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 […]
Golf’s Greatest Water Hazards
Water hazards come in all shapes, sizes, and salinities, of course. The best are entirely natural, though it would be wrong to suggest man-made water hazards are off the table. As with bunkers, we tend to prefer small and subtle—furtive, inconspicuous creeks that run across or alongside holes without calling much attention to themselves but […]
The Best Pours and Plates in Golf
Every golf course in the world has a reason for people to visit it. Whether it’s a local muni steeped in history and closeness to its community, or a bucket-list private club halfway around the world—you go to a golf course to experience everything they’ve got. And sometimes, the things they’ve got have nothing to […]
Dream Nine: Par Threes
The par three. Whether it’s the shorter distance, the allure of a possible hole-in-one, or a breathtaking scenic backdrop, the par three is often the illustration of the most fond and lasting memories from a particular golf course. With that in mind the premise is simple: If you could create a nine-hole golf course comprised […]
Golf’s Greatest Bunkers
During the 1980s and early ’90s, this fledgling golf addict would watch the European Open from the Old Course at Sunningdale Golf Club outside London and enjoy the ever-entertaining Peter Alliss mixing witty, playfully acerbic dialogue about the players with keen insights about the course. One observation in particular has remained with me these past […]
The Evolution of The Broadmoor and Sea Island
In 2011, billionaire Phillip Anschutz achieved a lifetime dream when he purchased The Broadmoor, the sportsman’s paradise on the southwestern edge of Colorado Springs and the longest-running consecutive recipient of AAA Five-Diamond and Forbes Five-Star honors. “I started coming here when I was five,” Anschutz told Forbes in 2016. “And when I was 10, I was sitting in […]
George Peper’s Golf Bucket List, Updated
LINKS Editor George Peper As a reader of LINKS Magazine, you’ve likely played golf for more than a few years—and with better than average skill. You’ve played on numerous courses and under all sorts of circumstances. You’ve made shots—and made friends—that will be with you forever. You’ve repeatedly experienced both the pure joy and utter […]
Thousand Greens: Match.com Meets the Top 100
Shinnecock, Winged Foot, Oakmont, Olympic—every serious golfer knows the names, but only a fortunate few have played the courses. In contrast to the UK, where the host sites of the Open Championship extend a warm welcome to visitors, U.S. Open venues and other top American courses are, for the most part, shut tight, exclusive bastions […]
Interview with a Flagstick
Recently I had the rare opportunity to spend some time with one of the most iconic figures in golf—the flagstick at the 18th hole of the Augusta National Golf Club. With the Masters approaching, and at a decidedly turbulent time in the life of all flagsticks, he was extremely gracious with his time and remarkably […]
Six of Golf’s Best 19th Holes
One year at the Masters Tournament, my wife and I were sitting with Robert Trent Jones, Jr., and his better half, Claiborne, at an evening function when he told me that Alister MacKenzie’s original drawings of Augusta National included a 19th hole for settling tied matches. He told me I better fact-check this when I […]