The Most Challenging Golf Courses I Have Played

I first picked up a golf club as a young boy. My grandfather was a Scottish amateur golfer of some standing and he was keen that I followed in his footsteps. 

In truth, I believe he may have dreamed of me winning the Claret Jug.

I also dreamed of winning the Claret Jug. But there was as much chance of that ever happening as there is of Jurgen Klopp leading Forfar Athletic to Champions League glory. 

In saying that, there have been times in my life when I have played golf to a pretty decent standard. I once got my handicap down to five. But work and family life kept getting in the way.

However, golf has given me some wonderful experiences. As a sports journalist who has been able to play some of the best courses on the planet I have had many moments where I have had to pinch myself.

Not only have I played some of the best courses but I have also tackled some of the toughest and most challenging layouts that our sport has to offer. And there have been some absolutely brutal days.

Without the slightest shadow of a doubt, the hardest course I have ever played is Carnoustie. I have played it twice. On both occasions the wind was howling and the rain was tipping down. It was brutal. 

You may remember the 1999 Open Championship, won by Paul Lawrie after Jean Van de Velde’s meltdown at the final hole. The entire field spent the week complaining about how difficult the course was. And I find it difficult to contradict them, even though Lawrie closed out the week with a sensational round of 67 - one of the finest rounds of golf I have ever witnessed in the flesh.

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

At a rough estimate, I believe that I lost 12 golf balls in the 36 holes I have played at Carnoustie. Miss the fairway and the only way you are finding your ball is if you stand on it. 

When you come off the 18th green in those conditions you feel like you have just completed 12 rounds with Tyson Fury punching you in the solar plexus time and time again.

But what a golf course it is. And before I go to meet the great greenskeeper in the sky I am determined to head back to this incredible golf course and tackle it one more time. Hopefully on a warm summer’s day!

And then there was Wentworth. Home of both the DP World Tour and the BMW PGA Championship, it is one of the most iconic courses in the UK. 

And through TV exposure, it is a course that most of us will feel we know.

It is another course I have played twice - before and after it was redesigned. 

On my first trip I was playing off seven but nothing could have prepared me for the test that lay ahead that day. 

We had endured a week or so of torrential rain but on the day we turned up to play it had finally relented. However, it meant that the fairways were still pretty soggy - and there was literally no roll. You hit a drive, watched it soar through the air and stop stone dead where it landed. It meant that on just about every par four we were reaching for a three wood for our second shots. 

I reckon the course played to about 9,000 yards that day. I played superbly - and walked off, added up my score and was horrified to realise that it all came to 97 blows. That meant I had shot a nett 90!

The second time I played the greens were like glass, among the quickest I had ever experienced. I three-putted eight times!

The European Open was once played at The K Club, near Dublin. 

In the run-up to the tournament I was given the opportunity to play the course from the championship tees during a special media day. The K Club is a spectacular layout, and I played really well in incredibly difficult conditions. I cannot remember my exact score but it was in the low 80s. 

I was really pleased with myself. And then I watched the tournament on TV some weeks later. It was won by a golfer called Per-Ulrik Johannson, a Swede who won several times on what was the European Tour despite only standing 5ft 7in.

I could not believe where Johannson was playing his second shots from - I had always considered that I hit the ball a decent distance from the tee but he was playing approach shots from around 100 yards closer to the green than I had!

One of my favourite memories is of playing Royal Troon some months before the 1973 Open Championship, which was won by Tom Weiskopf. 

The tournament itself was played in July. I was given the opportunity to play it in March. Trust me when I tell you that golf in March on the Ayrshire coast does not call for shorts, short sleeves or any form of sun protection. 

There was a light frost on the ground when we teed off and a stiff and bitterly cold breeze. By the fourth hole I had lost all feeling in my fingers and toes. But I managed to birdie the eighth hole, the world-famous Postage Stamp and negotiated this astonishing golf course in 75 strokes. 

But I don’t think I have ever been so cold in my entire life.

On the other side of the coin was my experience at Valderrama. 

Many believe that this is the best course in Europe. That may or not be the case. It is certainly spectacular. It is also long, has plenty of water and has greens like glass. 

I played it in August. We are talking about Spain. Spain in August is hot. Very hot! All sensible golfers will play Valderrama at this time of year and ensure they have lots of water to drink and, if they have any sense at all, will hire a buggy. 

Guess what? 

I went out there with no water and for reasons that I still cannot fully explain, opted to carry my clubs - in a tournament bag! 

By the time I got to the fifth hole I was beginning to regret both decisions. By the time I got to the 12th I was starting to question my sanity. By the time I crawled up the fairway at the brutal par-five 17th I was seriously contemplating jumping in the lake to cool off. It didn’t help that I dumped three approach shots into said lake!

And when I came off the final green, if you had asked me what day of the week it was I probably wouldn’t have been able to tell you. Oh yes, and I had forgotten to apply any form of sun screen. When I returned to my hotel I looked like a ripe tomato. 

What did I score? Not a clue.

When I sit down and reflect upon the toughest and most challenging golf courses I have ever played there is always one common denominator - the weather. The British weather can turn an otherwise utterly benign course into a raging monster but turn up to play the same course the next day and it can be unrecognisable - and ripe for the taking.

Related Content

Are These The Toughest Finishing Holes in Golf

The Hardest Golf Courses You Can Ever Play

Golfers Officially LOVE to Play Challenging Courses

Are These The Scariest Tee Shots in Golf

18 of The Toughest Holes in Golf