The Oldest Course in Every State
Identifying the oldest and still operating course in each of the 50 states has all the makings of a good detective story WHAT: I thought it would be easy to identify the oldest golf course in each state. Silly me. The first step was defining what we were looking for, which is a course that […]
Nine Must-Play 9-Hole Courses
According to the National Golf Foundation, there are nearly 15,000 golf facilities in the United States, with 9-hole courses accounting for more than a quarter of that total. Yet, 9-hole courses get little love. Nobody trumpets its “Championship 9-hole course.” Still, 9-holers definitely deserve more respect. After all, the very first U.S. Open in 1895 […]
Best Public Golf in South Florida
From the outskirts of Ft. Lauderdale to Boca Raton and greater Miami, compelling rounds of public golf await across all of South Florida. Here, we spotlight six noteworthy courses to seek out the next time you visit the southernmost stretches of the Sunshine State. Osprey Point Golf Club (Boca Raton) While it might be difficult […]
Ireland’s Best Golf Hotels
The Emerald Isle is home to dozens of drool-worthy golf courses. From one end of Ireland to the other (and for this story, I’m including Northern Ireland), the golf opportunities on offer are simply world-class. And when you’ve finished with your golf for the day, Ireland’s devotion to good times—its legendary craic—makes your evenings as […]
America’s Top 10 Munis
The chief requirement for making this list is that the golf course must be owned by a municipality. We’re judging here on the quality of the design, test of golf, scenic appeal, and tournament lore. For best-value munis? We’ll leave that for another time. Here then are the 10 best municipal courses in the U.S. […]
12 of Golf’s Scariest Watery Graves
Whether you call them water hazards or penalty areas, golf’s lakes, rivers, streams, and oceans often become final resting places for our errant shots. You can recover from deep rough or a bunker. But there’s no coming back from a water hazard unless it’s a very shallow one and you’re feeling especially courageous. Here’s a […]
10 Great 18-hole Courses on Fewer Than 100 Acres
In January 1930, just 14 weeks after the Wall Street crash and the catastrophic collapse of the U.S. stock market, course architect Alister MacKenzie set sail from Hoboken, N.J., bound for Buenos Aires. During a roughly eight-week stay in South America, the Scotsman designed, or suggested improvements to, at least six courses in Argentina (including […]
The Most Resonating Courses in Golf
Some golf courses have a unique and unmistakable sense of place. The ancient Romans had an expression: genius loci, or sense of place. Their belief was that every city and town had its own spiritual identity, the way it was experienced, imagined, yearned for, and held in the heart and soul. Now, 3,000 years later, […]
10 of Golf’s Most Dramatic Cliffside Courses
When you think of the elements that create drama on a golf course routing, two of the first that jump to mind are probably “on the water” and “significant elevation change.” So, it’s small surprise that cliffside golf holes elicit such interest and fascination. Some courses fully embrace their cliffside location, putting the perched prominence […]
The 7 Best Alister MacKenzie Courses You Can Play
Whether it’s early April when the Masters rolls around at Augusta National or any time of year when somebody posts a jealousy-inducing tweet about their round at Cypress Point, the topic of Alister MacKenzie’s genius is front and center. Having said that, only the fortunate few can swing a tee time at Augusta or Cypress. […]