That man knows a thing or two ...

I'm a bit of a golf fan. I like to play and follow the European Tour a bit (my brother-in-law is a caddy on the Tour).

Recently I played at the Kinloch Golf Course which was designed by Jack Nicklaus (one of only 25 in the world on which he put his signature - he has designed over 300 courses in total).

What a great course!

Every hole is different and leads you on a little adventure. You can take chances or play safe (good luck with either option), and it helps to know the course before you can expect to get a decent score. I wasn't too concerned about my score - I played some good golf but I also got myself into some trouble.

There are bunkers everywhere so expect to play out of the sand more than once. Also expect to walk a long way. There are often large distances to walk from green to the next and the signage wasn't complete when I played so we often walked even further than necessary.

The scenery is great but I was enjoying the layout of the course too much to even think about the mountains, hills and lake. The course is its own scenery.

The tees cater for all level of player so if you can't manage the tournament tees (we didn't) you will still be challenged by some of the distances required to make a decent shot at the green. Some holes will make you think you can play a particular shot then punish you if you get it wrong. The occasional gamble can also pay off - sometimes.

My only beef was that the greens were quite hard which made it almost impossible to stay on the green if we were hitting in from a distance - which was often. The greens were fast and I had difficulty judging the speed but they were consistent and it made it a lot easier to be putting uphill.

Congratulations to the design team and the ground staff. I enjoyed my round and look forward to playing again ... with a bit of local knowledge.