5 Unique Elements at Payne’s Valley
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Tiger Woods and Big Cedar Lodge took the phrase “grand opening” to a whole new level in unveiling Payne’s Valley—the Missouri resort’s newest course and Woods’s first public design in the U.S. named in honor of legendary golfer and Ozarks native Payne Stewart. The grandiose resort’s newest course joins its four existing layouts designed by […]
American Dream Courses: Midwest (East)
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The eastern half of the Midwest is our sixth region having navigated about two-thirds of the country in our “American Dream Courses” series. We’ve identified dozens of interesting, affordable, welcoming golf courses, but may have hit peak “Dream Golf” here in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan…especially Michigan. Because there are so many excellent courses […]
Winged Foot’s Challenging U.S. Open Setup
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Winged Foot. The name conjures images of sidewalk-thin fairways, ball-devouring rough, and concrete-hard greens that repel approach shots—and make three-putting from five feet all too possible. In other words, it’s the perfect U.S. Open venue. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Open is returning to Winged Foot’s renowned West Course a few months later than […]
New York—One of the Biggest Golf Hotbeds in the World
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It makes sense that states like Florida and California rank 1–2 in number of U.S. golf facilities, given their year-round warm weather and positioning on opposite coasts. But do you know which state checks in third? That would be New York, with more than 750 golf facilities stretching from Buffalo to Montauk. Michigan has a […]
Dumbarnie and Coul Links: How Two Acclaimed Links Course Proposals Met Vastly Different Fates
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The two projects were announced with great fanfare—and had golfers salivating. In 2015, Coul Links Ltd., a consortium headed by Americans Mike Keiser and Todd Warnock, proposed the construction of a new links course in Embo, Scotland, just north of Dornoch. It was to be the first Scottish links from the esteemed design team of […]
Highland Links: Cape Cod’s Hidden Gem
Sometimes the best finds are the ones you least expect. Not unlike a great sale or an unexpected deal, discovering a hidden gem of a golf course is almost as rewarding as playing the round itself. Cape Cod has been a mainstay in our family’s travels for the better part of two decades. Having spent […]
First Peek: Sheep Ranch
Bandon Dunes’s best-kept secret is a secret no more The fifth, and likely the final, 18-hole layout at Bandon Dunes—perhaps the most highly anticipated course in the world since its announcement in 2019—debuted on June 1. For years, the Bally Bandon Sheep Ranch sat hidden away from visitors to Bandon Dunes on an oceanfront plot […]
Union League National Channels Pine Valley, Calusa Pines, and Tobacco Road for Golf Course Overhaul
The first thing that catches your attention at Union League National Golf Club is a soaring, 60-foot sand dune, if only because it stands in such stark contrast to the pancake flat topography of the southern New Jersey shore region. But the dune is just the most visible part of this stunning, multi-year, multi-million-dollar project […]
American Dream Courses: Midwest (West)
In a land made up predominantly of plains, pastures, prairies, and relatively few golf courses (1,435 over an area of roughly 520,000 square miles), you might assume rattling off a dozen that fit into our American Dream Courses criteria—good, inexpensive, welcoming, under-the-radar, special in some way—would be pretty straightforward. It actually threw up a number […]
Destination Kohler Adding New Short Course Facility
One of the country’s great golf destinations is planning to make a splash with the development of its new short course facility. Desination Kohler, the Kohler, Wis., resort that is home to four Pete Dye golf courses in Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run, is introducing “The Baths of Blackwolf Run”—featuring a 10-hole par-3 course, a […]
