Watch: 4 best shots from celebrities and novices at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

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The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is one of the most popular tournaments on the DP World Tour schedule.

The annual celebration of golf by the sea takes place at three of the world’s best courses: Kingsbarns, Carnoustie and the Old Course at St Andrews.

It has a festival-like quality and features the world’s greatest golfers, from Rory McIlroy to Jon Rahm, from Tommy Fleetwood to Matt Fitzpatrick, from Brooks Koepka to Billy Horschel.

There are some real world-connected hackers in town, too.

Celebrities, actors, athletes and businessmen and ultra-rich women are paired with a professional golfer and get to swing the balls in all sorts of ways.

It’s not often that you see so many bad pictures captured by television cameras and, of course, it’s inevitable that one or two are accidentally good.

It is also true that golf rewards the average golfer as well as the professional. We can all hole a long putt or drive in from the green.

That is the unique beauty of golf.

Here are four of the best hacks from the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship – a combination of legendary genius and downright flukes.

4. Cut out the old block

This is very good. Iona Stephen in the analysis begins by praising the swing of Rory McIlroy’s father Gerry.

When McIlroy Senior pushes his drive and stops himself from swearing on live TV.

Then, on a bad lie in the fairway bunker you go wide. We miss the fairway that gets the wispy greenside rough, but it doesn’t matter.

We’re back with the fourth shot that disappears like a ferret in a hole.

3. The road to nowhere

South African businessman Rurik Gobel hit his tee shot on the 18th hole at St Andrews fairway and chose to hit it from there.

“I’m not on track,” says commentator Jamie Spence and when Gobel doesn’t make satisfactory contact he adds: “Oh dear. No, no.”

However, Spence realizes that the gun is not as bad as he thought. At least in terms of results.

“Hold on,” he said as he closed the hole. “Look at this! Look at this! No! No!”

It doesn’t quite fit, but Spence enjoyed it. “That would be great,” he says.

2. Freestyling

For a long time this was number one.

Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps was 159 feet from the flag.

That’s 53 yards.

In fact, more than the length of an Olympic swimming pool.

The world record for the 50m freestyle, however, is 20.91 seconds.

At the 2012 Dunhill Links Championship, Phelps finished with a one-putt in 17 seconds.

“Oh, that’s unbelievable,” gasped Dougie Donnelly at the comment.

1. On a cliff

Consider a conversation on set.

“What’s the line, caddy?”

“The cliff to the left of the green.”

If that was the conversation then Jeremy Ord, managing chairman of Dimension Data, hit a decent pitch in this stage 3 at Kingsbarns.

As Dougie Donnelly said on TV: “He plays that out of the way … he goes over the cliff…”

There is a moment as the ball turns towards the green.

“It won’t fit in?!” Donnelly asked. “It won’t fit?!?!”

In the background Ken Brown laughs. The ball actually missed the hole but two were guaranteed.

“Ah,” sighed Donnelly.

Very good stuff.

WATCH: Swing experts offer a great tip on how to set up the draw from the tee on the links course