In 2023, Italy will host its first Ryder Cup. The Marco Simone Golf Club, just outside Rome, is staging the biennial contest between Europe and the United States, and while most fans will base themselves in the Eternal City for the contest, those looking to lengthen their trip would do well to consider…
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Hidden away on the County Wicklow coast, just south of beautiful Brittas Bay, you’ll find a links course like no other. The European Club is a one-off, a place where the rules of how to design and run a golf club haven’t applied since Pat Ruddy, the effervescent owner and designer, circled over…
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Rosslare Golf Links is bathed in sunshine as we walk up the final hole of a round that will live long in the memory. It was Walt Whitman who wrote, ‘keep your face always toward the sunshine and the shadows will fall behind you.’ That was certainly how our day on this charming,…
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Sigmund Freud once claimed all human behaviour is governed by our desire to move towards pleasure and away from pain and now the guys at deWiz believe that principle can improve your golf swing. When I was told I should try the deWiz golf watch, which delivers electric pulses or – whisper it…
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The view from our balcony at the sumptuous Links House at Royal Dornoch is one you could never grow tired of. A few yards to our left is the 1st tee of one of the world’s greatest golf courses, abuzz with greenkeepers, golfers and walkers. To our right is the conservation village of…
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For golfers the world over, Royal Dornoch Golf Club represents a unique call to adventure. It’s a pilgrimage which requires commitment, dedication and patience. After all this golfing outpost, tucked away in a stunning corner of the Scottish Highlands, sits 50 miles north of Loch Ness and just eight degrees below in the Arctic…
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Fyfe Golf unashamedly celebrate Scotland’s rich and storied manufacturing heritage. Their beautiful, handmade products and accessories already grace golf bags and golfers far and wide and each of them come proudly having been ‘Made in Scotland.’ All fabrics are sourced from the finest Scottish mills and weavers and their mission is to reconnect…
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In my head the atmospheric Old Course was going to be lit up by autumnal sunshine, showing off the home of golf in all its picture postcard perfection. In reality, the stoating rain that had threatened to derail my morning round at the Crail Golfing Society, had followed us up the Fife coast.…
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It’s no surprise to find the Scots have more than 100 words for rain – several sprang immediately to mind as I arrived at Crail Golfing Society, the seventh oldest club on the planet. It was a dreich morning, the darkest and dankest of starts to an autumnal day at the easternmost point…
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As I stand on the first tee at Western Gailes Golf Club, it suddenly dawns on me how lucky I am. Not just lucky in the sense that I’m about to play one of Scotland’s finest links courses, but lucky because there’s barely a breath of wind on the Ayrshire coast, this late…
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There’s barely a cloud in the sky over Prestwick Golf Club as we turn off Links Road and into one of the game’s great cathedrals. The morning sunshine bathes the famous stone clubhouse in a golden glow and the white flags on the 14th and 18th greens, for once, hang limp in the…
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Tom Coyne has chased a golf ball around the globe for much of his adult life, embodying the essence of a true wandering golfer. In doing so, he has carved out a niche as a golf travel writer with a connection to the soul of our game and to the people who bring…
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It would be understandable if Dundonald Links felt just a little threatened by Ayrshire’s embarrassment of golfing riches. After all it sits within minutes of storied Open venues such as Royal Troon and Prestwick Golf Club. Another, Turnberry, is 30 minutes down the coast. Wonderful Western Gailes is within a wedge. Barassie, Glasgow…
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A day or two at The Machrie is all it takes to understand why so many who visit Islay leave a piece of their heart behind. The idyllic isolation from the everyday would, on its own, be the perfect tonic to the bustle of modern life. But when you combine that with the…
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There’s a rare sense of stillness and tranquillity as you walk Woodhall Spa’s iconic Hotchkin Course. This secluded, unassuming corner of Lincolnshire may be home to one of the best inland golf courses on the planet but there’s no fuss or fanfare here. The contrary is true, in fact. From the moment you…
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There’s no escaping that the Bracken Course at Woodhall Spa Golf Club is, like many other fabulous venues the world over, will always exist in the shadow of its more celebrated big brother. The New and The Old Course, St Andrews. The Cashen Course and The Old, Ballybunion. The Castle Course and The…
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Knowledge is power, so the saying goes, and in golfing terms that has given rise to a new wave of distance measuring devices, or rangefinders, coming into the game. The PGA Championship at Kiawah Island in May was the first major where rangefinders were permitted. But it is not just the touring pros…
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As I walk towards the 18th green at Royal St George’s Golf Club, through the funnel of Open Championship grandstands either side of me, I allow myself a moment to take it all in. The magnificent lunar landscape of linksland here is exactly as I remember it. The vast dunes, verdant fairways and…
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It feels almost disrespectful to describe The Petwood simply as one of the best hotels near Woodhall Spa Golf Club, because the truth is, it’s so much more. This is a place where the history of those who have walked these corridors and wiled away the hours in the stunning Edwardian gardens, lives…
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A par-3 opener: 200 yards, into the wind, eight bunkers around the green, Walter Hagen looking on. Ok, so I made that last bit up – sort of – but we’ll come back to Mr Hagen shortly. Southport & Ainsdale Golf Club is one of the jewels among the treasure trove of links…
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