What does your golf bag say about you?

Posted by & filed under Debates.

The article below was written by Steve Carroll of National Club Golfer.

 

What do you tote around the golf course? Are you a tour bag merchant with a fancy trolley and dozens of dividers? Do you go simple, and pick up a pencil golf bag with a half set? Or are you one of those players who spends more time taking pictures of their waxed leather carryall than hitting shots?

It’s a topic Tom Irwin and I spent probably a little too long discussing on an episode of The NCG Golf Podcast.

“I think it’s up there with golf trousers as something that’s basically impossible to get right,” Tom said. “I been through the seven stages of man thing with bags, but I’m not really sure that I’m evolving. I’m just going around in circles wondering about the right thing to do.

“When I first started, I bought a set of Hogan Apex irons – very second hand with grips where you might as well have been holding the metal – and they came with a horrible red canvas bag with white around the top that I think you could almost pass off nowadays as being trendy. But it really wasn’t.

“Once I’d become a proper paid-up member of the golf club, I feel like there was a lot of chat about inches. I’ve got very clear memories of flicking through the Argos catalogue and being desperate to get a 12-inch golf bag.

“I reckon you ended up with these pseudo-tour bags, which were too small to be tour bags, but were leather and heavy and designed to go on a push trolley. The better you got, or the more money you had, the bigger your bag.”

So what do we think about bags? What should you carry in them? Listen to the podcast to get the whole story, but here are some of the highlights…

 

What does your golf bag say about you?

 

Is big really better?

The heaviest bag I’ve ever carried was in a British Masters pro-am for Peter Schmeichel. It was a stand bag but it weighed a ton. There must have been half of Denmark in it. There were three putters, for a start. The tournament was at Close House and anyone who has played there will know that the Colt course – and I’m a member for anyone who thinks I’m being critical – can best be described as ‘up and down’.

It taught me a valuable lesson, which is bigger is not necessarily always better when it comes to bags. I’m not yet at the stage where I’m reaching for an electric trolley. I still try to equate golf with some form of exercise and so I’ve gone small. Very small. If you’ll allow me a shameless plug, I think my current bag, the Macgregor Principal, might be the best I’ve ever had. It weighs nothing, you can pile in a full set, and you can hump it up a hill without having a coronary.

As for bigger tour bags on a huge trolley? I’ve seen enough batteries fail over the years to know it is not a foolproof solution to transporting your kit around a course.

 

How much bling?

“My golf bag used to be very heavy because I went through a stage of collecting bag tags,” said Tom. “So when you go to a trophy venue, you get a bag tag that you clip on.

“Bag tags are a brilliant memento, so I started getting into the habit of clipping them onto my bag but I ended up with 30 of these chunky things, with a little metal or plastic strap, that was adding significant tonnage to my bag and it was also making an absolute racket, so I had to give up that.”

I had a similar fetish for ball markers. I’d pick one up from every course I visited and, pretty quickly, I had a sizable collection clinking around the bag. Worse was I also had a habit for losing the smaller versions so I’d end up buying increasingly larger ‘poker style’ markers so I could ensure they wouldn’t go missing on their first excursion.

Pretty soon I was carrying the Royal Mint in my bag. Now I’ve got about 200 of them sat in a drawer. Was it just a monumental waste of money?

 

Is there a do’s and don’ts to accessories?

Do carry a valuables pouch, said Tom. Don’t forget about that banana you picked up on the 1st tee is my word of warning to you all.

Unfortunately, I did not look before putting my hand into the pocket. What a scene. I can’t say the rest of the bag was smelling particularly good, either, so be warned.

“I’ve got some of those vanity pouches,” explained Tom. “And I really want to be the sort of person who adheres to protocols with them. I want to have a nice tee vanity pouch and I want to have a nice neat glove vanity pouch so I keep those things separate.

“Then I’d even like to have a third one, that has things like a Sharpie in it, and one of those circle things you mark your ball with because I think it demonstrates order.

“But the problem is once you finish playing golf, you then just empty the contents of your pocket straight into the pocket of your golf bag and the whole thing’s just a shambles again.

“It’s a bit like when you clean your kitchen. You think, ‘I’m going to keep it exactly like this’ and after about a week it’s the same old jumble sale it was before.”

