A little more than six years ago, in this very space, I wrote about one of the most unhappy experiences I have suffered on a golf course.

After more than five hours of relentless misery, launching fairway wood after long iron, trudging through knee-deep undergrowth, I questioned the selection of the PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles as the venue for the 2014 Ryder Cup.

It would not be going too far to say that I detested the course's layout, on which American aesthetics seemed to have been soullessly super-imposed on some of Scotland's most precious golfing turf.

The views expressed were at least partly vindicated a few weeks later when Darren Clarke, then very much one of European golf's leading lights, expressed similar sentiments. "It's unbelievable they chose to stage the 2014 Ryder Cup on this course," he said. "There are unbelievable courses in Scotland, not least of which are the two others at Gleneagles, the King's and Queen's, so it's beyond my comprehension they've chosen to have the Ryder Cup on this course."

Ever since then I have regularly repeated the view that a huge mistake was made with the choice of venue, since the wonderful King's Course - itself arguably only the second best course on this glorious tract of Perthshire land since the Queen's is a true gem - had hosted the best ever Scottish Opens, with stellar fields and vast galleries back in the eighties and nineties.

To me, the argument that the King's was too short was utterly irrelevant since the Ryder Cup is matchplay and it matters not whether people birdie every hole - all that counts is whether you have won more holes than the other bloke or pairing. After his attack on the course, Clarke reluctantly gave some ground when, as then Open champion, he grudgingly said he was prepared to return to play should he be in a position in 2012 to qualify for the Ryder Cup, for which the Johnnie Walker Classic was the final qualifying competition. "I just can't see it as a Ryder Cup venue but if I had to go back I definitely would. The Ryder Cup is more important than my opinion," he said.

Indeed. Clarke may have missed out on qualification for the team that achieved what is now known as the miracle of Medinah, but his acceptance of the inevitable was the right way to go.

In any case - since organisers refused to reconsider the choice of course for the biggest golf event ever to be staged in Scotland - a decent interval has allowed necessary work to be done.

Despite having declined several recent invitations to play the course - while opportunities to play the King's or Queen's were eagerly accepted - this week's event staged by Ryder Cup sponsors Nespresso to make 'one year to go' seemed like a decent time to reassess. There have, after all, been lots of reports of how the features have been softened to reduce the brutality and give the course more of a Gleneagles feel.

Conditions were strangely similar to that sorry day in 2007, murky overhead and dank underfoot, but otherwise the experience could hardly have been more different. The fairways have been opened up significantly and much of the intimidating undergrowth cut down as preparations get under way to find a way of getting some 60,000 spectators around the course.

The greens, meanwhile, were true, and the fastest I have played on in a year that has included visits to Turnberry and Royal Dornoch.

In light of what happened at Celtic Manor three years ago, there still has to be some worry about what conditions underfoot if we have a less kind September than this one.

Also, the lack of light at this time of year could prove problematic. When we finished at 6.30pm on Tuesday there were real concerns that those who had only negotiated the opening 14 holes would not get round.

Even allowing for that, though, I would suggest that anyone who positions themselves on the mound between the green of the long 16th and the tee at the short 17th, from which its green will also be clearly visible, will almost certainly have one of the best tickets of 2014.

The PGA Centenary will never boast the heathery loveliness of the other two Gleneagles courses, but the message to the mid-handicap visitor is no longer to avoid the newest of the resort's courses.

As to whether it is worthy of staging the Ryder Cup? Well, with a following (or at least drying) wind and a wee bit of sunshine the signs are encouraging that the chosen course can create a golfing spectacle worthy of the occasion.