10 Courses with Back-to-Back Par Fives
Much of the time, par fives are polarizing golf holes. Some players step on the tee with confidence, expecting to be on the green in regulation, often with a makeable putt. Others tee it up feeling as if they’re miles away from the flag. Not unlike layouts with back-to-back par threes, courses that feature consecutive […]
12 of Golf’s Scariest Watery Graves
Whether you call them water hazards or penalty areas, golf’s lakes, rivers, streams, and oceans often become final resting places for our errant shots. You can recover from deep rough or a bunker. But there’s no coming back from a water hazard unless it’s a very shallow one and you’re feeling especially courageous. Here’s a […]
Pete Dye’s 9 Scariest Holes
Tiger Woods once asked me, “Has anybody ever built harder courses than Pete Dye?” I replied, “Nobody has ever built courses that are more visually intimidating than Pete Dye.” Tiger shot back, “Exactly.” Indeed, Dye himself stated, “My overall philosophy is to make the hole appear more difficult than it really is.” In reality, Pete […]
Great Public Golf Spots in Northern Florida
As his follow-up to building Michael Jordan’s exclusive Grove XXIII course, architect Bobby Weed designed an innovative and environmentally sensitive course called Stillwater outside Jacksonville that opened in 2022. The 18-hole layout features a unique and versatile routing that can also be played in loops of 3, 6, 9, and 12 holes. There’s no rough, […]
9 Perilous Places You’d Be Excited to Play From
Some of the world’s most revered holes (and courses) are equally famous for exceptionally challenging predicaments and hazards that golfers are sometimes confronted with. Those perilous places are so well known—or, in some cases, so diabolical—they can even solicit excitement from players who are eager (and cautiously optimistic) to escape from them. Here, we’ve highlighted […]
Golf’s Ultimate Tests of Precision
Chasing bullseyes: Harbour Town Golf Links is golf’s ultimate test of precision Swing from the heels. Grip it and rip it. Let the big dog eat. Not at Harbour Town, you don’t. A bomber’s paradise? Harbour Town is anything but. “I get angrier here than anywhere else,” said Jack Nicklaus back in the day. “This […]
10 Unsung Island Greens
When you hear “island green,” what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Chances are it’s Pete (or Alice) Dye’s design at TPC Sawgrass, the iconic par-three 17th hole seen every year at The Players Championship. If not, maybe it’s the floating green golfers need a boat to get to at Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene or […]
10 of Golf’s Most Impressive U.S. Clubhouses
The earliest clubhouse in golf has roots that go back to the 1700s in Scotland—not at St. Andrews, but near Leith Links and Bruntsfield Links in Edinburgh. It was home to the local member association of golfers, hence the name “club” house. Today, the clubhouse has become commonplace in golf, from grand and stately structures […]
The Most Underrated Holes at Famous Courses
Each year when Masters week approaches, the golfing world transfixes its attention on Augusta National Golf Club. Golf enthusiasts picture the fairways and greens of Amen Corner or perhaps the club’s idyllic 16th hole. Similarly, when other widely acclaimed courses like TPC Sawgrass or the Old Course at St. Andrews come to mind, they conjure […]
Golf’s Ultimate Tests of Patience
In the first in a series about the attributes that are central to the design, challenge, and joy of the game’s most cherished courses, we identify the “Ultimate Test of Patience”: Pinehurst No. 2 Anyone who warms to the mention of golf’s greatest courses cannot help but engage in the time-honored grill room discourse on […]