The Golf Courses That Are Still on My Bucket List

I have said this before and I will say it again (I have reached an age where I repeat myself a lot), but I have been incredibly lucky. My working life as a sports journalist has allowed me to visit many parts of the world and to play some incredible golf courses.

I have been lucky enough to have stepped out on every Open host course. I have played The Belfry. I have been brought to my knees by Valderrama. I have played Torrey Pines and had my breath taken away by the glory of Pebble Beach.

But, like the rest of you, there are a number of courses that remain on my bucket list. Some are courses I may yet get a chance to play while others will remain beyond reach.

What Makes a Great Golf Course

Here, in no particular order, are the 10 courses I would still love to experience.

Harbour Town

Designed by Pete Dye, Harbour Town opened in 1969 and is the venue for the RBC Heritage. It is a course that calls for a strategic approach - nobody who stands up and bombs the ball is going to score well on this wonderful course, overlooked by the iconic lighthouse at the final hole. The fairways are narrow and the greens are small.

Leopard Creek

Home of the Alfred Dunhill Championship, Leopard Creek is located next to the Kruger National Park - and that means golfers get the chance to play alongside elephants, giraffes, hippos, lions and tigers. It is a breathtaking venue. Oh, and it is also a truly spectacular golf course with a wonderful finishing hole, a par five with a green surrounded by water that has brought many of the world’s best golfers to their knees.

Le Golf National

Designed by Hubert Chesneau and Robert Von Hagge, Le Golf National is located on the outskirts of Paris. It is a par 71 measuring 7,331 yards. It hosts the French Open and, memorably, the Ryder Cup in 2018 when Europe inflicted a fearful thrashing on the USA. It is a course that is made for spectators, with plenty of natural hills and dunes forming terrific spectator areas. It is a course that calls for pinpoint accuracy from the tee. The rough is thick and the fairways are narrow. A fantastic test.

Royal Melbourne

Designed by Alister MacKenzie and opened in 1931, Royal Melbourne Golf Club is a masterpiece that is widely regarded as being the best course in Australia. The club was first founded in 1891, and in 1895 the club was granted Royal status by Queen Victoria. In 1901 it relocated to Sandringham, where it hosted 28 national championships before MacKenzie was brought in. The course makes the most of the Sandbelt upon which it is built. If it was in America it would host the US Open and would test the world’s best golfers to the limit.

Quail Hollow

Iconic venue that hosts the Wells Fargo Championship and, undoubtedly, Rory McIlroy’s favourite golf course. He has won here four times. Located in Charlotte, North Carolina, it opened in 1961. It was designed by George Cobb and has undergone a series of updates and improvements, including modifications of several holes by Arnold Palmer in 1986, and a redesign by Tom Fazio in 1997, 2003, and from 2014 to 2016 in preparation for the PGA Championship. It is a par 71 measuring 7,600 yards.

TPC Scottsdale

Designed by Tom Weiskopf in 1971, the Stadium Course is one of the most famous in the world. It plays host to the WM Phoenix Open, which attracts the biggest (and rowdiest) galleries in golf. The course, which was renovated in 2014, is most famous for its par-three, 16th hole that transforms into "The Coliseum" during the tournament and provides fans with one of the most exciting settings in professional sport. And the good news is that for the 51 weeks of the year when it is not hosting the tournament it is accessible to golfers of all standards. But without the vast crowds!

TPC Sawgrass

Who wouldn’t want to play TPC Sawgrass, home of the Players Championship and one of the most famous finishing stretches in golf? There’s the par-five 16th, a risk and reward classic with water on the right, a tree and bunker protecting the left side of the green and a putting surface that slopes hugely towards the water. Then comes the 17th, the world-famous island par three that offers a golden chance to walk off with a birdie two - or a 12! The 18th is a magnificent par four with water ALL the way down the left. A truly testing finishing hole!

Royal County Down

Royal County Down Golf Club nestles at the feet of the Mountains of Mourne and is a classic links course where the Bay of Dundrum sweeps out into the Irish Sea. A Scottish schoolteacher called George L. Baillie originally laid out the first nine holes for play in 1889. Later that year, Old Tom Morris was paid four guineas to extend the course and 18 holes were ready for play in 1890. It was further modified by Harry Vardon in 1908. It still mixes the pairings for the Saturday matches (foursomes in the winter and four-balls in the summer) as he did around 100 years earlier. In 1926 Harry Colt was commissioned to make further alterations to the course which included addressing the gathering nature of the original greens and reducing the number of blind drives.

Ballybunion

Herbert Warren Wind, the distinguished American golf author, described Ballybunion as "nothing less than the finest seaside course I have ever seen." Tom Watson fell in love with Ballybunion and he goes out of his way to extol the course’s virtues. After several visits, Watson agreed to write an article for the course guide/planner. He writes: "After playing Ballybunion for the first time, a man would think that the game of golf originated here. There is a wild look to the place, the long grass covering the dunes that pitch and roll throughout the course making it very intimidating... in short, it is a course on which many golf architects should live and play before they build golf courses. I consider it a true test of golf." If it is good enough for Watson then it should be good enough for us all.

Augusta National

The course that surely features on everybody’s bucket list but, sadly, the one we will probably never get to play because the men in green jackets do not open their doors to just anybody. There is a way…after the final round of The Masters a draw takes place that allows a select number of golf journalists to play Augusta National on the Monday in tournament conditions. A few years ago a colleague of mine at The Sunday Times was lucky enough to be drawn. A 10-handicapper, he delayed his flight home in order to fulfill a life-long dream. And took 108 blows. He was utterly bamboozled by the greens. Be careful what you wish for!

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