Does the stuff you have in your golf bag signify your ability as a golfer? If you’re carrying alignment sticks does that immediately imply you are a low handicapper? Who knew a golf bag could say so much about you?

How the Masters at Augusta National became what we see today

Posted by & filed under Masters.

The article below was written by Michael Atkinson of National Club Golfer.

 

The bright green grass of beautiful fairways, the vibrant colours of azaleas, the tall trees, the pine needles, the white sand bunkers, the water, the fast greens, the yellow flags with that famous logo – this is the Masters Tournament.

“Our overall aim at Augusta National has been to provide a golf course of considerable natural beauty, enjoyable for the average golfer and at the same time testing for the expert player striving to better par.

“We want to make bogeys easy if frankly sought, pars readily obtainable by standard good play, and birdies, except on par 5s, dearly bought.” The words of Bobby Jones, spoken at the opening of Augusta National Golf Club back in 1932, the golf course that would become home to the Masters Tournament. 

 

History of the Masters: Let’s begin with Bobby

Born in Atlanta in 1902, Jones would become one of America’s most celebrated golfers and a global sporting icon.

Jones remains to this day the only individual to have completed the golf Grand Slam – victories in all four golfing major championships in a calendar year. In the modern era, this would require victory at the Masters, the PGA Championship, the US Open and the Open Championship.

When Jones secured his Grand Slam in 1930, the Masters and the PGA Championship were still to be created, but the US Amateur and British Amateur were considered major championships at that time.

Today, only Tiger Woods has come close to joining Jones with this illustrious accolade. Woods won all four majors consecutively, but his victories spanned two different years, completing the fourth and final victory at the Masters Tournament in 2001, having won the PGA Championship, the US Open and the Open Championship in 2000. 

Over his playing career as an amateur (his professional career was as a lawyer), Bobby Jones won 13 major championships (including his wins at the US & British Amateur), but having secured the Grand Slam, he retired from competitive golf at the age of 28.

As one of the most famous and recognised sportsmen in the world, Jones capitalised on this attention by producing 18 instructional golf videos in Hollywood. The films featured on-screen celebrities of the day being coached by Jones, further driving his fame. 

It was this international fame which in part led to the idea to develop Augusta National. Jones sought an environment where he could continue to play golf with friends without the attention that he received everywhere he went, an elite private members club for the select few. 

With a friend, businessman Clifford Roberts, they acquired a parcel of land to build a golf course, known as the ‘Fruitland Nurseries’ near Atlanta, an indigo plantation turned orchard where hundreds of varieties of azaleas would also be cultivated.

Those azaleas would form the stock from which Augusta National’s famous azaleas still bloom today, creating one of the most recognisable images of the Masters.

The golf course would be designed by Jones himself, alongside the British golf course architect, Dr Alister Mackenzie, a designer revered for his creation of the exclusive Cypress Point golf course in Monterey, California. In their design, the pair drew much inspiration from the Old Course at St Andrew’s. 

Horton Smith, the winner of the inaugural Masters (and the first two-times winner), would comment “to me, the Augusta National course has character, individuality, and personality. It is one of the few courses that really presents two games on almost every hole – a game to reach the greens and another to figure the ever challenging contours after reaching the greens.” The course was heralded at the time as one of the finest in the world and it remains so to this day. 

The greens at Augusta have become legendary – hard and fast – but have evolved substantially since those first created by Mackenzie. The greens now have an underground irrigation and ventilation system which was installed in 1994 and supports the maintenance of the extraordinary firmness of the greens, making them some of the most challenging putting surfaces in the world.

It’s not simply the greens that have evolved over time. Indeed, the whole course has undergone substantial changes since its foundation at the hands of a variety of different architects. Tree planting has narrowed the originally wide fairways, the course has been substantially lengthened to account for the distance of the modern golf game and a new cut of rough has been added.

Not all the changes to Augusta National have been well received. Tiger Woods once remarked in a book that some of the changes had “eroded strategic values that Bobby Jones and Alister Mackenzie had created as the course’s essential feature.”

 

History of the Masters: Amen Corner

Augusta National’s most famous stretch of holes is known as ‘Amen Corner’, a term which originated from the golf writer Herbert Warren Wind, who first used it in an article for Sports Illustrated back in 1958.

The trio of holes are as highly anticipated by competitors as they are by viewers of the tournament. These three holes – 11, 12, 13 – can make or break a victory at the Masters due to the ‘risk and reward’ opportunities they provide.

