Top 10 Penultimate Par Threes
Typically, the 18th hole is a course’s grand statement, the big finish that settles all bets. On occasion, however, it’s the 17th hole that steals the show. On a fistful of courses, it’s the next-to-last hole that resonates strongest, where history has been made, especially when that hole is a par three. Combining challenge, lore, […]
7 Toughest Golf Courses to Play in the Wind
As the Scots like to say, “Tis nae wind, nae golf.” However, when a balmy breeze stiffens into a howling wind, an already demanding golf course can become almost unplayable. Admittedly, even friendly tests can turn torturous when a freak wind blows through. In the first round of the 2021 Bermuda Championship at Port Royal […]
7 Great Courses You Didn’t Know You Could Play
There’s a small but significant roster of courses that is part of a special breed. You’ve watched these courses on television, seen the photos, and noted the rankings—but you thought that getting to play them was out of the question (unless you had connections). Not so fast: Some of the courses on this list are […]
Toughest Set of Par Fours
It’s neither length nor configuration alone that makes for a tough par four. It’s any combination of those two traits, plus lack of width, invasive bunkers, adroitly placed water hazards, terrain, wind, and the severity of the green complexes, including extra-speedy or wildly contoured greens. We’ve identified the 10 toughest sets of par fours in […]
When is Your Golf Course Ready for a Renovation?
Your course’s renovation clock is running. It’s not a matter of if, but when. To the untrained eye, nothing looked out of place in 2018 at Reynolds Lake Oconee’s Great Waters, a lakeside stunner designed in 1992 by Jack Nicklaus. Beauty can fade, however. So can infrastructure. It was time for a facelift. “Every golf […]
Greatest Finishing Holes in Golf
A great finishing hole might offer supreme challenge, dazzling aesthetics, myriad risk/reward options, or historical impact. The elite offer a combination. Merely because the hole is hard and drama-drenched, however—I’m winking at you, Carnoustie, Bay Hill, and the Blue Monster at Doral—or because it’s iconic in other ways—Hello, Olympic Club, Riviera, and Merion—doesn’t make it […]
Meet the Masters of Restoring Golden Age Classics
As countless clubs across the globe approach their centenaries, it’s clear that many Golden Age classic courses deserve restorations. Fortunately, there’s a supremely skilled assemblage of architects to help them find their way back. We asked five prominent restoration experts to share their experiences and insights into this ever-burgeoning aspect of design. These days, the […]
Golf’s Best Match-Play Venues
The ideal match-play courses yield maximum risk/reward opportunities. These courses qualify among golf’s best match-play venues.
The 10 Greatest Moments in Ryder Cup History
For more than 90 years, the Ryder Cup has delivered countless memorable moments. Some of those moments have been tinged with elation, others with agony, but the bottom line is that they were unforgettable. Here are the 10 greatest Ryder Cup moments of all. 10. Welcome to the Party (1979) During the 1977 Ryder Cup […]
The Best Golf Courses to Play at Twilight
After-dinner golf tastes sweetest at Scotland’s Royal Dornoch One of the underappreciated joys that the summer solstice yields is golf in the early evening. Some days are so much fun you simply don’t want to stop. In June and July, every golf course offers supplemental sunshine, an artist’s palette of changing colors, and fewer golfers […]