Why Every Golf Course Needs a Silly Hole
Wacky, weird, crazy, dumb—call them what you will, silly holes help make good golf courses better, writes Geoff Shackelford.
Geoff Shackelford: Sand Blasting
In his column for the Fall 2024 issue of LINKS Magazine, Geoff Shackelford writes that bunkers are supposed to be hazards, not hell holes.
Geoff Shackelford: A Plea for the Wee Par Three
No hole in golf offers a richer combination of fun and fright for pros and amateurs alike than the short one-shotter The wee par three is having a moment. Surprising as it is to believe, the little knee-knocking, heart-stopping thrillers had fallen out of favor, one-shotters under 155-or-so yards becoming victims as developers and architects […]
Geoff Shackelford: Imitation at Augusta National is the Highest Form of Flattery
Augusta National, which has been the inspiration for many courses built since, was itself largely inspired by the game’s classic layouts. At least, that’s what they said at the time. Augusta National started out as a concept course. A greatest hits package in spirit. Co-founder Clifford Roberts bought into Alister MacKenzie’s vision and then sold […]
Geoff Shackelford: Why We Don’t Need Professional Golfers
The more pro golfers squabble over obscene amounts of money, the less the public will care. And that’s just fine. The verdict is in. A sport played in some form by 70 or so million around the globe does not hinge on the popularity of the few hundred or so professionals who believe they are […]
12 Great Golf Reads This Christmas
From absorbing and educational to sentimental and hilarious, here’s a dozen great golf books for Christmas and beyond. Two Ruddy Ducks and a Partridge on a Par Three Clive Agran This 160-page paperback might be an inexpensive stocking filler, but it could turn out to be the highlight of your Christmas. Agran has a very […]
Geoff Shackelford: A Cup Half Empty
Courses on this side of the Atlantic have made for better Ryder Cup venues than those in Europe. One selection could change all that. Credit for the modern Ryder Cup’s revival starts with continental Europe’s inclusion in 1979 after Great Britain and Ireland grew tired of keeping calm and carrying on. Teams armed with Seves […]
Los Angeles Country Club: Ready For Its Close-Up
Los Angeles Country Club’s storied, if mysterious, North Course earns the U.S. Open spotlight It’s time to pull back the curtains. After an absence of 75 years, the U.S. Open is returning to our nation’s second-largest city and to a first-time venue, the Los Angeles Country Club. Course connoisseurs are salivating at the prospect of […]
Book Review: “Golf Architecture for Normal People” by Geoff Shackelford
Geoff Shackelford’s 10th golf book (he also wrote a tribute to champion racehorse Zenyatta in 2011) probably won’t sell enough copies. That’s not to say it won’t sell plenty; it will—the author’s words are indisputably authoritative and invariably entertaining. It just won’t sell enough. Not all 70 million golfers worldwide will buy a copy, though […]
Matching Golf’s Most Noteworthy Architects With Their Hollywood Equivalents
Visionaries, craftsmen, and taskmasters, golf course architects and movie directors share many of the same talents—and temperaments Amateur golf architect George Thomas never emerged from a barranca yelling “Cut!” And he never audaciously insisted on cutting up a marble floor to get his strategic angles just right, a bit of legendary assiduousness attributed to a […]
