Four first-time Major championship winners prevailed in 2016 and this season the trend has continued following Sergio Garcia’s emotional Masters sudden-death playoff victory against Justin Rose on the same day that Seve Ballesteros would have turned sixty. The season’s first Major for the women (the ANA Inspiration) was controversial to say the least. Tournament leader Lexi Thompson was given a retrospective four shot penalty in the final round for an infringement that a TV viewer reported during the third round. Ryu So-yeon subsequently beat Thompson in a sudden-death playoff, which earlier this week prompted a rules change to lessen the impact of video technology.

Meanwhile, back in the rather more tranquil world of Top 100 Golf Courses, we can’t possibly compete with the drama of the professional circuits, but our extended team has visited countless courses around the world. Also, based on the vast number of posted reviews, you too have been walking different fairways and putting out on newly discovered greens. We’re very grateful to everyone who has taken the time to contribute.

Following announcements that the 2019 Open will return to Royal Portrush for the first time since 1951 and near neighbour Portstewart will host this year’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, we jumped at the opportunity to preview these two stellar links courses, which are routed through some of Ireland’s most interesting and undulating duneland.

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We recently took the opportunity to compare three Spanish courses by world-renowned designer Robert Trent Jones Snr and a trio of layouts by the much-respected local architect Javier Arana. Unlike Trent Jones, with hundreds of courses to his name, Arana was involved in only thirty-two Spanish projects during a 30-year design career.

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I can usually tell how much I like a course by the number of times that I get my camera out to take photos. At Shiskine it got to the point where it wasn’t worth putting it away…

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We recently attended the Trophée Hassan II event alongside the Lalla Meryem Cup at Royal Dar Es Salam Golf Club in Rabat. The excursion also presented an opportunity to visit a couple of new golf projects that have been a long time in the making...

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This is the second update from golf course architects around the world, outlining new projects and restoration/renovation schemes that are planned to complete in the not too distant future...

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Top 100 Golf Courses of Scotland 2016-2017 was published in Kindle format, which can be enjoyed on any device with Kindle’s free App. This latest title in the Top 100 series is jam-packed full of previously unreleased material and it includes an insight from our Editor and Scottish Correspondent, Jim McCann, who has played every layout in the Scottish hundred.

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