Top 10 Courses: North Carolina
From the courses in Pinehurst to the host venue of the 2025 PGA Championship—here are our top 10 golf courses in North Carolina 1. PINEHURST NO. 2, Pinehurst Donald Ross’s masterpiece continues to top the list, thanks to a dramatic Coore & Crenshaw renovation that eliminated acres of Bermudagrass rough, allowing the course’s best asset—its […]
Arch 101: How Bunkers Look
The highest form of the art of golf course architecture is blending the design seamlessly into the surrounds through the use of shaping/grading or vegetation. I certainly feel that way about bunkers. Perhaps, in my case, it is a nod to the original eroded, burrowing animal scrapes from which the sand bunker evolved. However, as […]
The Buck Club Finds A Site for Its New Course “The Tree Farm”
“It’s very real! Time to get it on!” The excitement in golf course architect Rob Collins’s voice could only be relatable to someone who has been able to blend their career with a life passion. Someone like PGA Tour pro Zac Blair. Blair, Collins, and Tad King, the other half of King-Collins Golf Course Design, […]
QuickSands — How Much Fun Can You Handle?
I’m standing on the tee of the downhill 13th at the new QuickSands Course at Gamble Sands in central Washington, thinking that putter is probably the play. No question, actually. Really, the 13th sums up the tantalizing challenge of QuickSands perfectly. The hole may be playing 92 yards, but the tee sits about 50 feet […]
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 […]
