We have both written many times, and still genuinely believe, that there is so much wonderfully varied golf throughout the UK&I that, should you be so inclined, you would never need to leave. There are about 3,000 courses, of which we have between us played around 40%, including the entire Top 100 in the UK & Ireland.
We are constantly adding new and very delightful entries to our swelling spreadsheets. However, we have also both been lucky enough to travel extensively for Golf Monthly, sampling golf, sights and experiences you would never encounter at home, much of which has informed our thoughts in this video on golf course design misconceptions.
We recently put our heads together and realised we'd now played in 57 countries – not just obvious golfing strongholds like the best golf courses in Spain, Portugal and the States, but also others more off the beaten track. One of our more complex - and unresolved - discussions was around what actually constitutes a country.
Take the beautiful Tierra del Sol course in Aruba, for example. This tropical Caribbean island is often described as a country, but also comes under the auspices of The Netherlands.
Closer to home, we both know golfers who tend not to think of the UK as separate countries but rather one glorious golfing whole. Try explaining that to anyone at an England-Scotland rugby match or screaming at the TV! Then there are the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, both self-governing British Crown Dependencies but not countries as such, and not part of the UK.
But for the sake of this article, we believe we've played in about 57 different ‘countries', depending on how you interpret such anomalies! Here, we each take a look at five of the more unusual, impressive or simply less well-known trips we have enjoyed and how they have enriched our golfing lives...
Bulgaria
Rob - While moonlighting for Volvo at its tour events, I visited Bulgaria in 2013 for the penultimate World Matchplay Tournament at Gary Player's Thracian Cliffs. Set on the western shores of the Black Sea, its relative inaccessibility may be why this is not yet a bucket-list destination. Its outrageously visual and dramatic layout is one of the most exciting I have ever played. I had no choice but to include it in a feature on my favourite ten courses.
Nearby, I greatly enjoyed the appallingly named but otherwise lovely BlackSeaRama – another Player design – and Ian Woosnam's adjacent Lighthouse. They would combine to make a brilliant tour, and I returned to the country in 2019 to play at the fine resort of Pravets, under an hour from Sofia.
The Netherlands
Rob - A real advantage of golf in The Netherlands is that you can take your car. Despite an immaculate pedigree, it's still not well-known as a golfing destination and I think this is simply because its historic and more prestigious clubs are really not too fussed about marketing their many delights.
On one trip, I enjoyed the best of the old (Utrecht de Pan… spell it as you wish; there are many variations) and the best of the new (The International). I loved the 27 holes at Kennemer, where Colt designed the original 18, and Hilversum was great, Colt again, and very tight off the tee. If you're after informal and local, then Houtrak, Purmerend and Zaanse are all well worth a visit.
Greece
Jeremy - My solitary trip to Greece came in 2022 when I was invited to the Olazabal and Friends Charity Pro-Am at Costa Navarino in the Messinia region of a country that, perhaps surprisingly, still has just ten golf courses. The Spaniard's two new layouts had opened there earlier that year and this is surely one of Europe's most spectacular golf destinations.
His International Olympic Academy Course enjoys a stirring back-nine run along an inland cliff edge with mesmerising ocean views, while the Hills course plays past old olive trees, ancient rock walls and stunning ravines in the Kinigou Hills. It was a real thrill to finally get some time with Jose Maria, who had always proved quite an elusive interview target for individual journalists hoping for a chat. Perseverance rewarded!
Norway
Jeremy - You've probably drooled over the photos and, following my 2015 trip to the Lofoten Islands in the 68th parallel of northern latitude in Norway, I can confirm that Lofoten Links is almost certainly the most dramatic golfing canvas over which I have ever played. Yes, it took three flights and half an hour by road to get there, but boy, was it worth it. Lush green oases of fairway and green weave through deep-coloured rocks and lakes, wedged between the Arctic and the rugged mountains.
The visual drama carries on hole after hole and there is a deep sense of admiration for the imagination that led to a golf course being created in this unimaginably spectacular, yet at times hostile, landscape. I've not yet returned to play elsewhere in Norway, but the love affair with the country that this trip triggered has seen the family spend the week before Christmas in Tromso for the last two years. This must surely be the only world Top 100 golf course where you can play under the midnight sun.
Finland
Jeremy - Finland has around 190 courses and my only visit came in 2014 with a game at Linna Golf an hour from Helsinki, ranked No.1 in the country in some lists. I remember feeling at home immediately as, slightly to my surprise, it felt similar to UK courses such as Woburn, Gleneagles and even Swinley Forest right from the opener, a beautiful uphill par 4 playing through stands of pine and birch.
The trees often frame holes from a respectful distance rather than too claustrophobically, so you reap the benefits of their beauty without having to venture in among them too often. My trip continued with a ferry across the Baltic to Estonia, one of two east European countries I've played in. Poland is the other.
Kenya
Rob - I jumped at the chance to fly to Nairobi where the colonial background means there is real history at some of the clubs. Muthaiga dates back to 1913 and was a regular host of the Kenya Open, won by no less a legend than Seve Ballesteros in 1978. I greatly enjoyed Sigona, designed by Tom Simpson in 1938, plus the excellent course at Windsor Golf Hotel, with its monkeys and yellow-billed kites going about their business paying scant attention to the golf.
