In good company

So what is it really like inside the clubhouse at Muirfield? Here is an excerpt from my Golf World article explaining just that.

What lies behind Muirfield’s gates is a club of speed-loving members who would do anything for good lunch as Mark Alexander finds out

As entrances go, Magnolia Lane is special. The colourful blooms provide the ideal lead up to Augusta. Yet despite all its reverence, some would argue it pails into insignificance against the walk from the car park, along Duncur Road and onwards to the gates of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. For some, this is as spine-tingling as it gets.

With the sound of flight bags being dragged across the tarmac and the wind whistling through the trees, the 200-metre walk gives you tantalising glimpses Muirfield’s fluttering flags through the wrought iron lattice. Beyond, groups of traditionally clad golfers stride across the links in jovial form bolstered by the heat of competition.

Only the world’s great golf clubs give you that feeling. The aura of the place takes over and your heart starts to pound and your eyes widen. Pushing against the heavy iron gate, you enter in hushed deference. This is, after all, where Tom Watson and Ben Crenshaw were dutifully vilified for playing a couple of extra holes with hickories on a quiet Sunday evening. The fact that Watson has just won the 1980 Open Championship with Crenshaw coming third was of no interest to the club’s notorious secretary P.W.T. “Paddy” Hanmer, a retired Royal Navy captain.

For more information visit http://www.todaysgolfer.co.uk/magazines/golf-world/2013/golf-world-magazine-open-issue/
 

New pics of Ridgewood Lakes

New pics of Ridgewood Lakes Golf & Country Club now available (see link below). In the meantime, here's an excerpt from my Golf World article on Undiscovered Florida. Enjoy.

New greens please
Although the course is at the heart of a gated community, the houses are kept a respectful distance from the course, meaning you don’t have to interrupt someone’s barbeque to retrieve your ball should you hit a flyer. Best of all, it’s a genuinely good layout.

“It is more of a precision golf course – very target-orientated, but fair,” says McLoone. “There is a lot of room off the tee; you just need to know where to hit it.” And what distance to hit it - 14 holes have water and many have fairways with unseen inlets that demand accuracy rather than length. The result is a course that requires consideration off the tee and deftness around the greens – not what you would expect from a lakeland course in Florida.

Check out the full article at http://www.todaysgolfer.co.uk/Golf/Magazines/Magazines/Golf-World/

Here's a link to the pics: http://www.markalexanderphotography.co.uk/RidgewoodLakes/

The Eagle Has Landed

For your viewing pleasure; some more photos from my trip to Florida in January (see link below).

This time it’s the challenge of The Club at Eaglebrooke!

To give a bit of an insight, here is an excerpt from the accompanying article I wrote for Golf World. You check out the magazine at http://www.todaysgolfer.co.uk/Golf/Golf-World

Where eagles dare
The Club at Eaglebrooke picks up where Southern Dunes leaves off with a series of visually dramatic holes incorporating not only impressive bunkering but also several lakes which add tough approach shots and an island fairway to the fray. Opened for play in 1996, local golf course architect Ron Garl certainly had a sense of mischief when he laid out this design.

After hosting LPGA Futures Tour events and Champions Tour qualifying, John Greiner, head golf professional at Eaglebrooke, says the layout is tough enough to challenge any player. “For a Florida course, it has some elevation to it,” he says coolly. “It has some rolling hills and undulating greens and it has its share of water and bunkers.”

http://www.markalexanderphotography.co.uk/Eaglebrooke/

Let me know what you think.

RANK INSIDER

Fascinating and controversial, golf course rankings are a source of inspiration and debate. Mark Alexander takes a closer look at these contentious rolls of honour

Visit any golf club this weekend and someone, somewhere will be championing the cause of his or her favourite golf course. It could be the one they have just played or the one they are about to play, but you can guarantee the debate will be passionate and lively.

After all, waxing lyrical about trophy courses or hidden gems is par for the course if you are a golfer, whatever your handicap. Debates about ideal links or the preferred inlanders are the bedrock of the après round chinwag. They are fiery and involved, but they are also congenial and helpful but, sadly, rarely resolved.

And so it would remain if it wasn’t for a breed of periodicals that dutifully identify the best of the best. Indisputable and defining, golf course rankings are the holy grail of the armchair debater. They showcase the relative merits of the Top 100 courses and, more importantly, rank them in order. Who could possibly argue with that?

“There are people who question whether you can compare Sunningdale Old with Turnberry, and the truth is you can’t,” admits Jock Howard, commissioning editor at Golf World magazine. “What it does do is promote discussion - there is no right or wrong. It’s about people’s opinions and that’s what magazines are all about.”

Howard edits the oldest GB & Ireland biennial list which has been meticulously produced 15 times over the years. Compiled using input from golf pros, golf course architects, golf administrators and a selected group of well-informed readers, it is one of the most respected and authoritative registers of its kind. So successful is it that in recent years, this 30-year-old record has been joined by country specific rolls of honour and a broader European inventory.

“A successful ranking is an accurate ranking,” says Howard, “but you have to accept you are going to upset some people. You know when a list is successful when people who don’t have an axe to grind, agree with it.”

Despite the controversy, or perhaps because of it, rankings sell. Across the board, magazine issues containing Top 100 lists are perennial best sellers. What’s more, according to Rob Smith, who oversees Golf Monthly’s biennial UK & Ireland listing, they create an important dialogue between the magazines and their readers.

“The Top 100, indeed the Top 200 that we now produce, takes golfers all over the UK and Ireland to places that perhaps they might not have otherwise visited,” he says. “The rankings generate a huge amount of interest in our letters pages, in our online forums and in all our dealings with our readers.”

To read the whole story, please visit www.golfmanagementnews.com