Metedeconk National Golf Club
Metedeconk National is a secluded retreat located in Jackson, the geographic center of New Jersey. Yet, it has the advantage of being situated just 60 miles south of Manhattan. It tries hard to be a rustic, off-the-beaten-path golf retreat, but its facilities are so good, its 27 holes so well-crafted and maintained, that it’s […]
Philadelphia Cricket Club
The tee is mildly elevated. The green is markedly elevated. The 459-yard par 4 is mightily intimidating. The drive must carry a stream about 175 yards out, as well as a long slit of sand edging more than halfway across the fairway from the right. Majestic hardwoods frame the landing area. There is no […]
The Crossings at Carlsbad, California
Home to Callaway, TaylorMade, Cobra and the Titleist Performance Institute, Carlsbad is one of the centers for golf in the United States. But despite its prominence in game, the city hasn’t really been a golf destination. The city’s latest course, the Crossings at Carlsbad, hopes to help change that. The 6,835-yard layout, owned by the city, joins two […]
The Ultimate Private Club: Cherokee Plantation
I knew I was in a special place my first morning at Cherokee Plantation when a mule-drawn carriage arrived at the front door to carry me to breakfast. For a moment, I felt as if we had been transported back to Victorian England. Or maybe it was Tara. Cherokee may be the most exclusive club in the world. […]
Royal Porthcawl Golf Club, Wales
A prospective guest at Royal Porthcawl appears before the club’s secretary. A round at Porthcawl, arguably the finest layout in Wales, is no small feather in a golfer’s cap, and its guest policy is somewhat more stringent than at most courses in the British Isles. Thus, the interview with the all-powerful secretary is neither […]
Capilano Golf and Country Club, Canada
A Stanley Thompson masterpiece in Vancouver, Canada
Glasson Golf Club, Ireland
The Glasson Golf Club starter asked whether I would mind pairing up with two “society” golfers, Sunday plonkers named Jack and Jimmy who had motored out from Dublin that morning with their itinerant golf gang. For me it was the end of a six-day tour of demanding Irish linksland courses on the coastlines north […]
Prairie Dunes Country Club, Kansas
Long before Sand Hills captivated golf purists, this outpost was the paragon of the links game in America’s heartland
Myopia Hunt Club, Massachusetts
Myopia Hunt Club wastes no time displaying its distinct and venerable virtues. A long entryway carries the visitor past Gidney Field, the oldest polo grounds in America, then alongside a private stable and kennel before reaching the front of the club’s elegant, yellow-clapboard clubhouse. There is room to breathe on this property less than […]
Plainfield Country Club, New Jersey
Scotsman Tom Bendelow, whose 1898 layout survives in part at Plainfield Country Club, bore the unfair burden of this dismissive catchphrase supposedly describing his course-design methodology. The Plainfield we’re most familiar with today is a tough-but-fair Donald Ross design, but its link to the pre-Ross era only adds to its historical significance. Most tradition-minded […]