Articles by Stephen Hennessey

The American Express picks 2025: Our experts love this longshot

Say what you want about the state of professional golf, but we love The American Express. As the PGA Tour decreases field sizes, this is a rare week with 156 players competing for a PGA Tour victory and all the perks that come with it. Golf bettors have a chance at a big payday, too, Read more…

The Sentry picks 2025: Our caddie’s Ryder Cup-inspired best bet

The new PGA Tour season has officially snuck up on us! But who are we kidding: What better way to recover from a New Year’s hangover than watching the stunning scenary of Kapalua’s Plantation Course on our TVs on Thursday evening. We can’t wait. Plus, sorry Scottie … but with no Scheffler in the field Read more…

11 of the best spring golf trips you can take

It’s that time of year. If you live in northern parts of the U.S., you’ll start to get tired of the simulator or freezing cold range sessions. Your next time on the course might be months away … why not book a quick golf trip for the spring? MORE: The 10 mistakes you’re making at a Read more…

The best golf courses in Asia

Geography and culture don’t get much more diverse than in Aisa, especially when it comes to golf. The style of golf from one country to the next—even from one region to the next—can vary as much as the cuisine. Even separating out the major golf markets of Japan, South Korea and China (as we’ve done Read more…

Why booking a Bandon Dunes trip might’ve just gotten easier

If you’ve tried booking a Bandon Dunes trip in the past five years or so, you know how tough it has become. Add in golf’s boom in popularity with the scarce availability of lodging at golf’s best resort, and it’s been common to hear that the Oregon resort was booked for the next two years. Read more…

The best golf courses in South America

We have five continents represented on our ranking of the World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses. The only two missing? South America and Antarctica. There are are no golf courses on Antarctica, but it’s not an indictment on the quality of golf in South America. Almost 100 years ago, when Alister MacKenzie designed two courses for Read more…

The best golf courses in Europe

As soon as you take up golf in the United States, somebody will sell you on taking a trip to Europe. They’re right of course. It’s the birthplace of golf, you’ve heard. St. Andrews is a baptismal experience. Royal County Down might be the best course anywhere. The best links courses that we watch every Read more…

We lost our most prolific golfer

It’s an interesting life being a Golf Digest course-ranking panelist. The rules and ethos you must uphold resemble those of the military or a fraternity. Break any of them and a dishonorable discharge awaits. The panel, and really the Golf Digest brand, is much bigger than any individual. In fact, we don’t like our panelists’ Read more…

Are course ratings biased toward private clubs?

Some things in golf puzzle even the most avid, seasoned golfers. How course ratings and slopes—aka the difficulty of a course—are calculated would be up there. We’re not talking about the course rankings, such as Augusta National being the second-highest course in the country. Instead, the course rating—which helps us figure out what our expected Read more…

3M Open picks 2024: Why we love Akshay Bhatia

We’re officially 250-plus days until Masters Week. It’s a sad realization that major season is over, but we have the finishing stretch of the PGA Tour season upon us—which means more opportunities to cash some tickets. Will players experience an Open Championship hangover after a grind last week? Consider Tony Finau won at the 3M Read more…