Baron Bich’s private forest masterpiece — France’s best course by a margin. Les Bordes’ 14 water features and Sologne forest conditioning rival Augusta. Now open to the public.
Course Reviews
Discover expertly curated reviews of championship golf courses, luxury resort layouts and unforgettable golfing destinations around the world. From historic links and renowned tournament venues to emerging must-play courses, we evaluate every aspect of the experience, from course design and conditioning to scenery, service and stay-and-play appeal.
C.B. Macdonald’s “ideal” course — every template hole from British links golf contextualised in the Southampton dunes. The National Golf Links is America’s most architecturally significant course.
Bernard Darwin’s beloved home course — “the course my heart loves best.” Aberdovey at the Dyfi estuary is Wales’s most cherished links and golf writing’s most poetically celebrated venue.
Twice European Golf Resort of the Year — Costa Navarino Dunes Course combines thousand-year-old olive trees, Ionian Sea views and the fragrance of wild thyme. The finest course in Greece.
Australia’s most underrated championship course — Royal Adelaide’s Seaton dunes links is consistently rated in the country’s top three and plays faster and firmer than almost anywhere else in Australia.
Kyle Phillips’s Sintra Hills redesign — Penha Longa’s Atlantic Course overlooks UNESCO heritage landscape from the Ritz-Carlton estate. Portugal’s most underrated championship venue.
The course that launched America’s greatest resort story — David McLay Kidd’s 1999 original Bandon Dunes remains the most quintessentially Scottish experience in American golf.
The original Redan, Bass Rock and the Pit bunker — North Berwick West Links is golf’s most inventive and entertaining course. The hole that gave golf architecture its most copied template.
The first grass course in the Middle East — Faldo’s 1989 inaugural Dubai Desert Classic win. Emirates Golf Club’s Majlis Course created golf in the Gulf and looks better now than ever.
Rory McIlroy’s record-breaking 2011 US Open. Four US Opens in all. Congressional Blue Course is Washington DC’s most historically significant golf venue.
Portugal’s most celebrated venue — Quinta do Lago South Course’s par-3 15th over the Ria Formosa lagoon is the most photographed hole in the Algarve. Three Portuguese Opens confirm its championship pedigree.
Brooks Koepka’s 2017 US Open venue — Erin Hills’ Wisconsin glacial moraines and links-style fescue fairways create the most ambitious modern course in the American Midwest.
England’s finest links south of Lancashire — Burnham & Berrow’s Bristol Channel setting, massive dunes and Herbert Fowler’s strategic masterpiece remain one of English golf’s great undersold secrets.
MacKenzie’s Tasman Sea clifftop masterpiece 20 minutes south of Sydney — New South Wales Golf Club is Australia’s finest clifftop course and one of MacKenzie’s own favourites.
Hogan’s Alley, Tiger’s professional debut and the Genesis Invitational — Riviera Country Club is American golf’s most glamorous private club and LA’s greatest sporting landmark.
Harry Colt’s 1906 Fischbeker Heide masterpiece — Germany’s finest course is a Surrey-quality heathland that remains Europe’s most underrated golf destination.
38 live Nile crocodiles on the 13th island green. Gary Player’s Lost City Course at Sun City is golf’s most theatrical and gloriously absurd championship venue.
The Massacre at Winged Foot — Tillinghast’s uncompromising West Course has hosted five US Opens and broken more championship dreams than any other course in New York.
Japan’s greatest course — Charles Alison’s Rokko Forest masterpiece near Kobe is one of the 20 finest courses on earth, locked behind almost impenetrable Japanese privacy.
Bobby Jones’s Grand Slam venue. Justin Rose’s 2-iron on 18. The wicker baskets. Merion East is America’s most historically resonant and cerebral major championship course.
The Burma Road — English golf’s most televised stage. Harry Colt’s Wentworth West Course, enhanced by Ernie Els, is the BMW PGA Championship’s demanding Surrey woodland arena.
The 17th island green — the most photographed hole on earth. Pete Dye’s Players Championship venue is the definitive amphitheatre course in professional golf.
Harry Colt’s more demanding companion to Willie Park Jr.’s Old Course — many scratch golfers rate the New Course Sunningdale’s finest 18 holes. Together they form England’s greatest heathland experience.
Bobby Jones’s perfect round — 66 in 1926 qualifying. Sunningdale Old is England’s finest heathland course; the New Course is its equal. Two of the country’s ten best courses on one Berkshire estate.
James Braid’s Perthshire moorland masterpiece — the King’s Course at Gleneagles is Europe’s most complete golf resort destination, with two Michelin stars and a five-star spa to match.
The PGA Tour opener in January, humpback whales offshore and 663-yard par 4s downhill to the Pacific — Kapalua Plantation is the most gloriously dramatic resort course in the Pacific.
Nicklaus’s finest African design in the Paarl wine valley — Pearl Valley is the benchmark for South African parkland golf beneath the Drakenstein mountains.
Nine US Opens, Johnny Miller’s 63 and the Church Pew bunkers — Oakmont is America’s most demanding and historically significant private club.
MacKenzie’s bunkering transformed an existing layout into one of Australia’s finest — Kingston Heath is many experts’ preferred Sandbelt course above even Royal Melbourne itself.
The famous warning sign on the 1st tee, Tiger’s 2002 US Open and the most demanding public course in America — Bethpage Black is a New York institution.
Tiger Woods’s first completed course design — strategic, demanding and full of the risk-reward decisions that define how he approaches the game. Dubai’s most thoughtfully built course.
The 2021 Ryder Cup venue on Lake Michigan — Pete Dye’s 1,000-bunker spectacular is the most visually arresting modern course in America.
MacKenzie’s self-proclaimed masterpiece — the 16th hole across the open Pacific Ocean is golf’s most audacious par 3. Cypress Point is the most coveted private course in the world.
The world’s best new course in 2015 — Cape Wickham’s lighthouse, Bass Strait headland and volcanic basalt cliffs create the most spectacular new course opening in Southern Hemisphere golf history.
Coore & Crenshaw’s masterful 2011 restoration returned Donald Ross’s vision to its wire-grass natural state. Pinehurst No. 2 hosted the 2024 US Open — the definitive American test.
Seve’s alpine redesign — the Matterhorn as backdrop, 1,500m above sea level and the European Masters since 1939. Switzerland’s most spectacular and storied championship course.
Weiskopf and Morrish’s lochside masterpiece — holes along the eastern shore of Loch Lomond with Ben Lomond rising behind. Scotland’s most beautiful parkland course.
Harry Colt’s 1927 North Sea duneland masterpiece — 30 minutes from Amsterdam and consistently rated one of Europe’s finest links courses. The Netherlands’ great undiscovered golf secret.
The hardest course in the AT&T Pro-Am — Spyglass Hill drops from Del Monte Forest to a dramatic valley below, with ocean views from the top and dense forest drama below.
Pine Valley’s legendary private island of perfection — America’s most exclusive course and the ultimate test of shot-making courage, set in New Jersey’s pinelands.