The five courses I’m going to play when lockdown is over
Golf courses to play after lockdown: The Old Course
Let’s get the obvious one in there. It’s the Home of Golf and I haven’t stood and quaked on the 1st tee or hit one off the road on 17 like basically every other golfer on the planet. It’s shameful.
What’s worse is I’ve spent plenty of time in St Andrews – so much, in fact, that I’ve basically walked the course.
I’m not sure you can really say you’re a golfer until you’ve hit one over Grannie Clark’s Wynd or posed for a silly selfie on the Swilcan Bridge.
Yes, it’s nearly £200 now and, yes, it’s going to involve an obscenely early morning alarm call to get in the queue and hope I can get on as a single.
But what all of this over the past couple of months has taught me is that it’s experience, not money and not time in bed, that really matters in this life.
- Related: Top 100 Fun Golf Courses in GB&I
- Related: Top 100 Golf Courses in GB&I
- Related: Top 100 Golf Courses in Scotland
- Related: Best Golf Courses in Fife
We’re off to Merseyside next. But where? Find out by turning the page…
Steve Carroll
A journalist for 25 years, Steve has been immersed in club golf for almost as long. A former club captain, he has passed the Level 3 Rules of Golf exam with distinction having attended the R&A's prestigious Tournament Administrators and Referees Seminar.
Steve has officiated at a host of high-profile tournaments, including Open Regional Qualifying, PGA Fourball Championship, English Men's Senior Amateur, and the North of England Amateur Championship. In 2023, he made his international debut as part of the team that refereed England vs Switzerland U16 girls.
A part of NCG's Top 100s panel, Steve has a particular love of links golf and is frantically trying to restore his single-figure handicap. He currently floats at around 11.
Steve plays at Close House, in Newcastle, and York GC, where he is a member of the club's matches and competitions committee and referees the annual 36-hole scratch York Rose Bowl.
Having studied history at Newcastle University, he became a journalist having passed his NTCJ exams at Darlington College of Technology.
What's in Steve's bag: TaylorMade Stealth 2 driver, 3-wood, and hybrids; TaylorMade Stealth 2 irons; TaylorMade Hi-Toe, Ping ChipR, Sik Putter.
