Once again, Golf Course Trades delivers in the biggest way. My Conklin PLayers Club article was a ton of fun to research and write,but all the good folks at the magazine made it look fantastic. From the article: “One night, out of a clear blue sky, Rick Rickard, who had never played a day of golf in his life, came home and announced to his wife Theresa...
Are you ready or some football picks? We are. Jay’s Plays NFL Picks is back for it’s 13th blockbuster season. First we want to welcome back all our readers from Golf News Net. Glad to have you aboard again. Also welcome to all the listeners on the Jay’s Plays Radio Show. We’ve been kicking ass and taking names for much of the last decade...
BOSTON, MA – There was a story going around among Foo Fighters fans that Dave Grohl was losing his voice, but Grohl was having none of that. In fact, just a fistful of songs into their first Fenway Park show of 2018, and there was Grohl shouting so loudly, he might have been trying to deafen every denizen of Suffolk County. “Heeeeeey Bostooooooooon! They...
While we finish our Boston Golf article and get ready to turn to both Monterey Peninsula Country club and the imminent football season, we’ll take a moment to send our best wishes to Art Spander on the occasion of his 80th birthday! Art is a living legend. He’s a been writing since before I was born, covering every major sporting event in the World. He...
Yankee Stadsium of Golf or Graveyard of Champions? Winged Foot is both. Golf Course Trades has my story about Winged Foot’s restoration and head superintendent Steve Rabideau. From the article: “It’s a monumental responsibility that Rabideau shoulders, but he’s proven time and again to be an Atlas among superintendents: stewarding a club with...
We’ll have two new pieces at Golf Course Trades in the next two months. One is on mighty Winged Foot, super Steve Rabideau, and the Anderson Memorial. (I played the West Course on club championship weekend, and OH MY GOD 3-1/2 ROUGH< TEES BACK, AND GREENS AT 13. Why not just slather me in BBQ sauce and turn the velociraptors loose?) Both courses, fresh off Gil...
Just under eight miles as the crow flies from Bellerive Country Club, site of this week’s 100th PGA Championship, while the golf world celebrates the PGA of America’s centennial anniversary, a far more grave, but just as riveting drama is unfolding. St. Louis was where much of the uranium used in the first atomic bombs was enriched. Although those bombs...
We’ll be paying the PGA Championship in August for the last time this year; it moves to mid-May starting in 2019. Here is a list of the future PGA Championship venues going forward – at least the ones that have been determined… 2018 – Bellerive Country Club, St. Louis, Mo. 2019 – Bethpage State Park, (Black Course) Bethpage, N.Y. 2020...
It’s the one day of the year when the golf writers become golf stars…and it’s a good thing for them that the cameras aren’t rolling, because play would look like U.S. Open Saturday at Shinnecock Hills pretty quick. The 12th annual Writer Cup, the yearly showdown between the Philly golf writers and the New York scribes, tees of this Thursday at...
We interrupt our Open Championship Coverage for a running public service announcement: when racing, be careful not to cover up your bib, or it can mess up your timing chip! It was the biggest race of the year: the Boilermaker, the de facto national championship of the 15K distance. 16,000 runners, including Olympians. Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, England, and over 20...
The de facto world championship of golf will be contested at one of golf’s most horrifying torture chambers. You think Shinnecock was tough? Wait till the wind blows at Carnoustie! The winner will need a complete game all facets must be sharp, Moreover, the Euros have a huge advantage here at this somber, narrow, Barry Burn criss-crossed Byzantine maze of a...
As always, GNN does a terrific job of making my articles look magazine-worthy. Both of these courses are pleasant surprises. Timber Banks has superb green complexes, while Copake has interesting false fronts and sides to greens. Both courses put a premium on second shot accuracy, and they are both wonderfully inexpensive as well.
2018 – Carnoustie Golf Links, Carnoustie, Scotland
2019 – Royal Portrush Golf Club, Northern Ireland
2020 – Royal St George’s Golf Club, Kent, England
2021 – Old Course at St Andrews Links, Fife, Scotland
So I received this email recently: Dear Jay: My job has me driving all across New York State, and occasionally when I’m done working I can squeeze in a round somewhere. But I’m having trouble finding good public courses on the road between Rochester and NYC. Can you help a sista out? Where can I get a quick round in at a good price? Nicole in Brewerton...
SOUTHAMPTON, NY – Brooks Koepka may have won the trophy again, and Tommy Fleetwood might have won the hearts of golfers everywhere with his tournament record-tying 63 and rock-star hair, but Shinnecock Hills won the 118th U.S. Open. As it should be; at a truly great U.S. Open, the course is always the star. Koepka became the first repeat U.S. Open Champion...