12 Best Opening Par Fives in Golf
As he did with the Los Angeles Country Club’s North course, site of the 2023 U.S. Open, George Thomas Jr. preferred to kick off his course designs with a par five. So did post-World War II design great Dick Wilson, who started Bay Hill and Doral’s Blue Monster in that fashion. While a surprising number […]
The 10 Best Trios of Closing Holes
Frequently, the 18th hole is a course’s grand statement, the big finish that settles all bets and creates lasting memories. On occasion, however, it’s the 17th hole that steals the show. Rarer still is when a great 16th hole kicks off an outstanding homestretch, making for a truly unforgettable conclusion to the round. To find […]
Best Drivable Par Fours
It’s not often on the PGA Tour that you witness crowds roar merely because a caddie has handed his player a wood instead of an iron. Drivable par fours provide that experience. Par fours that are designed to be driven under the right circumstances, based on yardage, weather, or course conditions are among the most […]
10 of the Best U.S. Courses with No Water
Ask most golfers about the type of hazard that beckons most ominously during a round and there’s a good chance they’ll go with “water;” from oceans, bays, and Great Lakes to rushing rivers, tranquil streams and man-made ponds that can swallow golf balls by the thousands. At the same time, water can bring an undeniably […]
Arch 101: How Bunkers Look
The highest form of the art of golf course architecture is blending the design seamlessly into the surrounds through the use of shaping/grading or vegetation. I certainly feel that way about bunkers. Perhaps, in my case, it is a nod to the original eroded, burrowing animal scrapes from which the sand bunker evolved. However, as […]
Gil Hanse’s Architecture 101: How Bunkers Look
There’s more to a bunker’s visual appeal than meets the eye The highest form of the art of golf course architecture is blending the design seamlessly into the surrounds through the use of shaping/grading or vegetation. I certainly feel that way about bunkers. Perhaps, in my case, it is a nod to the original eroded, […]
Modern Classics: Sand Hills
Kudos to the course that cleared the way for what we think of as architecture today Some twenty-five years later, I still remember the sense of wonder that overcame me when I first saw Sand Hills. The drive out there, six hours from Omaha, was mesmerizing, especially the last hour through the namesake Sand Hills—19,000 […]
