What is a REAL links course?
As golfers we have all heard the term “links” but few of us actually know exactly what it means. It seems, especially in the USA, that the term links has infiltrated some golfers speech habits to such an extent that the phrase “links” has now become synonymous with “golf course”, but this should not be the case. Read more
Golf Course World Cup
The World Cup of golf sees pairings from golfing nations around the world go head to head over four days of intense competition in the fight to be crowned World Champions. All of the usual heavyweight nations are in tow including the USA, Australia, Scotland, Ireland, Spain and England and this got us thinking about how a golf world cup of golf courses would shape up. Ten nations…two golf courses each…you can decide the winner! Read more
Top 10 Golf Courses – South Africa
With the Presidents Cup just around the corner we thought we would take a look at some of the best golf courses from the countries of some of the star players who will be doing battle at Royal Melbourne over the next few days. Today we are taking a look at the top 10 golf courses from South Africa; the home country of three of the International Teams players, Retief Goosen, Ernie Els and Masters Champion, Charl Schwartzel. Read more
The best golf shots of all time
Image by Bill Liao
The list of the greatest golf shots of all time is one long list indeed. It is too long, of course, to fit into one article, but there are some shots that almost every golfer in the world would surely include in their top five. Choosing the ‘best of all time’ of anything is a rather subjective pursuit, but everybody can recognise a great golf shot when they see one.
In 2005 at Augusta, Tiger Woods produced one of the most magnificent and significant shots golf has ever seen. It was on the edge of the green on the 16th and, with the most delicate of chips, he lobbed his ball up onto the green and let gravity do the rest of the work. The ball seemed to have stopped dead on the edge of the cup for about a second, only to drop into the hole to the amazement of Woods, his caddy and everybody watching. It was almost as if he was filming the new Nike advert right there on the course (indeed, the shot did go on to feature in a Nike TV advert a while later).
In 1950, Ben Hogan defied belief to recover from a head-on car crash with a coach to hit one of the best shots ever seen on the US Open. On the 18th at Merion, he hit a 2-iron that would go down in history as one of the sport’s most significant shots. He went on to beat Lloyd Mangrum by four shots to win the Open against all the odds.
Jack Nicklaus hit many great golf shots throughout his career, so it is difficult to pick just one to stick on this list. Perhaps his most memorable round, though, came at the 1986 Masters at Augusta National. The great Golden Bear was dismissed before the tournament in an article that actually ended up spurring him on to produce one of the best sequences of golf playing in history, in true Nicklaus fashion. He hit an eagle followed by two birdies to set himself well on the way to slipping on that green jacket.
There have been many great hole-in-ones over the years, but Miguel Angel Jimemez’s at the Dubai Desert Classic in 2008 has got to rank up there with the best. He hit a 6-iron on the par 3 7th and watched on as the ball dropped straight into the hole without a bounce or a roll. Straight in. It was one of those shots that blow your mind the first time you see them – you’re left wondering if the cameraman has lost track of the ball until you see Jimenez pluck it from the hole.
It is so difficult to identify the greatest of all great golf shots and the debate will go on for years to come.
UK & Ireland Golf Tours – The Courses to Play
Although weekend stay and play golf breaks are all the rage at the moment there is still a lot to be said for a good old fashioned golf tour. There are various golfing hotspots all across the UK and Ireland where driving from world class golf course to world class golf course is a piece of cake and, as much fun as it is to spend the weekend at a five star golf resort such as Celtic Manor, a golf break really should be all about the golf! If a week of travelling from golfing gem to golfing gem and sampling a host of local pubs sounds good to you then here are five of the best tours from the UK and Ireland. Read more