Because of its island status, the British shoreline enjoys more traditional coastal golf courses than anywhere in world. Brutal yet blissful, fearsome yet fulfilling, exasperating yet euphoric, unlike so many modern, manicured fairways, these links courses have employed nature as their architect and come complete with bumps and hollows, heathers, gorse, and lightning-fast greens. When Stephen Cartmell set himself the challenge of finding and testing18 of the most outstanding links courses in Britain, he decided that they had to meet a number of important criteriathe most significant of which was that the sea had to be visible from the course and, preferably, should present a physical hazard to any wayward shots. The committed links player prefers their golf to be tough and unpretentious, and views the game as one of "feel," not played on greens flanked by floral displays and man-made water hazards. Stephen Cartmell provides this sense of "feel" and his often hilarious descriptions of the sea-flanked courses, not to mention the characters he meets on his journey around the British coastline, is the perfect guide for those tempted to play golf on the edge."
