Penina Golf Course, Portugal

Portugal golf course Penina, Portimao, Algarve.

Penina is synonymous with the late Sir Henry Cotton, the great British golfer of the 1930s and 1940s, who made his home here when he retired from competitive play.

The course was built on flat land transformed by the planting of thousands of trees and shrubs. Now that these are mature, the course is a demanding test for the best players and enormously long from the back tees. The back nine starts and finishes with two par 5s. Every shot has to be carefully planned. The PGA sponsors promising young professionals to attend the school there each autumn.

Crans-Sur-Sierre, Switzerland

Switzerland golf course Crans-Sur-Sierre, Montana.

The course at Crans-sur-Sierre, 5,000 feet (1,524m) above the Rhone valley in the Alps, was originally laid out in 1904 by Sir Arnold Lunn, the founder of modem skiing. The present course was opened in 1927 and the Swiss Open has been held here every year since 1939.

The course is not particularly long and in the high atmosphere the ball flies huge distances. In 1978 Jose Maria Olazabal shot a European 9-hole record of 27. The backdrop of the Matterhorn makes the course immensely spectacular.