Remarkable Golf Courses encompasses the extremes of the sport – from the highest golf course in La Paz, Bolivia, to the lowest, in Death Valley, USA; from the most northerly in the Arctic Circle to the most southerly in Tierra del Fuego.
First published in 2017, but updated with new entries for 2025, Remarkable Golf Courses, which was written by sportswriter Iain Spragg, brings together some astonishing stories with some extraordinary photography.
The many quirks of the golfing world are covered in the 224 pages, such as the 18th green the other side of the River Lea which is serviced by an electric ferry at Brocket Hall, or the Los Angeles golf course that has its own funicular railway, or the floating green in Idaho, where it’s not just the pin position that’s changed every day, it’s the distance from the shore.
Golf courses that feature neolithic standing stones (Scotland), Roman roads (England), and ruined medieval castles (Wales) take their place alongside the old temples of Delhi or a UNESCO World Heritage bridge that is used to link the 9th and 10th at Angkor Wat.
There are the beloved classic courses of St Andrews, Carnoustie, Royal St Georges and Westward Ho!. There are spectacular golf courses hewn out of the Nevada and Arizona desert, green oases in a cactus-strewn, rocky landscape, along with Hawaiian courses fringed by barren black lava flows. But nothing can beat the thrill in Guatemala of lining up your drive on an active volcano at the Fuego Maya course.
In comparison there are the traditional wind-blown Scottish links, such as The Machrie on the island of Islay, which has the most blind greens on any course, or the remote Isle of Barra where greens are only accessible via a kissing gate. Fancy swapping countries mid-round? You can at the Llanmymynech club in Wales. At the fourth hole golfers tee off in Wales and putt out on the green in England.
Remarkable Golf Courses,
Priced at £25, Remarkable Golf Courses is being published on October 23 and can be ordered from harpercollins.com.