You might say it started when W.P. Kinsella wrote a baseball novel in 1982 called “Shoeless Joe” that used the haunting refrain, “If you build it, he will come.” The extraterrestrials of Stonehenge may have had the notion originally, but Kinsella’s mantra expressed perfectly that if you create something worthwhile, people will beat a path Read more…
One of America’s iconic companies, U.S. Steel, agreed this week after months of speculation to be sold to Nippon Steel for in excess of $14 billion. The origins of U.S. Steel have a golf connection that’s worth recalling as the ultimate example of the game as a business tool. The story is coincidentally told in Read more…
Every golfer has a bucket list of courses they want to play, but I prefer to ask friends for their Ice Bucket List: What’s the best drink you’ve had at the best courses? You haven’t completed the Grand Slam until you’ve tasted these four cocktails in situ: 1. Southside Traced back to Al Capone’s Chicago, Read more…
The last time I was in Louisville, birthplace of The Greatest, I went to the Muhammad Ali Center for a meeting of The First Tee Trustees, and he was there. Sports’ most eloquent speaker couldn’t speak. Ali smiled and had his picture taken with each of us, as one by one we said a few Read more…
In my garage at home is a red canvas, cylindrical shag bag with a protruding aluminum tube that retrieves golf balls without back strain. It’s my longest serving piece of golf equipment in continuous use. The Original Shag Bag was invented by Clifford Hurd and Ian McDonald in 1948, and the same company, Madewell Products, Read more…
The Nudge and my three favourite tournament officials. [Getty images: Mike Ehrmann] Please don’t take offence to this statement of fact, but public-course golfers tend to nudge their golf balls to a better lie more often than private-course players do. I consider myself somewhat of an authority on this subject because I’ve played half my Read more…
Two peculiarities make golf unique among professional sports. First, only in golf does the winner score the fewest points. Where else does a 3 beat a 4?
Australian Golf Digest
