Alwoodley Golf Club is a place where loyalty is par for the course. Ever since the great Dr Alister MacKenzie – the man who would go on to design Augusta National – became a founder member here in 1907, there has been a sense that devotion has been sewn into the springy fairways…
CLICK FOR MORE
I remember the moment I realised my childhood dream of winning The Open was in tatters – it was all Luke Donald’s fault. Not that he knew it. I was 14 and I was good at golf. But I was soon to discover I was not good enough. From the age of 7,…
CLICK FOR MORE
In these parts, the story goes that during the 1950s Huddersfield was home to the highest number of Rolls-Royces per capita than anywhere else on the planet, save Beverley Hills. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the wool trade meant there was extraordinary wealth, prestige and opulence here. None of that is…
CLICK FOR MORE
Despite its remote location, some 30 miles north of Inverness, Royal Dornoch has been an established fixture in the top 10 of the world’s best courses for decades…
CLICK FOR MORE
This global pandemic has been difficult enough for golf clubs which have been around for centuries. Imagine, then, trying to open a new one. That was the reality facing the team at the breathtakingly beautiful Dumbarnie Links, on the Fife coast, and it was a challenge they embraced wholeheartedly. “It’s been harder than…
CLICK FOR MORE
Very little about our world feels normal these days. Spending a few hours walking the fairways of your local golf club with friends is, let’s face it, about as close as it gets. This Covid-19 pandemic is not a disaster in a traditional sense, even if the trauma is comparable. It is not…
CLICK FOR MORE
St Andrews and Chariots of Fire: the association immediately brings to mind the evocative opening moments of the celebrated Oscar-winning film, a sequence which has long since taken its place in cinematic history. The iconic images of young British athletes striding out across a windswept beach in slow-motion are set to one of…
CLICK FOR MORE
I had read and re-read what was in front of me four or five times before I could muster anything like a reaction. When I finally looked up, I tried to speak but words failed me. So, I looked back down at the piece of paper again which had my name on it.…
CLICK FOR MORE
During its celebrated history, Moortown Golf Club has grown accustomed to hosting the greats of the game and providing the backdrop for significant moments in golfing history. Everyone from Walter Hagen to Peter Thomson, Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo have played here, each chapter helping to build the story of this…
CLICK FOR MORE
Lindrick Golf Club saved the Ryder Cup. By the time 1957 came around, the event was on its knees. The US had won every match dating back 24 years. Interest was waning. No one wanted to sponsor it and with only months to go before the Ryder Cup was due to be played, the…
CLICK FOR MORE
Ganton Golf Club is a truly extraordinary place. There is a stillness to it, a timeless elegance. It’s as if when you leave the busy main road that flanks it and turn down a long narrow drive you are transported to a place of calm and serenity. Even in the fierce and frequent…
CLICK FOR MORE
It’s not often golf can reach beyond the sport and capture the imagination of a new audience. The Ryder Cup, however, carries that power. It is an event built on prestige, not prize money, one that conjures up vivid, enduring memories and brings to mind the names of the courses on which the…
CLICK FOR MORE
Funny story – Burnley Golf Club: 10am.The clubhouse is quieter than it should be for a big golf day. No welcoming party. No bacon butties. None of those banner things. No people. We walk into the clubhouse. “Hi, we’re here for the golf day,” I say. “The golf day?’ says the pro. “Yes,…
CLICK FOR MORE
The village of West Linton may not spring immediately to mind when you’re planning an golf trip to this part of Scotland. Edinburgh and the wider East Lothian region boasts an embarrassment of riches when it comes to golf. The likes of Muirfield, Gullane, Royal Musselburgh and North Berwick are world-famous and vastly…
CLICK FOR MORE
Doonbeg is a study in contrasts: the rugged and quintessentially Irish beauty of the Clare coastline with the 2006 American-built stone castle that overlooks it, the flat farmland that stretches for miles around with the towering sand dunes that dominate this visually stunning golf course. And yet anyone who has stood here, felt…
CLICK FOR MORE
Even at first glance, it is obvious Lahinch is not just another seaside town. Golf is woven into the fabric of this otherwise unprepossessing village on the County Clare coast. It feels like it’s on the lips of a everyone in town, in the craic. It’s in the pubs (one of which is…
CLICK FOR MORE
Golf is changing. Where once it was played by folk with wooden clubs, now it’s a game played by super humans, capable of reducing 600-yard par 5s to a thunderous drive and an easy 6-iron Golf courses are changing too. They’re getting longer, both in yardage and the time it takes to play…
CLICK FOR MORE
We want you to come and play in the Irish Open Pro-Am,’ said the voice at the other end of the phone. ‘Some big names are playing this year and if you’re open to it, we’ll try and get you a round with Rory.’ How do you respond? How could any golfer refuse…
CLICK FOR MORE
Bobby Jones hit the nail on the head when he said of Sunningdale Old Course, “I wish I could take it home with me.” It may be the only thing he and I have in common but I certainly share that sentiment as I step off the 18th green after a round I’d…
CLICK FOR MORE
It was an iconic image which travelled around the world: Bernhard Langer, with a shock of blonde hair, at Fulford Golf Club playing from a tree 10ft off the ground. It was a moment in time. A moment of golf history that put this Yorkshire club firmly on the map and ensured it would…
CLICK FOR MORE
