 Ben Hogan's pilgrimage to Scotland ended victoriously in 1953 on the 18th green at Carnousty. The iconic open championship venue that is often referred to as golf's greatest test. However, this incredible story began two miles further west. That journey had began two weeks previous and when Ben Hogan first set his feet on Scottish soil, it was here at Panmure Golf Club and he had one clear plan and that was to learn how to play Lynx golf having never done so before. He went on to qualify at the Burnside and later on to victory in that open championship at Carnousty and as golfers we've now been provided with the opportunity to follow in those footsteps. The monumental achievements of Ben Hogan cannot be fully appreciated without understanding that four years previous to these events he had suffered a career threatening car crash. So this is one of the courses in terms of Ben Hogan's journey and this was the practice ground and this is where like I said he learned that trade and for me Panmure is a special golf course. I've played here once before and immediately as I arrived in the clubhouse it's it's suddenly got a sense of history from the minute you arrive and it's a special place an extremely good golf course and a testier golf skills as well. I just love it here. Now Panmure Golf Club clearly left its mark on Ben Hogan and as it stands now Ben Hogan left his mark on Panmure because the sixth hole was a favourite of his but he made one recommendation and that was to introduce a potbunker to the front right of the green. It's now known as Hogan's Hole and I've got to tell you it is a fantastic golf hole albeit extremely tough. I took on the challenge back in July into what was a sort of two a club three headwind. I managed to get a birdie putt walked off with a par and I think it's about time we took on that challenge again. It's stroke index one and it is very much Panmure's signature hole now. It's weaving your way through from tee to green is is quite difficult and like I said finding some short stuff for your second shot is no mean feat. We're going to go with driver we're a bit downwind I think last time I played it I had something like a three iron into the wind and I'm hoping I've got a shorter clubbing hand this time round. I'll explain as we go that you'll see a big antenna on the left hand side and the flag in green is sort of 30 yards to the right of that but yeah we need to find some short stuff. So I'm going to be aiming you've got three trees in front yet I'm going to be aiming at the one on the left hand side of the three and see if we can leave something in and around there and like I said with a bit of a shorter ironing than I had last time. I've nailed it on that tree and it has not moved so I'm hoping that that's a decent tee shot we shall find out. Do you know what the driver it was so solid and the one thing you'll notice from the aerial footage is the fairway is tight to say the least and I've just kind of bound it over and run off but we've got kind of one ten in which is far different I played three iron last time I played I've got wedging hand today and we certainly are playing downwind the flag is directly over Hogan's bunker so it's it's not a bad light but it has got to land there we've got to carry the bunker and land it fairly soft big ask oh geez and be right be right sit sit I think it's held on the back end I don't know what it is about this hole but that is a really good shot I'm so pleased with the contact I've got and like I said it's uh it's chased on a bit coming out of the rough but I've got a birdie putt and that's all that matters right we've got to the green and uh well I'm pleased with that but and I think we've pitched in here I kind of see a pitch mark the greens are firm and clearly coming out of that rough no control whatsoever um but looking at the port it's a good two putt never mind it's certainly not birdie two from here you would certainly be happy with there's a slope just before the hole it's going to see it run away so if we can get two down from here I'll take it go go a bit disappointing I thought that would run down the slope although we had a bit of a chance well it's a four and I'd take the four it's very much different than what I got it first time round but what that means is that uh I'm going to have to come back to Pam Yor again and that elusive birdie still awaits great golf all though understanding the nuances of links golf don't even lie is the rolling fairways and firm and fast screens all to be played with a smaller ball than he'd ever previously used would all be achieved here at Pam Yor so with just two weeks of practice on links turf at Pam Yor under his belt it was just a small matter of qualification and it was over to Carnousty and the Burnside course so this was the third leg of a potential triple crown he'd already won the us open he'd won the masters but despite all of that in those days you still have to qualify before he even made his way to that open championship the Burnside is a par 68 and already sort of eight holes in I can already see it's sort of it's very tight uh not not necessarily long the weather again will play its part we've got it really easy this morning with no breeze whatsoever but the thing that strikes me about Hogan was kind of his meticulous planning and now we've plotted his way around courses and his ability to shoot a score that he required um he did that here and then as we know he went on to do that in every single round of the four rounds of the open as well it's right in the pot bunker middle of the fairway pot bunker I don't know if I agree with that sneaky bunker in the middle of the fairway but the irony is if I needed to hit the middle of the fairway I wouldn't have and the one time I do you put a bunker in the middle of it so this is day two of what would be a three day trip I think what Pam Yor and