Scotland’s Quirkiest Golf Courses
Scotland’s Prestwick is the quirkiest championship course in golf Former USGA Executive Director Frank Hannigan called it “kinky.” Dan Jenkins noted it was replete with “charming atrocities.” Bernard Darwin was so smitten with its peculiar enticements that in 1913 he wrote, “A man is less likely to be contradicted in lauding Prestwick than in singing […]
Great Holes of the British Isles: 17th, Prestwick, “Alps”
The story of Prestwick Golf Club begins in 1851, when a group of friends gathered at the Red Lion Inn decided to create a golf club. Old Tom Morris was hired to be its first greenkeeper, and he competed in the first 12 Open Championships held on his then 12-hole home course, winning four times. […]
18 Exceptional Golf Courses in the Shadow of the Open Championship Venues
“Why then the world’s mine oyster, Which I with sword will open.” —The Merry Wives of Windsor Smiling at these words, you put down your book of Shakespeare and fall into a deep sleep. Now begins a remarkably vivid dream that fuses the quote with your other favorite subjects: golf and travel. The dream begins […]
The Brilliance of Old Tom Morris
June 16, 2021, was Old Tom Morris’s 200th birthday. While almost every golfer knows his name, few know much about him, golf’s first true Renaissance man—the best golfer in the world, the go-to expert in setting out a course, the first course superintendent, maker of golf equipment. Royalty, golf course architects, and journalists knew that […]
Template Holes: Golf’s Most Mimicked Designs
“But don’t let famed holes…such as the ‘Alps’ of Prestwick and ‘Redan’ of North Berwick, lead you into attempting to reproduce them. In trying to make your course fit certain famous hole treatments, you are certain to be doomed to disappointment.” —DONALD ROSS, Golf Has Never Failed Me Sorry, Don. They didn’t listen. The idea […]
Blades Golf Club: Houston’s Office Putting Course
You might be reading this on a typical day at the office, daydreaming of slipping out to the nearest muni where you can roll a few putts instead of shuffling through emails. It will probably take a drive, or short walk if you’re really lucky. At JH Blades, a Houston, Texas-based insurance company specializing in […]
Creating Alternatives to Original Golf Templates
The word ‘template’ is, of course, part of modern-day golf architecture speak. It’s not quite clear when the term was first used to describe certain hole designs, but we do know it has its origin in golf pioneer C.B. Macdonald’s trips to Britain and France between 1902 and 1906 when he sought to identify the […]
