White Bear Yacht Club, Minnesota
By Josh Karp In 1921 F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, spent the summer—or at least part of it—living in a rented room at White Bear Yacht Club. Located 20 miles northeast of St. Paul, Minnesota, Fitzgerald’s hometown, the club seemed a perfect place to swim, relax and play golf in a quiet […]
River Oaks Country Club, Texas
River Oaks Country Club illustrates two of the main themes in the evolution of course design in America. Donald Ross’ original layout of 1923 was a classical example of his strategic style of design, while Joe Finger’s redesign of the late 1960s combined modern engineering with elements of the penal style to stiffen the […]
Rich Harvest Farms, Illinois
Whereas a lot of wealthy individuals have built golf clubs, very few of them have actually designed the courses. But Jerry Rich, inspired by the late architect Dick Wilson, bought 1,820 acres of farmland 50 miles west of Chicago and with the guidance of course architect Greg Martin, built 18 of the most demanding holes—playing […]
Play Golf and Paraglide at Torrey Pines
At Torrey Pines, it is possible to pack two life experiences in a single day: playing a U.S. Open course and enjoying the exhilaration of paragliding at the Torrey Pines Gliderport, the self-proclaimed mecca of free flight in the U.S. Every year, during coverage of the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines, CBS’ cameras always catch shots of the […]
Interlachen Country Club, Minnesota
When Bobby Jones won the 1930 U.S. Open, Interlachen Country Club etched its name in American golf history. With his victory, Jones set golf partisans on edge. He was already the British Amateur and British Open champ that year, and the Grand Slam was within reach. The fact that Interlachen hosted the U.S. Open […]
Pecan Valley Golf Club, Texas
If your name is Arnold Palmer, even your failures can give a place a reputation. At San Antonio’s Pecan Valley Golf Club, it’s been more than three decades since Palmer’s second-place finish to Julius Boros in the 1968 PGA Championship, but locals still talk about the King’s dollar-short heroics like it was yesterday. Boros, […]
Olympia Fields Country Club, Illinois
Golf bag slung over my shoulder, I hail a cab from in front of a Chicago hotel, ride seven blocks to Randolph Station and board a southbound Metra train, which rolls out of the Loop at 7:48 on a Saturday morning. The Sears Tower and John Hancock Building receding into the skyline behind us […]
Wykagyl Country Club
Measuring a mere 6,702 yards, Wykagyl Country Club does not intimidate on paper, but since it was built more than a century ago, its relentlessly hilly, rocky terrain has provided a worthy challenge for the game’s best. And if not for a location in the heart of New York’s golf-rich Westchester County, where neighbors […]
Sonoma Golf Club, California
You would expect a golfer with a classic swing to recognize a classic course when he sees one, and sure enough, when Sam Snead was asked to name the best course design he’d ever encountered, the Slammer answered: “One you probably never heard of—the Sonoma Golf Course in California.” Something in the sinewy twists […]
Ekwanok Country Club, Vermont
The Old Man’s design debut remains the unsurpassed paragon of golf in the Green Mountain State
