1st hole, Holyhead Golf Club, Isle of Anglesey, Wales

Par: 4

Architect: James Braid

Back tee*: 277 yards / 253 metres

Joe Average tee*: 265 yards / 242 metres

Green fee: £50 Nov. 25-Jan. 31

How she looks

*Distances taken from club website or, if unavailable there, from Swingu.

Short and bunkerless, Holyhead’s first could be accused of taking the ‘gentle start’ philosophy* of opening holes to extremes.

And then you begin to play it. And learn how quickly this seeming ‘gimme’ of a hole can start to growl.

Clubhouse proximity might not be an official hazard but we’ve all experienced the dread of teeing off with a roomful of people just a few yards away and it’s a very real spectre here.

Bushes and OB down the left await anything drastically hooked or pushed, depending on which way round you play, and the hole’s inviting shortness is tempered somewhat by a flat-topped mound between you and the green, with just the top few feet of flagstick visible to indicate your target.

While some will take their chances and try to drive the green, Many will leave their drive on the top of the mound, hoping to avoid the patches of gorse that guard it on either side.

Architect James Braid isn’t done with you yet, though. The green is small, slopes from front to back, has a ridge running diagonally across it and is guarded by gorse on the left.

It is rammed with subtle breaks galore, while its raised location makes it particularly vulnerable to the wind. That simple little approach from the mound suddenly carries an increased accuracy tariff if you’re not to leave yourself looking down the barrel of a three-putt.

*There's a theory in golf course design that the first hole on any course should be a relatively gentle introduction, partly as a courtesy to players who are only just getting into their stride, and partly to get everyone into their round asap should the course be busy. 
Severiano Ballesteros was one course designer who had no time for such niceties, however, insisting that a course that grabbed you by the gonads from the outset was a far greater value-for-money proposition. There's a reason why his solitary UK design kicks off with a 175-yard par 3 across a lake to a peninsula green.
If you're ever booked in at The Shire behind two four-balls of high handicappers, I wouldn't bother rushing your coffee.