The great Scottish golfer Sam Torrance says the birthplace of golf must keep building courses to stay ahead of old rival Ireland and emerging destinations such as Turkey and Bulgaria.
When Tour Guides Become Friends, Playing Partners and Even Instructors
October 19, 2012 by
As much as tasty food and comfy beds, a key ingredient of a successful golf tour in a foreign land is a qualified driver who doubles as a convivial tourist guide. I’ve had the good fortune to meet several such godsends during my travels.
To the Linksland at Bandon Dunes, Cabot Links and Ireland’s Southwest
October 4, 2012 by
Like many well-travelled golfers, the more I play links golf the more I love it. Indeed, no golfer’s education is complete without an extensive tour of the fabled links of Scotland and Ireland. Derived from the term linksland, links golf is played on ground uncovered when the sea receded and is without doubt the most […]
Memories of Rory McIlroy at Northern Ireland’s Portstewart and Lough Erne
September 20, 2012 by
(Last updated December 2020.) Like Tiger Woods before him, Rory McIlroy was heralded as the game’s next great star almost from the moment he first swung a club. The hype had already reached fever pitch when I toured Northern Ireland in the early 2000s. At Portstewart Golf Club, a fabulous links about a 90-minute drive […]
A Pilgrimage to George Knudson’s Toronto Gravesite
September 3, 2012 by
For fans of the late, great George Knudson, a pilgrimage to his mid-town Toronto gravesite is a fitting and moving tribute to the man who ranks alongside Mike Weir as our outstanding male golfer. I made the trip recently, remembering the golfer I had worshipped as a young boy in the 1960s as I walked through Mount […]
