Author: LINKS Magazine

Valhalla Golf Club

At this major championship venue, golf isn’t just the most important thing; it’s the only thing

The Top 10 Golf & Beach Combos

The beach—or at least the links land connecting the ocean to terra firma—gave birth to golf so it’s only natural that terrific combinations of the two would exist in close proximity. With summer in full swing, here are the top 10 surf and turf destinations in North America. 1. Kiawah Island, S.C. Kiawah, the 10,000-acre […]

Waterville Golf Links, Ireland: Revisited

Ireland’s southwest has become a standard on any wandering golfer’s bucket list, thanks to courses like Ballybunion, Tralee, Lahinch, Old Head, and Doonbeg. (The most thorough travelers add Dooks and Ceann Sibeal to their lists.) But rarely do Americans recall any more fondly than Waterville on the Ring of Kerry. Maybe it’s the way the long sunset kindles Waterville’s sands, or the wind finds your back more often than you would expect. Maybe it’s that they arrive on a course with distinct and generous fairways that remind them of home, with a soft opening hole (called “Last Easy,” in case you thought you wouldn’t need the rest of the balls in your bag), and a statue of a relaxed and smiling Payne Stewart. Or maybe it’s a Yankee favorite because there is genuine American love and sweat in the Waterville dunes.

The Top 10 Courses in the Scottish Highlands

High times in the Highlands! The Scottish Open will conclude this weekend at Royal Aberdeen, one of many splendid links that rim the shores of firths and bays in the north of Scotland. A golfer’s education is not complete until a sampling of these remote gems are explored and savored. Venerable classics dominate our list, […]

My Top 10 Courses with Peter Alliss

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Peter Alliss has been the BBC’s lead commentator since 1978, but at 83 he says he is nearing the end of his illustrious career in the sport, which includes 21 professional wins and eight Ryder Cup appearances. (It was in his 1963 singles win over Arnold Palmer that his name became immortalized in golf’s lexicon when someone in the gallery yelled out, “Nice putt, Alliss,” after he badly missed a three-footer.)

A bad back has kept him off the course since November 2012, but he lives opposite Hindhead Golf Club southwest of London and is also president of nearby Old Thorns. “To many my list of favorite golf courses may appear to be rather strange,” he says. “The reason? Memories. Good company, pleasant weather, a fun day, so many facets that go to make something special. Also your golfing companions can have such an influence on choices, particularly mine.”

What’s Ahead for Tiger Woods?

Tiger Woods has won, some would say, enough—61 times on the PGA Tour, and each of the four majors more than once, a feat only Jack Nicklaus has equaled. He took some of those majors by record margins: by 12 strokes at the 1997 Masters 10 years ago, opening the Tiger Epoch with a roar; by 15 at the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, breaking a mark set by Old Tom Morris in the 1862 British Open. Seeing Tiger lap the field is sweet; but also sweet, for his enormous couch-potato gallery, are his eked-out victories, as in the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah or the 2006 British Open at Royal Liverpool.

I fondly remember, from a few years back, a Sunday round in some tournament, maybe the Bay Hill Invitational, where, on an hour’s sleep and with a stomach bug that kept sending him into the bushes, he managed to win.

How to Play Out of the Deep Rough

Mike Adams and T.J. Tomasi 2000 When you find your ball in deep rough you have to make two critical evaluations: “What score do I need to make?” and “How will the grass affect my swing?” If you’re playing match play and your opponent is next to the pin with a sure par, the shot […]