Ranking the World – Continental Europe
In the second installment of our four-part series ranking the world’s golf countries (outside of the U.S.), we turn to the increasingly attractive offerings among the 20-plus nations of Europe. Unlike golf in the British Isles, which we covered in the previous issue of LINKS, quality and quantity in Europe varies dramatically. There is less […]
American Dream Courses: Southwest
After exploring the southeast, we stay at a similar latitude but move across the country to the southwest for the second installment of our “American Dream” series—specifically California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and southern Utah. The southwest isn’t blessed with quite as much golf as the southeast perhaps, and there are comparatively few old-school golf […]
Classic Course: Meadow Club
Most course-design devotees can name the last course Dr. Alister MacKenzie designed in the U.S.—Augusta National. But how many can name the first? It’s Meadow Club, in northern California. It’s not clear why the private club just north of San Francisco, which opened in 1927, flies so far under the radar. Perhaps it has something […]
Five of James Braid’s Best Courses
James Braid was an immense figure in the game, belonging to a very short and distinguished list of greats who not only won at least five major championships, but also became productive (if not always brilliant) course designers—a list that includes J.H. Taylor, Jack Nicklaus, Peter Thomson, Gary Player, Arnold Palmer, and Nick Faldo. Add […]
American Dream Courses: Southeast
Who doesn’t love the occasional trip to a top-100 course with its awesome architecture, near-perfect conditioning, and fancy clubhouse? Equally appealing though (to us, anyway) is the discovery of something altogether less glamorous, but a little more affordable and still hugely enjoyable. In this series, we’re covering each region of the U.S. and nominating courses […]
First Peek: Tiger Woods’ Payne’s Valley
By Erik Matuszewski Big Cedar Lodge’s Mountain Top clubhouse first comes into view on the winding drive up to the resort’s newest golf course, Payne’s Valley. At a distance, it looks small atop a massive ridge and limestone wall almost 200 feet high—the highest point on the property in southwest Missouri. It’s just […]
Top 10 Courses: Japan
The 2020 Tokyo Olympic course, Kasumigaseki East, ranks third on our Top 10 list of courses in Japan behind a pair of Hugh Alison designs that are likened to Augusta National and Pebble Beach, respectively. 1. Hirono, Hirono The Augusta National of Japan, this 1932 design by Hugh Alison weaves strategically among woodlands, ravines, lakes, […]
Getting TPC Sawgrass Prepared for The Players
By Adam Stanley How does the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass get ready for such an important stop on the PGA Tour’s schedule each year? It’s not an easy process getting such a prominent venue, which also happens to be a public course, ready for the best players in the world to tackle […]
Ranking the World – United Kingdom and Ireland
LINKS presents the start of a four-part series in which we’ll be ranking the nations of the world (outside of the U.S.) according to the quality of their golf. First up: the nations of the UK and Ireland. By Darius Oliver In the first of our four-part LINKS Magazine series, Scotland has emerged as the leading country in […]
Classic Course: Renegade at Desert Mountain
By James A. Frank In 1987, when Jack Nicklaus opened the Renegade course at Desert Mountain—the first of six he’d eventually build at the luxury community in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert— it truly broke new ground. For along with typical Nicklaus features like mounding-lined fairways and a high degree of difficulty, every hole at Renegade […]