South Course, The Courses at Andrews Air Force Base
Base/Location: Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility, Md. Par: 72 Yardage: 6,759 Play Policy: Active and retired members of the armed forces and their families, as well as employees of the federal government and their dependents. This 54-hole facility about 13 miles southeast of the White House has been a favorite of many presidents, […]
Letter from St. Andrews: Out of Left Field
Very seldom do I stray from my beloved St. Andrews nest to other parts of Scotland, but when I do, I invariably discover something interesting—or odd. Case in point, a recent lost weekend in the Highlands wherein I took a counterclockwise route that included stops at the Trump property near Aberdeen (a truly spectacular site, […]
Letter from St. Andrews: Ladies First
Unlike in America, where the U.S. Golf Association runs the women’s national championship, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews has no official role in the British version, which is conducted by the Ladies’ Golf Union. However, virtually the moment the Old Course was announced as the 2007 venue, the R&A offered all […]
Letter from St. Andrews: A Glimpse of Seven
I’m sitting in a little trailer, high atop a hill precisely two miles east of the center of St. Andrews. The trailer is unfurnished except for a simple table and three chairs occupied by me and two gentlemen with whom I’ve come to chat. Our conversation has barely begun when one gets a call on […]
Letter from St. Andrews: The Auld Grey Toon
Well, we’ve made it to the Auld Grey Toon, but not to our auld grey hoose. Renovation of our apartment—sorry, our “flat”—proceeds apace, which is to say thoroughly behind schedule and riotously over budget. As I write this, the place is uninhabitable—a grim, hollowed-out hovel from which you might expect a grizzled G.I. to emerge, […]
Letter from St. Andrews: Is Eight Enough?
Earlier this year, the St. Andrews Links Trust announced that its No. 7 course, currently under construction on a clifftop two miles southeast of town, would be named the Castle, in recognition of the fact that a medieval stronghold had occupied the approximate site of the intended 9th and 18th greens. The name was one […]
Letter from St. Andrews: Blessings of Eighth Place
Two hundred yards or so behind the 18th green of the Old Course, on a broad street called the Scores, sits a sturdy stone townhouse with a brass plaque at its entrance. Inscribed on the plaque are the words “The Old Course Experience.” “Could this possibly be what it suggests?” I wondered on the day […]
Letter from St. Andrews: A Closed Open
I’m not sure why—maybe I haven’t fully and truly expatriated, or maybe it’s just that I’m a congenital jackass—but I get uncommon pleasure from tweaking my fellow St. Andreans with a question. When the 19th-hole conversation turns to the game’s majors, I ask, “So who do you like in the LCSE?” “What?” they say. “The […]
The Royal St. George’s Golf Club, England
The founding of England’s first major-championship golf venue might easily have been dubbed the Great Escape of 1887. It was conducted by a group of frustrated golfers from Wimbledon Common in the suburbs of London, where the game was played by two golf clubs on the same course—in opposite directions. The search for new ground […]
The Royal Montreal Golf Club, Canada
Founded in 1873, Royal Montreal is the oldest golf club in North America, and many of its regulations are charmingly old fashioned in this 21st-century golf world. For example, golfers can wear shorts, but only in combination with high-top socks. Royal Montreal’s 80,000-square-foot clubhouse, tastefully festooned throughout with first-rate golf memorabilia and illustrations, oozes […]