Why Portugal is still Europe’s #1 golf destination
There were no surprises at last week’s World Travel Awards when Europe’s Leading Golf Destination for 2012 was announced. Hosted at the swanky new Conrad Algarve Resort in Portugal the evening turned out to be as golden as the cliffs that line Portugal’s coastline on the Atlantic Ocean seaboard. Portugal scooped seven awards, including Europe’s [...]
Golf Caddies: Technology battles Tradition
There’s something romantic and mystical about the wizened, weather beaten face and guttural tones of a Scottish caddie. They have thousands of rounds of golf and ounces of sea salt etched into leathered ruddy skin. Their smiles and eyes tell of a quiet knowledge, a deep patience earned over years of watching travelling golfers beaten [...]
Lytham’s toughest test – Tangly Rough or Tabloideeze?
We’ve had it for days now. The rough’s “unplayable,” “if you’re not hitting it straight your golf game will be going home in an ambulance.” How did one typically wet British Summer and some fast growing rough grass at Royal Lytham and St Anne’s Golf Club, Lancashire, suddenly become a British tabloid media sensation? Is [...]
Talking Point: Carts vs Calves
Global Golfer’s Australia Editor, Danny Bowerin argues that we should all abandon the golf cart in favor of a good long walk… American writer Mark Twain famously said golf was a “good walk spoiled.” Too many golfers seem to have taken him literally because wherever I play these days more people are riding golf carts [...]
Happy Birthday Bobby Jones – Greatest of them All
In any sport the debate of who was the greatest of all time is always a point of fascination and controversy. In golf, my mind is made up. The Golden Bear (Jack Nicklaus) is worth consideration, the Hawk (Ben Hogan) may have been the greatest striker and shot maker, Slammin Sammy (Snead) the greatest athlete [...]
Curious case of the missing Caddies
Ever since I first watched Caddyshack, a seminal 1980’s golf movie about the caddies and members of Bushwood Country Club – a typical American Private golf club – I’ve loved the idea of having my bag carried by a wily local who knows the humps, hollows, nooks and crannies of the courses I’m playing. Sadly [...]
Great Scott: Talking Course Design
Global Golfer talks to course designer and author Scott Macpherson about golf course architecture and his high profile UK design at Close House in Northumberland… Scott Macpherson may be from New Zealand but he loves classic British golf courses, and has a special passion for The Old Course at St Andrews. That passion led him [...]
Cobras in the Rough: an Indian Odyssey
When the European Tour landed in India last week for the Avantha Masters it beamed pictures around the world of golf in a mysterious and humid corner of Asia. If you found J.B Kruger’s win around a track with coarse grasses and burnt brownish greens compelling viewing, then you will like a new book about [...]
What on earth made you book that golf holiday?
A number of news releases dropped into the Global Golfer inbox in the past two weeks and switched on the lightbulb for this blog post. We all love to play golf. You wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t love golf and travelling to play it. But how do you decide where you are going [...]
Reader Photo: Pebble Beach Golf Links
Reader Martin Parry, a 5-handicap golfer living in Singapore, says: “My favourite course by a long way. I was -1 after 1, but sadly that didn’t last long and with 2 nights in the lodge and a spa treatment for the wife whilst I played this was the most expensive round of golf ever.”
