The most intriguing way AI can assist in golf course design is with routings, the process by which architects arrange 18 holes around a given property. In theory, there are uncountable combinations of holes, lengths, orientations and ways to use a given piece of land. AI has the power to analyse a topographical map and Read more…
Royal Birkdale is unrecognisable in parts ahead of this year’s Open Championship. Architect Tom Mackenzie has reworked almost every hole on the Southport links including a new driveable fifth a retired par-3 14th and a brand new long par 3 to replace it. Here’s a look at the biggest changes since Jordan Spieth’s win in 2017.
With its tall dunes, flat lies and lack of blind shots, Royal Birkdale is often described as the fairest course on the Open rota. Here’s a hole-by-hole breakdown of what to expect at this year’s championship.
The revered New York club has never found a reason to make major alterations to the design, or even very minor ones, and therefore had no reason to later restore or correct it for past mistakes.
Alister MacKenzie was a prolific writer and essayist in addition to being a golf course architect, and he left behind something of a hack for contestants who enter drawings in the annual Ray Haddock Lido Prize contest, sponsored by the Alister MacKenzie Society. It’s actually not so much of a hack as much as a Read more…
From its founding in 1891 to its sixth US Open in 2026, here’s the full story of Shinnecock Hills and the holes that will define next week’s championship.
It’s no secret that it gets hot in South Carolina. But in terms of golf, the state has never been hotter than it is now. When it comes to the quality and relevance of new course construction, South Carolina is burning. In the last four years the state has become the epicenter of creative new Read more…
In the past few years, South Carolina has become the state where the most exciting golf design is taking place. Six new courses have opened since early 2024 (including one that’s a major transformation of an existing property), and six other 18-hole courses are in different stages of constructions with five expected to open in Read more…
In this video we’re going to explore what makes Shinnecock’s 11th one of the most elusive and infuriating par 3s in golf. But to understand why it’s so challenging to even the world’s greatest players, we need to dig into its architecture and trace how the hole came into being.
When golfers travel, they tend to seek out target-rich environments, the dense clusters of places like the London Heathlands, the Melbourne Sandbelt or the Hamptons on Long Island where they can play as many great courses as possible in the shortest amount of time. Golfers visiting Scotland, for instance, typically attempt to gobble up chunks Read more…
Aronimink’s history poses a philosophical question for architects and old clubs: should designers honour and resurrect the course that the original architects drew, or are they better off restoring the features that were actually built?
Poke your nose into enough golf architecture discussions, and you’re bound to hear someone mention “the Philadelphia School of Design.” It’s particularly relevant this week when Aronimink Golf Club, in the west Philadelphia enclave of Newtown Square, hosts the PGA Championship, its first since 1962. What exactly is the Philadelphia School of Design? In the Read more…
Last fall, Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island reopened after a renovation by Love Golf Design, the firm of Mark and Davis Love III and lead architect Scot Sherman. The work, which was on display during the recent RBC Heritage, involved new drainage and irrigation, expanding lost green space, rebuilding bunkers—normal things that Read more…
If you scripted a movie centered around the quintessential Los Angeles golf club, that lead would look a lot like Bel-Air. Winding through the mansion-dotted canyons of the Hollywood Hills, Bel-Air Country Club is a Tinseltown vision of Southern California golf with topography so steep it seems fictitious as golfers are guided hole to hole Read more…
Golf Digest is talking to the next generation of course architects whose names might be new to you, but are popping up more and more with great projects. This interview has been edited for concision. The full Q&A is available on the “Feed the Ball” podcast with architecture editor Derek Duncan. What shaping or design Read more…
Discover how public golf courses can deliver private club–level playing conditions, from firmer turf to truer greens, using smarter agronomy, design and maintenance practices.
Golf Digest is talking to the next generation of course architects whose names might be new to you, but are popping up more and more with great projects. This interview has been edited for concision. The full Q&A is available on the “Feed the Ball” podcast with architecture editor Derek Duncan. What work are you Read more…
We asked Aussies Mike Cocking and Geoff Ogilvy, from design firm OCM, if they were to design a new marquee venue for the PGA Tour, what would their version look and play like?
Australian Golf Digest
