H
ow do you pick your favourite course in a country where there are more than 16,000 to choose from? A good way to start is to find those that have held one of golf’s four annual championships (which most of these have) or leading amateur events. Oakmont, for instance, was the venue for this year’s US Open, held in June, and Augusta National is the site of Masters Championship each April. That testifies to the quality of the courses. Then you look at the architects and find examples of their very best work — Donald Ross at Seminole and Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore at Sand Hills, for example. Because of their exclusivity, few have a website, so I have given telephone numbers, ideally of the pro’s shop. All are, without question, worthy of the considerable effort needed to play them by finding a member or booking through a golf travel agent.
1. Sand Hills, Mullen, Nebraska
My idea of a perfect golf club, set amid miles and miles of sand hills in a remote part of Nebraska where you go solely to play golf. You will probably pass through several time zones to get there. As you look out at one magnificent golf hole after another carved out of the sand hills by Crenshaw and Coore, it is easy to imagine the early settlers rattling across the plains in their Conestoga wagons. Accommodation is in cabins, breakfast and dinner are served in a clubhouse that is modest by US standards and lunch is at a halfway hut where a cowboy in a Stetson and jeans serves enormous burgers. If you know a member don’t ask them to take you — plead with them. I doubt you will be disappointed. It is regularly and deservedly ranked in the top 20 in the world. (+1 308 546 2237)
