Finest Golf on Monterey Peninsula
With sweet jazz in the autumn air—and arguably the country’s finest golf all year long—a visit to Monterey Peninsula is always music to one’s ears It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing. —DUKE ELLINGTON, 1931 Those of a certain age may be familiar with the above song and its illustrious composer, […]
High-Rolling Golf In Las Vegas
For high-rolling on the greens by day and the green felt at night, it can only be Las Vegas Let’s dispense with the hackneyed slogan first: The only thing that actually stays in Las Vegas is your bankroll. Tony Bennett didn’t leave his heart here: There’s little romance to spare in this hard-lit, hard-luck town. […]
Beyond Bandon
Yes, Virginia (or wherever you’re coming from), there’s a lot more to golf in Oregon than that rightfully vaunted resort Long before flagsticks fluttered in the Oregon coastal winds, a pair of high-handicap drifters named Lewis and Clark surveyed the virginal future fairways of the Pacific Northwest. “Ocean in view!” exclaimed the latter in 1805, […]
The Ultimate Masters Playlist
As Martin Mull is often quoted as saying: “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” Point taken—leave the ineffable to its own mysterious devices. A piano sonata, sitar raga, even a lowly pop song are to be absorbed osmotically, felt, not dissected like a poor laboratory frog. As with golf, analysis equals paralysis! Nevertheless, […]
Exploring Golf in Northern Michigan
Growing up in the Cadillacs-and-concrete jungle called Detroit, northern Michigan may as well have been a mythological realm—all fjords, forests, and fog. Never got up there as a kid (I didn’t ski, nor swim) and hell, we thought the slate-gray waters of Lake Erie an hour into Canada were plenty beautiful. But thank the mighty […]
A Guide to the Best Golf in Hawaii
Times have changed considerably for the better in our glorious 50th state since February of 1779, when Captain James Cook found himself caught between some lava rocks and a hard place (the latter being a flash-mob of Hawaiians devoid of the welcoming “Aloha Spirit” you hear so much about nowadays). May he rest in pieces. […]
Los Angeles Country Club (North) After its Makeover
Restored to its original strategic splendor, the tinsel-town treasure is ready for its close-up Los Angeles is a city with little tolerance for yesterday: Venerable buildings are razed to make way for mini-malls and not-so-freeways cut through old neighborhoods without mercy. Thus, it was a blessed anomaly to see the wiser heads at the Los Angeles Country […]
