It was an innocuous question under ordinary circumstances, but this time the answer could not have been more poignant. “Are you almost ready for the season?” You have no idea. A LONG EXPECTED PARTY It was a gorgeous fall night, and my birthday party was in full swing. I throw a birthday party like a hobbit throws a birthday party, right down to the sign...
The Jay’s Plays Radio Show is coming to iHeartMedia, along with all the other stars of the Golf News Net Galaxy. Ryan Ballengee inked a deal just this week, and we all got swept in together. Ryan wrote: “Golf News Net is proud to announce it has signed a multi-year partnership with iHeartMedia to launch and produce Golf News Net (GNN) Radio, a 24/7/365...
This is some of the biggest news in golf. Not the pro tours, not the latest equipment, the rebuilding of C.B. Macdonald’s lost masterpiece, Lido Golf Club, in the middle of the sand wastes of Wisconsin by Tom Doak and the Kaiser family is the quantum leap the Second Golden Age of Golf Course architecture has resulted in. Run, don’t walk to...
MOULTONBOROUGH, N.H. -You don’t see a lot of New Hampshire golf courses on many mainstream top-100 lists. Why not? When pundits discuss the best states for golf, they often overlook New Hampshire, and that’s a shame because Donald Ross, a colossus of golf course architecture, left behind a legacy of exceptional golf in the Granite State, easily the equal...
With England under the inept tutelage of a weak king, Edward VI, the only legitimate son of Henry VIII, in 1457 a French raiding party made its way to Kent and burned much of the city of Sandwich to the ground. What was left was pillaged under the orders of the Marshal of France, one Pierre De Breze. During the carnage, the Mayor of Sandwich was murdered. Ever since...
Louis Oosthuizen fired a scintillating 65 in the second round of the 149th Open Championship at Royal St. George’s Golf Club to post 11-under 129 and take a two shot lead over 2020 PGA Champion Collin Morikawa and three strokes over three-time major champion Jordan Spieth. Oosthuizen also set a new Open Championshjip record for the lowest opening 36 holes. A...
He said he was over the disappointment of the U.S. Open, and then he proved it with his golf clubs. South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen, 2010 Open Champion, fired a sparkling, blemish-free, 6-under 64 to lead the first round of the 149th Open Championship golf tournament at Royal St. George’s Golf Club. Americans Jordan Spieth (the 2017 Open Champion at Royal...
Phil Mickelson picked out a few on the front nine and golf architect Rees Jones focused on 11-13, but perhaps the best aspect of Torrey Pines’ South is its wondrous variety. A mix of short holes and long holes, together with movable teeing grounds and hazards more closely menacing fairways and greens, Torrey Pines should generate wild swings on the leaderboard...
While we get ready for the 2021 U.S. Open, Golf Course Trades has run my interview with new Golf Course Superintendent’s Association of America president Mark Jordan. From the article: “The policies and systems we set up – such as the website clearinghouse for information and CDC guidelines – are still in use and are helpful. We now have the...
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 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...
KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – Dappled sunshine off the lapping ocean waves or a howling gale bending flagsticks to their near-breaking point? Which Kiawah Island Ocean Course will we see for the 2021 PGA Championship? The windless one that surrendered a winning score of 22-under to Colin Montgomerie at the 1997 World Cup (and Alex Cejka and Per-Ulrik Johansson shot 63...
We’ll be reporting all week with 2x daily reports starting Tuesday from the PGA Championship for Golf News Net. In the meantime, he are the odds to win the 2021 PGA at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course: Rory McIlroy +1000 10/1 Jon Rahm +1200 12/1 Justin Thomas +1200 12/1 Dustin Johnson +1200 12/1 Jordan Spieth +1400 14/1 Bryson DeChambeau +1400 14/1 Brooks...