The Old Course, St Andrews

The 2nd green has a huge amount of undulation to encounter if you approach from the left hand side

The approach to the mammoth 5th/13th double green

The Eden hole - High (In) - where I blocked my tee shot right onto the side of the double green used for the 7th and faced a 120ft putt across what felt like the edge of a cliff. I was pretty happy with three putts from there!

Almost home, but wishing it wasn't over! The 1st and 18th fairways, with the R&A clubhouse on the left, the Swilcan Bridge on the right, with the famous burn snaking across the two fairways

Course name: The Old Course, St Andrews
Location: St Andrews, Fife
Four Word Course Review: The Home of Golf

What to say here? You don't need me to tell you what the course was like. The holes of The Old Course are as famous as the game itself, Swilcan Burn is more famous than other waterways a hundred times its modest length and breadth, and the old R&A clubhouse is instantly recognisable.

The nerves on the first tee were enormous, and I almost emulated the infamous tee shot of Ian Baker-Finch, which came to rest somewhere in the town. It's a strange feeling standing behind that first tee shot. The double fairway of the 1st and 18th is 120m wide, but you are conscious of the out of bounds on each side. As it was, I parked my drive 25 yards inside the fence on the left side.

The four hours felt like half that time, and the round was over far too quickly.

The greens will stick in my mind most vividly. I drove left on the 2nd, nerves still on end and pulse racing at 100 beats per minute, and had to encounter the wrath of the moguls that sit short of and within the green. The 5th/13th green's epic length was amazing - 95 yards from front to back, and the slope of the 7th/11th green was mind boggling.

But the most perplexing thing for me was how to handle the false fronts, tiers and shelves on the 12th, 14th, 16th, 17th and 18th greens. In part I found it hard to work out a way to access pins cut just over the top of steep drop-offs while playing approach shots, with many balls reaching just a foot or two short of safety before rolling back to the front, and then once I had to putt over them, I couldn't find a way to stop the ball close.

For the difficulty I had with that, I putted well on the flat portions of the greens. I made a few big putts that gave me a thrill, and I'll admit to wondering what sort of cheers might have greeted some of my shots were they played during an Open Championship - my tee shot into a stiff hurting cross wind at the par three 8th, a holed 30-footer to save par at the 10th and a pitch from the valley in front of the 5th green to set up a tap-in birdie.

Crossing the Swilcan Bridge as I made my way as slowly as possible up the 18th, I felt a shiver down my spine to think of all the great champions - from Bobby Jones to Nicklaus, Faldo, Ballesteros and Tiger Woods - who have made the same walk en route to winning The Open.

St Andrews really is a special place, and I hope my travels will bring me back here before too long.