Good news for NYC public golfers: Forest Park Golf Course manager Bob Smith got excellent golf course architect Stephen Kay to give the course a spit-shine and conditions have improved at the Queens Course. “There’s a reason why they call it Forest Park,” Kay quipped, referring to the thousands of trees that blight the landscape and interfere with...
” What do you think of this news out of Pound Ridge: (From the press release). BTW, My recent review of Pound Ridge is here Golfers wishing to experience the challenge of New York’s only Dye-designed layout will now be able to play nine holes any day of the week. Responding to the modern golfer’s call for flexible playability, the nine-hole play...
Great job by Jeff Shelley getting this up so quick. It’s my long form review of Ballyhack Golf Club in Roanoke, VA. We’ll have more pictures here over the next few days, after I get up to Boston to cover the Deutsche Bank. From the article: “In 2003 George thought his search for a truly great piece of land for his dream course was over. The 370 acre...
[Author’s Note: Pix soon…] UPPER MARLBORO, MD – To watch the Virginia Potomac Cup golf team smile, cheer, and rally around each other at Lake Presidential Golf Club yesterday afternoon, you’d never know they were only one year removed from a record 29-7 pasting at the hands of Maryland. Yet after returning six players from last year’s...
Thanks to Jeff Shelley for doing a great job with my article on golf north of New York City.
I’ll have more course reviews soon, along with wall-to-wall coverage of the PGA Championship from Whistling Straits.
I-84, NY – It’s a summer weekend in the greater NYC area and rather than having a meal set to the dulcet tones of jackhammers and ambulances, fighting through crowds shopping or at museums, or doing a vapid dance of the sand crabs at a Hamptons time share, you wisely decide to get some air and exercise and play golf. Now let’s suppose your friends...
Let’s quickly reset the schedule of events, coverage, and articles for the next few weeks: 1. The British Open! 2. My preview and live coverage of the PGA Championship 3. Article on Pasatiempo 4. Atlantic City Country Club 5. Golf along I-84 in the NE corridor 6. Book reviews of Titanic Thompson (Kevin Cook) and Ancestral Links (John Garrity). 7. Stephen Kay...
Photo courtesy of the Furgol family. The beating heart of golf is not fantastically rich touring professionals, five-diamond resort courses designed by celebrity architects, (usually touring pros chosen only for name recogniztion to sell rounds/real estate), or top 100 instructors who chopper in to give $100,000 per hour lessons. No, the lifeblood of golf is still...
This summer, I went back to two old haunts and found them better than ever: THE LINKS AT HIAWATHA LANDING 2350 Marshland Road Apalachin, NY 800.304.6533 (800-30-golf-3) www.hiawathalinks.com Architect: Brian Silva and Mark Mungeam Par – 72 Excitement Level – 9/12 Difficulty – 8/12 Design: six stars Natural Setting Five and 1/2stars Conditioning...
BETHPAGE, NY – Let’s start with what we know – the U.S.G.A. will not shorten the U.S. Open. “The U.S.G.A. is firm on this, that we will not determine a national champion until we play 72 holes,” affirmed U.S.G.A. vice president Jim Hyler with steely conviction. After that, everything is up in the air because of more than an inch of rain...
Cybergolf has my first piece of this week’s U.S. Open: In a New York State of Mind.
Golf course design piece coming next.
George Bahto – the dry cleaners owner-turned-golf course designer who restored the Knoll Club (West) to it’s golden age glory and who is helping Tom Doak build Old Macdonald, (out at Bandon Dunes Resort), sat down for a few questions: JF: Tell us about how you first got introduced to golf? George Bahto: (I was forced to – ha!) It was caddying for my...
Brian Keogh of the Irish Golf Desk has this interview with Padraig Harrington, where the reigning British Open and PGA Champion talks about playing with Woods in 2002 at Bethpage, and how he’s excited. Angel Cabrera may round out the threesome for the first two days. Keogh also got Paddy to give us all an optimistic view of how his practice regimen is helping...
Here’s a quick thumbnail sketch of the set-up at Bethpage Black for the U.S. Open: First Hole – Par-4, 430 yards High on a pulpit overlooking the first fairway, one can see a ribbon of fairway flanked by two sides of rough that are wider on either side than the intended target. The hole is a 90-degree dog-leg, the knee of which is guarded by a stand of...
It’s going to be one of those weeks when the odds are stacked 18-1 against, when the whole round is a hangover that thumps and pounds ceaselessly, and where every golf hole digs mercilessly for the sciatic nerve. Sure U.S. Open competitions director Mike Davis promises change and excitement with flexible tee boxes and more strategic options in tournament set...