Carlyon Bay Golf Club: Located just south-east of the Cornish town of St Austell, Carlyon Bay hotel and golf course commands wonderful views over the English Channel from its clifftop perch. Laid out on what was previously undulating farmland, this well-designed course hugs the cliffs as it stretches out from the hotel to the small harbour of Par, from where china clay is exported. (If you see a small plume of white smoke rising from the harbourside buildings, be assured it carries no papal significance). This wonderfully scenic golf course, free of any residential development, makes excellent use of the open, clifftop terrain, at least for the first thirteen holes. Thereafter, on the other side of the Penzance - Paddington railway tracks, you play the final five in a more parkland-style environment. With good width fairways and not too much penal rough beyond them, the course is both fair and challenging; the degree of challenge naturally correlated with the prevailing wind speed. High and low handicappers, free-swinging big hitters and more tactical thinking players will be equally at home here. Evidence of earlier enterprises, in the guise of former quarries and mine shafts, are dotted around the course - but there's never anything to detract from those breathtaking sea and countryside views.