Somerset, England

Designers: Fowler/ Alison/ Hilton/MacKenzie/Colt

Green fee: From £65

Tel: 01278 785 760

THE list of men who shaped B&B is a roll call of the great architects of the game’s golden age. Colt is credited with most of what remains today – an out-and-back links that rolls through the dunes towards the Bristol Channel and back again. Unusually for a links, the weakest part is the middle, but the closing stretch is especially good. The 17th is a fine par 3: only true shots hold the raised green here.

Surrey, England

Designers: John Abercromby/Willie Park Jnr

Green fee: From £75

Tel: 01483 472 277

WORPLESDON is a supremely attractive heathland course presented in exceptional condition. It has a fine collection of short holes, with the pick probably the 13th, where the green is almost an island surrounded by sand. As with the other Ws, Worplesdon stylishly proves par 4s do not have to be in excess of 400 yards to present difficulty to the modern player. One of many fine examples is the 3rd, where the left half of the fairway needs to be found if the green, which slopes from right to left, is to be attacked.

Perthshire, Scotland

Designers: Alister MacKenzie/James Braid

Green fee: From £70

Tel: 01250 872 622

LOCH LOMOND and Gleneagles are the only credible rivals to Blairgowrie as the best inland course in Scotland. This is a pretty and classy course, the fairways more often than not flanked by pines, birch and colourful (when in bloom) heather. It can also lay claim to the best opening hole in Scotland, a long downhill dogleg par 4. The final four holes are also worthy of comment – beginning with a very short par 3 to a small green and ending with a gentle climb towards the clubhouse.

Notts, England

Designers: Colt/Braid

Green fee: From £55

Tel: 01623 626 889

PERHAPS there is a good reason Sherwood Forest does not feature more prominently in discussions of the best courses but if so we can safely say it has not occurred to us. You will struggle to putt on better, quicker surfaces anywhere and, at over 6,800 yards with a par of 70 off the backs, it is a test of championship magnitude. Most of the holes on this heathland, pine-clad course run in seclusion to the rest and there is a feeling of great space at the far end. Do your scoring early – the inward half is longer, has a par of 34 and is into the prevailing wind.

Gwynedd, Wales

Designers: Fowler/Colt/Braid

Green fee: From £50

Tel: 01654 767 493

WITH the train station a wedge away from the 1st tee, it is easy to imagine the days in the 1900s when holidaying golfers arrived to spend their summers on the Welsh coast. Bernard Darwin, the legendary golf writer, was one of them and while he has kind things to say about many courses there is no mistaking that the links at Aberdovey held a special place in his heart. Holiday golf, in the most complimentary sense, it may be, but at over 6,700 yards from the new Darwin tees it also remains a contemporary test. Quirky in places and just plain tough in others, it gives the impression of being a straight-out-and-back links but actually curves in a horseshoe so the wind comes from a different angle from one hole to the next.

Fife, Scotland

Designer: Old Tom Morris

Green fee: From £65

Tel: 01334 466 666

IT is all too easy to overlook the New – this is not a course that shouts from the rooftops, and should be played at least a couple of times to appreciate its true quality. Spectacular it may not be, but many think it presents a better, more consistent test than the Old Course it borders. Certainly, the holes are more defined, with gorse turning the fairways into corridors. The best holes are at the far end near the Eden Estuary – like the 9th, well over 200 yards from the back tee with the beach to your left and a large, deflecting ridge short of the green. Many locals will tell you the New is the best links in the town.

Isle of Islay, Scotland

Designers: Campbell/Steel

Green fee: From £55

Tel: 01496 302 310

IT is hard, if not impossible, to separate The Machrie’s natural links course with the whole experience of travelling to the distant and magical Isle of Islay in the Inner Hebrides. Some of the holes are almost impossible to describe, save to say if blind shots are not your thing then perhaps you should stay away. Unusually, it is often the approach shots, rather than the drives, that are blind. This is a strange experience – standing over a shot of no more than 100 yards yet unable to see the target. There are few bunkers but greens are set on shelves, in hollows, behind mounds, at angles. Every one will make you think.

Cumbria, England

Designers: Grant/Park Jnr

Green fee: From £45

Tel: 01697 331 304

SILLOTH’S reputation has grown considerably in recent years – travelling golfers no longer need convincing that the long trip to the north-west tip of England is worth every last mile. Silloth has a superb variety of seaside holes, from the Postage Stamp-esque 9th to the long 5th, where you drive from a ridge to a fairway set at an angle that runs parallel to the beach. Arguably the best hole is the 4th, a par 4 where you must drive on to the top of a ridge if you want to have any view of the long, narrow green that falls off sharply on both sides. Silloth may lack slightly in terms of scenery, but otherwise it belongs in the highest echelons.

Surrey, England

Designers: James Braid/Harry Colt

Green fee: From £75

Tel: 01252 792 493

WHERE Hankley Common excels when compared to many of its peers in England’s South East is in terms of its sheer expanse. Most courses in this part of the world are bordered by housing and hemmed in by roads and railways but not Hankley – which seems to exist in a world of its own. There are shades of the New at Sunningdale in the way it opens up after a few holes, and Hankley’s finest holes are surely those occupying open heathland. Stretching to almost 6,800 yards from the new back tees, this is no cosy members’ course. Quick-draining, it offers firm conditions underfoot all year round.

Argyll, Scotland

Designer: Old Tom Morris

Green fee: From £62

Tel: 01586 810 213

THIS is an impossibly romantic course in an impossibly romantic setting, with views on a clear day across to the isles of Jura, Gigha and Islay. Several holes are one-offs – and all the better for it. Wander down the 3rd fairway towards the sea on a summer’s evening and there are few places in the world a golfer could rather be. The closing stretch is not quite up to the standard of what has gone before but it hardly detracts from what is an unforgettable experience. Make a trip here worthwhile with nextdoor Machrihanish Dunes.