Characters: Troy Van Biezen
Chiropractor Troy Van Biezen gets his PGA Tour clients aligned to win Troy Van Biezen has many claims to fame, but perhaps the best is being the chiropractor and trainer who helped the surgically repaired and seemingly broken body of Tiger Woods win a 15th major championship. “When we got together,” Van Biezen recalls, “I […]
Modern Classics: TXO
This Texas terror—formerly known as Wolf Point Ranch—puts a premium on strategy, pinpoint play, and one’s skill at wrangling an invitation When Al Stanger contacted Mike Nuzzo about creating a personal golf course near Carancahua Bay, about two hours southwest of Houston on the Gulf Coast, Nuzzo assumed the Texas rancher was really looking for something […]
Great Courses of Britain & Ireland: Royal Porthcawl
Yet to host an Open Championship, the brute of Welsh golf boasts many hallmarks of great British courses Only a few die-hard advocates of Royal St. David’s and Aberdovey would dispute Royal Porthcawl’s claim to being the finest golf course in Wales. Moreover, many knowledgeable commentators would go further and argue that it is one […]
10 U.S. Golf Holes with the Most “Water Balls”
Who among us hasn’t stepped up to a take a shot, made a quick hazard assessment after surveying the landscape (or waterscape) in front of them, and then pulled a different ball out of our golf bag to play? And how often did that beat-up ball we resigned to losing end up in a watery […]
Bernard Darwin: History’s Best Golf Writer
The scion of a great English family wrote about golf better than he played it, which is saying a lot The life story of Bernard Darwin—arguably history’s first golf writer, inarguably its best—reads like a season of Masterpiece Theater. He was born in 1876 into a family of Victorian-era royalty: His grandfather was the naturalist […]
Golf Cruises Are Growing in Popularity
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 […]
A Golf Trip to Vietnam
No nation has heightened its golf appeal more dramatically than this exotic, bustling land Over the past 20 years, Vietnam has become one of the world’s fastest-growing golf destinations. About twice the size of Florida, with landscapes ranging from mountains to jungle to beaches, Vietnam offers a variety of golf experiences that are unique to […]
The Next A-List Golf Architects
On an undeniably tall, slippery ladder, three acclaimed designers are primed to climb to the top rung. Every generation has its own collection of A-List architects. Naming them isn’t hard. A stiffer challenge is identifying who will comprise the next crop. Being an A-List architect means your name is on the short list every time […]
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 […]
The Ace and the Hurricane: Katharine Hepburn’s Whirlwind Day at Fenwick
Katharine Hepburn’s very good, very bad day at Fenwick At the close of the 20th century, the American Film Institute named Katharine Hepburn “the greatest American screen legend” among females. For sheer drama, however, no scene she ever filmed could compare with her real-life role on September 21, 1938. Earlier that year, Hepburn was mired […]
