Of the two courses at Golf d'Hardelot, Les Pins is the one I would come back to first. I know that puts me in a minority. When our group did the end-of-trip rankings, most of the boys had Les Dunes higher, and on visible terms they are not wrong: Les Dunes is genuinely the more spectacular of the two courses, with the bigger views, the bigger elevation changes and most of the camera moments. Les Pins is older, sandier, less obviously dramatic.

Morfontaine is one of the most exclusive private clubs in the world. There are 450 members. You don't book a tee time. You don't send an email and ask politely. You don't pay a green fee. You play because someone invites you, and the easiest way for me to get an invitation was to qualify for a tournament that the club hosts.

There are courses where the architecture is the star and there are courses where the land is the star. Cruden Bay is both at once. You walk off the 18th green and you can't tell whether you've just played one of the most brilliantly designed courses in Scotland or just spent four hours on the most spectacular piece of duneland nature ever handed to a golf course architect. The honest answer is both. Old Tom Morris laid out the original course in 1899.