WESTFIELD, NJ – One thing is for certain: in the coming months you’ll hear a lot about Shackamaxon Country Club, just a half an hour west of the City, in northern New Jersey. While the name of the golf course is indeed a double-breaking putt, if you think that’s tough, you should come and play the course. An old A.W. Tillinghast design from 1916...
Since all great epics come in trilogies (except Harry Potter), and since I’m still finishing my Tallgrass/Gil Hanse piece, here’s the sizzling climax of Golf and Spas! COEUR D’ALENE Britt and friends mentioned they were interested in possibly going to the Pacific Northwest, so how about Coeur D’Alene? “The water really is that blue and...
Hat tip to Niall Carlton for keeping his ear to the ground and doing some sleuthing worthy of Sherlock himself: We may son get the formal announcement that Royal Troon will host the 2016 Open Championship. After all the excitement of Rio and Doral, one wonders if Castle Stuart might get a nod some time:):) Future British Open Venues: 2012 – Royal Lytham &...
Photo courtesy of USGA and Gil Hanse Design. According to CBS Sports, American architect Gil Hanse will design the 2016 Olympic golf course in Rio de Janeiro, winning the selection Wednesday over perceived favorites Jack Nicklaus and Robert Trent Jones, Jr. There were eight finalists total. The Rio 2016 committee said Hanse Golf Design was “the candidate that...
On Wednesday the Olympics are expected to do what they always do, greedily chase the last dollar on the table and create a massively expensive venue that will go to waste once the games end. Expectation runs high that R&A Head Peter Dawson has pressured the decision makers to choose the “team” of Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam to build the Rio...
Here’s a great course map of the Olympic Club (Lake Course), site of the 2012 U.S.; Open. We’ll start a lively discussion soon of the 670-yard par-5 (16) as well as the reverse camber of the holes (discussed here with NoCal’s own Art Spander), and the 550-yard par-4. (Hint: Good stuff on the reverse camber!) And here’s a great shot of 18...
Last week’s piece on golf resorts and spas was so much a hit with the ladies, we’re going to give a bonus piece. So for Britt from Arlington and her golf friends from D.C., here’s Volume 2 of Golf and ***cringe***Spas… Leatherstocking Golf Club at the Otesaga Hotel Do you like baseball? How about Colonial American history? Opera and ballet? Okay...
From the USGA press release: Sand Creek Station Golf Course in Newton, Kan., has been selected by the United States Golf Association to host the 2014 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship. The dates of the championship are July 14-19. “We are very excited about taking the Amateur Public Links Championship to Sand Creek Station,” said Bill McCarthy...
Per a Ron Whitten tweet, seminal golf course architect Geoffrey Cornish died peacefully at his home at age 97. We’ll remain dark the rest of the day in respect to Mr. Cornish.
[Author’s Note: This interview was over 17 pages long. Here are some fun and interesting excerpts. You’ll have to buy the book for the rest:)] Dan Hixson – Zen and the Art of the Do It Yourself Golf Design Career MC Lars is actually wrong (for once!) Post-punk laptop rap isn’t the new DIY: golf course design is, at least if you’re Dan...
While I get a few more interviews and course reviews finshed, here’s some great insighta o Chambers Bay from Robert Trent Jones, Jr., who by this time next week = may pull a come from nehind victory in the Rio primary:) (I.E. The Olympics election…err…selection…) JF: Now those hummocks look like berms that Seth Raynor did at flat courses like...
Day 3 – Gold Mountain, (Olympic Course) 5:15 a.m., Seattle No matter how many times I do it, waking up in darkness isn’t for me. My body clock is used to the California hours that all entertainment lawyers keep, even in New York. (If a Cali lawyer calls you at 4:59 his time and you’re not there, as Ian Faith said, “they start screaming like a...
Day 1 – The Road to Chambers Bay Warm clothes? Check. Laptop? Check. Clubs? That’s a big check! And we were off to Seattle for the Walla to Walla Tour – golf in Washington state during the first week of January. The weather report called for highs between 45 and 25 degrees, with lows in the teens, but no snow, thankfully. So I added four layers of...
Can you tell golf course architect Kelly Blake Moran is a Texan? He may not wear a ten gallon hat, but boy is he proud of the Lone Star State. Call him Amarillo Slim in a windshirt. “And I’ll tell you another thing!” he roars disapprovingly. “Those Oklahoma teams that won those national championships a few years ago? I’ll give you one...
On a Monday night in October 2006 Arizona Cardinals head coach Denny Green cemented his legacy in sports infamy with a tirade for the ages. His Cards had just blown a gargantuan lead to the Chicago Bears, and in his post-game press conference, he raved like a madman: “The Bears are who we thought they were! They are who we thought they were!” he fumed in...