At Home in St Andrews
In 1983, George Peper hit a prodigious slice off the 18th tee of the Old Course at St. Andrews, onto the street that borders the hole. He never found the ball, but he discovered a home, buying a flat on the street after spotting a “For Sale” sign during his search. For 20 years, the Pepers were absentee owners, visiting intermittently during the summer and renting it out to University of St. Andrews students the rest of the year. READ MORE
Ballyneal Golf & Hunt Club
The idea for Ballyneal Golf & Hunt Club originated 25 years ago as brothers Rupert and Jim O’Neal watched British Open telecasts and realized their family’s rolling property resembled some of golf’s most hallowed ground. Buoyed by the success of remote clubs like Nebraska’s Sand Hills, the O’Neals enlisted Tom Doak to create a classic links design on their […]
The Country Club, Brookline, Massachusetts
In historical significance, The Country Club takes a back seat to no other. It was, in fact, the very first “country club” in the U.S., dating to 1882, and this suburban Boston club was one of the five founding members of the U.S. Golf Association. And it has been the scene of some of […]
Taconic Golf Club
Just as Fenway Park sits serenely within the commotion of Boston’s Kenmore Square, Taconic Golf Club, at the opposite end of Massachusetts, tucks itself tightly alongside a middle-class neighborhood of Williamstown. Instead of a grandiose entry with artificial curves, Taconic makes do with short, straight Meacham Street as its conduit to the world. Williams College, […]
The Orchards Golf Club, Massachusetts
The great golf secret of the Berkshires was the achievement of Donald Ross at the Orchards, followed by the unspoken tale of the course’s decline. A round of applause, then, for its stirring comeback. On New England woodland that creaks, slants and upwells into drumlins and ridges, Ross was always able to see the future. […]
Nantucket Golf Club, Massachusetts
Nantucket Golf Club may be the closest thing to a genuine British Isles course there is on American soil. Nantucket is 30 miles at sea from Hyannis on the southern coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. More than 40 percent of the island is protected conservation land, and extensive measures have been taken to protect its […]
Myopia Hunt Club, Massachusetts
Myopia Hunt Club wastes no time displaying its distinct and venerable virtues. A long entryway carries the visitor past Gidney Field, the oldest polo grounds in America, then alongside a private stable and kennel before reaching the front of the club’s elegant, yellow-clapboard clubhouse. There is room to breathe on this property less than […]
Crumpin-Fox Club, Massachusetts
The Crumpin Fox Club sits in the middle of the Pioneer Valley, 50 miles north of Springfield, Massachusetts, on the eastern edge of the Berkshires at the foot of Vermont’s Green Mountain. The club’s name derives from a local 19th century bottling firm, the Crump and Fox Soda Company, which everyone in town used to refer to as […]
Woodstock Inn Golf Vacation
It’s easy to get your Woodstocks confused, so full of them is the Northeast. For the record, the one the music festival is named for is in upstate New York. The one where rich Bostonians all have ski chalets is in New Hampshire. And the one where you can tee it up on a […]
The Evolution of Golf Course Architecture
Quite literally, the landscape of golf course architecture has evolved since LINKS began publishing 20 years ago. Since 1988, more than 3,500 courses have been built in the United States. Some, like Sand Hills, are among the greatest ever built. Others, like Shadow Creek, were unlike anything that golf had seen before. While overall quality of courses built […]