It has to be great to be Steve Smyers. He gets to devote his entire life to golf. His wife is a former touring pro. His son is a first team All-American and a reigning Division II national champion. He has done golf design work at some of country’s most popular public golf courses, (like Southern Dunes), as well as some of the most esteemed private sanctuaries...
Though they had three holes closed last year after Hurricane Sandy tore through the Mid-Atlantic, North Shore Country Club rallied nicely and has been firing on all cylinders this year, even while other clubs have suffered greatly from the torrential rains, North Shore has been pristine. “What a place,” admired a duly impressed design expert Rodney Zilla...
NEW HARTFORD, NY – Spring rarely treats I-90 well, not from Boston to Buffalo. If it comes at all it comes late, in fits and spurts, sometimes soothing and reinvigorating, sometimes savage and wild, with unpredictable, vengeful snows, as if reluctant winter were trying to crawl back out of its yearly grave. Spring here is too short and too uncertain to be...
Golf architect Jeff Brauer – the genius behind such man-sized public access hits as Cowboys Golf Club, Firekeeper, and Giant’s Ridge is bringing his wit and wisdom back to Cybergolf in a new column. It’s called Green Committee Guide, and it fuses teaching the fundamental principles of architecture, agronomy, and drainage with analysis of economic...
[Editor’s Note: We interrupt Jay’s series on Casa de Campo…again…for another installment of his Golf Rum Diaries, this time on Cabo del Sol (Part 1). The Casa series will conclude shortly, further continuing his analysis of golf in the Mexico/Caribbean/U.S. Offshore/Central America region. In the meantime, here’s the first piece on Mexico...
BROOKLYN, NY – There is hope in New York City for a golf course that was once a lost cause. Brooklyn public course Marine Park, under new operators since 2010, has engaged golf architect Stephen Kay to begin renovations to the golf course, and initial reaction from New York City public golfers has been uniformly supportive. The course used to be a Hell hole...
Pretend for a moment you are a gladiator of the Coliseum in Rome, and you have just been 1) smeared with the 200 A.D. equivalent of Big Mama’s Honky-Tonk Down-Home Extra Spicy Slatherin’ Sauce, 2) chained to an angry, roaring, starving lion, and then 3) set loose in the Coliseum for the amusement of the masses. Both professional and amateur golfers alike...
We’ll have more on this story as it develops, but the U.S.G.A. announced today the CordeValle, a Robert Trent Jones, Jr. resort course in Northern California, will host the 2016 U.S. Women’s Open. “It means ‘Heart of the Valley” and it sits right in a valley in the midst of the golden, rolling hills of California,” said Jones...
ARDMORE, PA – “Forget about moving it around, exclaimed Dan Jenkins, the dean of all golf writers. “Play it here all the time!” he said, referring to Merion’s venerable East course, which is proving all the lowest common denominator broadcasters by proving quite the tough test despite the rain, thank you very much. Still, the U.S.G.A...
The U.S.G.A. recently announced that Winged Foot West course will host the 2020 U.S. Open. The announcement was greeted with excitement by the media and golf industry. The West Course is blessed with a devastating synergy of history and misery. There’s a reason the course is called the Graveyard of Champions. Just ask Phil Mickelson about that… Here is a...
Cybergolf ran my article on other courses that should host a U.S. Open. Did your pick make the list? From the piece: Pine Valley “The place is like a shrine, and it would be so great for golf fans to get a peek inside,” said gonzo golf fan Charles “Chucky” Cordova. “It’s always rated No. 1 in all the rankings, the members all talk...
ARDMORE, PA – It’s going to be a tough week at the U.S. Open for everyone: players, officials, fans, broadcasters, writers, and locals alike. The choice of Merion – which is one of the most important golf courses in the world architecturally and historically – is proving uncommonly difficult logistically. Merion is tiny, and the U.S. Open is...
Will the Merion experiment work? We talk about that in this Cybergolf article! The Merion Experiment.
And another new piece coming soon…
[Author’s Note: In Part One we explored the general architectural themes Pete Dye used at the Casa de Campo golf courses. Now we will break down the individual courses and holes. Remember we are talking about four different facilities with a total of 90 holes: Teeth of the Dog (18), The Links (18), Dye Fore (27, the Marina and Chavon nines which friends and...
ABOVE, THE CHAVON NINE OF CASA DE CAMPO’S DYE FORE FACILITY (ABOVE) WILL SOON HAVE A NEW COURSE FOR COMPANY ***This story is exclusive here and at Cybergolf*** LA ROMANA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – Casa de Campo officials confirmed tonight that six million dollars U.S. has been approved for the building of a new Pete Dye golf course at the resort. The new 18...