Golf Digest's Places to Play is the only guide to the public and resort golf courses of North America and the Islands that you need. Packed with comments and ratings by more than 20,000 avid players, Golf Digest's Places to Play offers complete profiles of 6,000 public and resort courses; addresses, greens fees, pars and yardage; USGA slope and course ratings; caddies, carts, lodging, practice ranges, and course policies, as well as travel tips and candid appraisals by golf experts. Golf Digest's Places to Play makes it easy for you to find what you want, listing courses that offer great value, great service, great pace, and great conditioning, and comes with alphabetical and geographical indexes that make it a cinch to locate courses.
For nearly three hundred years, South Carolina has played a vital role in American golf. The first golf clubs in America came from Scotland to Charleston in 1739. Myrtle Beach is sometimes called the "Golf Capital of the World," with more than 80 golf courses. The Country Club of Charleston produced World Golf Hall of Game members Henry Picard and Beth Daniel. The 1991 Ryder Cup matches, the "War by the Shore," took place at Kiawah Island's Ocean Course, also the site of the 2012 and 2021 PGA Championships. Hilton Head's Harbour Town Golf Links has hosted the PGA Tour's RBC Heritage for more than fifty years. Bob Gillespie and Tommy Vraswell detail the history of the game in the Palmetto State.
The National Golf Foundation, the recognized leader in golf research since 1936, has just published the GOLF COURSE DIRECTORY. Taken from NGF's continually updated database of over 16,000 facilities, THE GOLF COURSE DIRECTORY is a two-volume, 563-page resource tool that provides facility name, address, phone number & key contact personnel. There is also information relative to facility type (e.g. daily fee, municipal or private), size (regulation, par 3 or executive), total number of holes, year opened, & whether the complex includes a practice range. THE GOLF COURSE DIRECTORY is also available in lists & mail labels. The price of the print directory is $199. ISBN 1-57701-079-5. As part of the introduction of this new directory, NGF has also created three additional niche directories from their extensive database: THE DRIVING RANGE DIRECTORY, of 1,700 facilities, Price: $99.00, ISBN 1-57701-080-9; THE PAR-3/EXECUTIVE GOLF COURSE DIRECTORY, listing 1,700 facilities, Price: $99.00, ISBN 1-57701-082-5; THE OFF-COURSE GOLF RETAIL SHOP DIRECTORY, listing 2,000 stores, Price: $99.00, ISBN 1-57701-081-7. The entire family of print directories, mail label services & lists are under the umbrella of NGF's new MarketLinks products.
This book celebrates the beauty, tradition, and variety of golf across the Carolinas, featuring eighteen beloved courses as experienced by the walking golfer. One of golf's earliest appeals was its health-giving benefits, with players walking some four miles over varied terrain, making stamina and endurance an important part of the sport. Most recreational players today choose motorized carts. But Lee Pace believes that the slower pace and on-the-ground view associated with walking gives one an opportunity to savor the experience, understand the nuances of course design and landscape architecture, and appreciate the small touches that make our region's best clubs and courses special. The Carolinas are a cradle for the game in the United States, making walking its courses an ideal way to connect past and present. Attractively illustrated with full-color photography, each essay tells the story of a course and how it is experienced on foot. Guiding readers around fabled courses like Pinehurst No. 2 and new classics like Kiawah Island's Ocean Course, private clubs and municipal courses, resort destinations and urban gems, Pace reflects on legendary course architects, famous tournaments, notable players, ties between the game's founders and the Carolinas, and more. Whether you're a committed traditionalist or new to the game, this book will inspire you to slow down and enjoy the best of what golf has to offer.
