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Waterville Golf Links, Ireland: Revisited

Ireland’s southwest has become a standard on any wandering golfer’s bucket list, thanks to courses like Ballybunion, Tralee, Lahinch, Old Head, and Doonbeg. (The most thorough travelers add Dooks and Ceann Sibeal to their lists.) But rarely do Americans recall any more fondly than Waterville on the Ring of Kerry. Maybe it’s the way the long sunset kindles Waterville’s sands, or the wind finds your back more often than you would expect. Maybe it’s that they arrive on a course with distinct and generous fairways that remind them of home, with a soft opening hole (called “Last Easy,” in case you thought you wouldn’t need the rest of the balls in your bag), and a statue of a relaxed and smiling Payne Stewart. Or maybe it’s a Yankee favorite because there is genuine American love and sweat in the Waterville dunes.

The History of Royal Titles in Golf

In 1833, the Perth Golfing Society, located in the heart of Scotland not far from St. Andrews, became the Royal Perth Golfing Society. King William IV conferred the title and so began a new honor system for golf clubs.

More than 180 years later, 66 clubs bear the royal title as granted by the British Royal Family (eight clubs so dubbed no longer survive). Stretching from Royal Dornoch in the Northern Hemisphere to Tasmania’s Royal Hobart in the Southern, the royal title has been conferred on some of the game’s most prestigious bastions, but also on lesser-known clubs with modest facilities and small memberships. What all these clubs have in common is a distinct history, often a direct link to the growth or spread of golf, and always a veritable royal connection.

The Top 10 Courses in the Scottish Highlands

High times in the Highlands! The Scottish Open will conclude this weekend at Royal Aberdeen, one of many splendid links that rim the shores of firths and bays in the north of Scotland. A golfer’s education is not complete until a sampling of these remote gems are explored and savored.

Life

My Top 10 Courses with Peter Alliss

Peter Alliss has been the BBC’s lead commentator since 1978, but at 83 he says he is nearing the end of his illustrious career in the sport, which includes 21 professional wins and eight Ryder Cup appearances. (It was in his 1963 singles win over Arnold Palmer that his name became immortalized in golf’s lexicon when someone in the gallery yelled out, “Nice putt, Alliss,” after he badly missed a three-footer.)

A bad back has kept him off the course since November 2012, but he lives opposite Hindhead Golf Club southwest of London and is also president of nearby Old Thorns. “To many my list of favorite golf courses may appear to be rather strange,” he says. “The reason? Memories. Good company, pleasant weather, a fun day, so many facets that go to make something special. Also your golfing companions can have such an influence on choices, particularly mine.”