The 20th Hole

The last installment from the Ireland trip is La Hinch.  We're skipping a review of the Dook course.  Dook was fun to play but the greenskeeper had to be on vacation as the greens were slower than molasses.  It seemed the greens were 7-8 on the stimpmeter and I became...

Next up we headed to the Ballybunion Golf Links.  I hadn't been here since the spring of 1990 and remember nothing about the course other than the cemetery off the first tee.  My son was 11 years old.  It was pouring rain and the wind was howling and what made it even...

Jerry Kelly has always been a keen competitor without having all of the artillery of his Senior Tour combatants.  After leading the tournament, the rest of the field led by Matt Gogol put up a score in the clubhouse that Kelly would have to beat and his lead shrank to...

Old Head Golf Links: Gem of the Southwest We caught Old Head on a day the pro shop said comes around once or twice a year — sunshine for most of the round, wind in the 10-20 mph range, and not a drop of rain. The last time I teed it up at Old Head the heavens opened...

I played Waterville from the green tees — 6,252 yards — under conditions that had no business allowing golf at all: torrential rain and a steady 30-40 mph wind for the entirety of the front nine, gusting to 50 on a few memorable occasions. The rain finally broke at...

I have to interrupt my writing on Ireland to focus on the latest DeChambeau escapade at the Open Championship in Royal Birkdale. DeChambeau completed his best round in a 2026 major at Royal Birkdale and into contention at -7.  He was then confronted with a two stroke...

From the warmth of the Costa Sol in April, we headed back to Ireland on June 23 for five additional rounds on the Emerald Isle.  Dodging heat domes is a new sport that seems to be necessary as this horrible weather is occurring  with additional frequency in Europe, I...

Brief History The Ryder Cup evolved from a series of informal matches between US and Great Britain competitors in the mid-1920's.  Samuel Ryder, a wealthy British seed merchant, became intrigued with these matches and decided to sponsor a match at the Worcester...

Before I left for Ireland on Monday, I was taken aback by the extent of the commentary on the Golf Channel regarding fan behavior on US Open Sunday.  We refuse to accept that we're living in a society whose values have been corrupted by the faceless trolling of social...

Wyndham Clark played flawlessly over the tough Shinnecock track for 36 holes racing to a lead in very tough but fair conditions.  Clark stayed out of trouble for the bulk of Thursday and Friday while the rest of the field fought to survive the windy conditions.  The...

Golf's longest day of the year is the day of nation-wide US Open qualifying across the country from Florida to Oregon at all points in between.  It's a day of stress and grinding as amateurs and professionals alike try to conjure up a great round to participate in the...

The week of golf began with the cross country flight from San Francisco to Boston and then drive to Rhode Island for the University of Connecticut golf tournament at Shelter Harbor in Charleston, Rhode Island.  Golf clubs were shipped earlier in the week to a private...

We toured the town of Seville on our way to the Costa Del Sol where we would play a number of outstanding venues including Finca Cortesin, San Roque Country Club, Sotogrande  and Valderrama.   All of these golf courses presented great playable venues with a number of...

I had little to no expectations for my round. at the Dunes Course at Monterey Peninsula.  My Titleist clubs were shipped to Connecticut for next weeks tournament  at Shelter Harbor with the University of Connecticut.  I rummaged through the inventory in the Pebble...

The movement of the PGA Championship schedule from August to May has really improved the competitive nature of the event as the players didn't  have to fight intense heat, humidity, bugs and potential violent storms that limit the type of courses that the PGA could...