Having hosted eight Open Championships, one Ladies Open and one Seniors Open, apart from being the co-host of the annual Dunhill Links Championship, the Carnoustie Championship Course is no stranger to world fame. While the course may not possess the natural beauty of a Turnberry or Royal Co. Down, what it lacks in aesthetics is more than compensated by the challenge it presents. Generally regarded as the toughest course on the Open rota, those who understand the game a little more will know it is probably the fairest too.

 

What makes the course actually tough (hence nicknamed "Car-nasty") is its proportions — everything here is on a massive scale with titanic dimensions. The abundant bunkers are deep and positioned to be penal – they are not here to gather bad shots, so much as they are to eat up those that fall even slightly short of perfection. Water is another hazard to be reckoned with. There are two burns that meander back and forth across the track, sometimes more than once on a single hole. Most certainly the closing four holes have delivered the most dramatic finished in Open history (Paul Lawrie, 1999 and Padraig Harrington, 2007) where you can be suitably content with no more than a bogey.