Swing easy and accept the extra distance

Fourteen clubs are allowed in the bag. The harder question is whether all fourteen have earned their place.

Six rounds in northeastern Scotland reminded me why I would rather play interesting.

Sometimes the best way to improve the spectator experience at a professional golf tournament is to have fewer spectators.

What happens to your golf game when you play two courses separated by nearly 10,000 feet of elevation? Laurie and I decided to find out.

I've played hundreds of golf courses over the years, and occasionally I'll think about one I'd like to play again—only to remember that I can't. The course is gone.

Golfers love rankings.

Every great golf destination has a course that quietly steals the show.

There are golf resorts you visit for a single round, and there are golf resorts that deserve several days of your time. Whistling Straits belongs firmly in the second category.

I've been fortunate to play many of the world's great Open Championship venues—the Old Course at St. Andrews, Carnoustie, Royal Liverpool, Royal Lytham & St. Annes, and Royal Portrush—with Royal Troon and Turnberry coming up later this summer. Yet if someone offered me one tee time tomorrow at any Open Championship course, I'd choose Royal Birkdale without a second thought.

Every golf group has its own language. This is ours.

I played golf recently with a group of 16 guys ranging in age from 50 to 80. In that group were Billy Clagett, John Hendricks, Chuck Kuhlman, and David Dunnam — four men who have all shot their age, and in some cases do it often enough to make the rest of us a little uncomfortable. Watching that happen got me thinking about one of golf’s most intriguing milestones.

I've been fortunate to play more than 550 golf courses across all 50 states and several countries. Many of those courses have hosted major championships, challenged the world's best players, and stretched beyond 7,500 yards from the back tees.