7 Great “Mountain” Golf Courses You Can Play
What are some of top golf courses that have the word “mountain,” or a version thereof, as a part of their name?
Great Public Golf Courses Around Seattle
In his 1962 travelogue Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck wrote of his shock at seeing the rapid expansion of Seattle. He’d thought of it as a “little city of space and trees and gardens, its houses matched to such a background,” but it was now a place of eight-lane highways with traffic that rushed with […]
6 Mostly Undiscovered U.S. Golf Destinations
You might picture long-established centers like Scottsdale, Myrtle Beach, and Palm Springs when asked to think of a golf destination. They could obviously get by without it but, for most people—certainly LINKS subscribers, anyway—the golf is really what you go for. Or you might be imagining Bandon Dunes, Streamsong, and Sand Valley, built for no […]
Top Short Course Openings for 2021
One of the noteworthy shifts the golf industry has experienced in recent years is the increased popularity of shorter courses, frequently as a complement to traditional courses at established facilities or in golf-rich locations. As such, this installment focuses on some of these alternative offerings: par-3 courses, 9-holers, and courses featuring a non-traditional number of […]
5 Public U.S. Courses I HAVE to Play in 2021
I’ve been extremely fortunate to play some of the country’s finest public courses over my 30 years of life. I got my first taste of Pinehurst playing No. 2 shortly after it’s restoration in 2011. In 2012, my dad and I took on Pebble Beach and for the first time I was able to enjoy […]
LINKS Golf Podcast Episode 67: An Extraordinary Golf Trip with David McLay-Kidd
Tony Dear has been friends with Scottish golf course architect David McLay-Kidd for many years, and recently joined the designer of Bandon Dunes and Mammoth Dunes on a trip to preview McLay-Kidd’s new short course at Washington’s Gamble Sands. On his way there, Dear flew with McLay-Kidd—a licensed pilot—but altered course on the journey home […]
QuickSands — How Much Fun Can You Handle?
I’m standing on the tee of the downhill 13th at the new QuickSands Course at Gamble Sands in central Washington, thinking that putter is probably the play. No question, actually. Really, the 13th sums up the tantalizing challenge of QuickSands perfectly. The hole may be playing 92 yards, but the tee sits about 50 feet […]
American Dream Courses: Northwest
If you’re into cool, small towns with more breweries than grocery stores, snow-capped volcanoes (dormant since Mount St. Helens blew in 1980), arid high desert, and primitive beaches backed by dark coniferous forests, then you’ll likely fall as hard for the Pacific Northwest as I did. The golf gets pretty sensational, too. You know about […]
New 14-Hole Short Course “QuickSands” Coming to Gamble Sands
David McLay Kidd and Troon Golf recently announced that ground has been broken on a 14-hole short course called “QuickSands” at Gamble Sands in Brewster, Wash.—the first of its kind in the state of Washington. The property’s second course joins the original McLay Kidd-designed 18-hole Sands course, the links style layout set in the high […]
The U.S. Open May Return to Chambers Bay
By Tony Dear A recent visit to the 2015 U.S. Open Venue more or less convinced our writer the championship will return one day. Given what happened in 2015, it’s likely that if and when the USGA ever announces the U.S. Open is returning to Chambers Bay, the backlash will be strong. You’ll remember most […]
