. The huge parcel of land that the owners bought to build both Te Arai’s along with Tara Iti is an incredible piece of earth and must have been a designers dream to be let loose on. Read More
6 Best Holes: 13, 2, 17, 10, 4, 16
Best Par 3: 2
Best Par 4: 13
Best Par 5: 11
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72. Cabot Links, Canada
This course opened in 2012 some 3 years before its sister course, Cabot Cliffs opened. The setting for these 2 courses in Nova Scotia is perfect. You will never get tired of the views. The accommodation on site is excellent as is the food and pub. There is a pool table in the pub to keep you entertained in the evening. Read More
6 Best Holes: 18, 6, 16, 4, 15, 11
Best Par 3: 7
Best Par 4: 18
Best Par 5: 11
73. Royal Cinque Ports, England
This course was founded in 1891 and is located along the English south coast in Kent. It is quite close to Royal St. Georges and Prince’s Golf Clubs. Playing all three on consecutive days would be quite the golf trip. It held the Open Championship in 1909 and again in 1920. It would have held more but was badly flooded on a couple of occasions. This course is good enough to host an Open Championship at some future point if required. Read More
6 Best Holes: 16, 18, 7, 3, 15, 4
Best Par 3: 4
Best Par 4: 18
Best Par 5: 16
74. Machrihanish, Scotland
We ended up playing Machrihanish and Machrihanish Dunes on the same day and we really enjoyed both courses. It’s not an easy part of the world to get to but driving three hours from Glasgow could be worse, as the scenery in this rugged part of Scotland is raw and beautiful. We stayed in the lovely village of Campbeltown which is close by. Read More
6 Best Holes: 1, 5, 7, 14, 12, 8
Best Par 3: 15
Best Par 4: 1
Best Par 5: 12
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75. Te Arai South, New Zealand
This links course only opened in 2022 and was designed by Coore and Crenshaw. It is located just over an hour’s drive from Auckland. There are 3 courses here now, along with Tara Iti and Te Arai South. Tara Iti is fully private and you must be invited by a Member. The other two courses are open to the public on alternate days. Sitting around the Te Arai clubhouse has to be one of the nicest places in the world to be. It is so friendly and easy going. It’s a classy place but there is no dress code which is refreshing. The huge putting green is a source of great entertainment. Dan, Eanna, Aussie Sam and I stayed around the clubhouse and the putting green for hours after our round. We had a great laugh. A day to remember. Read More
6 Best Holes: 4, 1, 17, 10, 14, 5
Best Par 3: 17
Best Par 4: 4
Best Par 5: 1