This groundbreaking history of African Americans and golf explores the role of race, class, and public space in golf course development, the stories of individual black golfers during the age of segregation, the legal battle to integrate public golf courses, and the little-known history of the United Golfers Association (UGA)--a black golf tour that operated from 1925 to 1975. Lane Demas charts how African Americans nationwide organized social campaigns, filed lawsuits, and went to jail in order to desegregate courses; he also provides dramatic stories of golfers who boldly confronted wider segregation more broadly in their local communities. As national civil rights organizations debated golf’s symbolism and whether or not to pursue the game’s integration, black players and caddies took matters into their own hands and helped shape its subculture, while UGA participants forged one of the most durable black sporting organizations in American history as they fought to join the white Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA). From George F. Grant’s invention of the golf tee in 1899 to the dominance of superstar Tiger Woods in the 1990s, this revelatory and comprehensive work challenges stereotypes and indeed the fundamental story of race and golf in American culture.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Globe-trotting golfer Tom Coyne has finally come home. And he’s ready to play all of it. After playing hundreds of courses overseas in the birthplace of golf, Coyne, the bestselling author of A Course Called Ireland and A Course Called Scotland, returns to his own birthplace and delivers a “heartfelt, rollicking ode to golf…[as he] describes playing golf in every state of the union, including Alaska: 295 courses, 5,182 holes, 1.7 million total yards” (The Wall Street Journal). In the span of one unforgettable year, Coyne crisscrosses the country in search of its greatest golf experience, playing every course to ever host a US Open, along with more than two hundred hidden gems and heavyweights, visiting all fifty states to find a better understanding of his home country and countrymen. Coyne’s journey begins where the US Open and US Amateur got their start, historic Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. As he travels from the oldest and most elite of links to the newest and most democratic, Coyne finagles his way onto coveted first tees (Shinnecock, Oakmont, Chicago GC) between rounds at off-the-map revelations, like ranch golf in Eastern Oregon and homemade golf in the Navajo Nation. He marvels at the golf miracle hidden in the sand hills of Nebraska and plays an unforgettable midnight game under bright sunshine on the summer solstice in Fairbanks, Alaska. More than just a tour of the best golf the United States has to offer, Coyne’s quest connects him with hundreds of American golfers, each from a different background but all with one thing in common: pride in welcoming Coyne to their course. Trading stories and swing tips with caddies, pros, and golf buddies for the day, Coyne adopts the wisdom of one of his hosts in Minnesota: the best courses are the ones you play with the best people. But, in the end, only one stop on Coyne’s journey can be ranked the Great American Golf Course. Throughout his travels, he invites golfers to debate and help shape his criteria for judging the quintessential American course. Should it be charmingly traditional or daringly experimental? An architectural showpiece or a natural wonder? Countless conversations and gut instinct lead him to seek out a course that feels bold and idealistic, welcoming yet imperfect, with a little revolutionary spirit and a damn good hot dog at the turn. He discovers his long-awaited answer in the most unlikely of places. Packed with fascinating tales from American golf history, comic road misadventures, illuminating insights into course design, and many a memorable round with local golfers and celebrity guests alike, A Course Called America is “a delightful, entertaining book even nongolfers can enjoy” (Kirkus Reviews).
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * “One of the best golf books this century.” —Golf Digest Tom Coyne’s A Course Called Scotland is a heartfelt and humorous celebration of his quest to play golf on every links course in Scotland, the birthplace of the game he loves. For much of his adult life, bestselling author Tom Coyne has been chasing a golf ball around the globe. When he was in college, studying abroad in London, he entered the lottery for a prized tee time in Scotland, grabbing his clubs and jumping the train to St. Andrews as his friends partied in Amsterdam; later, he golfed the entirety of Ireland’s coastline, chased pros through the mini-tours, and attended grueling Qualifying Schools in Australia, Canada, and Latin America. Yet, as he watched the greats compete, he felt something was missing. Then one day a friend suggested he attempt to play every links course in Scotland and qualify for the greatest championship in golf. The result is A Course Called Scotland, “a fast-moving, insightful, often funny travelogue encompassing the width of much of the British Isles” (GolfWeek), including St. Andrews, Turnberry, Dornoch, Prestwick, Troon, and Carnoustie. With his signature blend of storytelling, humor, history, and insight, Coyne weaves together his “witty and charming” (Publishers Weekly) journey to more than 100 legendary courses in Scotland with compelling threads of golf history and insights into the contemporary home of golf. As he journeys Scotland in search of the game’s secrets, he discovers new and old friends, rediscovers the peace and power of the sport, and, most importantly, reaffirms the ultimate connection between the game and the soul. It is “a must-read” (Golf Advisor) rollicking love letter to Scotland and golf as no one has attempted it before.
One of the finest golf courses in America in the early 1900s was the revered Pinehurst No. 2, designed by the legendary Donald Ross and first opened in 1907. Physically and mentally demanding, the course gave players options on every hole and required them to envision and execute recovery shots from the sandy perimeters and the pine forests as well as think creatively around the intricate greens. As a result, No. 2 became a favorite of the nation's top amateurs and professionals. Unfortunately, a modernization of the course over the last four decades stripped it of much of its character. In The Golden Age of Pinehurst, Lee Pace chronicles the breathtaking restoration of No. 2 from its recent slick and monochromatic presentation back to a natural potpourri of hardpan sand, wire grass, and Sandhills pine needles. The restored No. 2--accessible for amateur play, yet challenging enough for the professional--once again stands apart for its beauty, strategic appeal, and Old World flavor.
