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The post 10 of the toughest tee times to get on GOLF’s Top 100 Courses in the World ranking appeared first on Golf.

Our list of the greatest courses in the world features a wide range of amazing places to play. But these 10 courses all share one thing in common: you need to be well-connected to get a tee time.

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The post U.S. holds off Great Britain & Ireland to clinch third-straight Walker Cup title appeared first on Golf.

The post U.S. holds off Great Britain & Ireland to clinch third-straight Walker Cup title appeared first on Golf.

JUNO BEACH, Fla. — As expected, the United States won the 48th Walker Cup. And, as expected, Seminole Golf Club dazzled during its week in the spotlight. But the week was anything but ordinary.

The underdog Great Britain and Ireland team played with an audacity that’s supposed to be reserved for David. A mysterious virus (no, not that virus) ran rampant through both teams. And unlikely heroes emerged and asserted themselves on the national stage.

The lads from across the pond had no business keeping it close against the mighty Americans this week, at least if you go by the numbers next to their names and the pre-event chatter. GB&I had just one player inside the top 20 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking coming into the week. The Americans had nine.

Travel

“The one thing we were kind of using as a little bit of motivation there was a lot of comments about us hanging in well and fighting really hard,” GB&I captain Stuart Wilson said. “Whereas I was more of the opinion we were letting the Americans away with it.”

That motivation helped GB&I push the Americans to the brink. It wasn’t until Cole Hammer — in the penultimate match Sunday afternoon — closed out his match against Ben Schmidt that the result was assured.

“It obviously means a lot,” Hammer said of delivering the decisive point. “When Robby told me that my match clinched it, I got pretty emotional because this event means so much to me.”

The U.S. won 6.5 points in the final session to clinch the cup, and each and every one of them was hard-earned. GB&I proved a formidable opponent, and windy Seminole bared its teeth as the week wore on. The pristine turf went from scenic background to a baked-out, treacherous playing surface.

By Sunday afternoon, the greens were rolling more like pool tables. Chatter early in the week was that the surfaces were stimping over 13. Over the final afternoon that number ballooned to 15.

Shots that were holding early in the week began trundling into bunkers. Lag putts that settled near the hole on Saturday turned into nervy five-footers by Sunday. NBC’s Jim “Bones” Mackay went so far as to call them the fastest greens he’d ever seen.

Travel

“It was a lot tougher than I expected,” GB&I’s Joe Long said. “It was kind of similar to Augusta — the firmness of the greens and how quick they were, especially today. They were just so quick and firm. It was really brutal out there.”

For the Americans, it wasn’t the big names like Pierceson Coody or Davis Thompson who shined brightest but rather newcomers like Ricky Castillo and William Mouw who stepped up when it mattered most. Castillo had a sparkling 4-0 record for the week, while Mouw was called upon at the 11th hour on Saturday when Tyler Strafaci was rushed to the hospital.

Strafaci might have summed it up best when he returned from his hospital visit.

“That’s the great thing about this event,” he said. “It’s about everyone as a team.”

In the end, it took a total team effort to retain the cup.

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The post Tour the Seminole Golf Club men’s locker room, one of the coolest hangouts in golf appeared first on Golf.

The post Tour the Seminole Golf Club men’s locker room, one of the coolest hangouts in golf appeared first on Golf.

Stepping inside Seminole Golf Club‘s men’s locker room feels a bit like walking back in time. The airy space has a classic feel, and the history of the club — the famed Donald Ross-designed golf course outside the clubhouse opened in 1929 — seeps through the walls.

Dan Jenkins, writing for Sports Illustrated in 1965, described the locker room like this: “The décor includes thick gold rugs, cypress clothes closets with intricate designs carved on the doors, overstuffed sofas and chairs, a fireplace, a small bar and the heads of fifteen wild animals, which stare down from the walls. It is quiet, pleasant and elegant — one of the better places in Florida to change your shoes.”

With the Walker Cup visiting Seminole this weekend, here’s a peek inside one of the coolest hangouts in golf:

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The post Inside Tyler Strafaci’s late-night, post-hospital Walker Cup practice session appeared first on Golf.

The post Inside Tyler Strafaci’s late-night, post-hospital Walker Cup practice session appeared first on Golf.

JUNO BEACH, Fla. — In waning daylight, Tyler Strafaci stood on the practice green at Seminole Golf Club armed only with his putter and a small collection of practice balls. One ball after another tumbled along the baked-out turf as the maintenance crew finished their final touch-ups for the night. In golf-speak, he was grinding.

