Articles by Derek Duncan

June 29th, 2022

1 Kiwi, 4 Aussie courses in the top 15 in Golf Digest’s new World’s 100 Greatest Courses

Four Australian courses made the top 15 of the new release of Golf Digest’s biennial World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses.

May 26th, 2022

Southern Hills fans will like what’s next at Oak Hill for 2023 PGA (but cross fingers on the weather)

If the springtime weather in Oklahoma was unpredictable, even wilder climate swings are possible in upstate New York in mid-May.

May 25th, 2022

US Open 2022: Three things to look out for at this year’s host venue

Small greens, antique character and blind shots give The Country Club at Brookline its own unique flavour.

March 23rd, 2022

2022 Masters preview: Full tilt

Augusta National’s famously contoured greens are a collection of three distinct types.

January 17th, 2022

This graphic shows why Waialae’s 17th hole is one of the most under-appreciated par 3s on the PGA Tour

This is architect Seth Raynor’s original Redan, meaning the narrow green, flanked by bunkers short and behind, is angled from the tee with the back half of the putting surface running away from the player.

November 17th, 2021

The Country Club’s 2022 US Open setup will include a hole not used since Francis Ouimet’s 1913 victory

The USGA has recently made The Country Club’s routing for the 2022 US Open public, and the layout will debut a combination and sequencing of holes never used before.

October 26th, 2021

Tiger: The future architect

Tiger was just 11 when he entered golf digest’s first armchair architect contest. 

September 22nd, 2021

Underrated: The holes you don’t always see on TV that make the pros squirm

Looking to get beyond these standard and often redundant rankings of “greatest” holes, we began wondering: what are some of the most underrated holes on the PGA Tour? Which holes deserve more attention than they get? 

May 25th, 2021

The last stand of Rees Jones

The US Open at Torrey Pines represents the end of a design era in major-championship golf.

May 12th, 2021

The making of Te Arai: Bill Coore is working on golf’s next great site

There will be a membership component to Te Arai when it opens in October 2022, but the two courses will alternate between private and public tee-times on different days.

May 11th, 2021

Anatomy of a difficult course

What the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, site of this month’s PGA Championship teaches us about overcoming challenging layouts.

April 6th, 2021

Masters 2021: Augusta National’s ongoing quest to be the perfect course

The following changes enacted over the past several decades have had an equally profound effect on the course’s character and playability.

March 20th, 2021

SMALL WONDERS: Can short courses spark a movement in Australia?

An unexpected recent architectural trend is the popularity of short courses: entertaining, quick-play accessory designs stuffed with ambitious architecture.

January 28th, 2021

Tasmania is getting another new course – and it promises to be jaw-droppingly good!

The newly announced golf course in Hobart is another win on the quest for spectacular linksland golf.

November 10th, 2020

Of slopes… and swales

The subtle genius of Augusta National’s greens.

November 5th, 2020

Masters 2020: The critical ways Augusta National will play differently in November versus April

It will be novel to see how Augusta National looks and sounds devoid of the typical eruptions of blooming flora – or the eruptions of roars and gasps from the patrons – and with gold and orange accents rather than pinks, reds and whites.

October 7th, 2020

Architecture: Power To The People

How the information age is influencing golf-course architecture.

September 15th, 2020

US Open 2020: A return to Winged Foot means a return to this USGA favourite – gnarly rough

Rough has long been a useful tool for creating demanding setups and for tournaments that hope to test a certain skill set, but other appeals of the game are sacrificed when the measure of success is relegated to hitting the ball to predetermined positions.

March 29th, 2020

An inside look at Michael Jordan’s new course, The Grove XXIII

Architecture’s best rule is: Use what’s there. Sometimes that’s a perfect landscape, a Shinnecock Hills with wild grasses, sand ridges, a distant bay. Sometimes it’s Florida citrus land, a pasture and canals.

February 24th, 2020

Greg Norman’s Cabo course is the latest in his growing global design presence

Greg Norman Golf Course Design has just opened its latest creation, Rancho San Lucas in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.