The “grandaddy” may be getting a makeover. Big changes are in store for Pine Lakes Country Club, the oldest course on the Grand Strand. Burroughs and Chapin Co., owners of the course, are proposing to add about 400 housing units, as well as re-designing the course, I hope they don’t mess with it too much. The place is on the National Register of Historic Places, and sort of a shrine for Myrtle Beach Golf. There are hardly any houses along the course, which sits right in the middle of Myrtle Beach. It’s a scenic layout, with old pine trees and scattered ... full post »

I don’t know about you, but whenever I’m in Orlando, I try to get out of Orlando. All those tourists whizzing down I-4 and International Drive make me nervous. A good place to stay, and still play the area’s golf courses, with maybe a side trip to Disney World, is the Mission Inn Resort and Club. It’s only about 35 minutes northwest of Orlando, but a world away in effect. It’s in Howey-in-the-Hills, a place as funky as its name, with rolling land and orange groves and a small-town friendliness. Mission Inn is a family-owned, family-run resort with untraditional resort activities. ... full post »

Sunday was a double dose of disappointment if you happened to be switching channels between the Nissan Open and the Daytona 500. Both had tremendous potential to be dramatic, but both closed with duds, Veteran Fred Couples wilted down the stretch, allowing Rory Sabbatini to win. Couples blew an eight-foot birdie putt on No. 13, then bogeyed three of the final four holes. Just goes to show even veterans aren’t immune to pressure. Sabbatini should be congratulated for his win, hanging in there the way he did after blowing a four-shot lead. The gallery was strongly pro-Freddie, even jeering Sabbatini’s poor shots. As ... full post »

Myrtle Beach is such a popular destination for Canadians this time of year that Myrtle Beach started a festival for our mostly-friendly neighbors to the North. The festival includes events like the National Shag Dance Championship, International Kitefest and a St. Patricks Day Parade. There’s also history tours and concerts. That’s great, but all that stuff is really just an excuse for Canadians to get together and engage in their national pasttime of drinking beer. I’ve always liked playing with Canadians on the golf course, as well as drinking beer with them both on the course and afterward. They don’t ... full post »

The first time I stood in the infield at Daytona International Speedway, leaning into the chain-link fence, and watched the start of the Daytona 500, I understood viscerally this was nothing like the sport I had seen on television. I’ve covered every major sporting event in the U.S. – Super Bowls, World Series, NBA Championships, Final Fours – and had never felt that kind of thrill, the overwhelming roar of the engines, the hysterical anticipation of the crowd, the intensity of the pit crews. If you could imagine the moment before Hell really does break loose once and for all, you ... full post »

You may already know that almost everyone else in the world thinks American pro golfers are a bunch of spoiled, rich brats who hate to bother with the inconvenience of traveling outside the U.S. Why not just stay home and play where the money is, the hell with growing the game around the world? John Huggan, European correspondent for Golf Digest and Golf World really lays it on the line with a column about how the World Golf Championships, designed to spread the gospel in the far-flung reaches of the globe, have evolved into tournaments largely in the U.S. When the Accenture ... full post »

I like awards, especially when I win one. Awards have their place, a way of honoring good work. But, some are more dubious than others. Ron Green, 76, just won one called the 2006 PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism. He will be presented with it at the Golf Writers Association of America’s awards ceremony in April. I don’t know Green personally, but I recall reading some of his articles and he is and has been a fine writer. The problem I have with the award is that it is given to those writers for “their steadfast promotion of golf.” Journalists should not ... full post »

Vice-President Dick Cheney has always promised he’d shoot straight with the American people. He just didn’t tell us it would be one at a time. Cheney needs to replace his hunting hobby with golf. Golf clubs aren’t loaded, and it’s more humane to bring down a lawyer with a 5-iron than a shotgun. More Republicans play golf, although it’s true that lobbyists and energy insiders can be publicly identified easier on the golf course than they can in a duck blind. Golf isn’t nearly as violent as hunting, unless you try to photograph Tiger Woods without his caddie’s permission. I ask you: who is ... full post »

This is what happens when no-names win tournaments. A lopsided amount of media coverage of Sunday’s Pebble Beach Nationals Pro-Am centered on Mike Weir’s collapse rather than Arron Oberholser’s win. Oberholser knows how Weir feels. He had a chance to win this event two years ago, but skied to a 76, allowing Vijay Singh to win. On Sunday, he was six strokes better than Weir’s 78, matching the second-best score ever at the tourney. Oberholser compares himself to Tom Brady, in that neither was considered much of a prospect by the experts. He’s got a long way to go, obviously, before ... full post »

I hope Hilton Head doesn’t start suffering course losses like Myrtle Beach. Rose Hill Golf Club closed abruptly two weeks ago, and calls to its owners in Dallas were not returned. The future of the club, located in Bluffton, is still up in the air. It’s a decent track, and it’s been there for more than 20 years. There are two ongoing lawsuits involved, which may be partly responsible for the closure. Stay tuned… full post »