Tom Irwin elbows his way back into the host’s chair alongside Dan Murphy for a wide-ranging conversation about what makes a golf course worth travelling for and how our latest rankings updates (Wales and Ireland) are taking shape.

The episode begins on the Isle of Man at Castletown Golf Links, a wild Old Tom Morris course that has also had input – by post! – from Alister MacKenzie. It has a curious place in the Top 100s landscape as it is not part of England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales, which is confusing. It is perversely on an island yet also easy to reach and Dan proposes a theory that it might be the least-played course in the whole of our NCG Top 100s GB&I list. Well, except for Ardfin. And Adare Manor perhaps.

From there, Tom and Dan lift the lid on the latest NCG Top 100s updates for Ireland and Wales. They discuss how panellists form independent opinions, why groupthink can distort a ranking and what their latest research is revealing.

Ireland is changing quickly ahead of the Ryder Cup at Adare Manor, with investment and renovation reshaping several destinations.

Wales, meanwhile, continues to offer exceptional value and may produce the greatest movement further down the list.

There is also a spirited debate about nine-hole golf, the compromises created by chasing a conventional 18-hole layout and why discovering a brilliant course at number 75 can be more rewarding than confirming the obvious number one.

Join us for rankings, road trips, hidden gems and plenty of good-natured but explosive disagreement.

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What makes a great golf club logo? Is it the design, the history, the story behind the badge – or simply the prestige of the name?

In this episode of the NCG Top 100s Podcast, host Dan Murphy is joined by George Peper, former editor-in-chief of Golf Magazine and author of The Best Logos in Golf, to explore the phenomenon of us golfers and our ever-growing collections of elite merch.

George explains what separates a memorable logo from the rest and how he helped compile a ranking of the best in golf.

George and Dan also discuss the etiquette of sporting your logo(s). What are the dos and don’ts when it comes to making sure your playing partners know where you have been? Is it acceptable to mix-and-match your logos? When does sharing your pride at playing a great course cross over into insufferable boastfulness? Is it ever acceptable to don a logo of a course that you haven’t played yourself – even if it was a thoughtful gift?

Oh – and why is the Masters logo reduced to footnote status in the book?

It’s a fascinating look at the stories, traditions and identities that make golf clubs special, and why a great logo can mean so much more than a name on a shirt.

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Dan Murphy and Tom Irwin jostle for hosting duties as the latter recounts his recent trip to the tip of the remote Kintyre peninsula in south-west Scotland.

They discuss the scale – and importance – of the journey to what could be Scotland’s most remote major golfing destination.

Tom then holds forth on his experiences at first Machrihanish Dunes, then Dunaverty and finally Machrihanish: three very different links experiences yet each of them stirring the soul.

Their evocative discussion covers Machrihanish Dunes’ outrageous green sites and gently roiling fairways, the sheer and elemental simplicity of Dunaverty and the front nine at Machrihanish that might just be the equal of any stretch of holes in the links canon.

Two of these courses date back a century and a half while Mach Dunes is yet to celebrate its 20th birthday – but you would not necessarily know it.

A trip to Kintyre goes well beyond simply playing these three contrasting seaside courses – the landscape, remoteness and sense of discovery all play a huge part in the experience.

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