Swing easy and accept the extra distance

There is no single formula for a great golf trip, and that is part of its appeal. Some trips are built around a large group and a lot of noise. Some are best shared with your spouse. Some are taken alone, where the beauty of the experience is that the world comes to you. I have been lucky enough to enjoy all three, and each has shown me something different about why golf travel is so memorable.

There are places in golf that feel important—and then there is the Masters Tournament.

Touring professionals make putts from four feet with almost boring consistency—well north of 90 percent. Scratch players aren’t far behind, and even a solid 5-handicap golfer will convert the vast majority of their chances from that range. In other words, these are putts that are supposed to be automatic. And yet, for me, they’re anything but. I’m not a particularly good putter from inside four feet, and it shows up every round. Somewhere along the way, I’ll miss one—sometimes two—that I fully expect to make. The kind that don’t just add a stroke to the card, but linger a little longer as I move to the next tee, quietly reminding me how a round can slip away from just a few feet.

There are some courses that announce themselves with famous names, grand clubhouses, or eye-popping green fees. And then there are courses like Walking Stick Golf Course in Pueblo, Colorado — places that earn your respect one hole at a time. Designed by Arthur Hills and opened in 1991, Walking Stick has long been one of Southern Colorado’s best public golf experiences, with a layout that blends prairie, desert, and mountain views into something quietly memorable.

Golf is a game that resists Hollywood.

The stories started the way many great golf stories do—quietly, over lunch.

A good portion of my golf these days is played in mixed groups, and I’ve been fortunate to tee it up regularly with a terrific group of women golfers who bring very different styles—and personalities—to the course.

Which Tees Should You Play From?

There are rounds of golf you remember because you played well.

When the Golf Cart Becomes the Course Marshal

After playing hundreds of courses across the U.S. and abroad, I’ve learned that architecture shapes enjoyment as much as condition or location. Nowhere is that clearer than when comparing Jack Nicklaus, Pete Dye, Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw, and Tom Doak.

Born in Graham, Texas in 1928, Leon Howard left an indelible mark on golf course architecture across the United States—and nowhere more so than in Texas. A graduate of Texas A&M University (Class of 1949), Howard blended science and strategy from the very beginning, authoring a pioneering thesis on Compaction problems in putting green soils and later earning a master’s degree in Soil Physics with support from the United States Golf Association.