England - The Belfry's Brabazon Course, venue of four Ryder Cup matches, more than any other golf course. Soundly criticized when it was originally crafted from potato fields, the Brabazon has matured nicely over the years and improved through a series of redesigns. Its 18th hole remains one of the most dramatic and difficult finishes anywhere; the tiny 10th with its tempting risk/reward is a wonderful match play hole.

England - Formby Golf Club eschews professional competitions but has hosted every major British amateur championship and hosted the Curtis Cup in 2004. It is an unusual course for a true links in that contains large stands of pines and offers no sea views whatsoever. The result is a course with less wind than one would expect yet all the challenge one can handle.

England - Ganton Golf Club The club's architectural lineage is impeccable. Beginning in 1893, the course has evolved to the present through the work of such legends as Varden, Taylor, Braid, Colt, McKenzie, Cotton & Pennick. Gary Player once opined that Ganton is the only inland course worthy of hosting the British Open Championship. Those who watched the 2003 Walker Cup matches in person or on the telly saw a classic heathland setting with impenetrable gorse, few trees and diabolical bunkering.

England - The Grove Architect Kyle Phillips is to be commended for his finest work since Kingsbarns, a mature English course in a parkland setting and a worthy neighbour to the likes of Sunningdale and Wentworth. It is also a thoroughly modern test-stretching over 7100 yards from the tips with hidden cart paths-that looks as though it has been around for decades. The Grove hosts the American Express World Golf Championship in Fall 2006.

England - Hillside Golf Club shares the same stretch of links ground with Royal Birkdale that abuts it on the north and Southport & Ainsdale on the south. Many have argued that Hillside should replace Lytham & St. Annes on the Open Rota because it is a far better and more scenic golf course. Hillside has perhaps the best closing twelve holes we have played anywhere. And recent revisions have dramatically improved the first six.

England - Royal Birkdale Golf Club Royal Birkdale most recently hosted the 1998 British Open won by Mark O'Meara, but it was Arnold Palmer's victory in the 1961 British Open at Birkdale that restored the Open as one of the world's great tournaments, perhaps the greatest of them all. The course winds its way through a veritable maze of the sand hills where nature seemingly threatens to reclaim the mown areas at any moment.

England - Royal Liverpool (Hoylake) Once a staple of the British Open rotation, Hoylake fell out of favor with the R&A and was removed. Despite this snubbing by the powers that be, Hoylake remained a strong, traditional links course with impeccable lineage. One of Hoylake's most fearsome features is the cops, which are used as boundaries and hazards all in one. In 2000, the R&A saw the light and restored Royal Liverpool to the Rota when it was awarded the 2006 British Open Championship.

England - Princes Golf Club with its 27 holes of championship links golf hosted the 1932 British Open Championship won by the Little Squire, Gene Sarazen and currently serves as the final qualifying site whenever the British Open is contested at adjacent Royal St. Georges. Owing to its location on the English Channel astride the primary invasion route from the Continent to Britain, the course was destroyed by coastal defenses in both World Wars of the 20th century. After WWII, Sir Guy Campbell managed to utilise 17 of the original greens in his re-make and re-design.

England - Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club. Running adjacent to a railway and nearly a mile from the sea, Lytham is anything but a scenic delight. It is a challenging test, though, and a steadfast member of the British Open rotation. Tom Lehman (1996) and David Duval (2001) each claimed their elusive first major at Lytham. The daring Spaniard, Seve Ballesteros once won the British Open Championship by making par from the car park.

England - Royal North Devon Golf Club (Westward Ho!). Founded in 1864 with rudimentary holes by Old Tom himself, this is the oldest course in England. The links are rather flat yet challenging. The clubhouse is a veritable museum of featheries, spoons and other golfing memorabilia, some from five times British Open Champion James Braid who learned his game here.

England - Royal St. George's is a fixture on the British Open Championship rota (scene of the 1993 Norman Conquest) and an English club with considerable history. It was the first English venue for the Open and the home club of James Bond author, Ian Fleming (who was elected captain shortly before his death). Whilst the Bond/Goldfinger match was filmed at a parkland venue elsewhere, in the book it takes place-with vivid descriptions-on the links of St. George's.

England - Rye Golf Club is vastly under-rated as it is indeed a special place. The membership is exclusive, the links are most difficult and the annual President's Putter competition of the Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society is bizarre. With several long and difficult par fours, one's only chance at a respectable score is to birdie the five shorter ones or the opening par five, the only one on the course. The Putter takes place each January in positively beastly conditions. When asked why they chose to play at Rye in January, a former Society captain remarked, "After the holidays, our chaps had nothing else to do, actually."

England - Saunton Golf Club. If there exists a more rugged and natural links ground for championship golf than the East and West courses at Saunton, we have not seen it. The East was laid out in 1919 by Herbert Fowler. The West was fashioned in the seventies to replace a course lost in the war effort of the forties. Both demand constant accuracy to avoid the ditches and gorse lurking about.

England - St. Enodoc Golf Club, Church Course. The only club in Britain which has a 12th century church in the middle of the course, St. Enodoc also boasts the largest sand bunker in the world, called the Himalayas, which rises a full 60 feet from the fairway on the 6th hole. This golf club was the subject of a famous poem by John Betjeman, who is buried at the tiny church which lies between the 10th and 13th fairways. One of the real jewels of the West Country links courses.

England - Stoke Pogues Golf Course (at the Stoke Park Club) is a Harry Colt parkland gem that was the scene of the golf match in the James Bond thriller, Goldfinger. Set amongst 350 acres of woodlands organized by Capability Brown on a 900 year old estate with more than a century of golfing history, this is a bastion of all that is English. The bunkering is devious, the course is challenging and the views of the James Wyatt mansion are magnificent. Many course design aficionados believe the short par three 7th is Colt's finest hole. Whether that judgment is true or not, the fact is that the hole impressed Jones and Mackenzie enough to copy it as the 12th at Augusta National.

England - Sunningdale boasts an exclusive membership, a posh clubhouse and two of the better courses in all of golf. The Old Course, a frequent and popular venue for international competitions, was designed by Willie Park, Jr., son of the first British Open champion. The New Course, designed by Harry Colt, at one time shared a Top 100 rating with the Old. Sunningdale Golf Club is one of the few places where spending the day playing both courses plus lunch in the clubhouse actually rivals a day at Muirfield.

England - The Old Course at Walton Heath Golf Club is an excellent heathland course with the thickest heather in the London area. It is best known for its superb bunkering that places special demands on nearly every tee shot. Five times British Open champion, James Braid, was the professional here for almost half a century.

England - Wentworth West (Burma Road) Course A Harry Colt parkland design, Burma Road may be the most familiar course in the London area as it has been home to the World Match Play Championship for more than 30 years. It is one of three courses that are part of a posh private club with a clubhouse once owned by the Duke of Wellington's sister.

England - Woodhall Spa is an oasis of sandy heath in the fens of Lincolnshire. Currently, its Hotchin Course is ranked #33 in the world and is quite possibly the finest inland course in Britain. It is noted for its bomb crater bunkers, which highlight eighteen of the finest holes found anywhere.