My Golfing Year
Writing as I do about courses for Golf Monthly in print and on the website, many assume that I am out playing Top 100 courses all day every day. They’re wrong, of course… there are some days when I don’t play any golf at all! Also, I do need to sit down from time to time in order to write. And far from playing only the finest courses, I delight in visiting and experiencing designs of every style, shape and magnitude. An odd confession, but sometimes I think I love golf courses – their design and setting – more than the game itself. And whereas my wife will tell you I am a grumpy old man with a glass-half-empty attitude to life, when it comes to courses, I see only the best in them and enjoy each for its own unique characteristics. This, then, is how my 2024 golfing year unfolded.
Top 100 & Next 100 Visits
The opening hole at Top 100 beauty, Parkstone in Dorset
(Image credit: Jason Livy)
The 2025/26 Golf Monthly rankings will be revealed in the May issue, and one of my roles is to oversee the Top 100 assessment process. Contender course reviews are conducted by our panellists and staff, and I like to visit a good number myself in order to see the changes and developments. This gives me as much experience and insight as possible to help prepare a balanced and fair ranking. Last year, I played 22 of the Top 200, with one particular highlight being my round at Murcar Links.
Rob on the closing green at Murcar Links in September having completed playing the Top 100
(Image credit: Rob Smith)
Finally ticking off this testing but extremely enjoyable links meant that I have now played the entire Top 100. Finishing just as the expected heavy rain arrived, I celebrated with a sausage bap and a coffee, privileged and lucky to have reached this goal again. To do so, I had earlier in the year also played the hugely impressive St Patrick’s Links at Rosapenna as well as the newest of the three nines at Carne. Back home, I live within easy striking distance of many Top 200 courses, so it was good to get back to the likes of Walton Heath, always a real challenge, and see the continuing fine work at The Addington, Chart Hills and elsewhere.
Trips Away With Friends
A view back down the closing hole at Villa d’Este
(Image credit: Rob Smith)
If this sounds excessive, then that is really only because it is! Each year I enjoy at least three or four golfing trips with various groups of friends. Last year began at Lake Como in Italy with the Beavers;…
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