In the early 1900s, Overhills emerged as an exclusive hunt club hidden among the longleaf pine and wiregrass forest, sandy roads, and rural solitude of the North Carolina Sandhills. Soon becoming the Overhills Country Club, this rustic retreat featured a clubhouse, horse stables, dog kennels, train station, post office, and a golf course designed by the legendary Donald Ross. At its height, Overhills boasted fox hunting, bird hunting, polo, and golf with personal cottages on the property commissioned by William Averell Harriman and Percy Avery Rockefeller. By the era of the Great Depression, Overhills evolved from a country club to a country estate for the family of Percy and Isabel Rockefeller, lasting well into the latter decades of the 20th century. Throughout its history, the resident employees and tenant farmers of Overhills contributed to a unique community in this private southern arcadia.
Sand and Golf: How Terrain Shapes the Game explores what makes golf, and golf course architecture, so special on sandy terrain. Golf was born on sandy ground and the features of the game are a direct product of that terrain. Fairways and greens were derived from the naturally occurring areas of short grass found among the coastal dunes of Scotland. The original sand traps were areas of bare sand that can be found scattered throughout any dune landscape. As the game spread beyond the coastal dunes it took these features with it, and while they have been incorporated into a variety of landscapes they have always fit best on sandy ground. For this reason each major expansion in golf has begun with new courses on sandy ground. Even the best courses of the modern era are products of sandy terrain. The reason golf works so well on sandy ground is that it quite literally belongs there. This book explores the unique features of sandy ground that make it so suitable for golf, studying the similarities and differences among sandy courses in a wide variety of environments. The courses of Melbourne's Sandbelt may not bear much resemblance to the fantastic sandy courses of America's Great Plains, but they actually have a great deal in common. The firm turf that is a product of free draining soils, rugged bunkers carved directly into the sandy soils, and a style of play suited to firm, often windy sites. Golf on sandy sites is a game played as much along the ground as through the air, and creative shotmaking is required to deal with the challenges of sandy terrain. The creativity required to succeed when golfing on sandy ground is a big part of the enduring popularity of these courses and the reason why people travel around the world to seek them out. Golf on sandy terrain is something special because golf itself is a product of that terrain. Sand and Golf looks at all aspects of the relationship between sand and golf, from golf's earliest days to the spread of the sport across the globe. Golf and golf course architecture on sandy sites is explored in every detail, using examples and illustrations from the best sandy courses in the world.FEATURED GOLF COURSES: United States of America 1. Bandon Trails Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bandon, Oregon 2. Chambers Bay University Place, Washington 3. Cypress Point GC Monterey, California 4. Friars Head GC Baiting Hollow, New York 5. Garden City GC Garden City, New York 6. The Maidstone Club East Hampton, New York 7. The National Golf Links of America Southampton, New York 8. Pacific Dunes Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bandon, Oregon 9. Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Links Pacific Grove, California 10. Pinehurst Number 2 Pinehurst, North Carolina 11. Pine Valley GC Clementon, New Jersey 12. Sand Hills GC Mullen, Nebraska 13. Sebonack GC Southampton, New York 14. Shinnecock Hills GC Southampton, New York 15. Streamsong Golf Resort Streamsong, Florida 16. Wild Horse GC Gothenburg, Nebraska 17. Yeamans Hall Club Hanahan, South Carolina Great Britain, Ireland, and Europe 18. Ballybunion Golf Club Ballybunion, Ireland 19. Carnoustie Golf Links Carnoustie, Scotland 20. Cruden Bay GC Cruden Bay, Scotland 21. Falsterbo GC Falsterbo, Sweden 22. Ganton GC Scarborough, England 23. Lahinch GC Lahinch, Ireland 24. Machrihanish GC Campbeltown, Scotland 25. Muirfield Gullane, Scotland 26. North Berwick (West Links) North Berwick, Scotland 27. The Old Course at St. Andrews St. Andrews, Scotland 28. Pennard GC Swansea, Wales 29. Prestwick GC Prestwick, Scotland 30. The Renaissance Club at Archerfield Dirleton, Scotland 31. Rosapenna Golf Resort Downings, Ireland 32. Royal Cinque Ports (Deal) Deal, England 33. Royal County Down Newcastle, Northern Ireland 34. Royal Dornoch Dornoch, Scotland 35. Royal North Devon (Westward Ho!) Bideford, England 36. Royal Portrush Portrush, Northern Ireland 37. Royal St. George's Sandwich, England 38. Royal Troon Troon, Scotland 39. Rye GC Rye, England 40. St. George's Hill GC St George's Hill, England 41. Sunningdale GC Sunningdale, England 42. Swinley Forest GC Ascot, England Australia 43. Barnbougle Dunes Bridport, Tasmania 44. Kingston Heath GC Melbourne, Australia 45. Royal Melbourne Melbourne, Australia
