The Real Cost of Hosting a USGA Event
Hosting a USGA National Championship can bring a club notoriety and prestige—along with a major financial headache During the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship this past March, Innisbrook Resort owner Sheila Johnson sipped on a cocktail at a media reception when her phone buzzed. After checking the incoming e-mail message, a smile creased her faced. She […]
Golf Course Architects Discuss Firestone CC South
By Tony Dear The South Course at Firestone CC in Akron, Ohio, has hosted big-time golf since the mid-1950s. First came the Rubber City Open whose winners included Tommy Bolt, Ed Furgol, and Arnold Palmer. It staged three PGA Championships—1960, ’66, and ’75. From 1962 to ’98, it was the venue for the World […]
Golf Course Architects Discuss Firestone CC South
By Tony Dear The South Course at Firestone CC in Akron, Ohio, has hosted big-time golf since the mid-1950s. First came the Rubber City Open whose winners included Tommy Bolt, Ed Furgol, and Arnold Palmer. It staged three PGA Championships—1960, ’66, and ’75. From 1962 to ’98, it was the venue for the World […]
Wisconsin – America’s Next Great Golf Destination
The national spotlight doesn’t fall on Wisconsin very often, and when it does the subject invariably seems limited to cheese, beer, or the Green Bay Packers. This week though, the Badger State is front and center—in golfers’ households anyway, as the U.S. Open unfolds at Erin Hills, a dramatic 650-acre, glacier-formed course 35 miles northwest […]
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 […]
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 […]
A Different Day, Different Pin, Different Hole at Augusta National
The characteristics of Augusta National’s greens—large, contoured, quick—create very different holes when the pin is moved. The Masters distinguishes itself from other tournaments in so many ways, but one of the most fascinating is that competitors here aren’t playing the same 18 holes four times. Rather, they face 72 distinct challenges. There are obviously […]
