The A Position

<Previous: Birdies and Brews: Introduction Next: Birdies and Brews Part 2: San Diego, California> Having dissed Ireland, we’ll salve the Celtic soul at the venerable home of golf, St. Andrews. As for the beer, consider four words: college town, real ales. Scotland’s first university was founded here in 1413. With classes in session this compact seaside town’s population effectively doubles to 14,000, invigorating the many charming shops, ... Read more

This morning The Golf Road Warriors executed Callaway Hex Black sorties at Reynolds Plantation's Oconee Golf Course on a cool, atmospheric, slightly overcast morning that gave way to a warm, sunny afternoon.  Designed by Rees Jones, Oconee is the more buttoned-down, conservative sibling to Tom Fazio's Plantation Course-- though whether that somehow makes Jones and Fazio related I can't really say. I played with fellow warrior ... Read more

Jeff Ritter demonstrates simple tips for more power is this episode of The Golf Digest Clinic! For more information on coaching with Jeff, visit JeffRitterGolf.com Download The Jeff Ritter Golf App FREE! Read more

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

You learn something every day, but in about 48 hours I learned about giant pumpkins, the Archimedes Screw, the Propeller Brewing Company, Cape Breton golf and meat darts. All this because ‘tis the season for pumpkin ales, which I suspect are now outselling Oktoberfest beers as far as fall seasonals go. I was going to bypass them this year but as I was just on a ... 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