Their significance to the outcome is a fitting tribute to their original design by Alister Mackenzie, who enabled players to implement a number of different strategies to playing these holes, with much depending on the player’s confidence and bravery.

On the par-5 13th, which features Rae’s Creek snaking up the left side and in front of the green, players can attempt to clear the water on the second shot to set up a possible eagle or they can lay up and settle for a par.  

The first wave of members at Augusta National were recruited mostly from New York, with the offer of three days of golf on the course in the company of Bobby Jones himself, as well as Francis Ouimet, famed as the first amateur to win the US Open in 1913. Despite their best attempts, initial take-up of membership was low, resulting in several years of tough financial times for the course. 

It was in 1934 that the first ‘Masters’ tournament was staged at Augusta National, entitled at the time simply as the ‘Augusta National Invitational Tournament’. Jones came out of competitive retirement for the first event, persuaded by his course co-founder, Roberts, mainly to promote the event and attract new membership given the club’s financial situation. 

Whilst membership struggled initially, Augusta National is now one of the most exclusive golf courses in the world. The elite membership is by invitation only and restricted to only 300 individuals. Famous members have included President Dwight Eisenhower, who as President-Elect stayed for 10 days at the club before his inauguration. 

Members receive a green jacket on joining the Club with the original idea that they would wear the jackets throughout the course of the Masters Tournament, ensuring those in attendance were aware of their status and ability to provide information on the event and the course.

It was in 1949 that a green jacket was awarded to the winner of the event, with Sam Snead the first to receive one. Like the Open Championship’s Claret Jug, the green jacket has become one of the most famous sporting ‘trophies’ in the world. Winning the Masters and receiving a green jacket does not entitle the victor to membership of Augusta National however, it is a symbolic gesture only.

In addition to receiving the green jacket and a gold medal, the Masters champion earns the distinction of having his name engraved on the permanent Masters trophy, which is a reproduction of the Augusta National clubhouse. 

Jones renamed the Augusta National Invitational the ‘Masters Tournament’ in 1939, commenting “I must admit the name was born of a touch of immodesty”, immodesty that he attributed to Clifford Roberts.

However, Jones was satisfied quickly with the name, stating later “I think the tournament is now quite well entitled to be called the Masters, because it has continued to assemble those who are entitled to be called masters of the game.”

The Masters is now a firmly established part of the global sporting calendar. It acts as the first major of the golfing year and remains unique in that it is the only major to always be played at the same course each year. 

Some of the most famous moments in golf have occurred during the Masters. In 1935, Gene Sarazen, another great American golfer with seven major championship wins and one of only five players in the world to achieve a career Grand Slam, scored a double-eagle (now more commonly known as an albatross) on the par-5 15th.

Writing about the historical moment, US sports writer Grantland Rice noted “As he swung, the double miracle happened. The ball left the face of his spoon like a rifle shot. It never wavered from a direct line to the pin.

“As it struck the green a loud shout went up. Then suddenly turned into a deafening, reverberating roar as the ball spun along its way and finally disappeared into the cup for a double-eagle two.”

Sarazen would later go on to comment “that double eagle wouldn’t have meant a thing if I hadn’t won the playoff the next day. The aspect I cherish most is that both Walter Hagen and Bobby Jones witnessed the shot.”

The early tournament continued to become popular. In the war years, the course grounds were used to raise cattle and turkeys. The Masters resumed in 1946 and two years later in 1948, Jones would play his final round of competitive golf at the Masters – the tournament he had created. 

The Masters, like many great sporting events, is noted for its traditions. In 1952, another of the famous Masters traditions started, that of the ‘Champions Dinner’.

The idea came from Ben Hogan and to this day, tradition holds that the current champion chooses the menu and pays the costs of the dinner, held at the start of the tournament week in the company of as many past champions as possible.

The dinners have become a gathering of the most famous and successful golfers of all time, where everyone wears their green jacket.

In 1953, Ben Hogan won his second Masters with a score of 274, breaking the previous record by five strokes. Arnold Palmer would win the first of his green jackets in 1958 and go on to become the first four-time champion in 1964.

In 1965, Jack Nicklaus won his second Masters by nine strokes – the largest victory margin in the tournament’s history, scoring 271 for the then-record.

