To date, Natalie Gulbis has won only once on the LPGA Tour - the 2007 Evian Masters. She was wielding a uniquely effective putter that week, a flat stick she used not only in that lone victory, but also in a runner-up performance, an additional third-place showing, and a total of five Top-10s that season. The Hammy is the name of the putter that was instrumental in her success that banner season, the brainchild of a Chicagoan and scratch golfer named Jim Alvarez. The inventor/entrepreneur logically deduced that standing perpendicular to one’s putting line, which is how anyone using a conventional, ...

Biwabik, Minnesota isn’t likely to be on anybody’s Top 10,000 golf destinations. (Let’s get the pronunciation down first: “Bi,” like a baby’s bib, but without the final ‘b. “Wa” like a baby’s cry, and “Bik” like the namesake pen. Now say it out loud slowly, with the emphasis on the second syllable: “Bi-Wa-Bik.") But up in the state’s northeast corner, in the infamous Iron Range, not too far from Hibbing (boyhood home of Bob Dylan and Celtics Hall-of-Famer Kevin McHale) and within striking distance of the city of Duluth, lies a couple of fine golf courses at a resort called Giants ...

My email inbox often serves as a clearinghouse for the PR reps of every crackpot, half-baked, trivial, ridiculous and downright unnecessary golf contraption known to mankind. Time and space constraints prevent me from any sort of comprehensive listing, but rest assured, there are people out there this minute trying to trumpet a new improved tee, glove, divot repair tool, “magic pendant,” ball marker, fake-driver-that-doubles-as-urinal, and a hundred other harebrained golf-oriented schemes. Silly. Once in awhile though, something comes down the cyber-pike well worth one’s time and attention. Tin Cup is a clever name, and a brilliant concept. Cover your golf ball ...

You can burn through multiple tanks of gas traversing all of Minnesota’s highways, byways and fairways in search of the state’s best golf. But if time and efficiency are the watchwords, there’s one single destination that will satisfy: Brainerd Lakes Region, less than three hours from the Twin Cities. Even the most ardent golfer will find a full week’s worth of excellent venues in very close proximity. On the “to-do” list: Deacon’s Lodge, a first-rate Arnold Palmer design. Grand View Lodge, with two fine choices: The Pines course, and even better, The Preserve course. There’s Golden Eagle Golf Club, Whitebirch at ...

One decade, about 500-or-so golf courses, and some 60 FAM trips ago, I made my inaugural foray into the far reaches of the golf world - off I went to Minnesota. I was a 30-something cub reporter on that initial visit, and learned that the Land of 10,000 Lakes might well be rechristened the Land of 10,000 Links (well, nearly 500, anyway.) I discovered that Minnesota has more golfers per capita than any other state in the Union, and is the only state to have held all 13 of the official USGA championships (U.S. Open, Senior Open, U.S. Amateur, ...

A short time ago I blogged about the variety of private-club golf riches in Columbus, Ohio. But what if, unlike Tony Soprano, one isn’t “connected?” Columbus-bound private club devotees are, as a Scotsman might say, “spoiled for choice,” but in the public-golf arena there’s just one clear choice: Visit the course as distinctive as its name: Longaberger. Designed by Ohioan Art Hills, Longaberger Golf Club in Nashport, Ohio is one of the finest public golf experiences in the nation. Now a decade old, this parkland beauty rises and swoops through some of the finest farmland in the Midwest. (In fact ...

With sticks in tow, I travel around more in a year than most golfers do in five. (This proclamation EXCLUDES members of the PGA Tour, Champions, Nationwide, Hooters, LPGA, Duramed Futures, etc.) I’ve long been used to dragging my casket-sized travel bag through airports, and upon arrival waiting (praying?) they show up on either the carousel, or at the oversize luggage bin. I’ve generally had decent luck, though of course I’ve had clubs delayed, my travel cover mangled, and in the worst scenario, an entire bag (not just my 14 weapons, but 4 days worth of clothes, two pairs ...

The golf cognoscenti know that there are fewer cities, pound-for-pound, with a richer variety of quality private golf clubs than surprising Columbus, Ohio. The longtime “Big Four” include venerable Scioto Country Club, a recently restored Donald Ross gem that was the boyhood home and training ground for hometown hero Jack Nicklaus. There is Muirfield Village, which is the Golden Bear’s private fiefdom, one of his most impressive designs, and annual home to the Memorial Tournament. There’s The Golf Club, an under-the-radar Pete Dye masterpiece that is his least-known great creation. And finally, the lyrically named Double Eagle, a Tom Weiskopf-Jay Morrish ...

Even by the normally frenetic Vagabond Golfer standards, this latest foray to the Northeast was supercharged. My travel-to-golf pace generally falls between intense and insane, but July’s day-to-day was unsurpassed in my personal annals for the combination of quantity and quality. 25 separate rounds, not a repeat course among them, in less than four weeks time. If not for a single rainout and then another day with car trouble, I would have added two more rounds, and thusly pitched the VG’s equivalent of a perfect game: 27 rounds in 27 days. Even better - a dozen of the 25 rounds were ...

About 16 or 17 years back, and close to 600 golf courses ago, I was first exposed to a wonderland called Crumpin-Fox Golf Club. This is a delightfully hilly and serene walk through the woods in the northern Massachusetts town of Bernardston, adjacent to the Vermont border, and just a couple miles off of Route 91. When I first spied the terrain, still something of a golf neophyte in terms of my previous exposure to great courses, I was taken aback at the dazzling challenges the course presented—so unlike the standard parkland fare I was accustomed to. Sharp doglegs, thick ...

What do these two groups of golfers have in common? Group One: Palmer-Nicklaus—Irwin—Miller—Watson—Norman—Stewart-Faldo. Group Two: Loren Roberts-Stewart Cink-Glen Day-Jose Coceres-Aaron Baddeley-Peter Lonard-Boo Weekley-Brian Gay It might be more obvious as to what they don’t have in common. The former are all (or will be) Hall-of-Fame members, who are among the most accomplished players in history, and have combined for almost 50 Major championships. The latter group is a bunch of journeymen pros, zero Majors between them. But they are all connected by victory at Hilton Head - each has been crowned champion of the Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links. Up until 15-odd years ...

It would be great being Geoff Ogilvy. He’s one of pro golf’s finest players, leading the 2009 Money List with nearly 3 million bucks, and closing in on 20 million in career earnings. He’s a former U.S. Open Champion, and has won 3 World Golf Championships in his career - more than anybody else in the world not named Woods. We hacking mortals can’t aspire to his skill level, but his sartorial level is well within reach. The affable Aussie is sponsored by Puma, which at first glance might remind you of a High School - retro brand, but in actuality ...

Just a quick note to let those of you in the blogosphere know that I am extremely honored to have learned that my latest book, titled Pete Dye–Golf Courses, was named as the Book of the Year by the International Network of Golf at last week’s PGA Show in Orlando. The award is a lovely piece of engraved crystal, and looks good on the mantle, but the bric-a-brac factor is far overshadowed by the recognition of my peers in the golf business. Writing the Dye Book was a serious undertaking, and I speak for the entire Dye Family when I ...

I had a unique experience this past Monday evening at venerable Coral Ridge CC in Ft. Lauderdale, where the 77th annual Doherty Cup was being contested. For the second time in three years I was asked to be the dinner speaker for this gathering of some of the world’s top women amateurs. But unlike in 2007, this time, Pete and Alice Dye (she the 1967 Doherty champ) were in the audience. The gist of my remarks were about my new Pete Dye Book, and of course by association, the man himself. Well—wouldn’t you know it, Pete ...