Remote and magnificent, this links course on Scotland's northeast coast features some of the most dramatic clifftop holes in the game. The pink granite and wild routing create something truly special. - Photo Credit: Cruden Bay Golf Club

Scotland's northernmost mainland links offers excellent value golf with honest North Sea conditions. Braid's routing makes the most of the coastal ground without overcomplicating things. - Photo Credit: Fraserburgh Golf Club

Scotland's fourth-oldest golf club, with the Balgownie Links serving as the championship course. The routing moves through classic linksland with Braid's strategic touch evident throughout. - Photo Credit: Royal Aberdeen

Golf's Greatest Test isn't marketing hyperbole when the wind is up. Eight Open Championships have been decided here, and the Barry Burn still claims victims on 17 and 18. Respect is earned, not given. - Photo Credit: Carnoustie Golf Links

A challenging heathland course that served as Ben Hogan's preparation venue for his 1953 Open Championship victory. Braid's strategic design principles shine through every hole.

Built to host the Scottish Open, Phillips created a championship links that balances modern tournament needs with timeless links principles. The coastal views and strategic bunkering deliver. - Photo Credit: Dundonald Links

The birthplace of The Open Championship, featuring quirky historic holes including the famous Cardinal bunker. It's golf history you can play, complete with all the eccentricity that implies. - Photo Credit: Prestwick Golf Club

Home of the famous Postage Stamp 8th hole and regular Open Championship host. The out-and-back routing creates different challenges depending on wind direction.

The legendary Ailsa Course with its iconic lighthouse has hosted multiple Opens. The coastal holes along the Ayrshire coast are among golf's most scenic. - Photo Credit: Turnberry

A classic Scottish links running along the Ayrshire coast with views of the Isle of Arran. Park's routing creates strategic golf with spectacular scenery. - Photo Credit: Western Gailes

One of Scotland's oldest courses, established in 1856. The links runs along the coast with views across the Firth of Forth, offering traditional Scottish golf without the crowds.

A hidden gem that offers exceptional value links golf with views across the Firth of Forth. The course doesn't get the attention of its famous neighbors, but the golf is just as compelling.

Three courses sharing this East Lothian site, with the championship No. 1 offering the sternest test and best views. It's a links complex that shows how different architects can work the same stretch of ground.

Sixteen Open Championships have been played here, and the course's strategic demands and perfect conditioning explain why. It's exclusive, expensive, and worth every penny for those who can access it.

Home of the original Redan hole that's been copied worldwide. This historic links features quirky holes and coastal views that have inspired architects for generations.

Doak's modern links masterpiece designed to host professional tournaments while remaining accessible. The routing creates natural strategic interest across the coastal ground.

Scotland's seventh-oldest golf club plays right along the North Sea, and you can feel the history in every hole. This is golf stripped to its essentials—no frills, just the game as it was meant to be.

Phillips created this clifftop course near St Andrews from farmland, and the result feels like it's been there for centuries. The North Sea provides the backdrop for what many consider Scotland's best modern links.

The famous periscope starter's box gets photos, but this delightful seaside course offers much more. It's unpretentious Fife golf with character holes and views that make the modest green fee feel like theft.

One of Scotland's oldest courses offering traditional links golf in the Kingdom of Fife. The value is exceptional, and the golf is honest—no tricks, just good links holes along Largo Bay. - Photo Credit: Leven Links

Braid's work along the shores of Largo Bay creates a classic Scottish links experience. The course has character without gimmicks, substance without pretense. - Photo Credit: Lundin Links

The second-oldest course at golf's home, offering a slightly more forgiving introduction to St Andrews than the Old Course.

The most famous golf course in the world, where golf has been played for over 600 years. Every golfer should experience this ancient links at least once.

A modern links that understands its setting on the Moray Firth. Hanse and Parsinen created something that feels both contemporary and timeless, with sightlines that frame the Scottish Highlands perfectly. - Photo Credit: Castle Stuart Golf Links

Where golf and agriculture intersect in the Scottish Highlands. The cattle and sheep aren't decorative—they're part of the maintenance crew. It's quirky in the best possible way. - Photo Credit: Brora Golf Club

Scotland's northern links offers exceptional value championship golf. The Old Tom Morris pedigree shows in holes that work naturally with the coastal land. - Photo Credit: Moray Golf Club

A championship links on Scotland's Moray coast offering excellent conditioning and strategic coastal golf. The course has hosted major amateur championships. - Photo Credit: Nairn Golf Club

Scotland's most northerly championship course, beloved by golf legends for its natural beauty and strategic design. The course flows across its coastal ground with an effortless quality. - Photo Credit: Royal Dornoch

A traditional Scottish links offering exceptional value golf with views over Dornoch Firth. Morris's routing works naturally with the coastal ground. - Photo Credit: Tain Golf Club