The 1970s would be the decade that witnessed the passing of the two men who had founded both Augusta National and the Masters – Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts. Jones died in 1971 at 69 years of age.

He had attended every single Masters until 1968, when the spinal disease he suffered from, syringomyelia, made it too difficult for him to travel to Augusta from his home in Atlanta. Jones had endured the last 20 or so years of his life with this debilitating illness that made it progressively difficult for him to use his arms and legs.

After his death, Herbert Warren Wind paid tribute to Jones in The New Yorker, writing “He had incredible strength of character. As a young man, he was able to stand up to just about the best that life can offer, which is not easy, and later he stood up with equal grace to just about the worst.”

Clifford Roberts had proposed in 1966 that Augusta National change its by-laws to create the position of ‘President in perpetuity’ as a way to honour Jones. The club did so, electing Jones to the post with a statement which read ‘It is desired that the spirit of his principles, his acts of good sportsmanship, his innate modesty and other admirable and lovable qualities shall forever guide the policies of Augusta National and the Masters Tournament.’

Six years after the death of Bobby Jones, Clifford Roberts passed away at the age of 83. Paying tribute to Roberts, Jack Nicklaus said “the standards and quality with which he conducted the Masters are unmatched anywhere”. 

The 1980s would bring the start of a European influence on the Masters, courtesy of Seve Ballesteros, who became the first European to win the Masters at age 23, in 1980.

He would win again three years later in 1983 and battled with Jack Nicklaus in 1986 as Nicklaus secured his final green jacket. That win also delivered him the record for the most number of Masters victories, winning the tournament a total of six times and make him the oldest winner of the event at 46 years and 82 days old.

When he won in 1986, Nicklaus hadn’t won a major championship in six years, but he produced an outstanding back nine on the final day to claim victory.

Nicklaus would later reflect on the Masters that “from the first time I drove up Magnolia Lane at age 19, I had a special feeling about Augusta. Even today, I get chills driving up Magnolia Lane.”

Nick Faldo would secure a second green jacket in 1990, and enable him to match Nicklaus to become only the second player in history at that time to win back-to-back Masters titles. 

It would be 1997 that ushered in a new dawn in golf, and it was at the Masters. This was the tournament that launched Tiger Woods into an era of dominance in the golfing world.

Woods claimed the first of his Masters victories, making him the youngest-ever champion at 21 years and 104 days. He also set the record for the lowest 72-hole total (18 under par 270) and delivered the widest-ever victory margin (12 strokes).

It wasn’t until 2015 that this tournament record score would come close to being challenged. In the end, it was equalled with Jordan Spieth winning and matching the 18-under 270 course record at that time. 

Of course, only four years later it would be Woods once again, dismissed by many as a faded legend, who would display a come-back which was celebrated throughout the sports world.

The 2019 event belonged in so many different ways to Woods and with the victory he moved closer to the Jack Nicklaus Masters record, taking his tally of wins at the Masters to five. It delivered Woods his 15th major and signified one of the most sought-after returns to sporting glory.  

It was strange for the Masters not to dominate sports headlines around the world during April 2020. The tournament eventually took place in November 2020, without spectators and the famous Augusta roars as the world fought a global pandemic.

Dustin Johnson would make history at this unique edition of the Masters, breaking the course record with a 20-under 268 as he secured his first green jacket.

South African Masters champion, Gary Player, who holds the position as the first international player to win, once gave a fitting tribute to both the course and tournament which have become synonymous, as he said “If there’s a golf course in heaven, I hope it’s like Augusta National.”

Everything you need to know about the 2025 Rules of Golf update

Posted by & filed under Golf Updates.

Golf is a sport with deep roots. It was first played in Scotland in the Middle Ages and spread across the world with the British Empire. The international rules of golf were first formalised in 1899 and then unified globally in 1952 by The R&A and USGA. But even after the modern rules were defined, golf has continued to evolve as a sport, with rules changing and updates made continually to ensure golf stays relevant, fair, and competitive.

The R&A and USGA updated the official international rules of golf in 2019, and then again in 2023. Whilst the joint bodies aren’t issuing another full golf rules update in 2025, several other bodies, like the PGA Tour, are introducing changes to the game. Here, we run through the major golf rules changes to hit the sport in 2025.

 

Who makes the Rules of Golf?

