Northwest Ireland: The Emerald Isle’s Wild Card
Want an adventure in links golf at its full-blown, brawny best? Make your way to the Northwest Corner of the Emerald Isle. If you were to jump into a dinghy—with your clubs, of course—and row across the sea to Ireland, your nearest place to set ashore would be the wild and windswept Mullet Peninsula in […]
LINKS Golf Podcast Episode 49: What are “Template Holes?”
Class is in session on this episode of the LINKS Golf Podcast. LINKS Senior Editor Jim Frank rejoins Digital Editor Al Lunsford on the show to discuss his “Template Holes” piece from the Spring 2020 issue of LINKS Magazine. Jim breaks down the details of the most iconic hole designs, like the Redan, the Biarritz, […]
Ranking the World – Continental Europe
In the second installment of our four-part series ranking the world’s golf countries (outside of the U.S.), we turn to the increasingly attractive offerings among the 20-plus nations of Europe. Unlike golf in the British Isles, which we covered in the previous issue of LINKS, quality and quantity in Europe varies dramatically. There is less […]
American Dream Courses: Southwest
After exploring the southeast, we stay at a similar latitude but move across the country to the southwest for the second installment of our “American Dream” series—specifically California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and southern Utah. The southwest isn’t blessed with quite as much golf as the southeast perhaps, and there are comparatively few old-school golf […]
Dream Nine: Par Fives
The par five. The one hole in golf where almost anything is possible. The longest holes on a course give golfers a chance to imagine the possibilities. A legitimate chance at birdie…or even that rare shot at an elusive eagle. But as many of us know, par fives can often show their teeth, generating double […]
LINKS Golf Podcast Episode 48: Golf’s Response to COVID-19
Erik Matuszewski joins Digital Editor Al Lunsford on the LINKS Golf Podcast to talk about the various efforts, initiatives, and ideas that have been spawned in the golf world amid the Coronavirus pandemic. The pair go in-depth on ClubsHELP, a now-national 501(c)7 foundation that started to connect golf clubs with their local hospitals to provide […]
Gil Hanse’s Architecture 101: Greens and Their Complexes
On a visit to The Los Angeles Country Club in preparation for the 2023 U.S. Open, I did something that I rarely do. While walking the course with the superintendent, we putted on every green. And I must say, it was a lot of fun, free from trying to “make” a putt and instead watching […]
My Top 5 Golf Bucket-List Experiences
This May will mark seven years that I’ve been working in golf media, and there’s nothing more I can say except I’ve been living the dream. I’ve played Augusta National (short version: Used Jack Nicklaus’s locker in the Champions locker room, birdied 12, can still recall every shot). I’ve tucked behind the curtain at Shadow […]
Golf’s Animal Kingdom of Player Nicknames
For as long as there have been pro golfers, there have been nicknames. Tommy Armour, The Silver Scot, was one of the trailblazers of the trend. Since then, golf writers and fans have coined nicknames for all of their favorite players. Headlines referred to Walter Hagen as Sir Walter because of his lavish lifestyle. Tony […]
10 of Golf’s Polarizing Par Threes
Whether because of design, difficulty, setting, or situation, sometimes a golf hole just doesn’t fit our eye or sensibilities. A hole that is loved by some (or many) may be loathed by others. Of course, that just speaks to one of the unique beauties of golf: the playing field is always different. What follows is […]
