Golf Cruises Are Growing in Popularity

cruise

The day Ernie Els captured the Claret Jug in the gloaming at the 2002 Open at Muirfield, he’d barely tipped his cap before my wife, Sue, and I were making our way back down the 18th fairway to the beach. “Hurry,” I said. “Our hotel’s leaving in 30 minutes.” At the shoreline, we stepped into […]

10 Top Courses on the DP World Tour

dp world tour

Though Europe gave the world the game of golf, for the past 75 years or so, professional golf on the continent has lived in the shadow of its brasher and younger American counterpart. The European Tour kicked off without much fanfare in 1972 with the Open de España at Pals Golf Club in Girona, Spain. But as […]

15 Top Golf Museums and Exhibits

golf museums

The game of golf has a long and proud history going back centuries. Golf enthusiasts around the world embrace that history, and there’s a long list of places where you can revel in it. Whether you’re interested in golf’s great champions, its major tournaments, the evolution of golf equipment over the years, or all of […]

Planning the Perfect Couple’s Golf Trip

golf trip

The “buddies’ trip” has long been high on the list of golfers’ favorite ways to experience new courses and destinations. But as the Baby Boomer generation has aged, more and more of them are choosing to travel with significant others. And the trend isn’t just limited to the golden age set; younger couples are setting […]

Composite Golf Courses: A Long, Odd History

Composite

Ben Crenshaw has consistently ranked Royal Melbourne’s Composite course among the top two in the world. He’s not alone. Greg Norman and Nick Faldo have expressed similar sentiments. Unquestionably, the Composite is Australia’s best golf course. What can be questioned is whether Royal Melbourne’s Composite course is an actual golf course. Or should it be […]

10 Remote Courses That Are Worth the Trip

remote

When Mike Keiser created Bandon Dunes on the windswept coast of Oregon, it involved a leap of faith. It wasn’t so much a matter of “Build it and they will come,” but of, “If you build it and it’s really good, they will come.” And come, they have. Keiser and Canadian development partner Ben Cowan-Dewar […]

Top 10 Courses: Australia

Australia courses

From the Melbourne Sandbelt to the islands of Tasmania, the Land Down Under has an overabundance of stunning golf settings to choose from 1. ROYAL MELBOURNE (WEST), Black Rock Alister MacKenzie’s masterpiece of strategic design, set on rugged natural terrain, marries bold fairway contours with spectacular bunkering and ingeniously contoured, silky smooth greens. 2. KINGSTON […]

Arch 101: How Bunkers Look

arch

The highest form of the art of golf course architecture is blending the design seamlessly into the surrounds through the use of shaping/grading or vegetation. I certainly feel that way about bunkers. Perhaps, in my case, it is a nod to the original eroded, burrowing animal scrapes from which the sand bunker evolved. However, as […]

Gil Hanse’s Architecture 101: How Bunkers Look

There’s more to a bunker’s visual appeal than meets the eye The highest form of the art of golf course architecture is blending the design seamlessly into the surrounds through the use of shaping/grading or vegetation. I certainly feel that way about bunkers. Perhaps, in my case, it is a nod to the original eroded, […]

Ranking The World: Asia/Oceania

In the third installment of our four-part series ranking the world’s golf countries (outside of the U.S.), we turn to the diverse landscape of Asia/Oceania The Asia/Oceania region is one of great contrasts. It is more densely populated than anywhere in the world, but home to some of the smallest countries and most sparsely populated […]