MONROE TOWNSHIP, NJ – Last Thursday saw the 10th annual Writer Cup between Philadelphia/NJ and Greater New York City golf writers end in yet another Philly romp. Yet as Philly Captain Mike Kern of the Inquirer was again drenched in metaphoric victory champagne and as his players were wreathed in the smoky fog of proverbial victory cigars for the eighth time in...
It’s a busy coverage schedule this summer. We’ll be covering the 10th annual Writer Cup from Forsgate Country Club, the 99th PGA Championship from Quail Hollow, and the reboot of thee Potomac Cup from Potomac Shores Golf Club. The Writer Cup is always a hoot as Forsgate lays out the red carpet for its annual battle between the golf writers from New York...
ny time you get to play Bayonne Golf Club, it’s a banner day, but in high summer, it’s perfection. One of the Great Golf Courses on Earth – yes, capital G, C, E – it’s both an engineering marvel and a cunning design, slowly building to a rousing crescendo. It was a privilege and an honor to be able to write about it for Golf Course...
I love Golf Course Trades – they make my photos and words look gorgeous! My second of three consecutive cover stories, this time about the wondrous Bulls Bay by Mike Strantz. Click here to read the piece, then peruse the rest of the ‘zine as well!
Soon they’ll run my Erin Hills piece, and then after that, my U.S. Open Road trip piece.
PITTSBURGH, PA – There’s an old, true saying about the fervor and loyalty of Pittsburgh fans – when you play Pittsburgh, you play the whole city. Now you can add a corollary to that rule: when you run Pittsburgh, the whole city runs with you. Over 300,000 spectators cheered on 30,000 runners for the seventh annual Pittsburgh Marathon and Half...
HINGHAM, MA – “Boston Golf Club?” my friend asked, confused. “That’s not helpful. Which club in Boston do you mean?” “No, that’s the name of it,” I replied. “Boston Golf Club…THE Boston Golf Club. The definitive article, so to speak.” My buddy gave a knowing, “Ahhhh!” and then turned...
Golf News Net ran my Jay’s Plays radio show interview with Eric Bergstol. We talked Bayonne, designing in greater New York City, his Empire Golf empire, and more! Tune in here for the fun.
BAYONNE, NJ – A funny thing happened when I went to interview a golf course architect about his design strategies. I got a grad school-level lecture in landscape architecture, construction, and golf course permitting instead. It was every bit as fascinating. Eric Bergstol lives the dream of everyone who enters one of those Armchair Architecture contests they...
We’ll have a longer article soon, but the best modern curse we visited this year was Boston Golf Club, called “the best course designed since 1960” by one of the smartest architecture critics I know. Designed by Gil Hanse, the course is a 21st century Pine Valley, a rustic, minimalist Shangri-la deep in the forest west of Boston. We’ll have...
MONROE TOWNSHIP, NJ – The eyes of the golf architecture cognoscenti are again upon our beloved Forsgate, and once more we are being spoken of in knowing nods and holy whispers. Golf Design expert Ran Morrissett, owner and operator of the golf design think tank GolfClubAtlas.com, has posted his analysis of the Banks course on line at for all the golf world to...
SCARSDALE, NY – [Author’s Note: Ardent golfers on both sides of the pond have heard of Sunningdale Golf Club in Merry Old England, a heathland masterpiece by Harry Colt and one of the world’s great courses, so rightly famous that author Ian Fleming made his quintessential super-spy James Bond a member of the august club. But here in America another...
MONROE TOWNSHIP, NJ – Of the many accolades that our beloved Banks Course has earned since Stephen Kay’s masterful restoration, perhaps none was more important than the glowing comments from no less a personage than Ran Morrissett himself, owner and operator of GolfClubAtlas.com, a world-wide think tank of experts on the topic of golf design. As I took...
Amidst a tumult and shouting that would have impressed even the great Grantland Rice himself, the United States defeated Europe 17-11, winning their first Ryder Cup since 2008. Patrick Reed preened like an NFL linebacker, Phil Mickelson made putts from Duluth, St. Cloud, and Monkato, and Ryan Moore – the last man to make the team – sank the Ryder Cup...
Here are the matchups for tomorrow’s singles at Hazeltine Natonal as the 2016 Ryder Cup turns towards the Sunday Singles. 1. PATRICK REED (USA) V. RORY MCILROY (EUR) Ohhhh, grab your popcorn. We finally get the marquis matchup we wanted to see at a Sunday singles. You KNEW Reed had to lead off, and you KNEW Europe had to front load, and for once, the stars...
It’s downright poetic: the “Greatest Event in Golf” (as countless golfers and pundits have described it) is being played in the most golf loving state in the union. This week the 41st Ryder Cup comes to Hazeltine National, the golf club specifically designed to bring the golf world’s pre-eminent events to Minnesota. Built in 1962 by Robert...