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World Woods and Fazio Make Each Other Look Good
What does it say about Tom Fazio that the finest work to come out of his studio might be a public course in Florida that you can play for $40? It doesn’t square with closed-door, big budget design...
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Ballyneal: Gravity Rides Everything
The wonderful short 14th gives you the sense of the bubbling terrain of Ballyneal and the Chop Hills of Holyoke. Someday we’ll be able to talk about Ballyneal in the northeastern corner of Colorado...
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How Elite is The Cascades?
The beloved par-4 4th at The Cascades. One of the first impressions I had playing The Cascades in the Allegheny Mountains of western Virginia was to think how this kind of course would never be built...
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The Myth of Augusta National
It's difficult to conceive of Augusta National without imagining Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer striding the fairways. There is no point in trying to “rate” Augusta National. Putting an...
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Straight Doping the Straits at Whistling Straits
A long run of holes along Lake Michigan like the par-3 3rd at the Straits Course have helped make Whistling Straits an international destination. I don’t know what billionaire owner and developer Herb...
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The Synchronicity of the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island
The great elevated green at The Ocean Course’s par-3 14th falls away on all sides–a real obstacle in the ocean winds. Note: Photos were taken prior to more recent bunker renovations made for the 2012...
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Colorado Golf Club–A Story in Three Acts
Colorado Golf Club is one of the most extraordinary golf showcases of the Colorado Front Range's vast, wide open spaces. Here, the split fairway par-5 16th. Every architect’s ideal scenario is to be...
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Masterpiece Theater-TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course
I’m not a golf historian, but those who are often debate what constitute the most influential courses to golf course architecture. There’s a standard group they usually cite—St. Andrews, National Golf...
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Pacific Dunes–Blurred Lines
The par-3 5th at Pacific Dunes, in a nest of dunes. In the pre-dawn morning, awake and unable to sleep, I ran through the holes at Pacific Dunes in my mind. I could visualize each one, remembering at...
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Pinehurst No. 2–Dawn of the Old Era
[For more on this year's U.S. Open, go to our new interactive majors e-magazine The Grain: The U.S. Open Issue 2014.] Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw have dramatically revived Pinehurst’s lost primitive...
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Tobacco Road–Shots in the Funhouse
Tobacco Road’s 9th hole shows how Mike Strantz staggered and stretched features across a beautiful golf site. The opening tee shot at Tobacco Road is played through a gap in two steep grass-covered...
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The Faces of Bandon Trails
Into the gloaming: the walk into the first green at Bandon Trails, nestled between natural dunes. The book on Bandon Trails has always read something like this: developer Mike Kaiser wanted Bill Coore...
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Irrepressable Lawsonia Links
The unique Links course at The Golf Courses of Lawsonia is as fun and memorable as any of the newer superstars in Wisconsin. (Photo from lawsonia.com) Suddenly, Wisconsin has become a powerhouse golf...
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May River–21st Century Lowcountry
The shaping at May River’s par-4 12th green is mouthwatering. The angle into it is no joke, either, with the lines of approach complicated by two centerline bunkers back in the fairway. From the time...
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Seaside at Sea Island — In Its Element
Seaside’s 5th green is just one of many set against the Intracoastal marshes and St. Simons Sound. No one has ever accused Tom Fazio of being a minimalist. In fact he himself seems almost hostile to...
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Augusta Country Club, Taking Shade
The fantastic short uphill par-4 16th has one of the South’s best punchbowl greens. The topic of how courses are judged in comparison to their neighbors comes up quite a bit here. Often it’s fair to...
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Ballyneal: Gravity Rides Everything
The wonderful short 14th gives you the sense of the bubbling terrain of Ballyneal and the Chop Hills of Holyoke. Someday we’ll be able to talk about Ballyneal in the northeastern corner of Colorado...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Myth of Augusta National
It's difficult to conceive of Augusta National without imagining Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer striding the fairways. There is no point in trying to “rate” Augusta National. Putting an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Straight Doping the Straits at Whistling Straits
A long run of holes along Lake Michigan like the par-3 3rd at the Straits Course have helped make Whistling Straits an international destination. I don’t know what billionaire owner and developer Herb...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Synchronicity of the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island
The great elevated green at The Ocean Course’s par-3 14th falls away on all sides–a real obstacle in the ocean winds. Note: Photos were taken prior to a recent bunker renovation. One of my favorite...
View Article