I just returned fro a two week trip to England (with a side trip to Kennemer (a Dutch Colt and Pennick course) and Bull Bay in Wales. I played twenty different courses and 24 rounds in that time period. I played some of the greats: Swinley Forest, St. Georges Hill, St. Enodoc, and Westward Ho!. The main purpose of the trip, however was to play some of the lesser known courses. I have long maintained that there are excellent courses (5, 6, and 7 on the Doak scale) that just don’t get any publicity. There are alos courses that defy categorization on any scale because of the land they are on. Some of the courses had land so demanding that the only way to judge it is to ask, “Did the architect do the best possible routing and use of the land?” Sean Arble already posted about Beau Desert. If it had been located in Surrey or Birkshire it would be a top 100 contender.
Mark Rowlinson set up ten courses in and around Cheshire that just knock your socks off. I will be starting a few threads about these courses in the next week. One on Fowler’ work, one on Colt, and one on Mac Kenzie. In the meantime if there are courses in GB&I that are lesser known share them with us.
All told I have played about 170 courses in GB&I and firmly believe that their top 100 could include four or five hundred courses.