Dubsdread: Cog Hill #4 is Perennial Top Public Course in Illinois

Since the mid-1990s, golf has witnessed the widespread development of far-flung golf resorts constructed according to a “build it and they will come” philosophy. The idea is that dedicated golfers will travel to the ends of the earth to play great layouts. Today’s golfing public sometimes forgets, however, that the best courses are often withinContinue reading “Dubsdread: Cog Hill #4 is Perennial Top Public Course in Illinois”

L.A.B. Putters – “Feels like I’m cheating!”

I’ve been writing about golf equipment for almost 30 years. In that time, I have tested and reviewed close to 100 putters, ranging from household name brands to boutique start-ups. Many – by which I mean most – new putter companies fail within a few years. But every now and then, one of these pluckyContinue reading “L.A.B. Putters – “Feels like I’m cheating!””

Sub70 JB Sugar Skull Wedges: Scary-good

If you’ve never heard of Sub70 Golf, you’re in for a treat. This boutique clubmaker based in Sycamore, Illinois, has been producing clubs that are of the highest quality, but at a very reasonable price-point. As I detailed in the profile linked above, the philosophy at Sub70 is “If it isn’t better, don’t release it.”Continue reading “Sub70 JB Sugar Skull Wedges: Scary-good”

May your Ryder Cup be Filled with Cool Merch

The Ryder Cup rolls around every two years, and golf fans anticipate it as eagerly as Olympians await the Olympics or soccer fans crave the World Cup. With the Ryder Cup being held at Bethpage Black this year, and Keegan Bradley representing a new generation of US team captains, golf equipment and apparel companies areContinue reading “May your Ryder Cup be Filled with Cool Merch”

Hot Summer Golf Gifts

It’s been a hot summer, but my golf game has been hot and cold. Those of us doggedly pursuing lower scores through the heat and humidity deserve some treats in these waning dogdays, don’t you think? I’ve rounded up some of my favorite golf gift ideas to help pull you out of the doldrums, celebrateContinue reading “Hot Summer Golf Gifts”

Cragun’s Resort in Brainerd Unveils The Dutch Red Nine

In 1955, Dutch Cragun graduated from the University of Minnesota. He called his father and asked if he could make a living running the family’s small fishing resort on the shores of Gull Lake in the heart of the Brainerd lakes region. His dad said, “Hell no.” Nevertheless, Dutch headed north and began a legendaryContinue reading “Cragun’s Resort in Brainerd Unveils The Dutch Red Nine”

The Cullan at Mineral Mound: Gem of the Kentucky State Parks

Long before the land on the shores of Lake Barkley, Kentucky, was a golf course – or even before it was a state park – it was the family farm of Willis B. Machen, grandfather of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald. The tempestuous Zelda was a celebrated writer and the wife of author F. Scott Fitzgerald. OneContinue reading “The Cullan at Mineral Mound: Gem of the Kentucky State Parks”

Father’s Day 2025: Gifting up to par

If you’re a golfer, but others in your family are not golfers, you have doubtlessly received numerous golf gifts that were well-intentioned and given with great love but which were – let’s be honest – completely and utterly useless. I just ran across one of these of my own in the back of a drawer.Continue reading “Father’s Day 2025: Gifting up to par”

Golf in the Midnight Sun at Iceland’s Brautarholt Golf Course

It was 9:30 p.m., June 21—Summer Solstice, 2019—when Gunnar Pálsson picked me up at Hotel Frón in Reykjavik. Soon joining us in the Brautarholt Golf Course shuttle were four test pilots from Phoenix and a couple from outside Toronto. We were all heading to the course to play a round of golf under Iceland’s never-settingContinue reading “Golf in the Midnight Sun at Iceland’s Brautarholt Golf Course”

Bay Harbor Golf Club: Top of the mitten, top of the MI must-play list

The 1990s were heady times for golf in Michigan. I lived in The Great Lakes State from 1996-2002 and recall a year or two when one new course was opening every week during the summer months. This was still before the terms “destination golf” or “bucket-list course” had been coined, but the volume and qualityContinue reading “Bay Harbor Golf Club: Top of the mitten, top of the MI must-play list”