Pennard Golf Club, Wales
By Tom Doak Of all the golf courses I discovered in my year overseas studying golf architecture after college, the most unexpected find was an unknown links in southern Wales. Driving through the old gray city of Swansea, smokestacks in full force, it became clear how the course might have been overlooked for decades. […]
The Royal St. George’s Golf Club, England
The founding of England’s first major-championship golf venue might easily have been dubbed the Great Escape of 1887. It was conducted by a group of frustrated golfers from Wimbledon Common in the suburbs of London, where the game was played by two golf clubs on the same course—in opposite directions. The search for new ground […]
St. George’s Hill Golf Club, England
Given that England’s patron saint is the swashbuckling St. George, legendary slayer of fire-breathing dragons, it’s fitting that the nation’s greatest and most free-spirited links course should be called Royal St. George’s. But it’s equally appropriate that England’s most handsome and, yes, most heroically fashioned inland golf course should be named St. George’s Hill, located […]
Royal West Norfolk Golf Club, Brancaster, England
About the only thing that ever changes in Brancaster is the tide. It isn’t hard to imagine yourself in some bygone era as you approach this picturesque little village with snug houses and a nearly perfectly preserved 14th-century church. Just beyond Brancaster village, and linked to it by an old causeway, is an expanse of […]
St. Enodoc Golf Club, Cornwall, England
Occupying the extreme westerly tip of the British Isles, with mood and scenery unlike that found in any other part of England, Cornwall is more Celtic than Anglo-Saxon and, as any Cornishman will quickly tell you, is the region of Britain with the likeliest claim to King Arthur and his Knights of the […]
Formby Golf Club, England
Scan the itinerary of any golfer on a pilgrimage to the British Isles and the chances are Formby Golf Club will be somewhere near the bottom, next to the reminder about buying presents for the family at the airport on the way home. There is one reason for this oversight and it has nothing […]
Murcar Links Golf Club, Scotland
If you agree that a golf adventure doesn’t have to begin or end at the links themselves, the drive north along Scotland’s east coast to Murcar Links Golf Club will be part of the fun. True, you can fly into Aberdeen, Murcar’s home, but most American guests will be coming overland from St. Andrews, […]
Machrihanish Golf Club, Scotland
If you have heard of Machrihanish, you may know that it is situated close to the southern tip of Kintyre, a 40-mile-long peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic off the Ayrshire coast. Its backdrop is mountainous and the seascapes are shatteringly beautiful. You will doubtless know about its opening hole. The par 4 […]
Machrie Golf Links, Scotland
You’ve played the country’s Open courses—the Old Course, Carnoustie and Muirfield, Turnberry, Troon and Prestwick. You’ve journeyed to Royal Dornoch, stopping at Nairn en route. You’ve been thrilled at Cruden Bay, battered by Royal Aberdeen and charmed at North Berwick. You’ve ventured to Machrihanish and struck that wondrous opening tee shot across a sliver of […]
