Oak Glen Country Club, Stillwater, MN
Stillwater Country Club
Ballybunion, Old Course
Lahinch, Old Course
Enniscrone
Carne
Royal Portrush, Dunluce
Royal County Down, championship
Edina Country Club
Windsong Farm
The obvious stars of this list are the Irish courses. I can't rank them; I loved elements of every course. I will say that I had the most fun at Carne, thanks to the ridiculously high dunes, snaking fairways, fabulous views and great company (BUDA Cup). We had outstanding weather at County Down and Portrush, mostly so at Carne (except for a late thunderstorm that cut short our third nine on Saturday) and Enniscrone, and decent weather at Lahinch (where my caddy advised me to put on my rain pants before we teed off on 1, but it never rained and I took them off on 10) and Ballybunion (five or six holes of light rain, but finished in bright sunshine). We never had more than a two-club wind during the two weeks we were there.
I will eagerly look forward to the Open Championship at Portrush in 2018; it will be a tough but interesting challenge, and visually stunning. I nearly killed my 70-year-old caddie (Muskie, for anyone who might have had him loop for you in the past) by plugging my drive into the upper face of the enormous fairway bunker on 17 at Portrush. Climbing up to hack at the ball was perhaps the most strenuous exercise I got on the entire trip, and the sand continued to collapse beneath each step up the face of the bunker -- then Muskie had to climb up after me and rake the mess I'd made. That hole and the current 18 (both fairly unexceptional aside from the monster bunker) will be replaced for the 2018 Open, and the two new holes look outstanding.