Beauty and the Beast

There are some courses that just carry an aura. You don’t have to play them – and in some cases you can’t – to acknowledge their history and character. Take Augusta. For most of us, we only get to see Bobby Jones and Dr Alister Mackenzie’s masterpiece once a year through a television set, and yet, via the trials and tribulations of The Masters, we understand its story. Where to play; where not to play. Every hole has been analysed as we marvel at the course’s characteristics: the fast greens, the tributary creeks and those springing azalea. From St Andrews to Pebble Beach, a golf course’s exposure is a constant reminder of its character and the feat of its design.

But what about those courses we don’t see? In many ways, their lack of exposure only adds to the mystery. There can be no better example of this than at Les Bordes, a private members’ club where Robert von Hagge’s magnificent Old course first set tongues wagging after opening to critical acclaim in 1986.

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