The A Position

True links aficionados put the venerable Old Tom Morris-designed Machrihanish Golf Club on their list of places to play before they die and now there’s another reason to take that long, winding road. to Machrihanish. This remote southern end of the Kintyre peninsula inspired Sir Paul McCartney, who has a farm in the area, to recorded his 1977 hit “Mull of Kintyre.” Locals will also tell you that McCartney’s ballad, “The Long and Winding Road,” is about the B842 running along the east coast to Campbeltown. The new Machrihanish Dunes is the first links to open on the west coast of ...

We are called golf road warriors and today was the second time on this trip that the old warrior spirit needed to come to the fore. The rain and wind on day one at Dunaverty Golf Club was a light breeze and drizzle compared to today's deluge in winds of over 30 mph. Let me give you a prospective, I have never had acupuncture needles arrowing at my face, but after today I can certainly tell you what that sensation would feel like! The Kintyre Express ferry from Campbeltown to Ballycastle was cancelled due to the weather, so it was a ...

Eat, drink, play For this self-confessed golf fanatic and hedonist it doesn’t get much better than my stay here at the St. Regis Punta Mita Resort (about 40 minutes north of the Puerto Vallarta airport). Let’s start with the golf. I’ve just played two of the most magnificent courses on the Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit. The Punta Mita Golf Club now boasts two Jack Nicklaus Signature courses. In June 2008, Pacifico was named the number one golf course in the world by the readers of Condé Nast Traveler. Pacifico boasts 19 fairways and the world’s only natural island green. To play this signature ...

Celebrity chef Todd English had a luxury tent full of food-o-files eating out of his hand during an intimate cooking demonstration, followed by a book signing, at the annual Pebble Beach Food + Wine event. “I love nothing more than preparing a meal for someone. It’s so sensual,” said English, as he whipped up a plate of colorful ginger roasted duck complimented by parmesan risotto with peas and carrots, using unabashed amounts of butter and salt below a giant, tilted, mirror displaying the Michigan-based Jenn-Air stoves. “We eat with our eyes first. The plate is your canvas. Cooking is the ...

The last day of a vacation is bittersweet. But what if you make it the first day of your new life? That’s what Boulder, Colorado’s Megan Haertling and her new husband did during the final sunset of their honeymoon. “We loved Hawaii so much we made a commitment right then and there to live in the islands,” says Haertling. The newlyweds flew home, sold whatever they could, quit their jobs, turned around, and went back to their paradise. “My father is a scientist. He thought we were crazy,” she admits. “We stayed in a hostel and drove a rental car around trying to get ...

Launching a new golf course is almost unheard of these days. After all, the National Golf Foundation reports that supply of tracks will continue to outpace demand for the foreseeable future. Indeed, almost 160 U.S.-owned 18-hole operations shut down in 2011, compared with 19 openings, an unfortunate trend that has seen almost 360 clubs close since the market’s peak in 2005. Which is why, some two months after ownership of Shaker Hills Golf Club in Harvard changed hands via foreclosure auction, and Athol’s Ellinwood Country Club filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the opening of a new club in Massachusetts is big news ...

< Previous: Birdies and Brews Part 4: Orlando We decided to give up and declare a tie here, between two of the best golf resorts anywhere, with solid beer selections. Kohler gets the edge with the beer, Bandon with the golf, but both are bucket list worthy. The small heartland town of Kohler is an hour north of Milwaukee. It’s a company town, but the company is now a lot more than plumbing fixtures: The American Club is the luxury hotel here, and it only stands to reason the Kohler Waters Spa is top-notch. There are four sterling Pete Dye-designed courses, one ...

There is a misnomer that the great links golf courses of the world were solely created by the hands of weather and time, with minimal input from sheep, rabbits and man. The truth is  the hand of man had much to do with the creation of virtually every great links layout, whether it was the cutting back of the whins, the rolling of the greens or the digging of bunkers. It was Tom Morris who created the Valley of Sin at the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland when he expanded the 18th green at the behest of golfers. Years later, Alister ...

  (FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.) — A trio of Fayetteville’s finest golf designs — Anderson Creek, Gates Four Country Club and King’s Grant Golf Club — have been included in the North Carolina Golf Panel’s annual rankings published in the April issue of Business North Carolina Magazine. The Davis Love III-designed Anderson Creek, named North Carolina’s Best New Course in 2001, remained a fixture in the Tar Heel State’s Top 100 checking in at No. 91 and was also deemed the Sandhills’ fifth-best hidden gem. Gates Four, a recently renovated Willard Byrd favorite near the heart of Fayetteville, stood proudly at No. 11 among all ...