The Open Championship, a Wonderland of Golf SOUTHPORT, MERSEYSIDE, ENGLAND – For some of us out there – kids with wanderlust for example – the Open Championship was always our favorite of the majors. Yes – gasp! – even more than the Masters. Remember: we get Augusta National every year. But courses like St. Andrews and Royal Troon, Muirfield and St. George’s? Those...
SOUTHPORT, MERSEYSIDE, ENGLAND – There is a saying in sports: Beware the joyous father! The birth of a child is so overwhelming that the love travels right down the golf club to the ball. Now, Sam Burns, whose wife Caroline gave birth to his daughter Belle last week, stand one round away from golf immortality at the 2026 Open Championship at fabled Royal Birkdale...
SOUTHPORT, MERSEYSIDE, ENGLAND – Bryson DeChambeau took a 2-stroke penalty at The Open Championship on Friday night after R&A officials deemed he had improved his swing path by trampling some tall grass near his ball on the short par-4n 5th hole. Bryson was seen making his way into heavy, thick rough, and walking around and swinging his club. At the time...
SOUTHPORT, MERSEYSIDE, ENGLAND – For the second time in as many Open Championships Royal Birkdale has surrendered the lowest score ever posted over a single round in a major championship. Twice actually, as Australia’s Lucas Herbert posted 62 to finish the first two rounds at 8-under, then young American star Sam Burns followed with another 62, this time bogey free...
SOUTHPORT, MERSEYSIDE, ENGLAND – This will be a fascinating year to watch the statistics for individual golf holes, because Royal Birkdale and the R&A believe that they – with the help of golf architect Tom Mackenzie – may have solved a pesky issue. For decades, the book on Birkdale was simple: go low on the outward nine while the prevailing wind is with you...
SOUTHPORT, MERSEYSIDE, ENGLAND – American Jackson Suber, on his first trip to Europe, leads the 154th Open Championship, but a cartographer’s dream are on his heels as once again the Open Championship proves itself the de facto world championship of golf, as players from around the world populate the top of the leaderboard. Though six Americans are in the top 13...
SOUTHPORT, MERSEYSIDE, ENGLAND – Agincourt. Westminster Abbey. William Shakespeare. Lord Nelson. Elizabeth the Second, The Beatles, The RAF. Wimbledon. High tea. Royal Birkdale. What do they all have in common? They are all iconic gifts of England. Royal Birkdale may be one of the younger additions to the Open Rota – its first Open was 1954 – a mere 72 years...
Small but mighty, on two different continents one global mission of sustainability is championed by the unlikeliest of mountains. Deep in the heart of the Andes, Cerro Chapelco has been at the vanguard of implementing a zero-carbon footprint since 2017. Meanwhile at home, western Massachusetts’s Jiminy Peak has carried on its pioneering green tradition since 2007...
Southport and Ainsdale – Ancient and Venerable, Rare and Wonderful —Special to JF.com and Golf News Net— [Editor’s Note: Last year our Indomitable Sportsman, Jay Flemma, spent a glorious eight days lost amidst the fabulous dunes of northwest England – England’s Golf Coast as it is called. As we turn towards GNN’s live coverage of the 2026 Open...
Border War! Vermont vs. New Hampshire Skiing Part 15 – Black Mountain —by Jay Flemma Special to Slave to the Traffic Light Adventure Magazine— NORTH CONWAY, NH – There is a bit of black magic going down in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. With some timely, last-second prestidigitation, a once beloved mom and pop ski resort has been saved from being relegated to...
SPECIAL TO GOLF NEWS NET SOUTHAMPTON, NY – It Wyndham in the wind on Thursday at the U.S. Open as Wyndham Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open Champion at L.A. Country Club, fired a sizzling 8-under 64 in blustery conditions to lead the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills by three shots. Meanwhile a whopping six former U.S. Open champions shot ever par or better, and eight players...
SOUTHAMPTON, NY – Isn’t it great when something, anything lives up to the hype? We live in a world where journalists have to build everything up to such a degree of hagiographic hero worship, that it takes work to discern what’s culture and what’s a commercial. Happily, this week at the U.S. Open, no one will have to worry that the golf course – ancient and venerable...
SOUTHAMPTON, NY – Nowhere will Shinnecock Hills reveal its slavering jaws as a U.S. Open venue more than at its formidable par-3s. For mere mortal golfers, the par-3s can often be a welcome refuge from the course. Occasionally – not often, but occasionally – the shortest golf holes are the deadliest: like the 12th at Augusta National, the 17th at Pebble Beach...
Border War! Vermont vs. New Hampshire Skiing Part 13 – Sugarbush —by Jay Flemma Special to Slave to the Traffic Light Adventure Magazine— WARREN, VT – Any conversation of the greatest ski areas in North America must include Sugarbush. End of story. Sugarbush is too important historically – it is the cradle of extreme skiing in America. Sugarbush has too much gnar –...
Golf News Net on iHeartRadio returns with my post Masters review. Ryan Ballengee, head of all things GNN joins us with his thoughts on the wild ride that is Rory McIlroy. First he looks like the Rory of the early 2010s, then he looks like the Rory that ran from that tennis chick like she was a live scorpion, then he finally (FINALLY!) tamed Amen Corner to coast to...