Prince's Grant

Approaching the 4th is a delicate balance between getting over the false front and staying below the hole

Viewed from the back left, the 7th green's great flow is clear. While you can get home in two here, it's important not to leave too long a putt

A narrow ridge is used brilliantly at the 9th, where your drive has to tightrope walk down the right to leave you with a view of the green on approach

The climate north of Durban is extremely un-linkslike, yet the 10th hole is one of a few on the course that evokes thoughts of the British seaside

It's one hell of a good view from the 15th tee, but unfortunately the hole doesn't offer too much interest

A meandering creek creates tremendous interest to the second and third shots at the par five 18th

Course name: Prince's Grant
Location: Stanger, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa
Four Word Course Review: Surprisingly engaging, memorable greens

In this internet age, it's rare to be completely caught by surprise when visiting a new course. There's just so much information and discussion out there.

But I had never planned to play at Prince's Grant, so anything I might have seen about it in passing didn't register. I set out early on a Monday morning with the intention of playing at Umhlali Country Club, but it was busy and there wasn't availability until later in the morning, so I drove across to Zimbali - a course within a residential and resort development - but they insisted that I had to take a cart and could not walk the course.

Returning home frustrated, a non-golfer relative said he had heard Prince's Grant was good, and at the very least that it was picturesque. I drove the half-hour to the course not knowing what to expect, but interested to see it.

Three hours later, I was stunned by what a fun set of greens the course had - making approach shots, greenside recoveries and putting a real highlight. Smart contouring that tied in with the design of the hole at large made placement crucial and there was immense variety from hole to hole.

Though the course is set within a residential development, the routing was for the most part extremely walkable - the only exceptions coming from the 2nd green to 3rd tee and 3rd green to 4th tee, both of which involved trekking along residential streets, through a cookie-cutter neighbourhood that looked like The Truman Show could have been filmed there.

Accepting that those sorts of compromises are part and parcel of this kind of golf course, it was good at least to get that out of the way early in the round.

The front nine offers some early highlights - a drop shot par three at the 3rd with a wild "speedbump" green, the uphill approach to the 4th green with its false-front staring back at you and the par five, three, four stretch of the 7th, 8th and 9th each using some dramatic land in different ways: a Biarritz inspired green, a tough benched one-shotter and a rollicking fairway.

The back starts and finishes strong with the linksy par four 10th and exposed ridge-top par three 11th, intimidating long par three 17th and par five finishing hole that makes great use of a creek beginning in the fairway before wrapping around the green.

Width is generous throughout - a must for such a windy site - which ensured even when the breeze reached three clubs in strength late in the round every hole was comfortably playable.

Pasatiempo

The short bunker at the 4th creates a partially blind approach against the angle of the hill for anyone who fails to drive down the more risky right-hand side

From the tee, you can't imagine how steep and treacherous the 5th green is

The approach to the 11th

14th fairway is like nothing I've seen ever before. The best bet is to drive your ball as close to the valley as possible without trickling down

Awesome 16th - note how the bloke in the bunker provides some idea of just how deep it is in there!

I'd love to see more courses break with convention and present an out-of-the-box 18th hole

Course name: Pasatiempo
Location: Santa Cruz, California
Four Word Course Review: Deserves much more adulation

Having waited seven years to get to Pasatiempo, I arrived early enough to walk around the famous closing holes before my round - not knowing when, if ever, I might return and wanting to make the most of the experience.

It was early enough that no golfers had reached the turn, so it was just me and a couple of grounds staff on the back nine. I walked out past the 18th green, stopping to get my head around such a unique closing hole, and then headed off down the path that separates the 10th and 17th fairways.

From beyond the 10th green, I turned to get the panorama of the incredible three-tiered 16th green (a gentleman raking the front trap providing welcome scale as to just how cavernous it is) and 11th fairway flanking, then crossing, the barranca and ultimately reaching the hilltop green.

Much like when I first visited Royal Dornoch and felt a strange spirituality sitting on a bench by the 1st tee overlooking the deserted links in the late evening light, there was something about the moment unlike what I usually experience on even the best golf courses. I sat for a while on a bench near the 11th tee to take in what I was finally laying eyes on and try to make sense of what caused such a rare feeling.

In hindsight, both Pasatiempo and Dornoch were places I dreamed about and imagined at great length before ever visiting and my first encounter with both was in that magic time within an hour or so of sunrise or sunset. Perhaps not surprising, then, that the elation of being there combined with the beauty of the time of day combined to create such a special moment.

While Dr Alister MacKenzie created a handful of courses more famous than Pasatiempo, it is said there was no course more dear to him than Pasatiempo, which he lived alongside from its conception until his death. In that moment, I could easily understand why.

As well as the legendary 11th, 16th and 18th - I was stunned by the unique fairway of the 14th hole dissected by a Y-shaped depression, the artful bunkering of the barranca-flanked 15th green and the simplicity of the downhill two-shot 12th - another hole to make use of the barranca.

Back to my car to grab my clubs and begin the round, I had to pinch myself setting out onto the front nine - blink on the first few holes and your card could be wrecked and some great holes could be glossed over.

The 2nd green uses a hillside brilliantly and the long par three 3rd is a beautiful brute.

The clever 4th hole sums up that beyond the obvious drama of the land and beautiful bunkering, Pasatiempo hides preferred lines beside and beyond hazards as smartly as any course of MacKenzie's and utilises the more subtle rises and drops in land to create some partial blindness when you misdirect a drive.

