JOHNS CREEK, GA – Ron Whitten’s recent Golf Digest article on the new turfgrasses being tested this week at Atlanta Athletic Club’s PGA Championship is another excellent observation by one of the most intelligent voices in the game. His knowledge of architecture and travel is unparalleled. In his article he mentions a number of southern and western...
After sending a twisting, long-distance, double breaking putt towards the cup, the PGA of America left itself with just a tap-in, so allow me to do the honors: the PGA Championship is not “Glory’s Last Shot,” but “Glory’s Best Shot.” Make that small change and watch the slogan catch fire like a hit song by U2. Nobody gives a...
MONROE TOWNSHIP, NJ – With a golf game uglier than an Orlando Perkins waitress, your author led his punchless NYC writers golf team to a fourth consecutive epic fail against the Philadelphia golf writers, who routinely mule kick us back to the Manhattan curbside with a resounding thud during Forsgate Country Club’s annual Writer Cup tournament between the...
I need the break. While I love the contract work in the entertainment industry, the litigation is for the birds…the buzzards, vultures and harpies to be exact. “Now Jay,” Professor Steele once said is his deep, mellifluous voice, “Never forget. The reward for good work is more work.” Thanks for that. If anyone else except Professor...
One huge golf story went under-reported recently as LPGA star Morgan Pressel blistered mighty Bayonne Golf Club with a 63, shattering the course record in the process. Bayonne, the brain child of Eric Bergstrol, developer-turned-course-architect, who built the course directly across the street from the more highly-touted but architecturally inferior Liberty National...
GARDEN CITY, NY – With more hair-raising, last second escapes than a James Bond double-feature, Florida’s Nick Gilliam won the 101st Travis Invitational at fabled Garden City Golf Club, defeating Kevin Gai 3&2 after trailing well into the back nine, then turning the tables on Steve White by winning the final two holes en route to a 1-up victory. The...
Nick Gilliam defeated Steve While 2&1 to win the 101st Travis Invitational. Our final wrap-up will be up tomorrow morning.
GARDEN CITY, NY – Surprise! The top three seeds in the championship match play bracket of the Travis Invitational all advanced to the semi-finals of the 101st playing of the Grand Old Amateur. Nick Gilliam, Steve White, and Hans Albertsson, stroke play co-medalists and the 1-2-3 seeds respectively, won morning and afternoon matches to advance to Sunday...
GARDEN CITY, NY – To paraphrase the fight song of his beloved alma mater: “Deerfield! Thy son is marching into the weekend’s match play phase of the Walter J. Travis Invitational with co-medalist honors, and though the odds maybe great, he’ll fight for victory for you, loyal though win or lose.” With a sparkling 4-under 69 Deerfield...
Our Green and Gothic Home The joyous daybreak’s shimmering light Reveals a blessed, stirring sight, Fair Garden City, beaming bright! Our green and gothic home. The world may clamor all around, But tranquil solace have we found. Where Emmet first broke fertile ground, And Travis’s name is renowned, Now countless champions are crowned. Our green and gothic...
BROOKLYN, NY – I owe lunch in Manhattan to Howie Munck, (Good Ol’ Howie Munck!), the kind-hearted, affable tournament director for the Met Golf Writers Association, who turned me on to a hidden gem of a golf club: one that I’d never heard of, and that has flown below the radar of even the most well-traveled of golf course aficionados for decades...
There is great news coming out of the Sand Hills region today: Ballyneal, winner of the Best New Course in 2006 and an instant classic is getting a baby brother. According to Cybergolf: Bruce Hepner, lead associate of Tom Doak’s Renaissance Golf Design for the original Ballyneal course, will design the new course. Construction will begin this year...
THE FOX CLUB Are there any more buoyant hearts in the World than the Irish? Their greatest export is an unquenchable good cheer which brightens and enriches the lives of everyone they meet. That alone would be a solid reason to consider joining the Fox Club. (After all, in any club, you have to get along with or at least tolerate the idiosyncrasies of the other...
Some of you will remember by article last year called “Colonial in Winter, The Yellow Rose of Texas.” Well I’ve turned it into a new golf poem. Hope you love it! THE YELLOW ROSE OF WINTER Though winter’s chill should bring dismay To all the garden’s green array And verdant cloisters fade to grey When leafy towers fall away Colonial...
BOYNTON BEACH, FLA – Within yards of each other, separated perhaps by only a smooth 3-wood and a pitch, two of Florida’s premier private clubs lead the golf world by example, selflessly championing golf’s great virtues by giving back to the game as much and as often as possible, rather than celebrating and promoting their own opulence. Clubs that...