Guess what golfing enthusiast Dave Cannan got for Christmas? A chance to play 10 of the greatest golf courses in the world.
Ask anyone, especially my family, and they'll tell you.
I watch far too much golf on TV.
Call it an addiction, a (glorious) obsession even, but yes, it's true, I'm a golfing tragic.
Thanks to Sky TV's extensive coverage of golf (why don't they just buy the Golf Channel and be done with it?), most weeks I can indulge two of my great passions at the same time - travel and golf.
Often these sessions in the Lazyboy are all-night affairs and I stagger off to bed for maybe an hour or two, still hyped up from having watched great sporting theatre unfold somewhere on the other side of the world.
But apart from a fuzzy, sleep-deprived head the next day, those countless hours of viewing have given me a huge appreciation of the architectural skills of the best golf course designers, headed, of course, by the greatest of them all, Mother Nature, whose preference for the touched-by-the-hand-of God approach conquers all.
But, seriously, even if my Christmas dream did come true, how could I possibly reduce the list of great golf courses in the world to just 10?
Impossible. I rattled off a dozen straight away just from that file in my brain marked "must play before death".
Then I just made things worse by getting out several books I have on the subject and realising I had been set a task beyond Hercules and the golfing gods combined.
So, in an effort to simplify the task, I have imposed some limiting boundaries. I must select at least one course from the main continents - and I'm only allowed two each (sob) from North America and the British Isles and none from New Zealand.
Ridiculous? Of course, but essential if I'm to keep the assignment manageable and to meet deadline.
My Top Ten
1. St Andrews (Scotland)
The Old Course, of course, (there are at least five other layouts there) simply because it IS golf. Call it the Home of Golf, call it an "ageless masterpeice" as one of my reference books does, it doesn't really matter.
This is where golf as we know it began, possibly as early as 1400.
My earliest memory of St Andrews is hearing it described in the uniquely dulcet tones of the late, great commentator Henry Longhurst on black-and-white TV in the 1960s, when Kel Nagle and Tony Lema won there. But the strongest mental picture from that time was in 1978 when New Zealand's own Simon Owen, a true gentleman whom I've had the pleasure to meet in recent years, almost beat the great Jack Nicklaus in the "Open Championship", as Longhurst always called it, at St Andrews. With just three holes to go Owen led Nicklaus by one shot. But then Owen bogeyed the 16th, Nicklaus birdied it and eventually Owen had to settle for a tie for second with Tom Kite. But, what a glorious tie!
Fast forward to the 2000s and revel in the double Open win at St Andrews by Tiger Woods (2000, by eight shots, in a record 19 under par) and then 2005; scratch your head at the unknown South African Louis (who?) Oosthuizen's all-the-way win there in 2010 and remember, for all time, the emotional farewells from St Andrews by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, waving goodbye on the Swilcan Bridge on the 18th fairway.
If it's the last thing I do on this earth, I will one day stand on that same bridge and walk that final fairway from end to end, just to say I've done so. And die a happy man.
2. Augusta (North America)
Although only a "baby" by comparison with the ancient St Andrews, being opened in 1933, Augusta is cloaked in sufficient mystique, myth and controversy to be regarded as America's spiritual home of golf. And that boils down to just one indisputable fact - it is the only course which hosts the same "major" every year, the Masters, which has grown in stature so much that it now overshadows its older rival, the US Open, which dates back to 1895.
Augusta owes its fame primarily to two factors - the legend of its founder, the greatest amateur of all time, Bobby Jones, and the huge influence of extensive television coverage of the Masters, which other events seek to match but never quite manage.
The course is renowned for its difficult, sloping and super-fast greens; trees planted with pin-point accuracy on key holes and the knee-knocking challenge posed by Amen Corner, the 11th, 12th and 13th holes that have undone countless "pretenders" to Masters glory. The 12th, the par 3 Golden Bell, is particularly feared for its sloping green that runs down to a pond. So, too, is the par 3 16th, with its long, narrow and heavily sloping green and then there are the two fairway bunkers on the uphill 18th, just waiting to gobble up errant drives to the left.
Take your pick of any number of famous Masters tournaments since Horton Smith won the first in 1934. I will mention just three: Jack Nicklaus's unbelievable win in 1986, when aged 46 and thought to be well past winning majors; Greg Norman's gut-wrenching collapse in 1996 when he squandered a huge lead to shoot 78 in the last round and lose by five shots to Nick Faldo, and Tiger Woods' amazing 12-shot win in the 1997 event, aged just 21, the first of his four Masters titles.
