The Golf Bucket List

1. Attend The Masters
2. Play St Andrews "The Home of Golf"
3. Attend The Open
4. Pebble Beach & the Monterey Peninsula
5. Attend The Ryder Cup
6. Speedboat to Le Touessrok
7. TPC Sawgrass
8. Tour Northern Ireland's famous Coastline
9. Pinehurst No.2

10. Cape Kidnappers
11. Stay at the World's Largest Golf Resort
12. Play "True Links" Golf in the USA
13. Drive the Wild Atlantic Way
14. Stay & Play in Paradise
15. The World's Most Expensive Course
16. Thracian Cliffs
17. Valderrama
18. Kiawah Island

All golfers, whether it be the casual player who dusts off the clubs but a handful of times a year, right the way through to the hardcore fairway fanatic who, unless asleep or at the office, is most likely on the course, have a golfing bucket list.

Now...that bucket list might include things like hitting a 300 yard drive, getting a hole in one or simply breaking 80 for the 1st time. Of course, like anything in life, it's different strokes for different folks when it comes to golf but one thing that is guaranteed to be on all golfers bucket lists is a course or two that fall into the "must play before you die" category.

Whether you're a lover of the game and its history and your golfing Holy Grail is a course such as the St Andrews Old Course, or spectacular scenery is more your thing and you're desperate to have a crack at the likes of the mind-boggling beautiful Thracian Cliffs, there is an endless list of bucket list courses that you, the average Joe, really can play.

It's an impossible task to name them all – beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all – but we'd bet that the following golf courses, all of which promise magical moments and will make you feel like a pro even if you don't swing like one, would be of the bucket list variety for any keen golfer.

Of course, there are a handful of "golfing experiences" that don't involve playing which would also qualify for many people's bucket list...attending a major championship or the Ryder Cup for example.

How many of these have you ticked off your bucket list?

Let's take a look...

• The margin of victory for Tiger Woods at the 1997 Masters. Finishing at -18, Woods also set a record for lowest total score at The Masters at 270; a mark that was matched by Jordan Spieth at the 2015 tournament.

  12

• Percent of the time The Masters comes down to a sudden-death playoff. Masters Sunday has become known as one of the most gripping days on the sporting calendar and a playoff is always exciting isn't it?

  21

• The Masters was the very 1st tournament to use the "over or under" scoring method in relation to par; a system that has become the standard at other golf events around the world.

  1st

• Are played on the Old Course each and every year, with a total of around 230,000 being played across all seven courses on the links.

  45,000

• Time in years that golf has been played on the St Andrews Links. In 1552 Archbishop Hamilton's Charter recognised the right of the people of St Andrews to play golf at the Links.

  600

• Size in square feet of the shared green at holes number 5 & 13. Average green sizes on the PGA Tour are about 6,000 square feet which putts (sorry couldn't resist) the size of the shared greens at St Andrews into perspective. Ever have a 120 yard putt? You could do here...

  37,846

• Golf Courses currently on the Open Championship Rota. For many years there were only 9 including St Andrews, Carnoustie, Muirfield, Turnberry, Royal Troon, Royal Birkdale, Royal Lytham & St Anne's, Royal Liverpool, Royal St George's & Royal Portrush.

  10

• Times the Open Championship has been contested. Willie Park Senior won the very 1st Open in 1860 back when the tournament was hosted at Prestwick.

  151

• Score in relation to par that Cameron Smith & Henrik Stenson achieved at The Open in 2022 & 2016.

  -20

• Paid by 20th Century Fox in Dollars when they purchased the Pebble Beach Resort in 1979 – most of the money was profit from Star Wars.

  81,500,000

• Rounds per year that are played at Pebble Beach.

  65,000

• The course record at Pebble Beach, shared by David Duval and Tom Kite, is actually not officially recognised due to "lift- clean and place" rules being in effect. The official course record is 63 and is held by Davis Love III.

  62

• The year "the rest of Europe" was invited to the Ryder Cup party. Previously a team from Great Britain and Ireland would turn up to face the might of the USA. The results were usually one-sided...very one-sided but Jack Nicklaus of all people moved for Continental Europe to be included in an attempt to make the matches more competitive.

  1979

• Players on each team contest a series of fourball and foursomes matches throughout the opening two days, with all being involved on Singles Sunday, often the most dramatic and exciting of Ryder Cup days.

  12

• Number of points won by Sergio Garcia – More than any other player in Ryder Cup history.

