My Favorite Public Golf Holes in America (Back Nine)
After previously naming my favorite front nine public golf holes in America, the back nine reveals some definite biases. There are only three par fours, which might suggest that while most of the world’s holes are par fours (and two of those listed are among my favorite holes anywhere in the world), it’s the threes […]
Modern Classics: Wild Horse
Another beauty in the Nebraska Sandhills, but this one is open to the public—and very affordable It’s unlikely any public golfer hoping to get the most bang from their buck will ever find a better option than Wild Horse Golf Club in Gothenburg, Neb. Okay, the fact it’s in Gothenburg—not the easiest place to reach, […]
My Favorite Public Golf Holes in America (Front Nine)
Being asked to name your favorite 18 holes in America is something of a dream assignment for any golfer. Until, that is, you begin to second-guess yourself, at which point you soon realize this is going to take way longer and induce a lot more anxiety than you’d originally anticipated. A lot of golfers could […]
Thad Layton Starts New Design Business as Arnold Palmer Design Folds
Until early September 2023, when it was announced that the Arnold Palmer Design Company would be shutting its doors, Thad Layton, a senior architect for the firm, would go into meetings knowing Arnold Palmer had his back. No, the great man might not have actually been present for the last seven years (can it really […]
Q&A: Golf Course Architect David McLay Kidd
It’s almost 25 years since David McLay Kidd burst onto the scene with the design of Bandon Dunes’s original and eponymous course. Since then, the Scot, who now calls Bend, Ore., home, has established himself as one of the leading architects of his generation with a number of top-ranked designs both public and private. At […]
Great Public Golf Courses Around Seattle
In his 1962 travelogue Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck wrote of his shock at seeing the rapid expansion of Seattle. He’d thought of it as a “little city of space and trees and gardens, its houses matched to such a background,” but it was now a place of eight-lane highways with traffic that rushed with […]
Book Review: “Golfing the British Isles” by Peter Gray
On the back sleeve of Peter Gray’s Golfing the British Isles, it says that, although he is a middle-handicapper, the author, “has played many of the world’s top 100 courses.” It’s an interesting statement to make because while a majority of golfers (including LINKS readers) will know that’s perfectly possible, many will wonder how an […]
The Leeds Triangle: England’s Underrated Golf Destination
With the world of golf shifting its attention to the northwest of England as the Open Championship returned to Royal Liverpool for the 13th time in the club’s 154-year history, many visitors from the U.S. likely secured tee times at Open venues Royal Birkdale (30 miles north) and Royal Lytham and St. Annes (65 miles […]
Royal Liverpool (Hoylake): Flat Out Great
Despite, or perhaps because of, its lackluster landscape, Royal Liverpool—better known as Hoylake—can still be counted on to provide a bumpy and exciting Open Championship By the time the opening tee shot is struck at the 151st Open Championship, avid golfers who have consumed every preview they can find will have grown weary of reading […]
The Value of Variety in Golf Course Design
As the spice of both life and golf (many readers will consider them one and the same thing), the importance of variety cannot be overstated. Imagine a course without any; where every nondescript hole looks and plays much the same as the others—how uninspiring and utterly forgettable. Alister MacKenzie spelled out how fundamental variety was to […]