3. Turnberry (Scotland)
This course is high on my list for two good reasons - and they are both called Tom Watson. It was here on the beautiful seaside Ailsa course that Watson won his famous "Duel in Sun" battle with Jack Nicklaus to win the Open in 1977, after leading by one shot with only the awkward 18th hole to go.
But arguably Watson's attempt to turn back the clock, on the same course in 2009, losing a playoff to Stewart Cink, was even more dramatic.
Watson, aged 59, could have won the Open outright had he not missed a tricky 2m putt on the last, after his approach shot failed by centimetres to hold the green.
I watched virtually every minute of this event, especially the nerve-tingling final round and it remains the most dramatic finale to a major I have seen. Oh, to play that final hole as well and also Turnberry's famous ninth hole, where your drive must carry more than 200m of seaside rocks and water.
4. TPC Sawgrass (North America)
Made the list for just one hole: Pete Dye's notorious par 3 17th, an island green in the heart of a Florida lake, the level of which rises appreciably during every Players Championship (the fifth Major), caused by the countless number of balls that fail to make a dry landing. This is the hole where professional golfers expose themselves to potential humiliation every year, endless slow motion replays of yet another wayward wedge shot splashing them into eternal misery.
Pass me a wedge and a large bucket of balls and leave me in peace for an afternoon!
5. Valderrama (Spain)
The pride of Spain, often ranked the No 1 course in Europe and regarded as a masterpiece by designer Robert Trent Jones Sen. Opened in 1974, Valderrama is famous for its multitude of huge, pristine white bunkers and is a monument to how much huge amounts of money can achieve.
Valderrama famously hosted the 1997 Ryder Cup after intense lobbying by the late, great Spaniard Seve Ballesteros who, as non-playing captain, inspired the European team to a memorable 14-13 win on the last hole on the last day.
6. Crans-Sur-Sierre (Switzerland)
Ballesteros figures in the selection of this great course as well, as he redesigned the layout of the Swiss Alps showpiece in 1995 and was rewarded with having it renamed after him.
Crans-sur-Sierre makes it into the top 10 mainly for its spectacular scenery, featuring huge mountainous backdrops and some narrow, tree-lined fairways. Interestingly it is closed for nearly the half year, being buried under several feet of snow.
7. Leopard Creek (South Africa)
Designed by South African golfing legend Gary Player and opened in 1996 by billionaire owner Johann Rupert, Leopard Creek is carved out of wild and rugged countryside on the border of the famous Kruger National Park. TV cameramen providing coverage of major events, like the Alfred Dunhill Championship, are often distracted from the golfing action by a parade of wildlife nearby.
The finishing hole, a 495m par 5, features an island green with extra bunkers just for good measure and, occasionally, crocodiles are seen in the lake surrounding the green.
Not the place for foolhardy golfers to roll up their trousers and attempt miraculous shots from the water's edge!
8. Jumeirah (Dubai)
The lush green Earth course, designed by Greg Norman, is just a "baby", being opened in the Dubai desert two years ago.
It is part of the luxurious, four course Jumeirah Golf Estates (Rory McIlroy wears some of their branding), where money has proven to be no object in creating a showpiece venue for the rich Dubai World Tour Championship, won last month by swashbuckling Spaniard Alvaro Quiros. Norman has copycatted the 17th at Sawgrass with an identical hole, also the 17th, while the 18th, a long par 5 features a jagged-edged creek winding its way up the middle.
Quiros eagled it. I'd be lucky to reach it with five decent whacks!
9. Mission Hills (China)
If anyone doubts the Asian continent is the future powerhouse of world golf, then they need to see for themselves the Mission Hills resort in China, just 56km from Hong Kong and easily the biggest golf complex in the world. Mission Hills features 12 (yes, that's 12) international golf courses, all designed by some of the greatest golfers to have graced the game.
The 6726m long course created by Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal has been the venue for the last three World Cups, with Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodlands winning the event in December last year.
Lots of dog-leg holes, heaps of bunkers and two massive lakes equals a golfing challenge par excellence.
10. Royal Melbourne (Australia)
This is Australasia's answer to St Andrews, a classic course carved out of Melbourne's famous sandbelt, which utilises all Mother Nature could offer, assisted by the skilled mind and keen eye of legendary designer Dr Alister Mackenzie, the man who helped shape Augusta.
In fact, renowned Australian golfer Peter Thomson says Royal Melbourne is Dr Mackenzie's masterpiece- "equal to anything on Earth".
If you watched the Americans win the Presidents Cup last November, then you will be familiar with the course's many challenges, not only from the physical contours but also the ever-present sea breezes that sweep across the composite layout.
