Castletown GC

When you play Castletown you have to be able to contend with one thing above all else - wind. Thanks to a clever redesign in the 1920s and 30s the par 72

6707 yard course is almost entirely surrounded by water and skirts along some of the most open coastland in the UK.

It is also set high above sea level and offers very few places to shelter. So should a gale blow off the Irish Sea you can expect to spend a good part of your day surrounded by gorse and heather ? not to mention rocks, sand and anything else within shanking distance.

But although the course is tough that doesn?t mean you won?t enjoy playing it. Like all mature links courses Castletown has tricky greens, narrow fairways and fiendishly deep bunkers to negotiate. And holes like the 421-yard 17th have been so perfectly crafted by Mother Nature that it?s a thrill to simply stand on the tee and take it all in.

The scenery around the course is also spectacular and as you wander around you?re treated to a variety of bays, coves and inlets. King William?s College, a fortress of Manx stone, also stands out on the 7th. And when you wander down the 7th fairway you?re both playing golf and standing on a priceless piece of sporting history.

A round at Castletown is definitely worth a punt. It may not look like it today but the land was once used by the Earl of Derby for a horse race ? until he took it to Epsom. And these days the hole is unsurprisingly called ?the Racecourse?.

Best Hole: 17th par four 421 yards. A 200-yard carry just make the fairway. Only another 221 yards to go!