Southern Hills Country Club - Oklahoma, U.S.A.

Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa is one of the great championship courses in American golf. A traditional course that runs over gently undulating land, Southern Hills demands accurate driving to avoid the high, cloying Bermuda rough on the many doglegs. The greens are small and the bunkers are filled with a sand called "No.6 Wash" that comes from the nearby Arkansas River. Southern Hills was designed by Perry Maxwell of Ardmore, Oklahoma, in 1935, making it a leap of faith by the members during the depths of the Depression. Southern Hills has hosted three PGA Championships and three U.S. Opens, the most recent major being the 2001 Open. South African Retief Goosen three-putted from 12 feet on the green of the treacherous, up-hill 18th hole to blow his lead in the final round, but held on to defeat Mark Brooks in an IS-hole playoff the next day.

Karsten Creek Golf Club - Oklahoma, U.S.A.

Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater is the home course of the Oklahoma State Cowboys, and one of the best public courses in the United States. When Mike Holder became coach of the Oklahoma State golf team in 1974, he dreamed of building a championship course for his squad. He located an ideal site and contacted renowned architect Tom Fazio in 1983 about designing the course. Fazio drew up a plan for the course but the project remained on the drawing board for another eight years, until the late Karsten Solheim, founder of equipment-maker Karsten Manufacturing, agreed to provide the funding. In 1994, Holder's 20-year quest was realized and Karsten Creek opened. Karsten Creek is a luscious, rolling course of secluded holes through blackjack oaks and hickory trees with long meadow grasses lapping the fairways and a creek ambling around the 11 th hole. The final three holes open up to the 110-acre Lake Louise created by Fazio and named for Solheim's wife. The lake runs all along the left side of the long, par-four 17th, while the 18th curves around the opposite shore back to the clubhouse.