If you’ve ever leafed through a golf magazine or visited a top club’s website, you will be familiar with Gary Lisbon’s work. He is one of the world’s leading golf course photographers and has taken photographs at over 600 courses across the world. You name a top course, he will have shot it.
Gary is not only a wonderful photographer but also a keen player, with a sharp eye for golf course architecture. He puts that to good use as a panellist for GOLF magazine.
I was fortunate enough to play with Gary last year at Rosapenna. The weather wasn’t great during our visit - cloud cover with drizzle is a golf course photographer’s worst nightmare - but that didn’t stop Gary. When others would have stayed in bed, he was up (as usual) before dawn to get into position for first light. The five minute window of light that morning was enough for another great shot to add to his collection - currently sitting at 182,563 photographs and counting! All of the photos in this piece are Gary’s work.
I really enjoyed reading Gary’s list, and hope you do too.
ROYAL MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
So playable, so much fun yet challenging every time you play it (and I am blessed to play both courses regularly). Both the East and the West courses, in spite of their relatively short length, defend so beautifully with green and bunker complexes amongst the best in the world. A course which confirms that short par 4s can be some of the more testing around. You can play well here but to play “really well” under tournament conditions requires something special.
CYPRESS POINT, USA
A place I could happily play every day for the rest of my life and not get bored. Three stanzas – forest, dunes and ocean all combine beautifully and build to a crescendo unlike any other golf experience. Crossing the road from 14 to the oceanside trio of 15,16,17 never fails to give me goosebumps.
LOFOTEN LINKS, NORWAY
It is often said that the challenge of getting somewhere heightens the golf experience. Well that is certainly the case with Lofoten Links in Norway. A course I had been longing to visit for many years, Lofoten requires a flight to Oslo then another 2 hour flight to Harstaad, then a 3 hour drive (on the wrong side of the road for an Aussie) before you hit golfing nirvana. The combination of breathtaking background scenery with a very strong golf course and the opportunity to play golf 24 hours a day in July or witness the Northern Lights in September makes it a truly unique destination.
TARA ITI, NEW ZEALAND
Splashes of green framed with the whitest of sand and a layout that winds and twists and provides both fun and challenge is what you experience at Tara Iti, north of Auckland, New Zealand. This relatively young course continues to mature and become more fun (if that is possible) each time you play. Masterful short par 4s and green complexes that rival Royal Melbourne’s and a relaxed, understated feel is the Tara Iti experience.
CARNE, IRELAND
Dunes that are easily the tallest in the world. A golf course that winds its way through, around and over those dunes. Photographic opportunities at every turn and a welcome that is significantly warmer than the weather you are likely to encounter. Carne is the very definition of the dramatic and yet the golf is also fun, varied and, at times, unfair. I want to go back…
BARNBOUGLE DUNES, AUSTRALIA
Australia’s first example of “remote golf” had me hooked from the time I first visited. Links golf at its finest in the Southern Hemisphere complete with an Australian flavour of wallabies and deadly snakes. Masterful short par 4s and memorable par 3s combine beautifully and the second Lost Farm course and third Bougle Run short course can see you easily spending multiple days here.
PINE VALLEY, USA
One of the first golf course examples I can recall where there are pockets of green to hit to and where everything else is bad. A round here requires concentration from the first tee shot to the final putt. At Pine Valley pars are welcomed, birdies are a highlight and bogies or worse expected.
I always leave wanting to come back for more. The meticulous playing surfaces and generously wide fairways (similar to Royal Melbourne) lull you in to a false sense of security off the tee yet the second shot demands here are amongst the most challenging in world golf.
ROYAL COUNTY DOWN, NORTHERN IRELAND
Yes the Mountains of Mourne really do flow down to the sea providing a dramatic backdrop for arguably the world’s best course. Errant shots are punished heavily, “almost” shots lead to challenging recoveries but well struck shots are rewarded. Breathtaking high points at the top of the 9th fairway and the back of the 13th green will forever be etched into my memory.
ST ANDREWS (OLD), SCOTLAND
As a photographer I love the place for about 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes at night. Such is the general flatness of the land that the true contours, charm and challenge of the “Old Course” only fully reveal themselves during golden hour. The out and back nature of the course and the huge double greens where the hole numbers add up to 18 add further to the charm. So much history highlighted by the 150th Open Championship and the best back nine in Open history (in my opinion) by Cameron Smith cements it for me.
GOLF DE MORFONTAINE, FRANCE
The Morfontaine experience begins before you even arrive at the protected entrance gate. Winding and twisting your way through quaint French villages helps to set the scene for this “rural” golf experience only 45 minute north of Paris. Once inside the enclave the golf course unfolds before you highlighting perfectly sandy soil over moderately moving land with holes carved through established pine and birch groves. The understated clubhouse and 9 hole second course make this a fun day out.
And one extra!
LOCH LOMOND, SCOTLAND
An unlikely Scottish golf experience yet one which will stick with me forever. From the hidden, understated entrance to the pristinely conditioned fairways, a water backdrop that goes on forever and a clever routing that moves back and forth and side to side, Loch Lomond is a fun day out where you feel like royalty from the time you arrive until the inevitable point of departure.
A big thanks to Gary for sharing these choices, and his great photos too. You can see the rest of the ‘Favourite Courses’ series here.