Crail’s Balcomie Links Wins Marc Warren’s Praise.

Leading Scottish golfer Marc Warren was full of praise after a first round of golf on Crail’s famed Balcomie Links course. The three-time European Tour champion visited the club on the eve of the opening day of the 2014 Ryder Cup and where Warren was heading to ‘soak in’ the atmosphere of biennial competition and on the PGA Centenary course where in 2007 Warren captured the Johnnie Walker Championship and the same year he teamed with Colin Montgomerie to deliver Scotland victory ...

Alice Springs GC, Australia & Alice Springs GC, Wales – Same Name But 15,220 Klms Apart.

I achieved a golfing first this morning. Not far from our place of residence this week in Wales is the Alice Springs Golf Club.  The club was founded in 1989 and is located in the stunning Usk Valley in Monmouthshire County, South Wales and just 15 minutes from Newport and venue for the ISPS Handa Wales Open. The club was named after the wife of the owner, who’s name naturally was Alice, and with course laid out among a number of springs to be found about the two courses – the Usk Course ...

Green Meadow Golf & Country Club – ‘The Green, Green Grass Of Wales’.

It has been some three years since I enjoyed the pleasure of playing golf in Wales, so when we decided to cover this week’s Wales Open the first item of luggage packed into the car was the golf clubs. What was a surprise was the number of golf courses in and around Celtic Manor and host venue for this week’s penultimate European Tour event ahead of the Ryder Cup next week in Scotland. We are staying the week in a wonderful self-catering B & B named – Ty Capten – that ...

Rockland Lake Golf Club – A Taste Of New York Golf Close Enough To The Big Apple.

It simply comes with job! By that I mean the increasing practice of visiting golf courses in the vicinity of a tournament venue. This week’s Barclays Championship was no different as I found myself venturing to the Rockland Lake State Park Golf Course located about around 20 minutes from this week’s Ridgewood Country Club host venue. In fact, the course is just 25 miles north of New York City in the Hudson Valley. Rockland Lake State Park boasts an 18-hole Championship golf course and ...

Starmount Forest Country Club – Where Former Stars Of The Game Shone Very Brightly.

As part of the celebrations for last week’s 75th anniversary Wyndham Championship organizers brought into the media center two of the greats of the game in Bob Goalby and Dow Fistenwald. Goalby captured the the 1958 Greater Greensboro Open, as the event was then known, and a year later Finsterwald was crowned 1959 champion. However Goalby wrote himself into golf’s history book in winning the 1968 Masters but only after controversy surrounding Argentina’s Robert de Vicenzo who thought ...

Cruden Bay Golf Club … A Scottish Golfing Gem Revisited.

It was a great pleasure during the recent Scottish Open to revisit the stunning Cruden Bay Golf Club. I had first played the golf course in the late ’90s and a week after one of the former Dunhill Cup team encounters in St. Andrews. Even to this day I can still recall never ever being so cold on a golf course and also not being able to put my hands in my pockets as I was being pelted by pin head size hail. Some years ago I enjoyed the opportunity in arranging for good friends and journalist ...

Thracian Cliffs Lands Membership Of ‘Leading Golf Courses Europe’.

The stunning Thracian Cliffs Resort in Bulgaria, and venue of Graeme McDowell’s dramatic 2013 Volvo World Match-Play Championship success, has been bestowed membership of the prestigious Leading Golf Courses Europe collection following a recent inspection visit by its senior team. The luxury Black Sea venue has gained many admirers since opening in 2011, with images of its sensational cliff-top Gary Player golf course being transmitted around the world in May last year. www.golfbytourmiss.com ...