A couple that few of you will know are Bala and Flint, both in North Wales. Flint may now have more than 9 holes, but a few years ago when last I was there it was only 9, and its 1st is a 219-yard par 3 played across an abyss to a ledge green on the side of a hill with all manner of evils should you miss long. short or to either side. When you play thehole as the 10th it is 249 yards long and the angle is slightly different, making it even harder! Bala is another 9-holer, on a hill top overlooking the largest natural lake in Wales, Lake Bala. The scenery is magnificent. The view of the 1st hole, however, is forbidding. A friend who is a professional golfer with enormously wide experience says that Bala's 1st is the most formidable par 3 he has ever plaed. It climbs steadily for 231 yards from a low tee to a green on the crest of a hill. Once again, if you miss you are in serious trouble. Those who, like me, stand no chance of reaching the green in a single blow must avoid rocky outcrops, banks of gorse and marshy bits in the intervening ground. With precision needed to avoid these it is a potential card-wrecker for the higher handicap player. Happily, it is only played once in the round, for the 10th hole is played along the 2nd fairway from a separate tee. Thereafter the 3rd is played as the 11th, the 4th as the 12th and so on. The mathematicians among you will have realised that the course would, therefore, end on the 17th hole, but there is a separate 18th, a drop-shot par 3 played from the high ground down to he clubhouse far below.