Widely agreed to be Britain’s toughest course, Carnoustie (par 72) draws expert golfers who love a challenge. The attractive course (6,941 yards) features many really long holes (over half exceed 400 yards); rough tall grown grass; deep bunkers; and two burns (streams) that always seem to be exactly where you don’t want them. You’ll need to reserve well in advance...

Golf is known to have been played in Scotland in the first half of the 15th-century and the rules were laid down there in 1754, giving the country a very strong claim to being the birthplace of Golf. Today, golfers have 550 Scottish courses to choose from and the tourist board even has dedicated a large part of their website...

St Andrews is famous for having the world’s oldest golf course: the Old Course (6609 Yards, Par 72), and locals have been teeing off here since the 15th century. The Old Course is also notable for its myriad of pot bunkers and vast double greens that make directing your ball every bit as important as hitting it well. It’s also...

Lying beside the sandy Dornoch Firth, with the Highlands on the horizon and golden gorse bushes flowering between holes, Royal Dornoch (6595 yards/par 70) is a very pretty spot. It’s also a place with real golfing history, since records show people have been swinging clubs here since the 1600s. And though the greens – which date back to 1877 –...

Apart from statistically being Scotland’s sunniest city St Andrews is also home to it’s oldest university and first golf course. This makes holiday-makers, students and golfers part of the landscape here and ensure a pleasant buzz about town – as well as ensuring there’s a good selection of cafes, bistros and restaurants in the town. But even without this, the...

Troon’s Old Course (7097 yards, Par 72), is considered a classic. It’s a very traditional club that dates back to 1879 and has become a regular fixture for the Open Championship. The course layout means that the sequence of holes swings around and invariably comes back into the wind, which is always a big factor. This makes it very hard...

Of Turnberry’s two championship courses it’s the Ailsa Course (6976; Par 70) that’s more famous. Numerous world greats have graced this coastal Ayrshire course, doing their best not to be distracted by the beauty of the place. With eponymous granite monolith Ailsa Craig and the isle of Arran on horizon, and with the dramatic Turnberry Lighthouse in the foreground, it...

You don’t have to be in Branson long to notice that mini-golf is maxi-business here. Dinosaur Canyon Golf is one of the better known courses, with dinosaurs interspersed between a waterfall, stream and volcano, based on the mythical legend of Professor Duffer A. Hacker, explorer and anthropologist who crash-landed a hot-air balloon in a canyon inhabited by dinosaurs (of course,...

Branson is well known among golfers, not only for its many courses for golfers of every level but also for its beautiful Ozarks scenery. Due to the area’s relatively mild climate, golfing in Branson is available year-round, with reduced rates in winter, on weekdays, and during hot summer afternoons. Some courses also give discounts to seniors. Many have golf carts...

You can’t find a bad golf course in Summit County. The courses in Breckenridge, Copper and Keystone are located about an hour and a half from Denver. With dramatic elevation changes and spectacular views, any golfer will find playing one of these courses a memorable  experience. High-country Golfing Tips First, with courses situated in the 9,000-foot elevation range, the ball...

Humboldt County’s only full-service resort is set in a historic building just south of Garberville. Along the Eel River and adjacent to the Benbow Lake State Recreation Area, this redwood-hugged historic structure has long been an icon of the North Coast. Dignitaries and Hollywood celebrities (including Clark Gable and Eleanor Roosevelt) once flocked to this grand dame. Now, she is...

This wonderfully impressive Renaissance Château with pepperpot rooves possesses an architectural symmetry second to none and lies on the wooded slopes above the river Bave near St-Céré. The splendid exterior hides a sad story. Jeanne de Balsac d’Entraygues had the place built by the best artists and craftsmen in France for her son Robert who was away fighting for François...

Lying alongside the Creek south of Deira, the busy inner-city suburb of Garhoud is best known as the home of the city’s international airport, meaning that it’s usually rammed with traffic night and day, while the formless concrete sprawl surrounding the airport’s three terminals isn’t anything to write home about either. The rest of the area offers a slightly schizophrenic...

Muirfield (6673 yards; par 70) is famed as the course of The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, the world’s oldest club, founded in 1744. It stems from the 1920s and came as a result of the club moving from the increasingly crowded Edinburgh area. The course is rated among Britain’s best, its design particularly clean and intelligent, since the layout...

Surrounded by towering ponderosa pines, this 18-hole, par-72 championship course challenges with narrow fairways and unforgiving roughs, but golfers love it. Amenities include golf shop, driving range, putting green, and chipping and bunker practice area. And at 7,000 feet elevation, your drives carry a little extra zip.

The award-winning Golf Club at Redlands Mesa is a slash of green carpet flowing between serrated sandstone buttes, with enough feel-good holes to balance your emotions when challenging the trickier risk and reward gems. Course-architect James Engh designed several holes with elevated tees to ensure views of Colorado National Monument’s rose-toned sandstone walls in the distance – and the promise...

Airlie Beach is the mainland gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. 10km to the east of Airlie is the hamlet of Shute Harbour, really just a natural harbour with a smattering of private homes. Boat cruises and ferries to the Whitsundays Islands depart from either Abel Pt Marina, Port of Airlie Marina or Shute Harbour. Getting there by air Joy flights...

Bareboats are vessels, usually yachts, but can also be catamarans, motor cruisers and houseboats, that are chartered with no crew on board. Charterers do all the navigation and piloting of the vessel so boating experience is required. The Whitsunday Islands are the bareboat capital of the GBR with an enormous choice of vessels to choose from and vast cruising grounds...

Cairns is the major northern hub for visitors to the off-lying islands and reef that make up the GBR. It’s also a terrific destination itself, with a plethora of things to do within an hour or two of downtown Cairns. The Whitsundays has Airlie Beach, far north Queensland has Cairns, though on a much grander scale. North Queensland’s biggest city,...

NOTE: Dunk Island Resort & Daytripper Cafe was damaged during TC Yasi in February 2011 and is currently closed. Scheduled re-opening date is unknown (as at Dec 2012) Dunk Island is a compact lush forest-clad island with central Mt Kootaloo summit rising 271m above sea level. Part of the Family Group of Islands sitting 4km offshore from Mission Beach, Dunk...