Fishers Island

Looking back to the tee from behind the awe-inspiring par four 4th, the ridge in the green ensuring the fun isn't over when you reach the putting surface

The Biarritz 5th is almost certainly the most difficult par three I have ever played, as well as being one of the most attractive

The 8th is a par five with a Road Hole green, which rewards a drive that flirts with the coastline

Walking over the crest of the 9th fairway and seeing this vista caused me to laugh and shake my head in disbelief: "How did I get here?!" That moment summed up the dream I felt I was in for much of my day on Fishers Island

The 11th hole plays to a green that is deceptively steep from back to front. This hole is a perfect example of the sensory overload that Fishers Island presents, making it hard to concentrate on playing your best golf

The approach to the 12th was one of the most fun shots on a course full of them. With the pin cut to the right it was a challenge to use the left-hand kickpad to access the hole, but not so much that the ball built up enough speed that it ran off the right-hand side of the green

The 18th will vary between being a two- and three-shotter depending on the wind and ground conditions. From 220 yards out the decision to go for the green is a difficult one to make, especially to a left-hand pin tucked behind the bunker and surrounded by steep slopes

Course name: Fishers Island
Location: Fishers Island, New York
Four Word Course Review: Coastline isn't mere eye-candy

Perhaps more than any other golf course, Fishers Island is about the experience: the ferry ride to the island, the breathtaking views from every hole, the mansions dotted around the course and - most importantly - an unbelievably memorable, challenging and interesting golf course.

The course starts with a relatively straightforward downhill par four that introduces you at the green to the vicious, deep bunkers you'll do well to avoid all day. The opening hole is also devoid of fairway bunkers, another feature of the course with just the one cross bunker at the 9th to be encountered off the tee. Instead, driving the ball into the best positions is about using the slopes of the land and driving as close as you dare to the coastline that flanks many of the holes and the ponds on the 7th and 14th.

The bold greenside bunkering sets up advantageous angles into the greens, with an increasingly stern test if you stray out of position at the buisness end of the holes.

But imagination is rewarded as well, with many greens featuring slopes that will help access pins from unenviable parts of the course. Of particular note, the 2nd, 9th, 12th, 15th and 18th greens have strong internal slopes and backboards off which to move the ball.

The dream stretch that gets the most attention is from the 3rd to the 5th, where the course first hugs the coastline, which is well utilised in the design. The first in the trio is Plateau, a 335-yard journey up a steady slope to a skyline green. Next up is the Alps/Punchbowl par four that offers a tantalising glimpse of the flag from the tee as it kinks to the right with the curve of the coast. The view from 80 yards short of the green is as good as it gets in golf.

The last of the three is Biarritz. Bunkered ferociously, it's perhaps the toughest par three I have encountered. We played it from the black tee at about 225 yards as well as the original back tee (now the blue tee) at 207 yards and from either it was a monster hole offering nowhere to miss other than short and straight, and even then the putt or chip through the swale at the front of the green (short of the swale is maintained as fairway, not green as with some other Biarritz holes) is a challenge in itself.

It's a remarkable stretch of golf, where great design comes together with perfect golfing terrain and views to die for, but for mine some even better golf was still to come.

The 6th through 8th holes keep the quality high, though not matching the drama of the previous three, before a second stretch of all-world golf from the 9th to 12th.

The blind drive at the 9th makes way for a thrilling approach to the seaside Double Plateau green, before the Knoll 10th presents maybe the toughest par on the course (a big effort following the Biarritz!), the fortress green sits up high and falls away on all sides, and if that's not enough a valley running towards the tee down the middle of the green means even once you're on in regulation a par is no sure thing.

The Eden 11th may not bear a lot of resemblance to the 11th at The Old Course, but it is equally as majestic as its namesake and quite possibly even more difficult. To my mind, the general properties and strategies of the template holes Macdonald, Raynor and Banks copied are what matters - they are inspired by the originals, not straight-up blueprint copies. The original Redan may not play over the edge of a lake, for instance, but that doesn't make Fishers Island's Redan a lesser hole for doing so.

The last hole in the series is Winthrop - a 389-yard par four through a rolling saddle fairway to a reverse-Redan green featuring as bold a kickpad as I have ever seen at its front left.

Perhaps the golf then falls down a notch from 13 to 17, though I really enjoyed 15 (Long) and 16 (Short) - both boasting interesting greens, but the 452-yard home hole - named Home - is a worthy end to such a magical course.

The drive presents a heroic diagonal carry over water, with a strong strike down the right both shortening the approach and offering the best angle in to a green bunkered front left and with a lower portion behind the sand that can be accessed using the contours of the putting surface. Played as a three-shotter, it's all about positioning your second depending on the pin placement.

Playing slightly uphill, it's a hole where the score you hope to make will change with the direction of the wind and the firmness of the ground, though even after heavy rain I found the course playing firm and rolling out well. Perhaps a hint as to why lies in the absence of fairway watering and the extremely sandy soil that came out on my pitchmark repairer and revealed itself when I took divots.

While I am definitely one who cares first and foremost how good the golf holes are, you cannot deny that Fishers Island Club's setting adds greatly to the golf course. That wouldn't matter if the holes were poor, but even with a couple of lesser holes on the back nine this is one of the greatest golf courses it has been my privelege to have played.

Despite chilly temperatures and high winds, it's hard to think of a more idyllic day's golf than 36 holes at Fishers Island as the only fourball on the course.