SPORT Tee Time: The world’s most extraordinary golf courses

How far will you go to play golf? Nullarbor Links will test your love for the sport. It’s an 18-hole, par-72 course golfing epic spanning, wait for it, 848 miles. There’s 1 hole in each of the stops along the Eyre Highway, which stretches from Kalgoorlie in Western Australia to Ceduna in South Australia. 7 of the holes are played on existing golf courses, while the other 11 were created near roadside stops along the route. It’s a real test of skill and endurance. And if you’re with friends, it can also make for an unforgettable road trip.

The Skukuza golf course is set in the heart of South Africa’s Kruger National Park. It’s home to all kinds of wildlife, including the Big Five – lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and African buffaloes. Skukuza promises “a huge variety of birds and countless animals, which all conspire to provide the visitor with a harmonious close-to-nature golfing experience”. So, how close to nature will you be? Well, the course has no fences, so you’re bound to have hyenas, impalas and baboons strolling in to watch you tee off. (They’re probably just judging your swing.)

Looking to make your game a bit more exciting? Welcome to Merapi Golf Club in Indonesia. But don’t let the club’s picturesque views fool you. It’s right by one of the most active volcanoes on the planet, Mount Merapi. (It means, ahem, ‘Fire Mountain’ in Indonesian.) On some days, you can see smoke escaping from it. And to make your game more interesting, Mount Merapi may even erupt, like it did just a few weeks ago. So while you’re thinking about your game plan, you might also want to work out a good exit strategy. Pro tip: keep that golf cart close by.

The 14th hole at Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene course is every golfer’s dream. (Except it’s real.) You can’t get to it by foot, car or golf cart. You can only get to the 14th hole on an electric-powered boat called “Putter”. Why? Because the 14th hole is The Floating Green. It’s basically an island, surrounded by Lake Coeur d’Alene. The Floating Green is an iconic feat of engineering and design. It’s “the first and only floating, movable island golf green that changes position via an intricate, underwater cable system”. If you complete the hole, you get a certificate from the “Putter’s” skipper. But really, just playing golf at the 14th hole is a rewarding experience.

We know how far you’ll go to play an exotic game of golf. But how high would you go? The La Paz Golf Club in Bolivia is here to test your love (and your lungs) for the sport. At 11,800 feet above sea level, La Paz Golf Club is the highest golf course in the world. It takes a little while to get used to the dizzying heights. But once you’ve acclimatized, the surrounding scenery will leave you gasping for more than just air. Set in the shadow of the snow-capped Mount Illimani, La Paz Golf Club is adorned with lagoons and otherworldly rock formations. You’ll also find that there are some benefits to playing at such a high altitude. For example, the thin air offers less resistance, so you can drive further and straighter. Go ahead, take your game to new heights and tick another checkbox on your bucket list.

Now that we’ve whet your appetite for a golfing adventure, we’d like to introduce you to the ideal travel companion — the TAG Heuer Connected Calibre E4 Golf Edition. The watch’s high-resolution 2D maps uncover hazards and distances on more than 40,000 golf courses around the world. That includes the extraordinary golf courses you’ve just read about in this article. So whether you’re playing at your usual golf course or someplace exotic, this timepiece is designed to help you boost your game. You can learn more about the watch here.