Next up in our series reviewing the best golf courses in Britain, we head north of the border to the scene of Padraig Harrington's Open triumph last July...

Just a short train ride north of St. Andrews, clinging to Scotland's weather-ravaged east coast, lies possibly the most feared Links course on the planet.

Mapped out by Alan Robertson in 1850, Carnoustie's championship course was refined over 87 years by Tom Morris, James Braid and James Wright to stand as it does today - barren, unforgiving, and at times near unplayable.

It was here, in 1999, that Frenchman Jean Van De Velde famously threw away The Open - his hopes sinking with his ball in the Barry Burn.

That same week a precocious teenager named Sergio Garica shot a first-round 89, and left the course in tears with his mother.

And there we were. Two part-time sluggers, with hired clubs and shirts creased from travellers' rucksacks, feigning complete ambivalence on the first tee. As if inviting additional humiliation, my father-in-law Tim had paid for caddies.

"You'll be fine, just avoid the bunkers on the right and the out of bounds on the left," said mine, Fiona, as she placed my shiny driver back in the bag.

With a wild swipe of my five-iron, off we went.

The opening fairway seemed impossibly narrow, with out of bounds to the left and suffocating thick rough to the right. Somehow, I escaped with a streaky six.

"Sergio got an eight on this one in '99," said Tim's caddie Andy, "so you're ahead of him going into the second."

As we progressed a light rain fell, and Carnoustie began to bare its teeth. Bunkers were everywhere, and undulating fairways made average shots into woeful ones. The greens were fast and unforgiving, and tight fairways allow only the most accurate players to draw a driver. I drew one anyway.

My scorecard quickly filled with sevens and eights (and nines, and 10s) and balls were disappearing everywhere.

Luckily for us, the rough was reasonably short. "They let it grow about a foot or two higher for the Open," said Andy.

On the last tee, the sun burst through and illuminated a quite wonderful vista.

Thoughts soon turned to Van De Velde - who needed just a six to seal victory stood upon the very same spot. "He hit a bad drive," said Andy, "then a bad second shot which cracked into the grandstand. Then he went in the water."

Van De Velde got a seven that day and his major went begging - Paul Lawrie the lifetime beneficiary. The Frenchman will be relieved to know, however, that his triple-bogey beat my score.

As we retired to the clubhouse for a well-deserved pint, there was time to reflect on a truly memorable experience. In addition to Lawrie and Harrington, Ben Hogan (1953), Gary Player (1968) and Tom Watson (1975) are among an esteemed set to have lifted the claret jug at Carnoustie, and the experience of walking in their hallowed footsteps proved well worth the humiliation.

Overall: The course is challenging and unforgiving, and capable of reducing a weekend hacker to ruins, but the experience of playing a major championship course steeped in history makes it all worthwhile. The staff were unfailingly polite and attentive.

Favourite hole: The iconic 444-yard 18th. As you play this hole, it's impossible not to think of Van de Velde and play out the fantasy of winning The Open.

Value for money: At £125 in peak season, it's not cheap, but how often do you play a major championship course? An indulgence, but a highly rewarding one.

Details: Carnoustie Golf Links, 20 Links Parade, Carnoustie, Angus, DD7 7JF

Website: www.carnoustiegolflinks.co.uk

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Will Tidey / Eurosport