Green speeds must be something the superintendent keeps a daily, if not hourly, eye on. Many are so steep and boldly contoured that at too great a speed they'd become un-puttable. The 16th is a poster child for that, but the par threes 5th and 8th are just as "on the edge" - and at the speed I encountered them, a heap of fun to chip to and putt on.

Passing MacKenzie's home near the 6th green was fantastic, it's just a shame the adjoining holes - the short par four 7th especially - have been hamstrung by the tree plantings necessary to improve safety on that tight area of the course.

Pasatiempo doesn't get the attention or love it deserves. Few courses have as many great holes, few courses have so many unique and special features, few courses are as beautiful without relying on external views and few courses possess as many shots that put a smile on your face. What more could you want? Get there immediately.

Pine Valley (Short)

The opening hole on the Short Course replicated the famous 10th at Pine Valley, complete with mini Devil's Asshole!

The approach to the main course's 13th hole is recreated as the 7th hole of the Short Course

The best is saved for last - it's uncanny how similar this recreation is to the actual approach to the 2nd green 

Course name: Pine Valley (Short)
Location: Clementon, New Jersey
Four Three Word Course Review: Perfection's little brother


What does a club do when it already has the best greatest golf course in the world and a hundred acres to spare? Build a few of the best holes again!

There was never any point in Pine Valley Golf Club supplementing its World #1 course with another 18-holer, but this 10-hole course is the perfect way to prepare for, or relax after, your lap around the main course.

Pine Valley's Short Course is a genius concept - take some of the best shots from the finest golf course in the world and replicate in a condensed series.

It gives you one more chance to tackle the approach shots to the 2nd, 13th ,16th, 17th, three of the par threes (3, 10, 14) and the final two-thirds of the most difficult hole I've ever come across: the par five 15th.

What's more, approaching the greens that replicate par fours and fives is done from the same awkward lies you find on the big course and without the use of a tee.

As well as those facsimile holes, the 4th and 9th holes are originals by course creators Ernie Ransome and Tom Fazio.

As a further benefit to the club, the Short Course provides an opportunity for new or different greenkeeping practices to be carried out on "in play" holes within the same environment without taking risks on Crump and Colt's masterpiece.

Lancaster

The 2nd green takes advantage of a commanding position

The 8th hole is reminiscent of the 14th at Rolling Green, but boasts a more spacious location

A deceptively steep back-to-front slope makes the 17th tougher to par than it might immediately appear

Course name: Lancaster
Location: Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Four Word Course Review: Amish golf (simple & traditional!)

Ninety minutes out of Philadelphia, Lancaster CC has one significant advantage over the courses in the city - an expansive site in rolling hills with longer views.

That more generous setting creates a real feeling of expansive scale to the land over which William Flynn routed a course that twists and turns on itself with surprises around every corner.

Like at Philadelphia’s Rolling Green, Flynn showed himself at Lancaster to be a master of using steep land - creating holes that encounter the hillsides from all angles and taking advantage of the really steep stuff to set up dramatic shots like the drive across the river at the par four 3rd and the ridge-to-ridge par three 8th.

Lengths vary greatly, but short par fours such as the 4th, 5th and 16th are full of challenge thanks to the great use of land and smart hazard placement.

And where the land hasn’t got its own magic, smart green placement makes the likes of the skyline 2nd and riverside 7th genuine highlights.

The result is a course that peppers you with a series of new challenges while retaining a collective character that ties the holes together. The warm, welcoming club is an added reason to make the drive to Lancaster - the post-round drinks and meal overlooking the course as afternoon slipped into night remains a lasting highlight of my time spent travelling in America.

Rolling Green

No time wasted up front, the opening tee shot is one of the most thrilling on the course, the fairway increasingly deflecting your ball sideways the further right you go

Old photos show a vastly different LHS bunker - the larger renovated bunker creates much better scale and draws your eye away from the green

The creek adds interest to your drive at the par five 7th and the approach is well-bunkered to make you question going for the green in two

Who says uphill par threes can't be great holes? The defense presents the 10th at Rolling Green

Playing from ridge to ridge over a steep valley, the 14th is a monster. Next time I'll probably lay up

Course name: Rolling Green
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

My home town of Sydney has a heap of steep terrain, particulalr in its northern suburbs. Sadly none of the courses in that area had William Flynn involved in their creation, or they'd be a hell of a lot better than they are!

That thought returned to the front of my mind time and time again as I toured Rolling Green and saw the innovative ways Flynn got the best out of steep terrain by finding smart greensites and avoiding some genuinely unusable land by siting par threes from ridge to ridge.

Despite the limited ways to use such land, the course is loaded with variety and the putting surfaces work with the natural fall of the land, creating a set of greens where contour is only used where the green is on flatter ground, such as at the par five 7th.

The par threes were the highlight for me, with a recent bunkler renovation adding to the drama of the mid iron 3rd, natural drapery of the uphill 10th and the drama of the cross-canyon 14th.

The par fives also stand out in my memory: a well-placed creek and fun greensite at the 7th, the challenge of the marathon 9th climbing a steady hill for more than 600 yards and the tumbling downhill-then-uphill 18th.

There’s nothing flashy about Rolling Green, just smart use of steep land to create a course that keeps you entertained and engaged the whole way around.