The Rules of Golf have a long and rather complicated history, but today, the international rules are standardised and jointly managed by The R&A (based on The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews) and the United States Golf Association (USGA). The R&A governs golf globally, except in the US and Mexico, which the USGA governs.

The R&A and the USGA regularly update these official rules, but whilst they aren’t making an official set of changes in 2025, a number of other golfing bodies will be making changes.

Here’s what to look out for in 2025:

 

Updated policy on transgender golfers

As of 2025, The R&A has updated its rules on male-to-female transgender golfers. 

Following similar decisions taken by the LPGA Tour and some other sports governing bodies, transgender women who were assigned as male at birth and who have gone through male puberty will no longer be eligible to feature in the R&A’s female professional and elite amateur championships.

 

Extended winter rules in England

Golf courses tend not to be in their best state during winter months, especially throughout the UK, where weather can be unremittingly wet and windy (but that’s not to say winter golf can’t still be enjoyable, of course!)

In light of these worsening winter conditions, though, the R&A and the USGA have included rules for Preferred Lies (called Model Local Rule E-3), allowing players to avoid areas of weather-affected courses by placing their ball, or another one, in a relief area. 

To go even further, England Golf has even provided its own Model Local Rules guide for helping golfers play in Adverse and Extreme Weather Conditions. 

Before 2025, these winter rules could be used by players between 1st October and 30th April. But as of this year, golfers will now be able to apply Model Local Rules year round, based on the weather and the condition of the course they’re playing on.

 

PGA Tour Signature Events limited to a field of 72

The PGA TOUR Signature Events are a series of eight limited-field tournaments that feature top players competing for increased prize money and FedExCup points (up to 700 points for the winner and a $20 million purse).

In 2025, the PGA will make a change to its Signature Events, limiting the field to just 72 players. If a player doesn’t attend or drops out, the next player will be drawn from the next available options in the Aon Next 10 list. 

 

Tiger Wood’s PGA special exemption

Dubbed the ‘Tiger Rule’, and for good reason. In 2025, the PGA Tour Policy Board approved a special exemption for one of the game’s most iconic players. Tiger Woods will be granted entrance into PGA TOUR Signature Events even if he doesn’t meet their qualifying criteria.

This Lifetime Achievement Exemption has been awarded due to Tiger’s contributions to the sport and his continued importance to the game globally. 

In the words of the Player Advisory Council:

“These exemptions are intended to capture players who are important to the tournament sponsor but who are not otherwise qualified. To maximise these spots for the membership and to provide optimal flexibility for the tournament sponsor, the PAC supported adding an additional sponsor exemption recognising Tiger Woods in his own category as a player who has reached an exceptional lifetime achievement threshold of 80+ career wins.”

We suspect more exemptions may come under this new rule.

 

The TGL

The TGL, short for TMRW Golf League, is a new golfing league competition created by Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and sports executive Mike McCarley, beginning in 2025. 

Each match will be played as two teams of four players pitted against each other, using both traditional and simulated golf play. Matches will be divided into two halves, with Triples (holes 1 to 9) played by teams of three, and Singles (holes 10 to 15) played head-to-head by single players, switching every two holes.

TGL matches will be held on weeknights and will introduce various rule changes to offer viewers a new kind of golf competition to watch, including:

  • A Shot Clock: From the moment a player places their ball, they’ll have 40 seconds to take their shot or face a one-stroke penalty.
  • Timeouts: Each team will have four timeouts they can use during the match to halt the Shot Clock, two during the Triples stage and two during the Singles holes. 
  • The Hammer: At any time, a team can opt to throw a hammer, by waiving a Mjolnir-shaped gold towel, to add a single point to a hole’s value. If the opposing team declines the Hammer, they forfeit the hole. The other team has to accept the Hammer if it’s used before play on a hole begins. Only one Hammer is ever in play. Which team takes it initially is determined by a coin toss, with the Hammer then alternating between teams.
  • Overtime: If the match is tied after all 15 holes, a penalty shoot-out style competition begins, with the winning team the one to record the two closest consecutive shots to the pin.
  • Referees: TGL will feature on-course referees to manage play and ensure all TGL rules are adhered to, whilst another referee will monitor all the play from a booth.

 

What golf rule changes were made in 2023?

