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 […]
The Crossings at Carlsbad, California
Home to Callaway, TaylorMade, Cobra and the Titleist Performance Institute, Carlsbad is one of the centers for golf in the United States. But despite its prominence in game, the city hasn’t really been a golf destination. The city’s latest course, the Crossings at Carlsbad, hopes to help change that. The 6,835-yard layout, owned by the city, joins two […]
Old Memorial Golf Club, Florida
In 1994 Outback Steakhouse founders Chris Sullivan, Bob Basham and Bob Merritt decided to move ahead with their dream of building a national golf club in their hometown of Tampa, Florida. After securing a 312-acre sandy site just 15 minutes from the Tampa airport, Steve Smyers built a course on a pure, undisturbed sanctuary where members and guests can […]
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 […]
Granite Bay Golf Club, California
At Granite Bay Golf Club, Mark Parsinen and Robert Trent Jones Jr. have reaffirmed the value of the game’s basic principles: sound routing, clubhouse designed for golfers, old-time feel to the bunker shapes and grasses, greens designed for thoughtful approach shots and the short game, dramatic setting. In 1990 Parsinen, who later went on […]