Every golfer has heard of the world’s oldest course  - St Andrews.  

It emerged out of the scrubby sand dunes hard by the Scottish University Town as far back as the 16th century and still presents a tough challenge to the world’s best golfers, especially during the Open Championship, held here every five years.
 
The other historic British courses which hold the Championship are nothing like as old, but they share the same common heritage. Like St Andrews, Turnberry and Troon on the Scottish west coast; Carnoustie and Muirfield on the East; plus Lytham, Birkdale, Hoylake, and Royal St Georges in England, are all links courses, laid out along beaches and dunes right by the sea.
           
On classic golf courses such as these the grass grows naturally (there is little need for irrigation), the fairways are firm, and the greens are hard and true.  It is a different type of golf to what you will find in modern resort courses. The only water hazards are likely to be the sea itself, or perhaps the occasional fast-flowing burn. Instead it is the deep rough, even deeper bunkers and, when the weather turns, the wind, which makes links courses such a fascinating test of your technique. In fact, if you can play well on a British links course, you can play well anywhere.
           
But you don’t have to go for the big names to enjoy some of the best of British golf. While the Open courses get all the international limelight, Britain has dozens of other excellent courses all around the coast. Many of them are over 100 years old and nearly all present an entertaining challenge for visiting golfers. Most are also private clubs, which means that you need to contact them in advance to arrange your visit, but also ensures a friendly welcome and excellent facilities in the club house.
           
Here is my selection of half a dozen of the very best in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
 
* Note that visitors may be welcome on specific days of the week, and that green fees vary according to the time of year. Those given below are for 18 holes in 2008. On some courses there may be lower green fees if you play after 3pm or 4pm in summer. Check the course website for the latest fees and for booking arrangements.
 
 
St Enodoc, Cornwall
The 20th-century poet Sir John Betjeman played here regularly, and composed perhaps the only great poem about the game “Seaside Golf”, which begins: “How straight it flew, how long it flew”. It was inspired by a birdie at the 400-yard 13th, one of the most difficult holes on the course. He is buried in the church, which is half buried by drifting sand, near the green. The course is quite short, but very tight, and weaves behind two hills just behind the wonderful beach at Daymer Bay.
 
Top Hole: 6th - a 378-yard par four with a second shot played blind over, or around, Europe’s highest bunker
- the "Himalaya”.
Pay and Play: £45. www.st-enodoc.co.uk
 
 
Formby, Lancashire
First make sure you play the right course... Formby has two, one for ladies and one for men. The latter encircles the former and stretches in a series of wonderfully varied and challenging holes, into the dunes, and heather, and pine woods which reach down towards the sea. It is as much a nature reserve as well as a golf course and the card comes with a guide to the wildflowers and wildlife which flourish here, and include the rare red squirrel.
 
Top Hole: The 15th - one of several without bunkers - is a 400-yard par four, with a tricky green guarded by high dunes on either side.
 
Pay and Play: £100. www.formbygolfclub.co.uk
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Kingsbarns, Scotland
Less than ten years old, this was the first new course to be built on links land in Scotland for 70 years. It is just a few miles up the road from the Old Course at St Andrews, and was designed by the great Californian architect Kyle Phillips. He has the knack of being able to shape a golf course so that it feels “right”
- part of the natural landscape rather than an artificial construct imposed upon it. The burns and bunkers, and the indentations of the coastline are all used to brilliant effect. Don’t miss the Old Course, but don’t miss this either.
 
Top Hole: 12th -  a huge par five (600 yards from the Championship tees)  which stretches along the shoreline at the far end of the course - you play an awkward third to the green on a rocky promontory.
Pay and Play: £130, www.kingsbarns.com
 
 
Gullane, Scotland
There are three courses at Gullane, just a couple of miles up the road from Muirfield, but opinions vary as to which is best. If you only have time for one, make it Gullane No. 1 which is on higher ground and has fantastic views. From the 7th tee you can see (reputedly) 14 different counties, as well as a spectacular vista over the Forth estuary towards Edinburgh.
 
Top Hole:  The 5th, a long 450-yard uphill par four.
You need a long drive to open up the dogleg, but there are fairway bunkers everywhere and  a treacherous sloping green. Pay and Play: £85, www.gullanegolfclub.com
 
 
 
Aberdovey, Wales
A lovely course founded in 1892 among the dunes by the Dovey Estuary in Snowdonia National Park. It has been lengthened over the years and is now over 6,500 yards long and is famous for its fierce rough. It’s an “out and back” layout, but contributions from two or the great course designers of the last century - Colt and Braid - ensures plenty of interest and variety.
 
Top Hole: 12th - glorious 150-yard  par three, played uphill to a green above the edge of the beach.
 
Pay and Play: £40. www.aberdoveygolf.co.uk
 
 
Royal County Down, Northern Ireland
This is quite simply one of the best and most beautiful golf courses in the world. The 120 year-old links weaves its way through a range of enormous sand dunes which lie along the beach at Dundrum Bay. To the south rise the green shadows of the Mountains of Mourne, while to the east are the gentler hills and farmland of County Down.  There are lots of blind shots - especially from the tee - so play it twice if you can to get a real feel for British seaside golf at its very best.
 
Top Hole:  The short 4th turns back towards the Mountains of Mourne for one of the best views of all, as well as one of the most challenging tee shots.
 
Pay and Play: £65-£155.  
www.royalcountydown.org

By Nick Brown