North Coast 500 Day 1: Edinburgh to Dornoch

  This is a series of articles about the North Coast 500, a 500-mile road trip through the Scottish Highlands. Associate Editor Graylyn Loomis is making the journey and will be posting here every day of the trip. Follow along here and on LINKS social media as he drives ever-further into rural Scotland! __________ I’ve […]

Understanding Erin Hills, Host of the 2017 U.S. Open

erin hills

To understand Erin Hills for those who have yet to see it, you must start with what it is not. “It’s not parkland, it’s not heathland, it’s not linksland,” says John Morrissett, the competitions director at the Wisconsin course, which will host the U.S. Open this month. “It is really a mixture of elements.” “It […]

Will Golf’s Future Emerge from Iceland?

By Tony Dear   Lost among recent news items that included the long-awaited sale of TaylorMade, Rory McIlroy’s signing with the Carlsbad-based company, surprise wins on the PGA Tour by Brian Harman and Si Woo Kim, and the European Tour’s rather contrived but undeniably enjoyable Sixes event in England, was an announcement from the Golf […]

Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club – The Best Public Golf in Naples?

By Graylyn Loomis When Hurricane Irma shifted west September 2017, Naples, Fla. was in the middle of the path. Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club braced for the storm by shuttering windows and removing anything loose from the golf course. Once the storm passed and the resort team returned to assess the situation, they were […]

Mountain Shadows Short Course is Reborn – Just What Golf Needs?

    The conversation surrounding what makes golf fun, and where we can find it, has increased significantly of late. Frankly, fun was missing on most new courses over past decades, but with designs such as David McLay Kidd’s Gamble Sands and others roaring onto the scene, “fun” is making a comeback. One such place where fun was clearly the […]

A Golf Trip to the Himalayas

By Oliver Horovitz Nepal is a land of wonderful extremes. Library-like quiet in its mountains and chaotic energy in Kathmandu, the capital. Spirituality is everywhere: Multicolored prayer flags flutter in the breeze and Buddhist lamas pass you on mountain trails. The beauty of the country is topped only by that of the Nepali spirit, all […]

Golf in Central Oregon

By Graylyn Loomis   Keen readers of the LINKS Insider will remember writer Tony Dear’s recent newsletter on golf in the Pacific Northwest. While he covered a great number of areas, this week we will take a deeper dive into Oregon, and specifically the central part of the state centered around the city of Bend. […]

Where to Eat, Stay, and Play Golf in San Diego

By David Weiss   San Diego is coming of age quite gracefully, graduating from swabbies and flip-flops to Jimmy Choos and start-ups in what seems like the blink of an eye. Gone are the downtown days of soup kitchens and thrift shops. The Gaslamp Quarter—version 2.0—is now home to income-disposing millennials in search of the […]

A Golf Course to Suit Every Style of Play

By Tony Dear   Want to get maximum enjoyment out of your next golf vacation? Choose a course that matches the character of your game. You toil hard to earn yourself a little vacation time with your clubs. You book the flights, hotel, rental car, and tee times, excited to play a highly ranked course. But […]

Silloth on Solway – An English Golf Gem

By Nick Edmund Americans traveling to Britain will typically head for London and Stratford to gain their “culture fix,” then journey to Scotland to sample the scenery. Such an itinerary is understandable, but it excludes a visit to arguably the most beautiful area of the entire British Isles, the English Lake District, a mountainous region […]