Mike Cormack

Golfers size up golf courses like men and women view potential mates.

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.

A jewel in the eyes of one is nothing more than a cow pasture to another.

And while it's true that most professional golfers are generally averse to making controversial statements, ask them to critique a golf course and you can throw that stereotype out the window.

Take St. Andrews for instance, one of the most famous tracks on Earth and the site of this summer's 150th Open Championship.

Few courses in the world inspire as much admiration and derision amongst the game's top players as the home of golf.

"One of my top favourite three courses," said Fred Couples. "I can't wait to get back there."

Others, including former European Ryder Cup captain Mark James however, aren't similarly impressed.

"My most common mistake at St Andrews is just turning up," he said.

Name a top golf course, and we can name a top pro willing to rip it.

Pebble Beach , the course Jack Nicklaus has said he would choose if he could only play one more round of golf, has drawn the ire of Tiger Woods for several years now because of its bumpy greens.

When a guy wins a U.S. Open by 15 shots on a course and still finds fault with it, it should give you an idea of just how fastidious golfers can be.

Ernie Els is well aware of this and that's why he's anxious to hear what his fellow pros think of the job he's done renovating Wentworth's west course, site of this week's BMW Championship on the European Tour.

The tournament, the second biggest in Europe next to the Open Championship, has a rich history and annually attracts a star-studded field, this year being no exception.

But in recent years top players including Padraig Harrington and Ian Poulter, have passed on the event, citing their displeasure with the greens and bunkering that fails to challenge the modern player.

Enter Els, a seven-time world match play champion at Wentworth and a nearby resident.

All 18 greens have been re-done, fairway bunkers will now require players to hit out sideways and a small lake has been placed in front of the reachable par-5, 18th.

"I am actually nervous," Els told reporters this week. "I am in the hot seat. I am the guy the guys can fire at, can throw their arrows at. We'll just have to wait and see how it pans out at the end of the week."

The course changes and a field including the likes of Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, Ian Poulter and 17-year-old Italian phenom Matteo Manassero, should make for some interesting viewing over the weekend.

One critic Els has managed to win over so far is Harrington, who is teeing it up this week in the European Tour's flagship event for the first time since 2007.

"I like what I see," he said. "I think Ernie has done a great job over the last number of years in making the golf course a stronger, but fairer, challenge."

If Harrington has a chance to win on Sunday but finds the wrong fairway bunkers, or that new lake on 18, it'll be interesting to hear if he's still singing the same tune.

On the web:

Cambridge Ontario's Ian Leggatt, a former winner on the PGA Tour, tells Bob Weeks he's calling it a career.

We're not sure what's sadder about Jerry Rice's rounds of 92-82 at the Nationwide Tour's the BMW Charity Pro-Am. His record poor showing, or the fact he lost the record after being disqualified for using a range finder.

Seve Ballesteros has undergone four operations in his fight with brain cancer, yet he tells bbcsports he is determined to tee it up this summer at St. Andrews for the Open Championship.

Sean Foley appeared on the FAN590 in Toronto where he talked about rumours linking him to Tiger Woods and why he thinks Hank Haney is insecure.