One of the things I have enjoyed most about the ‘Favourite Courses’ series has been seeing the courses chosen by some of the world’s finest architects and, importantly, their reasons why. I think it gives an insight into their philosophy, which in turn influences their work.
Bob Harrison established himself as a top golf course architect working for Greg Norman for over 20 years as his lead designer for Australian and Asian projects. He worked on many projects, but two stand-outs from this period would be Ellerston (consistently ranked in the top 100 courses in the world) and the National (Moonah) course. I was fortunate enough to play the National last year and thoroughly enjoyed the rollercoaster of joy Bob has created.
Bob then set up Harrison Golf and his impressive work has continued. In 2015 Bob started work on Ardfin, a course on the remote island of Jura in Scotland. The courses has opened to incredible plaudits - and a trip to Ardfin is very high up on my list for 2020!
Bob’s philosophy is great. He believes that courses ‘should look as natural and as spectacular as possible, whether you are lucky enough to have land that is naturally beautiful and find the best collection of natural holes, or whether the land doesn’t work in your favour and the objective becomes to manufacture a natural overall shape to give the impression that the golf holes were laid out over it.’
A big thanks to Bob for his selection. I think his words provide a great contribution to the discussion about what makes for a truly special golf course. Over to Bob!
As some of the other contributors have suggested, it’s perhaps difficult to determine between your 10 favourite courses and your choice of the 10 best courses, but here goes. Firstly, I am motivated by atmosphere, inspiration, variety, isolation, and grandness of scale. I can’t stand courses which rely on barbed-wire rough within a yard or so of the greens – you need to have areas to escape to on perfect lies, but requiring delicate and demanding recovery. It needs to be fun, and it gets down to personal reaction – on which courses would you rather be?
1. THE MACHRIE (OLD)
The old version before the recent changes. A quirky and inspirational course in the most spectacular and suitable dunes for golf – large enough to be inspiring, but not so large as to make the layout or the individual holes unworkable. A number of blind shots – but who cares. A number of the most thrilling, interesting and inspiring holes – with only 8 bunkers. Quirky but wonderful. Tumultuous fairway shapes, but exciting. It was a joy to be there, and even better if staying in the old hotel.
Hidden Links Golf, Golf Course Architecture
2. ROYAL ST GEORGE’S
Another similarly charismatic course in magnificent dunes land on a grand scale, at least on the front nine. Inspiring, strategically interesting holes, and on most of the holes a feeling of isolation. Interesting that it’s not favoured by many professionals, or at least by American professionals, but golf was never to be strictly rational. Bernard Darwin once wrote about Sandwich:
“One great characteristic – I think it is a beauty – of Sandwich, is the extraordinary solitude that surrounds the individual player. We wind about in the dells and hollows among the great hills, alone in the midst of a multitude, and hardly ever realise that there are others playing on the links until we meet them at luncheon... This is as nearly my idea of Heaven as is to be attained on any earthly links.’’
UK Golf Guy Review, Planet Golf, Royal St George’s
3. ST ANDREWS - THE OLD COURSE
Links land, but no inspirational dunes here. Just really interesting holes, with strategy substantially influenced by the most astonishing green sites and bunkering. The particular aspect of the greens that helps to dictate the interesting strategy is that many of them run downhill from front to back – at least in some sections of the surfaces. There is a great feeling and history being out on this course, and the Old Town in the background on the way home completes the picture. It’s a wide course, but the location and all-or-nothing severity of the bunkers, in parallel with the greens, makes it an exciting challenge.
UK Golf Guy Review
4. ARDFIN
A recent one of my own on the Inner Hebrides island of Jura, but worth listing, I believe, because it has diverse, unique and strategically interesting holes – and all on perhaps the most spectacular site in golf. Holes on cliffs, holes along beaches and a few inland along ancient stone walls. Reasonably short at 6800 yards. Wide – in a windy site – except for one or two holes, and currently being further widened. Three reachable 4s in spectacular locations. Variety, both in the individual holes and the glorious wilderness landscape.
Golf Club Atlas, Top 100 Golf Courses
5. AUGUSTA NATIONAL
Often not a popular choice in ranking lists, but the holes on the back nine particularly provide the most inspirational, all-or-nothing shots to greens which are right on the edge of being unreasonable, but which dictate this thrilling play – particularly on the final afternoon of The Masters. I preferred the previous version without the rough, and have seen the recent longer and narrower version only on television, but still think it’s fantastic and you are still challenged to make choices and position shots. A magical place and almost borderline, but inspiring nonetheless.
Masters.com, Planet Golf, GolfClubAtlas.com, Augusta Chronicle
6. NEWCASTLE
Newcastle is a favourite from university days, and travels through rolling sandhills on a big scale, with most holes isolated by corridors of Australian bushland. In many places the holes make extraordinary, sometimes outrageous, use of the natural contours. The par 4 5th and the par 5 10th are examples, and you almost wouldn’t dare to design them on a new course. I believe the shaping, style and strategic interest of the greens and bunkers has held Newcastle back to an extent. We are about to remedy this situation, and also to create 7 new holes in attractive ground to replace perhaps the least interesting on the course – the 1st, 16th, 17th and 18th.
Newcastle Golf Club, Top 100 Golf Courses
7. CYPRESS POINT
A most beautiful and varied landscape, with the course passing through a pine forest and dramatic sandhills before finishing with some of the most fantastic cliff holes in golf. The holes have strategic variety as well, including back-to-back reachable par 4s – the 8th and 9th – with the latter being amongst the best and most dramatic in golf. It’s hard to beat 15, 16 and 17 around the clifftops. The beauty of the landscape is well-complemented by Mackenzie’s artistic style, making the whole thing look and feel amazing. We can all be thankful that Seth Raynor didn’t get to do it. Not too many golfers. It’s just a pleasure to be there.
Graylyn Loomis, Golf Digest, Playing the Top 100
8. NORTH BERWICK
Great fun in a lovely setting with intimate interaction with the sea. This course appeals to so many of us even though it’s perhaps a little ordinary in a few places, for example near the turn. Overall, though, the course has great variety, and most of the holes are either unusual, or quirky, or even alarming (16th green) or strategically wonderful in the traditional sense. While the Redan (15th) perhaps gets the most publicity, my own favourites are the 13th (Pit) and 14th ( Perfection) – although I am disappointed that the ‘go-for-it’ 13th has been recently lengthened. Why would you do that, at least to that degree? Every time I walk down the 14th I wonder at the fantastic blind approach, and what some of the ex-pro-name-golfer-designers might have done to it with bulldozers. So much more charismatic than its nearby famous neighbour, Muirfield.
UK Golf Guy review, Scottish Golf History, Planet Golf
9. ROYAL MELBOURNE COMPOSITE
Another course where you can hit it anywhere – well almost so. Despite the width, the wilderness rough is extremely penalising but the strategic interest benefits from the width, the inspirational greens and majestic bunkering. A beautiful atmosphere and landscape within which to play golf.
UK Golf Guy Review, No Laying Up Tourist Sauce, Golf Channel Analysis
This gets me to 9 courses, and I am reluctant to choose one, or leave any out, from:
Silloth, which, despite poor shaping, is another magical course with almost unique holes in fantastic dunes;
New South Wales, which has some of the most astonishing holes in a grand seaside setting;
Moonah at The National, which I believe deserves a high place in Australia’s top 10, apart from being a favourite; and
Royal County Down, where you can feel the glory of what’s to come when you step onto the first tee.
We’ll let you off with those Bob. What great choices, and wonderful descriptions!
You can see others in the ‘Favourite Courses’ series here.
