Royal St George's

The 2nd green sets the tone early, with lots of undulation, a little blindness and playing surfaces second to none


The natural movement of the 9th green is fantastic, with the right side repelling balls down a steep slope


The skyline 10th green might be the best green complex on a course full of fantastic ones: a beauty to look at and a devil to play


The hogsback fairway at the short par four 12th is a highlight of the back nine

Course name: Royal St George's
Location: Sandwich, Kent, UK
Four Word Course Review: Magnificent grounds for golf
 
In every way this is a magnificent place to play golf: sweeping, dramatic green complexes; rollicking fairways falling through, past and over the dunes, beautiful links bunkering; firm green turf contrasting beautifully with the thick, burnt rough... and not a bad hole among the 18.

Bernard Darwin put it as well as is possible when he wrote "Sandwich has a charm that belongs to itself. The long strip of turf all the way to the seventh hole that stretches between the sand-hills and the sea; a fine day... the sun shining on the waters of Pegwell Bay and lighting the white cliffs in the distance, this is as nearly my idea of Heaven as is to be attained on any earthly links".

The straightforward opening hole introduces many of the features you will enjoy in the coming four hours: rumpled fairways, interest at the green and bunkering that skews your perceptions and frames the fairways and greens beautifully.

From there the course quickly gathers pace: the semi-blind approach to the 2nd; the par three 3rd green and its treacherous tiers and slopes; the all-world 4th - full of amazing, steep dunes and the terrifying wall of sand that dominates the tee shot; the par four 5th that weaves tightly through tall dunes with the English Channel close by; the 6th green set so naturally between the dunes; the blind drive to the 7th; the second shot and number eight and the 9th green, tumbling off a high dune on the left to a run-off on the low right-hand-side.

This is truly links golf at its finest and most thrilling - even without a set of clubs and a golf ball it would be an invigorating walk, with them it becomes something other-worldly, impossible to articulate in mere words.

Walking through some of the tallest dunes on the property to the 10th tee you wonder how long the course can keep this up. Look right and almost 400 yards away sits a skyline green that matches, if not eclipses, all that has come before it.

From there, as befits a championship venue, the challenge becomes even more stern. If this is the back nine on an Open Championship Sunday, you'll need to be firing some good arrows. Even if it's just a casual Tuesday match against friends, this is the time to knuckle down.

The 11th 13th, 15th, 16th and 18th are difficult pars for even the best of golfers, with length, tricky bunkering and confounding greens combining to test you at every turn.

The 12th, 14th and 17th are the best birdie chances, but their individual tests (the 12th's hogsback fairway, the 14th's tight out of bounds and Suez Canal cross hazard and the 17th's tricksy green approached into the prevailing wind) can also lead to a swift bogey. The back nine may not hit the highs of the front, but it makes very good use of land inferior to the outward side.

By the time you walk off the 18th you have encountered every challenge, had the wind hit you from every possible angle on a routing that twists and turns so dramatically and regularly that orientating yourself accurately is nigh on impossible and been amazed by a course that ticks every box required to achieve absolute world class status.