The complete overhaul of our biennial Britain and Ireland rankings is coming to an end. During October we released national revisions for the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. We also refreshed the Slovenian table following a recent visit to this unsung Central European destination.

We’ll complete our English re-ranking process by the end of November, but during October we published the first Top 20s for the South West and the East of England. This will leave only the launch of our first South East of England Top 50 prior to releasing the much-anticipated England Top 100 for 2018 (our GB&I Top 100 will follow soon after).

Underpinning each of these ranking updates, we’ve also refreshed the area/county positions – so there’s been change aplenty over the last few weeks and more is still to come.

We’ve taken a radically different approach to the Scottish ranking process this year, producing three separate regional Top 50 tables and then interwoven these three lists to fashion our new national Top 100.  At the top of the table, the Old Course at St Andrews remains at No.1, a position it’s held for the last four editions of these listings.

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It’s been twelve years since we compiled our first Top 100 rankings for the Republic of Ireland and, in seven editions of the listings, the top five places have been occupied by the same five courses, albeit they’ve appeared in a slightly different order from time to time. The Old course at Ballybunion is still the national No.1 which is due reward for the risk taken by the club with its recent extensive upgrade...

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Royal Porthcawl remains our No.1 course in Wales and this world-ranked course – host venue for the Senior Open on the European Senior Tour in two of the last three years – is unlikely to be shifted from the head of the table any time soon. Architects Mackenzie & Ebert have been advising the club in recent years and their judicious input ensures this lovely old track is still fit for purpose in the modern era.

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The world-ranked championship links at Royal County Down and Royal Portrush grab all the headlines – and rightly so – but how many visiting golfers realise there’s another highly rated 18-hole course at each of these venues (the Annesley and the Valley)? There’s also a trio of fabulous parkland courses located within a 20-minute drive of Belfast city centre…

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The South West is home to England’s Atlantic Links, a dramatic stretch of coastline that runs from Somerset in the north to Cornwall in the far southwest. There are no Open venues in this region, but three highly respected links courses (each laid out in the 19th century) appear at the top of our inaugural table, headed by the stirring Church course at St Enodoc.

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The traditional and magical out and back links at Royal West Norfolk Golf Club is routed delightfully between Brancaster Bay and the salt marshes and it’s our No.1 course in England’s East region. This characterful antiquity features huge sleeper-faced bunkers and greens and beautiful links turf.

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Located within the Julian Alps, Royal Bled changed ownership in 2013 after Serbian entrepreneur and passionate golfer, Dragan Šolak, acquired it. The new owner then embarked on an ambitious (and costly) mission to upgrade the King’s course. Unsurprisingly, the King’s course remains our Slovenian No.1.

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A recent visit to Finca Cortesin was to take a look at the course after the latest round of upgrades, constituting the biggest tranche of work carried out to date. During 2017, all eighteen greens (and the practice putting green) were relayed with Ultra Dwarf Bermuda grass which was grown at a Caceres nursery in the centre of Spain.

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Impeccable condition for a club course – these greenkeepers deserve medals. Big fat medals… I'd relish occasionally being punished some other way for slicing it other than repeatedly hacking it out from under a wall of majestic Pines/Totara. This is probably just a reflection of my ability and I should just get better at golf. Or become a vigilante arborist.

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