HAVEN, WI – You can score anywhere from 68 to 78 at the topsy-turvy Straits Course at Whistling Straits. In benign conditions and softened by the season-long rains, 87 players finished under par yesterday. When the wind howls off Lake Michigan however, the course is fearsome. In 2004 Vijay Singh won the PGA Championship with the highest closing round in...
Today at Cybergolf, I breakdown the key holes at Whistling Straits – the swing holes or “half-par” holes.
I also dodge lightning, drive through fog, and chase around golfers for quotes:)
HAVEN, WI – A wine-dark sky of swollen clouds grumbled ominously with thunder before the heavens opened up and rained bricks and bats on Steve Underwood’s head. It was okay though. He had Tim Clark’s umbrella safely in the golf bag. Meanwhile, Todd Sunderland counted D.J. Trahan’s clubs one last time. Fourteen, everything is fine. So as soon...
HAVEN, WI – We may be in Wisconsin for the 92nd PGA Championship, but – Surprise! – the players are not having any whine with their cheese. In 2004, the players cried like Nancy Kerrigan over how tough Whistling Straits’s fearsome Straits Course played. Golf architect Pete Dye was castigated every bit as vehemently as he was when both Sawgrass...
Cybergolf has my first PGA Championship piece here. I’m off to walk nine holes with Tim Clark, Steve Underwood and posse. Meanwhile, here’s a snippet: “We may be in Wisconsin for the 92nd PGA Championship, but – surprise! – the players are not having any whine with their cheese. In 2004, the players cried like Nancy Kerrigan over how...
The plane taxied to the terminal zone, cut its engines, and cooled its wings while I hi-tailed it out the door and into ground transport for the ride to Whistling Straits.
While I walk the course and cull a few quotes from players, here’s my Pete Dye interview from PGA.com.
He may be half 168 years old, but he’s still a lion in summer when it comes to golf architecture. The Dean of modern golf course architects, Pete Dye blends cunning design strategies that beguile pros with artistic flair that bewitches amateurs. His popularity across the globe is unquenchable, despite his reputation for building courses that play hard and look...
Cybergolf has just posted my Pete Dye interview. One week from this moment I’ll be winging west reading James Michener’s Chesapeake, (in prep for the Potomac Cup), while waiting for “wheels down” and the hour drive to the bucolic splendor of Sheboygan, Wisconsin and the PGA Championship. Thank goodness the week won’t be as chock-a-bloc...
PEBBLE BEACH, CA – While the formal announcement is tomorrow, several media outlets are reporting that Gil hanse/Ron Whitten’s terrific Erin Hills Golf Club in Wisconsin will win the 2017 U.S. Open over the execrable Dog Hill…err…Cog Hill, a boring snore-fest of a penal golf course that has hosted the Western Open for many years. Here is my...
Matt Ginella of Golf Digest/Golf Channel reports that Erin Hills in Wisconsin has the inside track on landing the 2017 U.S. Open, but – good Lord help us – that gruesome dog track at Cog Hill…err…Dog Hill just won’t die a grisly death and get out of the running. From the article: “Even before Erin Hills opened in 2006, the...
People might not think of Indiana as a place to jet off for a golf vacation, but golf writer Chris Clouser is doing his best to change that. Best known as the biogropher of pre-eminent golf architect Perry Maxwell, Clouser’s second book, “A Month of Saturdays” is a helpful guide to the best of public golf in the state of Indiana. The book is a...
Ouch. First we lose Beechtree, then we get , then Apache Stronghold closes, then this news from Traverse City, Michigan that High Pointe is closing. From the article: “Golfers will find fewer options when they hit the links this spring amid tough economic times in northern Michigan. High Pointe Golf Club, an 18-hole layout along M-72 in Acme Township...
Click here for my latest travel piece for GolfChannel.com – on golf in Indiana and Ilinois.
It’s here. This will pretty much be a weekly feature.
THE FORT GOLF CLUB 6002 N. Post Rd. Indianapolis, IN 317.543.9597 www.thefortgolfcourse.com Cost: $58, $42 twilight (military $44/$32 – nice touch!) Architect: original design unknown, nine holes in 1970 attributed to William Diddel, 1994 reno/redesign by Pete Dye with assistance from associate Tim Liddy Par – 72 Design – Five stars Natural Setting...