Carnousty have done here they've put a package together which like I've said allows you to follow in the footsteps of Ben Hogan you get to uh dine in the clubhouse at Pam Yor and at the Rookery and they're sort of very opposite you've got very much the traditions of Pam Yor and the new modern setup at the Rookery so it's it's a great great experience they've got to say only day two and I'm only halfway round in terms of the burn side but Pam Yor as I said fantastic and I love the burn side it's a tight little fiddly one and like I said you've got to plot your way round it's I've not used drive at a great deal at this stage I'm I'm channeling my inner Hogan and planning my way around this place not quite the same result I doubt it's the one I find is these sort of sister courses if you like to the what is the open championship venue of Carnousty these sometimes fall in the shadow of those courses and they're not so much overlooked but I can assure you this burn side course you know is top-stop quality right that's it we've had our practice sessions at Pam Yor we've now qualified at the burn side it's just a small matter of that open championship it's right across that fence I'm not sure how Mr Hogan warmed up for his final 18 at Carnousty but for me it is a bit of bacon haggis and fried egg at this new Rookery restaurant I'm overlooking the first seat on the 18th green and in an hour or so we'll be ready to go so this amazing story continues and it's on to the open championships at Carnousty right so as Hogan left his name on that six hole at Pam Yor he's done the same on the six at Carnousty I think this was only sort of changing name in the last sort of 20 years so when it's now known as Hogan's alley the sixth and you can see from the drone footage quite why it's extremely tight down that left hand side between the three bunkers that you see that first bunker on the right to screen to the outbound on the left I believe is 23 paces there is an option to bail out a little bit right and I think we're a little bit lucky today and that we're slightly forward on the T so I'm hoping we can certainly carry the first one but whether or not we'll catch the second two and that's providing I don't manage to pull anything down or left but it's a thing like this where you're playing holes where you've seen them on the TV before in open championships and you get the opportunity to come here and have a little go at it yourself and I think that's something that you can't do in any other sport and it's incredible let's see how I get on it's certainly one you don't want to go left we've had three drives on the bounce good let's see if we can add another well it's a decent enough drive but I've been too scared of the bunkers and that's splashed into bunker three and that'll be an interesting one because it looks incredibly steep they talk about clever course design and as I said left out of bounds and you're certainly fearful of that so I didn't want to turn anything over and to be honest it's a really solid drive and there's quite a gap between each of the three bunkers but I sort of went splashed straight into this one and I've got nothing I've got a 58 wedge and I ain't going nowhere in terms of distance yardage wise gains I'll just be lucky to get it up and out I think that's it shot lost do you know what when I walk these fairways the thing that I admire most about Hogan is yes he had those couple of weeks practice rounds at Pam Yor but you compare that to what the pros say nowadays where they want to play multiple open championship venues before they get accustomed to what is links golf it's so so different them elevations that I've just walked through then ask totally different questions of your game and like I said don't forget you've never experienced anything like this prior to coming here just two weeks earlier yes spectacles is again infamous as is pretty much all a carnousty and hello in terms of the the game I'm playing today I've had to sort of lay up to the right of here I've dropped the ball in because I've got to have a little goal these are absolutely monstrous and you wouldn't want to find yourself in either of them it's well I don't know I've put myself pretty much in amongst the face of it and that's probably a couple of feet taller than me at least so we'll give it a go I have brought another ball in me pocket by the way right so on 58 wedge it ain't going forward it just needs to go out well we got it out that was about as much loft as I could get on it and I got out of spectacles and I wouldn't want to be in it again not if it mattered anyway well 15 is an absolute stunning golf all we say these final four are really tough and to put that into perspective I've just hit driver and five or two of my Sunday best I'll be honest with you and well we haven't got there and I love avoided these two bunkers I will have avoided all the bunkers but I've got a horrendous chip left in but such a great design and what a great start to this back four yeah I'm afraid that's another bogey but and I've struggled a bit with the putting but what I will say is that some of the brakes are very obvious and some are very slight and coupled with that with the with the pace of these things and it's it's another challenge that is championship golf I'm afraid I think Hopeham's record was the most one of the most impressive things I've ever seen he entered only 11 majors incredibly he won nine of them and in the year 1953 he entered six tournaments and he won five three of them were majors a five wood into the barry burn meant it wasn't to be the euphoric end I had hoped for no ambition to emulate van der veld I chose a more cautious route to finish with a double but you know what it didn't matter because when I look back on the past three days I just played the fairways and followed in the footsteps of arguably the greatest golfer of all time