Geoff Shackelford: The Tee Box Affair at Augusta National

A real-life, Grishamesque thriller is coming in April, full of high-stakes machinations, Southern charm, and unsuspecting protagonists How, you ask, could a closely mown rectangle become a non-coma-inducing potboiler? The intrigue centers around the forthcoming fuss over a tee at Augusta National debuting after years of speculation. Anyone with a golf pulse will opine on […]
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, […]
Players’ Favorite Holes on the PGA Tour

Ask any avid golfer for their favorite hole on courses that they play regularly, and their answer—should they have one—will likely highlight a hole that they always (or at least most of the time) play well. Tour players aren’t immune to this train of thought, either. “My favorite hole on tour is No. 6 at […]
The Most Intimidating Shots on the PGA Tour

For all the ways in which tour players’ games are drastically superior to the average amateur’s, they’re often intimidated by some of the same daunting shots that trigger sweaty palms for the mid- to high-handicapper, too. This I learned while talking with many of the players during a practice round ahead of the Travelers Championship […]
9 Perilous Places You’d Be Excited to Play From

Some of the world’s most revered holes (and courses) are equally famous for exceptionally challenging predicaments and hazards that golfers are sometimes confronted with. Those perilous places are so well known—or, in some cases, so diabolical—they can even solicit excitement from players who are eager (and cautiously optimistic) to escape from them. Here, we’ve highlighted […]
The 10 Most Historic Clubs in the U.S.

As with few other sports, golf treasures tradition. Atop the history heap sit the greatest players, the most memorable championships, and the premier playing fields. In the United States, it was the golf and country clubs that fostered the growth of the game, beginning in the 1880s. Which are the most historic American clubs of […]
The Five Greatest Masters Moments

Extraordinary stories and lore practically define the Masters. Any listing of the top 10 moments might well include tales of Jones, Sarazen, Hogan, and Palmer—or perhaps the Watsons (Tom and Bubba), Faldo and Norman, Player and Mickelson. To narrow it to a top five, however, we employed a single criterion: To what extent did the […]
The Ultimate Masters Quiz

Answer even half of these questions correctly and you’ll deserve a green jacket (ANSWERS AT BOTTOM OF PAGE) 1. Before Gary Player became the first international player to win the Masters in 1961, which international-born player had the best finish? 2. Who was the youngest honorary starter? 3. Who are the only three players to […]
5 Myths About the Masters

The Open Championship’s older, and the U.S. Open a more grueling test, but no major has endeared itself to golf fans quite like the Masters. The genteel traditions and rich history of Bobby Jones’s annual jamboree in the Georgia pines have earned it a singular place in the annals of golf. Ever since it was […]
George Peper: What I’d Like to See at the 2022 Masters

These days, with the Open Championship being the last major of the year, we all have entirely too much time to sit major-less until the next year’s Masters. Too much time to ponder, to anticipate, to dream. All of which can lead to the sort of fanciful notions I’ve been having. Here’s what I’d like […]