Beneath the spectacular gaze of the Mountains of Mourne there lies the most beautiful golf course in the world. A daring statement perhaps, but will anyone who has visited disagree? Royal County Down was originally laid out in 1889 by Old Tom Morris from St Andrews. However, one has only to reflect on the marvellous collection of green sites to appreciate that Mother Nature was the principle architect at Newcastle. The course enjoys a magnificent stage-like setting as it stretches out along the shores of Dundrum Bay. As well as being one of the worlds most beautiful courses it is also one of the most challenging, with great swathes of heather and gorse lining fairways that tumble beneath vast sand hills, and wild tussocky faced bunkers defending small subtly contoured greens. Alongside the Championship Links, Royal County Down has a second course, The Annesley Links. Laid out beneath the same massive, sometimes almost spellbinding backdrop, the Annesley Links is nowhere near as intimidating or as formidable a challenge as the Championship Links, but then it was never intended to be. It is a course for everyone. The Championship Links is consistently rated among the worlds top ten courses. Accolades abound, most recently from Nick Faldo who described the magnificent par 3 fourth as his favourite hole on this superlative links. Tom Watson describes it as a tremendous test of golf. The outward half especially is as fine a nine holes as I have ever played. Newcastle may then be the greatest links on Earth.