This isn’t a particularly rare scene for high-level golf, but considering where Strafaci had been just hours earlier, it was remarkable.

News

Strafaci is just one of several Walker Cup players who have been stricken with a mysterious stomach virus this week. Just before his scheduled 3:03 p.m. tee time Saturday afternoon, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion was scratched from the lineup. Moments later, he was loaded into an ambulance and taken to a local hospital.

Details on the matter were sparse. “Tyler Strafaci did leave the grounds of Seminole Golf Club and is receiving fluids at a local hospital,” the USGA said in a statement. “[But] there is no additional information available at this time.”

The 22-year-old later revealed to Golf Channel that he’d been admitted for dehydration, and received three IVs. He was discharged from the emergency room later in the afternoon and returned to the course, where he rejoined his teammates to watch the Americans claim a 7-5 lead over GB&I.

When the excitement of the day wound down, Strafaci headed to the practice green unperturbed by the day’s (chaotic) events, and unmoved from his original goal.

“I want to win as bad as everyone else on that team,” Strafaci told GOLF.com. “This event is as meaningful as any other golf tournament in the world.”

As Strafaci continued his routine, Walker Cup stalwart Steward Hagestad approached him. The two chatted for a moment and then the elder statesman gave Strafaci a hug. Hagestad almost surely shared some words of encouragement for what figures to be a 36-hole day for Strafaci tomorrow.

Hagestad played in just one match on Saturday, a foursomes loss to Angus Flanagan and Jake Bolton. But even though the last two men on the putting green didn’t contribute any points on the board on day one, the younger Strafaci still provided some veteran wisdom.

“That’s the great thing about this event,” he said. “It’s about everyone as a team. We have a two-point lead going into tomorrow — that’s all that matters.”

With the sun fully vanished behind the Western dunes, Strafaci and Hagestad walked back toward the pink stucco clubhouse. It seemed like a rough day for the Walker Cup rookie, but Strafaci had a different perspective.  

“It wasn’t a bad day,” he said. “We’re leading. That’s all that’s important.”

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The post 5 things to know after a hard-fought first day at the Walker Cup appeared first on Golf.

The post 5 things to know after a hard-fought first day at the Walker Cup appeared first on Golf.

JUNO BEACH, Fla. — Day one of the Walker Cup is in the books. Team USA leads 7-5 after the first two sessions, setting up what is sure to be an intense final day of matches at Seminole Golf Club tomorrow.

Here are from things to know from Saturday at Seminole.

1. GB&I came to play

Looking at the World Amateur Golf Ranking, the matchup between the U.S. and GB&I (Great Britain and Ireland) is heavily lopsided. The Americans have nine of the top 20 players in the world, while their opposition claims just one. But despite this seeming mismatch, the boys from across the pond came to play.

Through two sessions, GB&I finds themselves behind the Americans by just two points, far from the blowout many predicted coming into the week. Now, the pressure shifts to the Americans to assert themselves tomorrow on their home soil.

2. Strafaci is bouncing back

Just before his afternoon match with Ben Jones, Tyler Strafaci was scratched from the lineup and replaced by William Mouw. Strafaci has been dealing with a stomach bug that has plagued both teams this week, and the ailment was too much to overcome on Saturday.

As more details came to light, tournament officials announced Strafaci was taken to a local hospital via ambulance as a precautionary measure. Fortunately, Strafaci was back on the grounds at Seminole by day’s end, cheering on his teammates.

“It was tough,” Strafaci said. “I wanted to go out and compete. It’s what I’ve been preparing my whole life for. It wasn’t easy at all. Physically I just couldn’t have walked 18 holes today. I was just really out of it, and three IVs in, I feel much better now, so I’m ready for tomorrow.”

3. The stars were out

Seminole was full of stars on Saturday. Yes, golf stars, but other celebs as well.

This golf scribe spotted Larry Fitzgerald (a Seminole member) in the afternoon watching John Pak and Barclay Brown, and also picked out Greg Norman following one of the morning foursome matches.

Among the other marquee names in attendance Saturday were Lee Westwood, Jessica Korda, George W. Bush, Fred Ridley, Seth Waugh and Curtis Strange. Quite the cast of characters.

4. Hammer time

Cole Hammer is somewhat of a Walker Cup veteran at this point after playing on the victorious 2019 team, and he provided a veteran presence Saturday at Seminole. Hammer won both his matches on the day, earning two critical points for the American side. Expect to see the 20-year-old in both sessions tomorrow as Team USA vies for the Cup.