The latest full update to the international golf rules was made by The R&A and USGA in 2023. To remind ourselves, this update included changes: 

  • To better accommodate players with disabilities.
  • For replacing balls moved by natural forces.
  • To simplify the rules for back-on-the-line relief.
  • For replacing damaged clubs.
  • For relaxing the requirements for writing handicaps on scorecards.

How to use your wrists for more power and stop slicing

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The article below was written by Jack Backhouse of National Club Golfer.

 

Golf is primarily a hand, wrist and arm sport, so we should always begin our path to improvement by ensuring that these things are at least giving us a chance of hitting good shots rather than causing poor ones. In the video below, PGA Pro Jack Backhouse explains exactly what amateur golfers do wrong and how to correct it.

 

3 wrist movements

It is important first to know the three different ways in which the wrists can move in the golf swing, to then learn if you do too much or too little of any of them.

Ulnar/radial deviation. This is the classic wrist cock straight up and down movement where the club works straight up and down.

Flexion and extension. This is the cupping/bowing movement of the wrists which would move the club head side to side.

Rotation. This is literally the twisting of the grip that just rotates the golf club open and closed.

All golf swings have some amount of all three of these movements, but what is important is having the right amount for your intentions in the swing.

 

Common faults

The biggest fault I see on the range teaching amateur golfers full time on the driving range is too much wrist cock, which leads to a cupped wrist. This means that the wrists don’t flex or extend enough in the golf swing, which always results in an open clubface at impact.

We know that the most common ball flight issue in amateur golfers is a dreaded slice, then we know we need to close the club face earlier in order to correct it.

If we know this is the case, we should be trying to use our wrist to have a stronger face in the backswing, to produce a more closed face at impact, to fix a slice.

You could do this by having a stronger grip, but if you already have a strong grip it might not be suitable to do so. Most golfers on tour have a flat to bowed (flexed) left hand throughout the swing.

 

Trail wrist extension

We should all be trying to achieve some amount of trail wrist extension in the backswing. Most tour players achieve 30-40 degrees of extension in the swing, where most amateurs only get to 10-15 degrees.

This not only gives us more speed potential as you have to release these angles prior to impact, it also gets the club head more behind the hands throughout the swing, which improves our club path and helps us hit a straight shot.

To achieve more wrist extension throughout the swing, you need to hinge the club up 45 degrees to the ball to target line in your takeaway. This puts you in a great position to maintain the wrist angles throughout the rest of the swing.

 

Wrist rotation

This should be used as a directional tool. More rotation helps hit the ball more left and less helps you hit the ball more right.

Most golfers have a lot of wrist rotation to make up for the lack of trail wrist extension, so it should be managed appropriately throughout the swing depending on the dispersion of your shots.

In this video I give a couple of drills that help you learn what correct wrist action is throughout the swing, so be sure to watch that to learn more in detail.

Should drinking on the golf course be outlawed or encouraged?

Posted by & filed under Blog.

The article below was written by Matt Chivers of National Club Golfer.

 

Many golfers enjoy an alcoholic drink after a long 4-hour slog on the golf course, but is it necessary to neck several cans while playing? National Club Golfer’s (NCG) team offer their two-pence worth.

Golf is not only one of the great sports but one of the great social sports.

This accolade is significantly complemented by the concept of the clubhouse, a place for members and visitors to enjoy refreshments before and after they play.

More often than not, you’ll find a bar in the clubhouse that serves alcoholic beverages which go down very well after you’ve walked several kilometres, hacking your ball around long grass for 4 hours.

However, some players take the sport’s social qualities to the next level by taking beers and other drinks out on the course when they play. I’ve played with the odd partner or two carrying a hip flask.

Should this be allowed? Why would you take drinks out on the golf course and compromise your performance? Or is this a boring interpretation of something that’s all part of the fun? Is there any harm in having a sip of alcohol on the golf course and enjoying yourself?

NCG, a team with a huge bank of golf experiences and memories, has thought about it and written their views on the subject of drinking on the golf course.

 

Drinking on golf course debate: Is it necessary? Is it just a bit of fun?

 

Matt Chivers

I’ve had a can or two on the golf course before, but this was largely down to peer pressure from my dad and brother while on a trip to Le Touquet in France. The beer was warm and I stood drinking it thinking it was largely pointless.

