The A Position

When he commissioned design of Beau Desert Golf Club, some 100 years ago, the Marquess of Anglesey lived in the ancient Hall at Beaudesert, a splendid country manor dating back to 1289 (when it was occupied by the noble Trumwyns of Cannock). Known in 13th century Latin deeds as Bellum Desertum, “beautiful wild place”, the estate was later inhabited by all manner of British peerage; ... Read more

Herbert Fowler is one of those architects whose name, curiously, isn’t readily attached to the many great golf courses he laid out and/or substantially retooled. Cruden Bay? That’s a Fowler. Royal North Devon? Fowler’s fingerprints can be found all over this west country masterpiece. Indeed, his renovation of the Old Tom Morris original (a.k.a. Westward Ho!) fairly well accounts for the superb course we know ... Read more

Congratulations to the U.S. team for its Presidents Cups win in Melbourne earlier today. Watching some of the play on the Royal Melbourne course put me in mind of the time I was fortunate enough to play there. So I thought I’d pull this one out of the vaults as a nod to the land down under, part of a trip I took eight years ... Read more

I have travelled to what some Kiwis describe as the end of the Earth, and guess what? It’s rather more lavish than one would have expected from such an extreme location. There’s an outstanding golf course perched precariously over the edge of a jagged cliff, a spa tucked into a ferned glade and a lodge and cottages that live up to lofty Relais & Chateaux ... Read more

This story involves golf, a boat, and some of the best links golf courses in the world. It's a long but compelling story that will take a little while to tell. But if you'll bear with me for a few blog posts, in the end you'll come away from it with the best links golf itinerary anyone has ever imagined. The story goes like this... Once ... Read more

  The farther I can get from the obvious trophy courses when visiting Scotland, the more authentic my visits always prove to be (and the less likely it will take more than 3.5 hours to play). I hesitate to mention 120-year-old Brora Golf Club in northern Scotland, and only do so because you are unlikely to venture 52 miles north of Inverness, past Dornoch, to play a ... Read more

  My father and namesake, Harold G. Phillips Jr., passed away Saturday, Aug. 27, after a 15-month battle with lymphoma, and so I’ve been thinking and writing a lot about him this past week. Most of this bittersweet ruminating has nothing to do with golf, but some of it surely does. He’s the guy who introduced me to the game, taught me the game, claimed to ... Read more

Rediscovering an Old Tom Morris Classic in Scotland's Outer Hebrides   We golf fanatics love to add trophey courses to our brag and bucket lists. And while the Old Course, Pebble Beach and Banff Springs are obvious contenders, I’ve started a new list—obscure courses that most people have not even heard of.  And that is why I recently braved a narrow one-tract road about the width of ... Read more

Under normal circumstances, a five-man, five-hole playoff would be an exciting thing to watch.  Playoffs make you sit up on the edge of your seat and pay attention -- which isn't always the case as golf tournaments wind down.  But if ever there were an event that needed a new playoff format, it's this one. When Mark Foster bogeyed his 72nd hole to fall into the ... Read more

“One Golfer At a Time” - The Old Course's Humble Swilcan Bridge This short, sturdy little stone bridge might be overlooked anywhere else, but because it's at St. Andrews and the funnel which every golfing pilgrim or gladiator must pass, I call it “Golf’s Holiest Place.”  It’s weather worn stones and gentle arch that were erected some 700-800 years ago (no one knows exactly when) ... Read more