5. Same format tomorrow

Saturday at the Walker Cup is a session of foursomes and a session of singles, and Sunday is more of the same. The only difference between the two days is that on day two, there are 10 singles matches in the afternoon, ensuring that all players participate in the session.

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The post Inside a solo walk around one of golf’s most exclusive properties appeared first on Golf.

The post Inside a solo walk around one of golf’s most exclusive properties appeared first on Golf.

JUNO BEACH, Fla. — There are few clubs in the world as exclusive as Seminole Golf Club. Its hush-hush nature means it’s impossible to quantify exactly how it stacks up against others, and it’s only been featured on TV once in its 92-year history (last year’s TaylorMade Driving Relief Skins Match).

Only about 300 people are members, and the roster is a who’s-who of American elites. Tom Brady and Michael Bloomberg. Mike Davis and Mark Loomis. The names go on and on. Rumor has it Seminole once turned down Jack Nicklaus. How many clubs can get away with that?

The exclusivity is one of the reasons why this week’s Walker Cup is so intriguing. Fans will finally get to see high-level competitive golf played at the same place where Ben Hogan chose to fine-tune his game for the Masters. Augusta National is exclusive, too, but the annual broadcast allows those who’ve never set foot on the grounds to feel intimate with the course. That’s not the case here at Seminole.

I didn’t know what to expect when I rolled up to the pink stucco clubhouse Friday afternoon. Fresh off a plane from New York, I hopped in the rental car and drove up to the gates at one of the most guarded properties in golf. They waved me through, and I felt like a 19-year-old sneaking into a bar for the first time.

I walked to the putting green and faced a sea of blazers and polos indulging in libations and preparing for the opening ceremony. Beyond the crowd was endless acres of Donald Ross’ genius framed by palm trees and sand dunes. Just over the largest dunes on the east side of the property was a small strip of beach and the Atlantic Ocean beyond. This is way better than sneaking into a bar.

Player availability and practices were finished for the day, so I decided to take a stroll out to the course. As I walked past the hospitality areas not far from the clubhouse, I noticed there were no ropes that are traditionally put up at golf tournaments. Music to a reporter’s ears.

As I ventured farther away from the masses, I noticed I was alone. No nosy volunteers, no groundskeepers, no caddies. I had complete solitude.

That’s when it hit me. I was doing something that few ever have the chance to experience. Walking a course as exclusive as Seminole, with no supervision, is unheard of. Even the guests who are fortunate enough to score an invite are accompanied by members and caddies. But on this afternoon, it was just me, the course and the ghosts of some of golf’s greats.

I scouted a peak at the far end of the property and continued my hike. I meandered along the banks of the ponds and made note of a particularly crooked palm tree near one of the greens. I noticed the fairway bunkers were rather shallow, the greenside traps intimidatingly steep.

I captured as many photos and videos as I could. Seminole has a strict no-phone policy, but with the USGA taking charge this week, the rules were a bit more relaxed. When I reached the far end of the course on the 3rd tee box, I turned around and took in the scene. The clubhouse sat on the opposite end of the property with the vast expanse of the ocean to the east. Behind me was a row of shrubs over 20 feet tall to keep out any wandering eyes.

I sat down — a kid from a working-class family from rural Texas that grew up playing beat-up munis — and took inventory.

I’ll admit, I wasn’t awed when I first started walking the golf course, but after a half-hour alone with it, I was enamored. It all blends together in one big golfy mass. You could play Seminole on any number of routings. It’s like a playground with limitless possibilities.

I took a trip up to the secluded 18th tee. Beyond the dunes was a man teaching his son to skimboard on the beach. They were only 100 yards away, but it felt like we were in different worlds. I wondered if they had peered up those same dunes and wondered what life was like at Seminole. I know I would have.

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The post Why Tom Brady might be using Rory McIlroy’s driver in his match appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Tom Brady might be using Rory McIlroy’s driver in his match appeared first on Golf.

Rory McIlroy played in last week’s charity event. 

One of McIlroy’s drivers might be playing in this week’s charity event. 

About a week before last Sunday’s TaylorMade Driving Relief skins game at Seminole Golf Club, McIlroy and NFL quarterback Tom Brady played world No. 4 Justin Thomas and Seminole president Jimmy Dunne in a match at Seminole. McIlroy and Brady lost. They didn’t even make “the fence,” an expression at Seminole that means your match woefully didn’t make the fence of the driving range, near the 15th green.    