Most of the time, the point of drinking is to get drunk, and I don’t get the point of doing that on the golf course. It’s not a practice I’ve seen that much, but I know it happens and it’s just pointless.

Turn up hungover, fine. You can do what you like after you’ve holed out on 18. Sip at the halfway hut, go for it. But getting through several cans on the golf course just feels cringey and deliberate. It’s usually a practice on golf holidays with your pals. Have we got any beers to go around with? Hopefully not, I won’t be having one anyway.

 

Tom Irwin

Drinking on the course should be outlawed. There’s plenty of time to drink after your round if you really must. Golf is a civilised sport for civilised people, the consumption of any food or beverage should take place at a table. No one wants to see me openly masticating.

Golf is a sport, so how can that statement possibly be taken seriously if you can participate half cut? Whilst we are at it, we should ban any refined carbs from the halfway hut.

 

Matt Coles

As a sober man, I couldn’t care less if my playing partners wanted to drink on the course. Any drinking has to be done in moderation of course, as golf is a sport and having drunken golfers taking up divots and messing about on the fairways isn’t acceptable.

However, if golfers want to take a few cans out on the golf course with them to enjoy themselves as they play 18 holes, why should we stop them? I’m sober, so it gives me more chance of beating them, right?

Is Harry Colt the greatest architect ever?

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The article below was written by Steve Carroll of National Club Golfer.

 

Michael Atkinson profiles the extraordinary career of the prolific golf course designer – one of the stalwarts of the golden age of architecture.

Henry Shapland Colt, more commonly known as ‘Harry Colt’, was born in Highgate in London in 1869.

As a youngster, he learnt the game and played golf at Worcestershire Golf Club where he was taught by Douglas Rolland, a former stonemason turned professional golfer from Scotland, who was also a relation of the five times Open Champion, James Braid.

Colt developed into a proficient amateur golfer, with a deep love of the game.

He studied law at Clare College, Cambridge, joining the Cambridge University Golf Club and becoming its captain in 1889.

Following university, he was admitted to the bar and for several years was a partner at a law firm. During this time, Colt became a founding member at Rye, a club which had opened with a basic course in 1894.

Respected as a very capable player and elected as the club’s first Captain, alongside Douglas Rolland (who was appointed the club’s first professional), Colt would be asked to lay out a new course at Rye in 1895.

That opportunity and experience at Rye, where he would become the Honorary Secretary, would eventually take Colt away from his law career and lead him to a full time focus on golf course design.

In 1901, Colt, by this stage an established member of the R&A and its Rules Committee (he had won the R&A Queen Victoria Jubilee Vase in 1891 and 1893), applied and became Sunningdale’s first Secretary, a post which he held until 1913.

During his time at Sunningdale, Colt reworked holes on the course (the original Willie Park Jnr designed ‘Old Course’) and his revisions received much praise, further encouraging his interest within the design sphere.

After his departure as Secretary, Colt would retain a strong connection to Sunningdale, eventually designing what would become its ‘New Course’, shaped from an independent nine hole course known as ‘Sunningdale Heath’, completely remodelled and extended to 18 holes, which was unveiled in 1923. He was Club Captain in 1924.

With his early involvement with Sunningdale, requests for Colt’s golf design ideas increased. He would meet Dr Alister MacKenzie, a founder member of Alwoodley and its first Secretary.

MacKenzie was also the course’s designer, the magnificent creation opened in 1907, setting MacKenzie on a path to becoming one of the most revered golf architects of all time, later producing the world renowned Augusta National, amongst many others.

 

Harry Colt: How respect led to partnership

When MacKenzie proposed his design for Alwoodley, it was not immediately approved, the club’s committee requesting Harry Colt be invited to review the designs and reassure the club that the designs were suitable.

Harry Colt duly provided his thoughts and it was an introduction that with mutual respect for each other’s ideas would lead to an eventual formal partnership with MacKenzie, alongside Charles Hugh Alison.

Alison was the Secretary of what is now known as Stoke Park, the original courses there designed by Colt and opened in 1908. After collaborating for a number of years, these three individuals would form the firm of Colt, Mackenzie and Alison, set up immediately after the conclusion of the First World War.

By this stage, Colt’s name was already associated with a myriad of revered courses. He had created the design for the much admired Swinley Forest, between Sunningdale and Ascot, which opened in 1911.

