As always, huge thank you to Golf Course Trades for making my Ballyhack article shine. What a course! (And that’s by my standards!) There are elements of National Golf Links of America, St. Andrews (Old Course), and many other epic American and UK links. Click here for the piece. From the article: While fairways are wide off the tee, greens are treacherously...
It’s always an honor and a pleasure to write about golf architect Mike Strantz, “The Maverick” to his friends. Caledonia and True Blue are both instant classic and bucket list courses for any well-traveled golfer and student of design – amateur or otherwise! Special thanks to all the folks a both courses, and of course to the Golf Course...
I had to hold back a teardrop or two as I wrote the ledes for my PGA Championship previews this year. This week’s tournament at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course marks the first time a Pete Dye designed course has hosted a major golf championship since the great man passed away in January of 2020. And although the golf world rejoices at our collective slow...
Golf Course Trades just published my article on Pete Dye and Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course. Right on time! Enjoy the piece, everybody. From the article: “They bought the Kiawah land in 1988,” Pete told me, “and they looked at me, and I looked at the swamp they bought, and they said, ‘We’re gonna have the Ryder Cup here in two years...
We were having a fine run-up to this, the 103rd PGA Championship, even before Rory McIlroy’s TaylorMade TP5x golf ball tumbled into the cup at the 72nd hole of the Quail Hollow Championship two weeks ago. Nearly all of golf’s young gun stars and marquis names had won since the turn of the year: Bryson Dechambeau, Patrick Reed, Justin Thomas, Jordan...
I love writing about Tobacco Road, I love writing about Mike Strantz, and I love writing about wild designs that are rooted in Golden Age golf course architecture. When you have a terrific subject, it’s easy to write a gripping and compelling story.And Golf Course Trades did a marvelous job with my article. From the piece: “I’d like the take the...
Golf News Net and GolfTripX are hosting a reader and fan fun trip to…drum roll please…Tennessee! (Ain’t no place I’d rather be/Baby, won’t you carry me…). Ryan Ballengee and the GolfTripX guys found this 9-holer designed by the King-Collins firm called Sweetens Cove that has fantastic movement in the earth, terrific green contours...
I love the first three weeks of the season – you get to say “I told you so” a lot:) Dear Jay: Why do you start your Jay’s Plays NFL Picks as late as Week 5? I want to bet now. Signed, T.C. in the ‘Cuse Good to see you T.C. Here’s why we wait till Week Four or Week 5: BUffalo over Chicago, Miami over New England, Cinci won in...
PINEHURST, NC – Martin Kaymer may have won this U.S. Open at breakfast this morning – he walked into the Pinehurst Starbucks and ordered oatmeal. Who does that? Normally it’s grande lattes with cloyingly sweet flavor syrups, or fattening sugary donuts, or some meat, egg and cheese calorie bomb. Ordering oatmeal at Starbucks when everybody else is...
PINEHURST, NC – [Editor’s Note: Jay is missing his 25th college reunion at his beloved Trinity College in Connecticut, but wrote this tournament recap in letter form to his classmates so he could be with them in spirit. Go! Fight Win!] Dear Classmates: Greetings from the bucolic splendor of Pinehurst, North Carolina – where even the convenience...
PINEHURST, NC – It was nine years ago when Dan Maples and his family took me out for a Saturday night on the town in a limo during U.S. Open week. During dinner the whole town stopped by the table to shake his hand and chat. Dan just smiled warmly, thanked them kindly by name, and asked about their families and what they were doing. Everybody loved him, and he...
PINEHURST, NC – While Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Webb Simpson, and Adam Scott, kept themselves in the pack nipping at leader Martin Kaymer’s heels, several other big names will be heading home if they don’t start stringing birdies together. Here’s a quick look at some of the superstars who struggled with Pinehurst No. 2’s curvy greens...
Just like the famous whispering pines of the region, if you stop to listen to the words of the locals, you hear the voice of golf speaking to you. Chris Buie, who has been playing the Donald Ross courses of the Pinehurst area for over four decades, has been featured in the Wall Street Journal discussing Donald Ross and is the author of “The Early Days of...
[Author’s Note: Here’s an old favorite that never goes out of style…] It was 1978. Loud-plaid and big hair were fashionable, disco music battled KISS on your radio dial, and a peanut farmer who couldn’t keep the loyalty of his own Cabinet was President of the United States. Politically, America was gripped by a crisis of confidence and...
You know you’ve got a great girlfriend when she turns to you and says, “I want to play a Pete Dye course!” That’s what my new girl did yesterday evening as she perused the yardage books and scorecards on my nightstand, and it made my day. But once I got over the elation of learning that my girl has serious golf street cred, I thought, where do...