TPC Snoqualmie Ridge
The TPC designation lends golf courses a certain cachet. The oft-challenging TPC layouts share a number of recurring design features: risk-reward par 4s; grassy mounds and swales; tightly mown chipping areas; and at least one short-but-dangerous par 3, which often seems to appear at the 17th hole (a la TPC Sawgrass). Surely one of the […]
The Orchards Golf Club, Massachusetts
The great golf secret of the Berkshires was the achievement of Donald Ross at the Orchards, followed by the unspoken tale of the course’s decline. A round of applause, then, for its stirring comeback. On New England woodland that creaks, slants and upwells into drumlins and ridges, Ross was always able to see the future. […]
Crosswater Golf and Social Club, Oregon
Rare is the golfer who hasn’t driven past a wide-open patch of grass and envisioned a golf course on it. Case in point: Jim Ramey, a former California club pro and avid outdoorsman who moved to Sunriver, Oregon, in the mid-’70s. For years as golf superintendent at Sunriver Resort, Ramey would look longingly on a nearby meadow at the […]
Philadelphia Country Club, Pennsylvania
Byron Nelson won the U.S. Open only once, in 1939 at Philadelphia Country Club’s Spring Mill Course. For every golfer who can recite that bit of golf history, a dozen more will say, “That’s the year Sam Snead blew it with an 8 on the last hole.” Indeed, Snead had needed only a par […]
Journey Golf Course, Pechanga Resort & Casino, California
Combining a great golf resort and wine tasting in California usually meant Napa or Santa Barbara, but since the Journey at Pechanga opened in August, you can add Temecula, located in an inland valley between Los Angeles and San Diego and home to 22 wineries, into the mix. The six-year old Pechanga Resort & Casino is the […]
An Understated Classic: Timuquana Country Club
Long before David Duval soldiered to victory in 2001 over the hard-and-fast links of Royal Lytham and St. Annes, his father sagely predicted that son David’s first major title would be a British Open. Formidable on any course, Duval’s length, creativity and steely focus seemed particularly suited to the challenges of links golf. Firm, running […]
Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course, Nevada
Lake Tahoe surely is one of the most spectacular settings you’ll ever find for a golf course. Measuring 12 miles across and nearly 1,000 feet deep on average, these blue waters are so pure you could spot a golf ball 75 feet below the surface (and if you did, it would probably be one […]
Nantucket Golf Club, Massachusetts
Nantucket Golf Club may be the closest thing to a genuine British Isles course there is on American soil. Nantucket is 30 miles at sea from Hyannis on the southern coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. More than 40 percent of the island is protected conservation land, and extensive measures have been taken to protect its […]
Metedeconk National Golf Club
Metedeconk National is a secluded retreat located in Jackson, the geographic center of New Jersey. Yet, it has the advantage of being situated just 60 miles south of Manhattan. It tries hard to be a rustic, off-the-beaten-path golf retreat, but its facilities are so good, its 27 holes so well-crafted and maintained, that it’s […]
Philadelphia Cricket Club
The tee is mildly elevated. The green is markedly elevated. The 459-yard par 4 is mightily intimidating. The drive must carry a stream about 175 yards out, as well as a long slit of sand edging more than halfway across the fairway from the right. Majestic hardwoods frame the landing area. There is no […]