Kidd created a pure links experience on the remote Kintyre Peninsula, working with the natural dunes to create holes that feel ancient. It's golf in its most elemental form. - Photo Credit: Machrihanish Dunes

A championship heathland/moorland course set in beautiful Perthshire countryside. While not a links, it's hosted multiple European Tour events and showcases Braid's strategic design principles. - Photo Credit: King's Course at Gleneagles

An exclusive heathland masterpiece known for its natural beauty and strategic design through ancient forest. Colt created something truly special in this corner of Berkshire. - Photo Credit: Swinley Forest

A charming Cornish links featuring the famous Himalayas bunker. The course offers spectacular coastal scenery and strategic golf in England's southwest corner. - Photo Credit: St Enodoc

A charming English links offering traditional seaside golf across ancient Camber Sands. Colt's work creates holes that feel natural and strategic. - Photo Credit: Rye Golf Club

Colt's work at Deal creates a classic English links experience with traditional seaside conditions. The course rewards good golf and punishes poor decisions. - Photo Credit: Royal Cinque Ports

Three distinct nine-hole loops near Royal St. George's, offering varied links golf across different terrain. The flexibility of routing creates different experiences within the same round. - Photo Credit: Princes Golf Club

England's most challenging Open venue, with deep bunkers and undulating fairways that can humble any golfer. The course rewards precision and punishes the careless. - Photo Credit: Royal St. George's

Famous for its railway holes and strategic demands, this championship links has seen multiple Open victories decided by precision rather than power. - Photo Credit: Royal Lytham and St Annes

A traditional English links on the Lancashire coast offering challenging golf through natural coastal terrain. The course maintains its authentic links character. - Photo Credit: West Lancashire

The second-oldest English seaside links, with a rich Open Championship history dating to 1869. The flat terrain creates strategic challenges different from more dramatic links courses. - Photo Credit: Royal Liverpool

A challenging links on England's Golf Coast, with holes winding through impressive sand dunes. Braid's strategic design principles create a complete test of links golf. - Photo Credit: Southport & Ainsdale

A traditional English links offering challenging seaside golf with views across the River Mersey. Morris understood how to work with this coastal ground. - Photo Credit: Wallasey

An exclusive English links famous for its red squirrels and pine trees. The holes wind through natural sand dunes, creating a links experience that feels more woodland than seaside in places. - Photo Credit: Formby

Dramatic elevation changes distinguish this English links from its flatter neighbors. The holes move through impressive sand dunes, creating a links experience with more vertical interest than most. - Photo Credit: Hillside

A championship links on England's Golf Coast, famous for its willow scrub and strategic bunkering. Multiple Opens and Ryder Cups have been decided here. - Photo Credit: Royal Birkdale

Two of England's finest heathland courses, with the Old Course representing Park's work and the New showcasing Colt's genius. Both feature pristine conditioning and strategic design. - Photo Credit: Sunningdale

An exclusive heathland course featuring tree-lined fairways and Colt's strategic design through Surrey's heather and gorse. It's parkland golf of the highest order. - Photo Credit: St George's Hill

Two championship heathland courses featuring strategic design and pristine conditioning. Fowler's work through Surrey's natural heathland creates exceptional golf. - Photo Credit: Walton Heath

A historic heathland course featuring strategic design through natural heather and gorse. One of England's early examples of heathland golf architecture. - Photo Credit: Woking

Ireland's premier championship links, built on a peninsula north of Dublin. Multiple Irish Opens have been played here, and the course has the pedigree and conditioning to match its reputation.

Ireland's second-oldest golf club, with Colt's work on Bull Island creating a challenging links with views of Dublin Bay. The course has serious championship pedigree. - Photo Credit: Royal Dublin Golf Club

A links course on Corballis Island with challenging holes and views of Dublin Bay. The island setting creates a unique links experience near Ireland's capital. - Photo Credit: The Island Golf Club

Simpson's work along Ireland's east coast creates a links that tests every part of your game. The bunkering feels natural, the greens reward precision, and the whole thing flows like great links architecture should.

Ireland's most northerly 18 holes sit on the Inishowen Peninsula with a quiet confidence. Two courses share this windswept ground, and both understand that good links golf doesn't need to shout. - Photo Credit: Ballyliffin Golf Club

Hackett carved this course through some of Ireland's wildest duneland on the Belmullet Peninsula. It feels untouched by committee—raw links golf for those who seek authenticity over amenities. - Photo Credit: Carne

Played beneath the distinctive profile of Benbulben mountain, this is Colt working with spectacular raw material. The course has both the setting and the strategy to keep you coming back. - Photo Credit: County Sligo

Hackett routed this links through impressive sand dunes on Ireland's Atlantic coast. The course has found its footing over the years and now offers some of the best-conditioned links golf in the region. - Photo Credit: Enniscrone

A charming traditional links on Ireland's northwest coast. The golf is uncomplicated and honest, the scenery is spectacular, and the value is unmatched. - Photo Credit: Narin & Portnoo

