For many golfers in colder climates, your ideal winter is one that is nonexistent. Grass showing all year, mild temperatures in the 40s and 50s, little precipitation and plenty of January rounds. Your superintendent likely doesn’t see it the same way. I asked Paul Dotti, Director of Club Operations (and former long-time Director of Grounds) Read more…
Nearly every year since 1998, the Alister MacKenzie Society has sponsored the Ray Haddock Lido Prize contest, the largest and longest-running amateur architect competition in the world. MacKenzie, of course, rose to prominence in the architecture world in 1914 when his drawing won the original open call for submissions in Country Life Magazine for a Read more…
Riviera’s Kikuyu grass isn’t just a talking point, it’s a game-changer. Learn how this unusual turf shapes strategy, lies and scoring at the Genesis Invitational.
Every year around the time of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, pictures of the course from the 1929 U.S. Amateur make the internet rounds, causing architecture buffs to swoon. The photos show the greens—primarily those along the cliffs like four, six, seven and 17—buffeted by swaths of open sand and dunes-like vegetation as if they Read more…
When a golf course is as old and famous as Pebble Beach, it’s tempting to believe we know all there is to know about it. Not only have golfers watched it on television during U.S. Opens and the annual AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am for decades, many of us have also experienced the unforgettable thrill Read more…
The golf development business thrived in 2025 and appears to be accelerating into 2026. Architects are flush with work, resorts are expanding, remodel budgets break barriers and new courses are being constructed in all corners of the country. However, the same resources dedicated to private clubs and resorts have yet to find their way to Read more…
This was supposed to be a casual, late-afternoon round on a pretty little par-3 course so new its seventh hole wasn’t finished. I took a deep breath as magic-hour sunshine spread across the island of Barbados as I stepped into my first tee shot on the Little Apes Golf Course. But wait. I couldn’t shake Read more…
The mission of Andrew Green’s work at Chevy Chase Club north of Washington, D.C. was to return the course design to its historical roots. The question was, which ones? The original nine holes laid out by Willie Davis in 1896 were expanded to 18 two years later, most likely by club professional Willie Tucker. Donald Read more…
There’s no stopping the boom in new golf course construction. Dozens and dozens of new projects deserve a spotlight, but here are 6 courses we’re excited to see in 2026. There are dozens if not hundreds of projects that would be worthy of highlighting in this space. But we chose six to discuss in the Read more…
A quarter of the way into the century, it’s clear the quality of new courses and renovations continues to get better. Developers and clubs keep giving architects outstanding properties to work on, along with budgets to match. Even when the land doesn’t sing, designers have found ways to put spins on it that make the 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 renovation work do Read more…
For golf course design and development, the past 15 years have been better than good. It’s not unreasonable to suggest the quality of new courses being built is as high as it has been since the 1920s. In fact, 25 courses that opened since 2010 now reside among the top 200 on our America’s 100 Read more…
Earlier this week, the St Andrews Links Trust announced that it will take over control and management of the Duke’s Course. The group that currently manages seven public courses in St Andrews, including the Old Course, will take over a long-term lease on the Duke’s Course starting January 5, 2026 and will rename it the Read more…
Great holes don’t just check a bunch of architectural boxes. Of course, strategy, risk/reward and beauty are all important, but more than anything else, great golf holes produce great memories. These are the holes you remember long after a round … or a season. That’s why when we asked our own staffers to identify their Read more…
Australian Golf Digest
