WHERE TO PLAY
I ’ve been fortunate to play hundreds of courses in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England, yet such is the wealth of outstanding classic lay- outs in these countries that I can still flip through ranking lists and pick out new gems to explore. The older the course the better because these of- fer the most interesting and quirkiest holes. There’s nothing more exciting in golf for me each year than to choose
In the years between the world wars, such was the growth and popularity of golf, Braid was kept busy travelling around the UK on a variety of com- missions. He would design or revise a course inside a day, walking the terrain and using his instinctive knowledge to imprint his design philosophy and establish where every green should be sited. A construction team would then follow his detailed plan and build
half-a-dozen arbitrary courses to play for the first time, usually with members or friends. Goswick Links was one. It’s a course I had heard mentioned favourably by friends who belong to the James Braid Golfing Society in the UK. Members meet up a few times a year to play Braid courses in a certain area, and there’s so many it would take decades to visit them all.
110 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2025
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