  28.5

• Cubic yards of earth was moved from the site of the 17th hole at Sawgrass to allow for the construction of the lake, which by the way, was all down to Pete Dye's wife who came up with the idea while Dye and his design team pondered what to do with the hole.

  50,000

• Shots taken by Angelo Spagnolo to complete the 17th hole on June 19, 1985. Taking part in Golf Digest's "America's Worst Avid Golfer" programme, Spagnolo hit a total of 27 balls into the wat, some from the tee and others from the drop zone. Rules officials finally urged him to putt his ball around the hazard, down the narrow walkway and onto the green. Spagnolo's total score for 18 holes? 257!

  66

• The number of golf balls that find a watery grave at Sawgrass' 17th hole each and every year. An estimated 45,000 rounds are played on the Sawgrass Stadium Course every year and it's estimated that, with each player having multiple goes at the tee shot (whether that be for fun or just out of necessity!), 3 balls are dunked into the drink per player.

  125,000

• The number of times Royal Portrush hosted The Open Championship. Portrush has recently been reinstated to the Open Rota and remains the only course outside of England or Scotland to have hosted golf's oldest major.

  3

• The ranking given to Royal County Down by Golf Digest when listing the 'World's Top 100 Golf Courses'. County Down is the highest ranked course from outside of the USA.

  4

• Duration in hours of the drive between Royal Portrush and Royal County Down, both of which simply have to be included on any bucket list golf tour of Northern Ireland.

  2

• Time in minutes it takes to drive from the gated entrance where you leave the public road, to the clubhouse...the longest drive at Cape Kidnappers! The course's secluded location simply adds to its mystique.

  20

• Drop in feet from the 15th hole, known affectionately as "Pirate's Plank", to the waves rolling into Hawke's Bay below.

  800

• Net worth in billions of Cape Kidnappers owner, Julian Robertson, one of the most famous men on Wall Street. The Farm at Cape Kidnappers took Robertson over 6 years to build...if only more billionaires ploughed their money into stunning golf courses than the Premier League!

  3.4

• Estimated size in acres of the entire Mission Hills complex. To put that into perspective, you could fit about 3,500,000 football pitches in the same space.

  5,000,000

• Pounds reportedly paid to Rory McIlroy to play against Tiger Woods in "The Match at Mission Hills" in 2013. Tiger supposedly earned much more...but Rory won...so there.

  1,000,000

• Size in m2 of the HOPSCA project at Mission Hills. HOSPA stands for Hotel, Offices, Parks, Shopping, Convention and Apartment complex and it features a 700 room 5 star hotel, IMAX theatre, exhibition halls, 200 retailers, around 1,000 apartments and even an international school!

  500,000

• The cost for an additional round of golf at Bandon Dunes...if you've already played 36 holes that is! How many holes have you got in the tank?

  0

• Size in square-feet of 'The Punchbowl' Putting Course - There are 18 holes on the course and "some are long and some are short"...the total length of the course changes from day to day and there's no charge to play it. "Anyone for a "friendly" putting match after dinner?"

  100,000

• The ranking given to the Pacific Dunes Course by Golf Digest in their list of 'America's 100 Greatest Public Courses'.

  2

• Miles over which the Wild Atlantic Way stretches, making it longer than California's Pacific Coast Highway and South Africa's Garden Route. There are fewer tourists too!

  1500

• The number of Irish counties the Wild Atlantic Way passes through, including Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Clare, Mayo, Sligo and Donegal.

  7

• Number of 'Signature Discovery Points' along the Wild Atlantic Way. From Mizen Head and Dursey Island in County Cork, to the Slieve League Cliffs and Fanad Head all the way up in County Donegal, be sure to try and tick a few of these off the list while driving to your next tee time!

  16

• Dollars it costs to tee it up at Shadow Creek.That cost includes your golf buggy and your ride in a stretch limo to and from the Las Vegas Strip...but little else! Is it worth it? In almost any context, $500 is A LOT of money to pay for a round of golf. But it's also what you might spend in an unlucky hour at the blackjack tables. Besides...this is Vegas!

  500

• Dollars it cost Steve Wynn to construct Shadow Creek...$3.3 million per hole!

  60,000,000

• Cubic yards of earth was dug up from the desert floor and shifted to the perimeter of the property, creating a berm that stopped outsiders looking in. Shadow Creek are serious about their privacy!

  3,000,000