The Seven Best Golf Courses That Tangle with Train Tracks
Until 110 years ago, riding the rails was the preferred mode of transportation to reach golf clubs situated in the countryside. In fact, the building of golf courses often went hand in hand with where the railroad stopped, making it a leisure-time marriage of convenience and enjoyment. While passenger train travel has ebbed significantly in […]
Golf’s Most Beautiful Courses
Incomparable eye candy: Cypress Point reigns as golf’s ultimate beauty queen In 1920, architect Alister MacKenzie articulated 13 essential features that define an ideal golf course. Number seven stated: “The course should have beautiful surroundings, and all the artificial features should have so natural an appearance that a stranger is unable to distinguish them from […]
Modern Classics: Ardfin
It’s not easy getting to the Scottish isle of Jura, but this dramatically challenging layout—which roams from beach to cliffs—is worth the effort The whispers started in 2010: “Someone’s going to build a course on Jura.” At the time, I was traveling to southwest Scotland often—to the Mull of Kintyre, home of the two fine […]
Top 10 Courses: Hawaii
Here’s our list of the top 10 courses in the islands of Hawaii 1. NANEA (Kailua-Kona, Big Island) David McLay Kidd’s only Hawaiian design is both the best and most exclusive private course in the state, a testing links-like layout set on the slope of Mt. Hualalai. It’s also the first course in North America […]
Six Tough Questions for Six Top Architects
A half-dozen of course design’s finest practitioners share their thoughts about dream collaborations, underrated architects, and plenty more The Cast DAVID MCLAY KIDD In a career spanning 25 years, the Scottish-born Kidd has earned every honor possible for designs that include Bandon Dunes, Mammoth Dunes at Sand Valley, Nanea, and the Castle Course at St. […]
Great Holes of the British Isles: 17th, Prestwick, “Alps”
The story of Prestwick Golf Club begins in 1851, when a group of friends gathered at the Red Lion Inn decided to create a golf club. Old Tom Morris was hired to be its first greenkeeper, and he competed in the first 12 Open Championships held on his then 12-hole home course, winning four times. […]
Top 10 Penultimate Par Threes
Typically, the 18th hole is a course’s grand statement, the big finish that settles all bets. On occasion, however, it’s the 17th hole that steals the show. On a fistful of courses, it’s the next-to-last hole that resonates strongest, where history has been made, especially when that hole is a par three. Combining challenge, lore, […]
Great Courses of Britain & Ireland: West Sussex
Despite its understandably low profile, this is English heathland golf in all its glory The majority of England’s outstanding heathland courses are to be found within a 50-mile radius of London. You’ve probably heard of the region’s three most famous venues—Sunningdale, Wentworth, and Walton Heath—and you may also be familiar with another excellent heathland trio, […]
Iconic Tee Shots Every Golfer Hopes to Someday Hit
Every golfer has a bucket list of courses that he or she hopes to play. Similarly, they all aspire to someday test their mettle (and their luck) hitting shots that have been made famous at those golfing destinations. The focus here is on tee shots, and I’ve selected a trio of opening shots from heralded […]
10 Unsung Island Greens
When you hear “island green,” what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Chances are it’s Pete (or Alice) Dye’s design at TPC Sawgrass, the iconic par-three 17th hole seen every year at The Players Championship. If not, maybe it’s the floating green golfers need a boat to get to at Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene or […]
