Ballyliffin Golf Club, Ireland
The Second Coming of Ballybunion? Years ago I subscribed to the New Yorker and it was then that I first became familiar with the name Herbert Warren Wind, the sportswriter. I was attracted not only by the clarity of his writing but by the mellifluosity of his name, which had as good a ring […]
Pine Lakes Country Club, Myrtle Beach
The very first golf resort in Myrtle Beach, Ocean Forest Hotel & Country Club, opened in 1927 right before the Great Depression. On March 12, amidst the greatest economic downturn since then, the club (renamed Pine Lakes in 1944) held its grand reopening following a 20-month, $15 million renovation of its Robert White course and […]
Playing Golf in Vietnam
More than three decades after the fall of Saigon, the Vietnam War is still foremost in the U.S. psyche, influencing movies, literature and even the most recent presidential election, in which John Kerry’s war record was a major issue. But in Vietnam, the “American War” is all but forgotten. With a young population—the median age […]
French Lick’s Third Century
New owners of the French Lick Springs Resort & Spa recently announced plans to renovate the Donald Ross-designed Hill Course there. It was hard to hear the news and not feel anxiety. Followed by trepidation. Angst, even. The Hill is an 85-year-old heirloom, one of the last virtually untouched Ross designs anywhere. To play […]
Barnbougle Dunes Golf Course
For Americans, Tasmania symbolizes the ultimate remote destination; even if most Americans don’t know exactly where it is, the name alone represents a place as far as one could imagine getting away. So it came as a surprise that our new course in Tasmania is accessible from Australia’s major population centers, especially Melbourne—a one-hour flight and just […]
Golf de Morfontaine, France
Eighty years ago, if you lived in Europe, had some land and some money, and wanted to build a top-quality golf course, the go-to guy was Tom Simpson—assuming you could put up with his act. Picture yourself, the course owner, at a site visit. You’re out on a boggy moor in your tweeds and […]
County Sligo Golf Club (Rosses Point), Ireland
Perhaps more than any other links course, County Sligo Golf Club—or Rosses Point, as it is more commonly known—is infused and inspired by its natural setting. This charmer in the northwest of Ireland is surrounded by the romantic scenery that William Butler Yeats, the greatest of Irish poets, made famous: the semicircle of sea, […]
Fairmont Grand Del Mar Golf Resort
With its shops, restaurants and galleries, the tony oceanfront burg of Del Mar, just north of Torrey Pines, more resembles a European village than a California town. So the Fairmont Grand Del Mar, a cozy 249-room Mediterranean-style resort, is of a piece with its setting. The resort was inspired by the work of early […]
Golf Travel: Brainerd Lakes, Minnesota
Summers are short in Minnesota, but the days are long, and golf-mad locals make the most of them. With daylight lingering until 9:30 in peak season, locals find it easy to get a round in after work or play 36 on a day off. In fact, Minnesotans are more passionate about golf than everything […]
The Links at Fancourt, South Africa
Gary Player may be the greatest ambassador South Africa has ever known, and for golfers, there may be no better reason to visit Player’s native country than his 2000 design, The Links at Fancourt. Part of a 72-hole resort and residential community, the par-73, 7,748-yard layout sits on a former airfield, in view of the […]