Three courses on the Rosapenna Peninsula, each offering different perspectives on links golf. The variety keeps things interesting across multiple rounds. - Photo Credit: Rosapenna

A links course on Ireland's west coast offering excellent value golf beneath Benbulben mountain. The setting provides the drama; the golf provides honest links entertainment. - Photo Credit: Strandhill

With a population of fewer than 2,000 people, the small coastal village of Ballybunion is one of Ireland’s many quaint hamlets. And yet, millions of golfers around the world know of its treasure. Ballybunion Golf Club traces its roots to the late 1800s, but it didn’t begin in earnest until 1906. Ballybunion was always a great golf course, but few outside of Ireland knew how special it really was. That changed in the 1970s when famous golf writer Herbert Warren Wind pronounced Ballybunion as “nothing less than the finest seaside course I have ever seen,” sending a surge of visitors to the area. Today, Ballybunion serves as an iconic venue in Southwest Ireland that attracts golfers from around the world. The scale of Ballybunion’s dunes and oceanside location wows in every way, but perhaps Tom Simpson said it best: “The beauty of the terrain surpasses that of any golf course we know, not excepting Pine Valley in America.”

The sign on the first tee at Dooks Golf Club reads “Bona Fide Golfers Only. No Sharing of Clubs.” In a world where the phrase “hidden gem” is all but impossible to say with a straight face, Dooks is as close as we can get. Thirty minutes west of Killarney and flush against an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, Dooks is more of a quaint Irish club than you find on most Southwest Ireland itineraries. Still, if you talk to anyone who played it on their journey to this area of the world, you’ll often find they rave about the experience.

Norman carved this course through massive Atlantic coast dunes, creating a spectacular but sometimes overwhelming links experience. The ocean holes are among Ireland's most dramatic. - Photo Credit: Doonbeg Golf Club

Lahinch Golf Club for many visitors is a sort of religious experience — captivating raw dune golf, the surfing-centric village (almost contiguous with the course), and the goats tottering around the property. Like many great links courses, there is a level of acceptance that must be exercised at Lahinch. The first nine is fraught with blindness — remnants of Old Tom Morris’ original work — while the course’s finish lacks the punch of the earlier holes. Embracing these traits instead of fighting them allows the course to reveal itself, and what’s left is a collection of some of the most thrilling shots in the sport on one of the most naturally gifted sites in the world. Lahinch’s quirks are what make it unique, and its connection to the town is really only rivaled by St. Andrews. As a pure golf experience, Lahinch is as good as it gets.

Built on a dramatic clifftop peninsula jutting into the Atlantic, this is golf as spectacle. The setting is undeniably spectacular, though purists debate whether the golf matches the views. - Photo Credit: Old Head Golf Links

Said Arnold Palmer of Tralee Golf Club: “I may have designed the first nine, but surely God designed the back nine.” While Tralee traces its origins back to the 1800s, the course we know today was designed by Palmer and opened in 1984, making it one of Southwest Ireland’s most modern destinations. The layout, especially the back nine, sits amongst some of the largest dunes you’ll find on a golf course. Surrounded by Barrow Beach and Barrow Harbour, Tralee sits out on a finger of land jutting into the Atlantic Ocean. Its setting is undeniably one of the most scenic in the world.

Written on many bucket lists, Waterville Golf Links quickly rose in popularity amongst American travelers over the last 40 years, but the club dates back much further than that. Set out on one of the southwesternmost points of Ireland, Waterville resides on a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. During high tide, the course is surrounded by water on three sides, making the 18th hole your only way out. An old club, this course has survived a long and winding history with periods of turmoil. But today, Waterville is a bustling venue with golfers visiting from across the world.

A modest clifftop links where the golf speaks louder than any marketing brochure. The routing makes the most of its perch above Dundrum Bay, though it's the understated charm rather than dramatic flourishes that stick with you.

The famous Leg o' Mutton hole gets the attention, but this is a complete links course that showcases both architects' understanding of coastal golf. The elevated tees provide drama; the routing provides substance.

The clifftop opening hole sets the tone for a links course that understands drama and substance aren't mutually exclusive. The routing moves through impressive coastal terrain with purpose.

Consistently ranked among the world's greatest courses, thanks in large part to the opening 13 holes, an unmatched stretch of golf. The Mountains of Mourne provide the backdrop for links golf at its most spectacular.

Ireland's only Open Championship venue, with the Dunluce Links featuring spectacular clifftop holes. Colt's routing creates one of the world's great championship tests.

A clifftop links on Wales' Gower Peninsula with dramatic holes and views over Three Cliffs Bay. The routing makes the most of spectacular coastal ground. - Photo Credit: Pennard Golf Club

Wales' premier links course offers challenging coastal golf with views across the Bristol Channel. The routing makes excellent use of the rolling coastal ground. - Photo Credit: Royal Porthcawl