Golf’s Greatest Water Hazards
Water hazards come in all shapes, sizes, and salinities, of course. The best are entirely natural, though it would be wrong to suggest man-made water hazards are off the table. As with bunkers, we tend to prefer small and subtle—furtive, inconspicuous creeks that run across or alongside holes without calling much attention to themselves but […]
Golf’s Greatest Trees
No part of the golf course has come in for as much stick in recent years as its trees. Until around 2010, trees enjoyed a healthy-enough reputation, but over the last decade golfers have gotten wise to their shortcomings—impeding views, blocking sunlight, restricting air movement, sucking soil nutrients the turf needs, and hindering strategy. Actually, […]
Turning Back the Clock: Course Corrections
Stale. Tired. Overgrown. Past its prime. Those aren’t words you want to hear describing anything, but they’re particularly hurtful when attached to golf courses. Bad enough if you’re talking about a Mom-and-Pop nine-holer charging a few dollars a round. But for a private residential course? Pure poison. To attract new members, keep existing members happy, and remain in the spotlight, upscale […]
Golf’s Greatest Bunkers
During the 1980s and early ’90s, this fledgling golf addict would watch the European Open from the Old Course at Sunningdale Golf Club outside London and enjoy the ever-entertaining Peter Alliss mixing witty, playfully acerbic dialogue about the players with keen insights about the course. One observation in particular has remained with me these past […]
Tom Doak is Building His First Course in Ireland
By Tony Dear In 1993, Tom Doak made a handshake agreement with the owner of Old Head in County Cork, Ireland, to design 18 holes but, for one reason or another, the plan fell apart. A decade or so later, another opportunity arose at Castlegregory, 10 miles west of Tralee on the beautiful […]
Creating Alternatives to Original Golf Templates
The word ‘template’ is, of course, part of modern-day golf architecture speak. It’s not quite clear when the term was first used to describe certain hole designs, but we do know it has its origin in golf pioneer C.B. Macdonald’s trips to Britain and France between 1902 and 1906 when he sought to identify the […]
Golf’s Short Course Craze
By Tony Dear Golf’s short course movement is in full swing. Whether it’s a layout with fewer than 18 holes, or one consisting solely of par threes, truncated golf is appearing with increasing regularity as America discovers how much fun it can be, how great it is for introducing youth to the game, how […]
Landmand Golf Club: A New King-Collins Design
“The terrain is so bold, wild at times,” Rob Collins says of the site at Landmand Golf Club in northeast Nebraska where he and design partner Tad King have routed 18 holes that are set to open in 2021. “It reminds me of Ireland with 100-foot dunes everywhere you look.” King and Collins’s much-anticipated […]
A Mike Strantz Journey
A four-minute YouTube video tells you pretty much everything you need to know about Mike Strantz and his approach to building golf courses. He appears with design partner, and former PGA Tour player, Forrest Fezler during their 2002 renovation of Silver Creek Valley Country Club in San Jose, Calif. Over images of how he took […]
What to do with the Golf Hall of Fame
Before one starts an article about the status of the World Golf Hall of Fame, how it’s perceived inside and outside the game, the merits or defects of its inclusion criteria, and the worthiness of its inductees, it’s important to recognize the contribution to the game every one of its members has made. From leading […]
