Stunning greens around the globe to tee off from

Life's too short for boring golf. Here's a bunch of exciting destinations—from the Seychelles to Abu Dhabi—that have been hiding in plain sight and should be on every itinerant golfer’s travel wishlist

- Meraj Shah

There's no getting away from the home of golf: St Andrews in Scotland has always been and will be for all eternity, the ultimate golf pilgrimage. A bucket list of golf destinations has to begin from where it all began 600 years back: the Old Course.

That hallowed home of golf, where King James IV dropped by the pro shop to pick up a new set of clubs in 1506, and where nature and wind were the only architects until Old Tom Morris created the current layout in the 19th century. It is not a golf course as much as it is a shrine. And sadly, that's why you might have to wait over 18 months to get a game. So get on that waiting list by all means, but while you wait, there's no dearth of magnificent courses that are capable of giving you bragging rights. Here's a list in no particular order of ranking.

NORTH IRELAND

The north-west coast of Ireland, windswept and wild, is that overlooked corner where the game is played with a quiet passion, far from the crowds and the clamour that you'll find on the much celebrated layouts of neighbouring Scotland. You won't find the hordes of itinerant golfers here. Only the inveterate ones who have already played the grails in Ireland and Ulster-Ballyliffin, Portrush, Royal County Down, Ardglass, Lytham-and want to see what they have possibly missed. A ruddy lot it turns out. Here, the links courses cling to the cliffs, battered by the Atlantic gales, their greens as unpredictable as the weather. This is golf in its rawest form, a test of skills and nerve, where the odds are always stacked against you.