Brora

The 9th may be a fairly straightforward hole, but the setting is as fantastic as they come and the slight right-to-left tilt of the land feeding the bunker on the left of the green adds some interest

The locals walk to the 11th green. The farmboy in me came to the fore playing in such natural surroundings that reminded me of golf on my grandfather's no-frills nine hole course built over land on his sheep farm, where I learned the game

Proof that length isn't the only way to make a hole tough comes at the 13th - just more than 100 yards tee to green but filled with interest, especially as the breeze grows stiffer

The approach to the skyline green on the 16th, with a good example in the foreground of how short the sheep keep the rough

Options galore present themselves at the par four 17th, played to the red flag in the centre of the shot (the yellow flag in the top right belongs to the sharp dogleg-right opening hole)

Course name: Brora
Location: Brora, Sutherland, Scotland
Four Word Course Review: The definition of natural

I have never played a course as natural at Brora. It's too hard to pick favourite holes when they are so unique, and when the highlights are so great and plentiful.

The first four holes were fun without knocking me over, but then came the great long iron second shot to the 5th, guarded short right by a brilliant dune and long by a steep slope, the first of the one-shotters at the sixth, a tough blind drive on the course's sole par five (the 8th) and one of the most beautiful settings in the world for a golf hole at the par three 9th - draped alongside the sea with a steep hill of heather and gorse off in the distance. It's the furthest point on the course from the clubhouse: Brora is a true out-and-back golf course.

Turning for home, the golf steps up a notch, ensuring the inland stretch loses nothing against the seaside front nine.

The 10th green is set in a great site at the foot of a steep dune, the 11th plays over dramatic broken ground that is also a feature of the 4th and 14th and the 12th is the final piece on a trifecta of great par fours: reachable, but with brilliantly-placed bunkers that add a ton of strategy.

The 13th is a tiny par three played to a green adjacent to the 6th, but playing in the opposite direction, crossing a snaking burn twice. Combined with the 9th and 18th holes playing away from each other at opposite ends of the property, it makes for four one-shotters playing in opposite directions and perfectly spaced at both the ends and middle of the course. Just part of Braid's design genius.

The 14th is a slightly perplexing short par four, but then comes an awesome four-hole final stretch tumbling over (the 15th), up (the 16th), along (the 17th) and through (the 18th) dunes that seem to have been crafted for golf.

Along the way is a combination of memorable features, such as a contender for the steepest approach to the world's highest seaside skyline green at the 16th and a split fairway at the 17th where both routes to the hole appear to have equal merit.

All this looks to have been designed with an absolute minimum of artificial shaping and by employing the absolute minimum of bunkers.

Another feather in its cap is the sheep that patrol the rough (one-strand electric fences ring the greens to keep them off), keeping it low enough that four of us playing 36 holes and hitting some pretty bad shots in the process didn't lose a single ball between us.

You couldn't build a golf course like Brora. Despite the lack of length it remains a super fun and challenging course thanks to its terrain and smart design. Add in the high-teens temperatures and blue skies we enjoyed, with a sporting breeze out of the north, and it made for a day of golf equal to anything else I have enjoyed.