Fancourt Hotel and Country Club Estate - The Links Course

Even an utterly awful day pouring down rain couldn't dampen my experience on the Links at Fancourt. This amazing Gary Player homage to links golf ranks higher in my book than both the Durban Country Club and Leopard Creek Country Club - the two other 'World Top 100' courses from South Africa I played earlier in the week. It doesn't play as firm and fast as when it first opened, but it's got enough links characteristics - pot bunkers and mounding, along with a walking-only policy for guests - to feel different than anything else on the continent. Its ponds laden with lily pads, stone walls and deep pot bunkers visually pop in the lush setting of South Africa's 'Garden Route'. This round alone is worth the 15-hour flight from America. It's the only golf course I've ever given five stars in all six rating categories on Golf Advisor.

Site of the 2003 Presidents Cup, this Gary Player homage to links golf (it's not true links) is everything it's cracked up to be. Lots of cool bunkers, greens, vistas of the mountains and undulation in the fairways, greens and tees as thousands of cubic yards of dirt were removed to create this amazing look. Couple that with a caddie experience, some of the best practice facilities in the world and the fact that it's on South Africa's Garden Route and you've got a bucket list experience that ranks right up there with anything else in the world.