In anticipation of my webinar this Thursday on Forsgate Country Club (click here to register for free), Golf Course Trades also ran my latest article . We interview course owner Chris Schiavone, golf architect Stephen Kay, and head superintendent Don Asinski at 12pm on Thursday July 29. From the article: Knowing full well that Forsgate was the last course he would...
Big shout out to Golf Course Trades for running another in my webinar series, this time on my beloved Forsgate Country Club and their magnificent Banks course. The webinar will feature course owner Chris Schiavone, restoration architect Stephen Kay, and head superintendent Don Asinski, and will be a fascinating look at how they rediscovered, then recreated the lost...
We’ll be writing the Open Championship at St. George’s in just three short weeks, but in the meantime, here’s a sneak peak at some coming attractions for Golf News Net and Golf Course Trades – two of New Hampshire’s best private courses: Bald Peak Colony Club and Baker Hill. BALD PEAK COLONY CLUB In the shadow of Lake Winnepesaukee...
Golf Course Trades has posted the webinar I did with Philly Cricket Club PGA Head Professional Jim Smith, Jr. and Director of Grounds Dan Meersman on YouTube. What a great time we had talking about Tillinghast and the amazing Keith Foster restoration. The link to the video is here.
The companion Golf Course Trades article I wrote is here.
I’ll be hosting a half-hour Golf Course Trades event with the folks from Philly Cricket Club on May 27, 2021 at 12pm. PGA Head Professional Jim Smith, Jr. and Director of Grounds Dan Meersman will join me for a talk about their wonderful renovation by architect Keith Foster, their upcoming 100th year anniversary celebrations, and where they fit in A.W...
It’s still a sure bar bet winner: what’s the oldest country club in America? It’s Philadelphia Cricket Club, founded in 1854. It’s always a joy to get a day at Philly Cricket, but now that restoration architect Keith Foster and head super Dan Meersman have their recent restoration firing on all cylinders, the sky is the limit for A.W...
What makes a truly great 18th hole? Easy: It must be a summation of all that came before. The most iconic courses in the world finish with the grandest of flourishes. Some prefer the grandeur of a majestic, sweeping par-5 so the golfer has a chance to close with a birdie. Others prefer 18 to be the hardest par-4 on the course, demanding your best drive and best...
It’s its 97-year history, and over the course of six U.S. Opens, this is the only time you can’t say “Winged Foot won this Open.” 27-year old Bryson DeChambeau claimed the 120th U.S. Open with a closing 67 and total of 6-under, breezing past third round leader Matthew Wolff, who finished second, a distant six shots back at even par. South...
Tiger Woods was among seven former U.S. Open champions to miss the cut at the 2020 U.S. Open. In clear but windy conditions at Winged Foot Golf Club’s West course, Woods followed Thursday’s milquetoast 73 with a ghastly 77, 10-over par, four shots over the cut line and 14 back of leader Patrick Reed. It’s the third missed cut in the last four U.S...
On a cool, windy day, Winged Foot turned the tables on the 2020 U.S. Open field, playing almost three strokes harder than Thursday’s opening round that saw record red numbers for a U.S. Open played over the fabled West course. Only three players broke par on Friday, and just seven more shot even par 70, including leader Patrick Reed, who finished at 4-under at...
On a day when a soft Winged Foot surrendered its lowest scores ever in a U.S. Open, Tiger Woods let his round slip away late, culminating with a ghastly double bogey at 18. As we go to press, Woods’s 3-over 73 has him in a tie for 70th, eight strokes behind leader Justin Thomas. Woods’s mercurial round included five birdies, but also six bogeys and the...
The recent news that the USGA has selected Pinehurst No. 2 as its first anchor site for future U.S. Opens and a new museum was met with widespread joy and acclaim. “In an effort to expand its impact in golf and extend its mission to champion and advance the game, the USGA will establish “Golf House Pinehurst” in North Carolina, to include a new...
This week mighty, venerable Winged Foot Golf Club hosts its sixth U.S. Open, 13th USGA event, and seventh major championship, (it hosted the 1997 PGA). The par-70 layout will play to a bloated 7,477 yards; seven of the twelve par-4s are 467 yards or longer. It also features 4-1/2 to 7-1/2 inch rough, and green speeds around 13 on the stimpometer. In other words, the...
For everyone who relishes U.S. Open week for its sheer bloodthirstiness, welcome to Winged Foot West. It just became your new favorite course. Like will-o-the-wisps feeding off the agonizing cries of their dying victims, everyman golfers will spend this week, pointing at the pros and laughing. Chunks, chili dips, fluffs, fliers, skulls, and walks of shame...
—Of cruel and mighty Winged Foot now to you I sadly sing And all the lost and broken men who felt her deadly sting Who wander now as shadows in her darkness ever more To roam her haunted passageways forsaken and forlorn But chief among the cursed souls that in that valley dwell A phantasm malevolent, most terrible and fell The Ghost of U.S. Opens Past is her...