His reputation had also reached further than the British Isles. Founded in 1876, making it one of North America’s oldest clubs, the Toronto Golf Club in Canada turned to Colt to redesign its course, which was unveiled in 1912.

That same year Colt’s creation at the Country Club of Detroit was opened for play. He created the ‘Vert’ course at Golf de Saint-Cloud in Paris, one which provides views of The Eiffel Tower and has now gone on to stage the French Open on 14 occasions.

Colt would work on the design at St George’s Hill, which was formally opened in 1913. Colt’s creation in the Home of Golf, St Andrews, would also be revealed in 1914, with the opening of The Eden Course.

Back across the pond, Colt would be asked to cast his eye over George Crump’s designs for Pine Valley in 1914, although the course would not be opened until a few years later and he would also be retained by the Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Ontario to design the course at their newly acquired home, officially revealed in 1916. 

Involvement in designs inevitably slowed during the First World War, but picked back up following its conclusion.

In the mid 1920s, Colt would design both the East and the West Course at Wentworth, evolve the course at Royal County Down in Northern Ireland and design the course at Royal Belfast, his creation there opening in 1926.

By this stage, Alister MacKenzie had branched out on his own, separating from the partnership with Colt and Alison in 1923. In the years that followed, Colt and Alison would gain input and support from John Stanton Fleming Morrison, who would be made an official partner in 1928, forming Colt, Alison & Morrison.

Later in this decade, Colt would redesign the links of Country Sligo, the course today known as the ‘Colt Championship Links’ in honour of its creator.

 

Harry Colt: ‘Thoughtful and considered’ from Muirfield to Portrush

Much of Colt’s work is evident on historic Open Championships venues – he modified eleven of the holes at Muirfield in Scotland’s East Lothian, as well as undertaking renovations at Royal Lytham & St Annes, Royal Liverpool and Royal St. George’s.

The 153rd Open in 2025 will be staged at Royal Portrush, founded in 1888. Back in 1929, the club enlisted Colt’s services which would result in the official opening of the Dunluce Links, in 1933, the track over which The Open is played and one which has also hosted six Senior British Opens. Colt would also shape Royal Portrush’s second course, the Valley Links.

Colt’s design style was thoughtful and considered, with great attention to detail. He believed that ‘the designer of a course should start off on his work in a sympathetic frame of mind for the weak, and at the same time be as severe as he likes with the first-class player.’ 

Generally, he favoured easing you into the round with the opening holes, lighter bunkering and few forced carries. He pushed for variety on a course, not wanting any two holes to be similar in shape or style.

He would write that ‘immediately when we attempt to standardize sizes, shapes, and distances we lose more than half the pleasure of the game.’

He was careful to produce different ways for all levels of golfers to approach a hole, but always aiming for holes to fit into the landscape on which they were built as if they had always been destined to be there: ‘I firmly believe that the only means whereby an attractive piece of ground can be turned into a satisfying golf course is to work to the natural features of the site in question’.

With regards to greens, he understood that ‘the majority of players desire to hole out in two putts on each green if they are putting well. They desire to experience some little difficulty in doing so, because otherwise they would derive no pleasure from success. Therefore a perfectly flat green would not satisfy them. On the other hand, when they have avoided the bunkers of the fairway… and have played their ball on to the putting green, they do not like to find it is lying in a severe form of hazard’.

Colt stopped designing in 1939 and died in 1951 aged 82 in Berkshire in England. He is credited with turning golf architecture into a profession, as well as inspiring and influencing other great designers that were up and coming during his prime, including Donald Ross and AW Tillinghast. 

During his extraordinary architectural career, Colt and his partners designed or remodelled more than 300 golf courses across the globe.

He is admired for so many of his courses, adding to aforementioned ones, the likes of Northamptonshire County, Tandridge in Oxted, Brokenhurst Manor, Camberley Heath in Surrey and Edgbaston.

Despite the prolific and much admired nature of his work, he remained intensely modest, famously describing the revered Swinley Forest as his ‘least bad’ course.

Colt has left an indelible mark on so many of today’s globally renowned and admired courses, both in his homeland and throughout the world. 

 

Golfland Ireland and Goflland Scotland

Michael Atkinson is the co-author of Golfland Ireland and Golfland Scotland, which are available to buy now at golfland.shop.

These stylish guides to all the courses of Scotland and Ireland feature photography by David Cannon.