Staff WriterThere are golf shows, and then there is Golf’s Greatest Holes, which has the good sense to understand that scenery matters, history lingers and a great golf hole should do a little more than simply sit there looking expensive. Its fourth series arrives on Sky Sports this week and, in a move that feels both obvious and overdue, heads to Scotland, the one place in golf where the wind has as much authorship as the architect.
This time the road leads through the old kingdom of links golf, with Paul McGinley and Chris Hollins visiting some of the most celebrated holes in the game. The new six-part series roams across a Scottish map stitched together by dunes, sea spray, whisky country and golfing mythology, from St Andrews to Turnberry, from Muirfield to Prestwick, and on to newer stars such as Cabot Highlands.
Shot in 4K with sweeping drone footage, the series promises the kind of television that makes golfers do dangerous things with credit cards and annual leave.
Scotland, where golf still feels properly alive
Scotland does not present golf as a theme park. It gives you rumpled fairways, hard-running turf, weather that changes its mind every half-hour and a light so clean it can make even a missed six-footer look poetic from a distance.
That is the real appeal of this edition of Golf’s Greatest Holes. It is not just about famous names on scorecards or grand clubhouse facades. It is about the atmosphere of the place. The salt in the air at Troon. The austere intelligence of Muirfield. The ancient swagger of the Old Course. The broad, muscular drama of Turnberry perched against the sea. Scotland’s courses do not merely host golf; they explain it.
McGinley knows exactly what the setting means.
“I can’t believe this is our fourth series so it was about time we travelled to the country where golf started,” said McGinley, who is also a three-time Ryder Cup winner as a player.
“There are so many special places in Scotland so it was tough to choose where we’d visit but I was delighted Colin and Dame Laura joined us on the unforgettable trip that all golfers should take in their lifetime,” he added.
That last point is the heart of it. Plenty of destinations offer sunshine, immaculate conditioning and enough imported palms to make you think you are putting on a resort brochure. Scotland offers something rarer: golfing authenticity. It feels earned.
The courses are famous, but the design is the real seduction
The best golf travel is not just a checklist of famous venues. It is understanding why those places matter. This series appears to lean into that nicely.
The Old Course at St Andrews remains the game’s most studied and misunderstood masterpiece, at once sprawling and subtle, with strategy hidden in plain sight. Muirfield is all discipline and geometry, a course built with the sort of stern intelligence that might mark your card before you do. Prestwick, by contrast, feels gloriously eccentric, like the game still had mud on its boots and a few odd ideas in its pocket.
Then there is Turnberry, where the land falls toward the water in a way that seems almost too theatrical until you remember nature got there first. Kingsbarns and Dumbarnie bring a more modern flair, while Western Gailes and Dundonald Links show how much depth Scotland still has beyond the poster boys.
The inclusion of Old Petty at Cabot Highlands offers something else again: a glimpse of Scotland’s future. For all the reverence attached to these great old links, the country is not preserved in amber. New design still matters here, provided it respects the ground beneath it.
Familiar faces, sharp company and a few welcome detours
Television golf can sometimes suffer from over-explaining the obvious, but the pairing of McGinley and Hollins has always worked because one brings elite-level understanding while the other asks the questions the rest of us might ask while trying not to lose a Pro V1 in the marram grass.
This series also adds a little extra weight with guest appearances from Colin Montgomerie and Dame Laura Davies. Montgomerie returns to Royal Troon, where his own golfing story began, which gives episode six a personal pull beyond scenic beauty.
Dame Laura Davies, meanwhile, makes her debut on several of the featured courses, including the newly designed Old Petty layout at Cabot Highlands, seen on television for the first time.
That blend matters. Scotland does not need help being photogenic, but it does benefit from being interpreted by people who understand the difference between a pretty hole and a great one.
Why Scotland remains golf’s ultimate bucket-list trip
Every serious golf nation has its claim. Ireland has romance and wildness. Australia has scale and variety. The United States has abundance and polish. But Scotland still has the original manuscript.
That is why Golf’s Greatest Holes works best here as a travel story rather than just a sports programme. The appeal is not simply playing where champions have played. It is walking through a landscape where the game still feels connected to weather, work, community and ritual. The pub after the round matters. So does the local whisky. So does the sense that the course belongs to the coastline rather than the other way round.
The series is also supported by Motocaddy, Loch Lomond Whiskies, Galvin Green, FootJoy and Titleist, with sponsorship from Foresight Group.
Chief Executive, Gary Fraser commented: “We are delighted to partner Chris and Paul on their golfing journey around the world and it’s particularly special to join them at the home of golf.
The game aligns with our belief that lasting success comes from thoughtful investment with a long-term view, adaptability to drive performance and deep respect for the environment and local economies – all principles of Foresight’s investment approaches. We look forward to the series launch and supporting the team.”
There is corporate language there, naturally, but the underlying point holds up: Scotland’s golf economy is not just about famous fairways. It is about local identity, regional character and a travel experience built on more than tee times alone.
A global series that still knows where home is
Since launching in 2021, Golf’s Greatest Holes has reached an estimated 1.9 billion households through more than 50 broadcasters and airline screenings around the world. That is impressive reach for a format rooted in something wonderfully old-fashioned: two people walking golf courses and telling you why they matter.
Hollins suggested there is no shortage of future material either.
“The initial conversation around Golf’s Greatest Holes took place almost six years ago and it goes without saying that we’ve had a fantastic time playing some of the finest golf courses on the planet,” said Hollins. “There are more destinations in our sights, both in the U.S. and across Europe, and we can’t wait to see where we’ll be heading to next,” he added.
That should come as no surprise. Golf travel is now its own language, spoken fluently by players who will happily cross oceans for one unforgettable stretch of coastline, one old clubhouse or one hole that lives up to the rumours.
When to watch Golf’s Greatest Holes
The Sky Sports schedule runs as follows:
Episode 1: Wednesday 25 March – 20:00 GMT
Episode 2: Wednesday 1 April – 21:00 BST
Episode 3: Tuesday 14 April – 20:30 BST
Episode 4: Tuesday 21 April – 21:00 BST
Episode 5: Tuesday 28 April – 20:30 BST
Episode 6: Tuesday 5 May – 20:30 BST
The enduring pull of the home of golf
What this series appears to understand is that Scotland is not merely another stop on a golfing map. It is the place that still gives the game its accent.
That is why Golf’s Greatest Holes feels well-suited to this setting. The drama is not manufactured. It is already there in the contours, the weather, the architecture and the history. For golfers who have been, the series will stir memory. For those who have not, it may start a mild obsession.
And that is the real power of golf travel at its best. It does not just make you want to watch. It makes you want to go.
