Shinnecock Hills U.S. Open Preview

By Adam Schupak   SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — As soon as the great, rambling white-and-brown gabled structure that is Shinnecock Hills Golf Club pops into view, hearts pump for golfers as if on a first date with a beautiful woman. Golf’s original clubhouse, a Stanford White design, dominates the surrounding landscape on the south shore of […]

Playing Shinnecock Before the U.S. Open

By Ian Critser   Through a welcome twist of fate, I recently found myself sitting on the porch at Shinnecock Hills after walking 27 holes, a mere month before the 2018 U.S. Open. Driving up Tuckahoe Road, the iconic Stanford White clubhouse dramatically reveals itself as you crest a hill. Stepping inside, it feels as […]

Classic Course: Somerset Hills Country Club

By Tom Ierubino   Hidden away in Bernardsville, N.J., seven miles from the USGA’s headquarters in Far Hills, Somerset Hills is a place where time seems to stand still—but in a good way. There are no cart paths, and most of the golfers walk. The understated clubhouse is more about utility than grandeur. The same […]

Great Courses of Britain & Ireland: Enniscrone

The golf club celebrates its 100th year in 2018, but as I round the peak of towering Cnoc na gCorp in search of my ball, I can’t help but ponder the millennia of wind and tides and sliding glaciers that pushed this sandy pyramid up out of the dunes. It is the tallest ridge on […]

Trinity Forest: A Golf Course Built on a Landfill

“Building a golf course should just not be this hard.” Those aren’t words one expects to hear from architect Bill Coore, who along with partner Ben Crenshaw has been responsible for some of the most important and appreciated layouts of the last few decades. But it’s exactly what Coore said over the phone to Jonas […]

Classic Course: San Francisco Golf Club

By Brian Hewitt   A.W. Tillinghast’s only West Coast design has been restored to its original splendor In 1918, when the San Francisco Golf Club unveiled what turned out to be A. W. Tillinghast’s only original design west of Texas, it produced barely a murmur. No one knew the course would set the bar for […]

Congaree – A South Carolina Golf Club with a Mission

By Graylyn Loomis   When a new world-class course is being built, the golf world typically knows about it—and talks about it—years in advance. But not Congaree, in Ridgeland, S.C., about 30 miles northwest (inland) from Hilton Head. Even the locals didn’t know what was being built on the former rice plantation, while a dive […]

The Story of Liberty National, NYC’s Local Track

By James A. Frank   Paul Fireman is a man with a rare sort of vision—the ability to see possibilities where others don’t. Back in 1979 he saw potential in a fledgling British shoe manufacturer. He became the U.S. distributor, eventually bought the company, and in 2006 sold that company—Reebok—for $3.8 billion. About that same […]

Tiger Woods’ Bluejack National is Open

  Getting Tiger Woods to design the golf course shows you’re creating something truly memorable. At Bluejack National, an hour north of Houston, everything will be just as special. “We want our members and their guests to enjoy five-star, white-glove service,” says club president Casey Paulson. “But not in a stuffy way. You should feel […]

Tiger Woods' Bluejack National is Open

  Getting Tiger Woods to design the golf course shows you’re creating something truly memorable. At Bluejack National, an hour north of Houston, everything will be just as special. “We want our members and their guests to enjoy five-star, white-glove service,” says club president Casey Paulson. “But not in a stuffy way. You should feel […]