My favourite was Great Rift Valley up near Lake Naivasha where I enjoyed two days of sensory overload thanks to the challenging course and the magnificent wildlife, including zebras, giraffes and an encounter with a pod of hippos out on the lake. If you fancy combining golf with safari, this is exactly the country for it.
South Africa
Jeremy - My only visit to the continent of Africa happened by accident when a colleague was called up for jury service and I was drafted in. I was already due in Abu Dhabi the week after, so it ended up being my longest ever trip for Golf Monthly, flying to Durban then on to the Middle East before returning home 12 days later. I was there to cover the 2013 Volvo Golf Champions event at Durban Country Club and play three rounds in KwaZulu-Natal province at Selborne Park, Prince's Grant and Cotswold Downs.
After golf at Selborne, photographer Kevin Murray and I were plied with more Springboks than were wise (Amarula layered over Creme de Menthe in a chilled shot glass) and were treated to an impromptu table-side Ladysmith Black Mambazo-style performance from the bar staff. The course at Prince's Grant enjoys excellent ocean views, while the 5th at Cotswold Downs is the steepest drop-hole par 3 I've ever played.
Japan
Jeremy - In 2018, a decade after my time in the equipment editor's chair, I got called back for a trip to Japan to visit the Honma plant around the time of Justin Rose's short-lived dalliance with the brand. Part of the trip took us on the famous Shinkansen 'bullet train' to Atami, then on to Kawana, where we played the resort's world top 100-ranked Fuji course.
The dramatic opener plunges down 100ft to the fairway and the visual drama never lets up with several holes along the clifftops, although Mount Fuji was sadly partly shrouded in mist. Our friendly female caddie looked after all four bags on one power-assisted trolley and, once or twice, our transport from green to tee involved a driverless buggy. An incredible experience.
Vietnam
Rob - Asia and the Far East offer some of the most exotic golf in the world and I had a wonderful time exploring the central-eastern coastal region of Vietnam around Da Nang. Delicious local food was the hors d'oeuvres to a banquet of golf that included coastal games at Nick Faldo's dreamy Laguna Lang Co, Robert Trent Jones Junior's amazing Hoiana Shores and the Nicklaus and Norman courses at Legend DaNang.
Slightly inland, I also loved the Luke Donald design at Ba Na Hills and a stay-and-play at Colin's eponymous Montgomerie Links. Together, the five offered unbelievable variety, endless new and different experiences, and as much entertainment as you could possibly wish for on one golf trip. My visit here prompted me to wonder whether this is the most exotic coastline in golf?
New Zealand
Rob - I visited this staggeringly beautiful country to cover the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Royal Wellington. It's an exceptionally long way to go, but the juicy carrot dangling before me was the opportunity to explore the North Island and play a handful of its best courses.
We started at the host venue, a sumptuous course that I absolutely loved, and from here flew up the east coast to spend two nights at Cape Kidnappers, a dream come true. Moving inland to The Kinloch Club and Wairakei near Lake Taupo, both excellent, we ended up at Auckland and Windross Farm. The scenery, the golf, the wine… this will live with me as one of, if not the, best trips of my golfing life.
The Numbers
So for completeness, here are our various counts at the time of preparing this article in May, 2026. As you might expect, they are still creeping up...!
Rob |
Jeremy |
|
Aruba |
1 |
|
Austria |
1 |
4 |
Bahamas |
2 |
1 |
Bahrain |
1 |
|
Barbados |
3 |
1 |
Belgium |
2 |
|
British Crown Dependencies (Channel Islands, Isle of Man) |
8 |
3 |
Bulgaria |
4 |
|
China |
2 |
|
Curacao |
1 |
|
Cyprus |
3 |
|
Czechia |
8 |
|
Denmark |
6 |
|
Dominican Republic |
9 |
|
Egypt |
1 |
|
England |
759 |
643 |
Estonia |
2 |
|
Finland |
1 |
|
France |
34 |
5 |
Germany |
5 |
1 |
Greece |
2 |
3 |
Iceland |
1 |
|
India |
5 |
|
Indonesia |
1 |
|
Ireland |
49 |
47 |
Italy |
15 |
4 |
Jamaica |
3 |
|
Japan |
1 |
|
Jordan |
2 |
|
Kenya |
4 |
|
Mauritius |
2 |
3 |
Mexico |
3 |
|
Morocco |
9 |
|
Netherlands |
8 |
|
New Zealand |
5 |
|
Northern Ireland |
23 |
21 |
Norway |
1 |
|
Oman |
1 |
|
Poland |
4 |
|
Portugal |
29 |
25 |
Scotland |
114 |
209 |
Seychelles |
1 |
|
Singapore |
1 |
|
Slovenia |
2 |
|
South Africa |
4 |
3 |
Spain |
45 |
28 |
Sri Lanka |
3 |
|
St Lucia |
1 |
|
St Vincent & Grenadines |
1 |
|
Sweden |
2 |
2 |
Switzerland |
7 |
3 |
Tunisia |
5 |
|
Turkey |
6 |
1 |
UAE |
13 |
8 |
USA |
26 |
5 |
Vietnam |
5 |
|
Wales |
51 |
60 |
GRAND TOTAL |
1295 |
1093 |