Brady had a somewhat good excuse. 

No driver. 

“Tom played OK,” McIlroy said on ESPN’s Stupodity podcast recently. “He didn’t have a driver in the bag.”

Said Dunne on the podcast: “Tom, yeah, he was whining because he came from Tampa Bay and he had his different clubs. I said, ‘Give me a break.’ So anyway, he didn’t have the right driver, and he didn’t like the putter.”

The next day, McIlroy gave Brady one of his backup drivers. 

That next day, Brady went out and defeated Dunne in another match at Seminole. 

And Dunne believes McIlroy’s backup driver could be the starting driver for Brady on Sunday, when he and Phil Mickelson take on Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning in The Match: Champions for Charity at Medalist Golf Club. 

“Rory on Saturday morning brought a driver over to Tom and Tom really pured it so that will do him some good on his match on the 24th,” Dunne said on the podcast. “He hit the driver really, really well, and he always putts well. But yeah, he and my son CJ kind of slapped around my son Seamus and I.”

The driver might not be enough to win. 

Dunne has played golf with Brady, a new member at Seminole. He’s also played with Manning, both at Seminole and at Augusta National, where Manning is a member. 

He gives the edge on Sunday to Manning and Woods. 

“Peyton is a good player. They’re different. Peyton negotiates his way around the golf course. Tom has a little more power,” Dunne said on the podcast. “Tom looks better, but I’m not sure – Peyton’s pretty tough. I would say Peyton and his partner will have the advantage up there at the Medalist. That’d be my guess. But I’ll be pulling for Tom and Phil obviously.”  

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The post Why the star-studded Seminole and Medalist matches harken back to another time appeared first on Golf.

Michael Bamberger is back on the road, keeping two club lengths from his sources. This is the fourth installment in a five-part Bamberger Briefly series from South Florida, about golf’s return to action. You may read part 1 here, part 2 here and part 3 here.

JUNO BEACH, Fla. — Golf mashes time. These made-for-TV charity events — the one last Sunday at Seminole and this Sunday at Medalist — could be lost episodes of “The Twilight Zone.” It’s easy to imagine Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady a few days from now, golfing big and living large. But can’t you also imagine Walter Hagen and Babe Ruth in those same roles? The Haig and The Babe, golfing big and living large, lifting people in times of war, depression, plague? They were giants.

During the five-hour Seminole telecast, six names were in circulation: Donald Ross, Ben Hogan, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy and 21-year-old Matthew Wolff, swinging, most assuredly, in a way that’s all his own. Hogan (who liked to play and practice at Seminole) and Ross (who built it) lived through the 1918 pandemic. Ross grew up in remote northern Scotland, and some of his Seminole greens and bunkers are straight outta Dornoch, where golf’s been played for 400 years.

When Greg Norman and Pete Dye were designing Medalist in the mid-1990s, they took inspiration from the West course at Royal Melbourne, designed by Alister MacKenzie in the mid-1920s. Tiger played it masterfully at last year’s Presidents Cup. Of course, he has a well-established knack for playing MacKenzie courses. What’s new here? 

Let’s bring in Michael Murphy, in Golf in the Kingdom, before you even get to the first page: “The game was invented a billion years ago — don’t you remember?”

Murphy fell for the game at Pebble Beach. Talk about ageless, the course and the man. I remember Bill Murray, at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, some years ago. A fan told Murray that he’d been following him for five years, looking for an autograph. “Five years is nothing,” Murray said. He gestured widely. “Look at these trees. Look at the ocean.” Oceans are old. 

There’s a lot to be said for living in the present while remembering the past. (We’ll learn from the future when we get there.) Tiger is steeped in the golfers and tournaments that came before him. Rory is, too. In 2018, they played together on the Sunday of the Tour Championship, at East Lake. On the last hole, as Woods was marching to his first win in five years, fans flooded the fairway, trying to get near him. It was bedlam. 

“This is like Jack in ’80 at Baltusrol,” Rory said to Tiger as they sped down the final fairway. On the last hole at the 1980 U.S. Open at Baltusrol, where Nicklaus won his fourth U.S. Open, fans were swarming him. It was bedlam.

“Yeah,” Tiger said. “I just don’t have the tight pants and the hair.”

This month, each has his own Sunday. Rory the one that just passed, Tiger the one coming up.

Before the TaylorMade event, I wrote a GOLF.com piece about my guest visits to Seminole over the years. I mentioned the late Ted Emerson, my first host there, a USGA committeeman and a Boston Brahmin who knew Francis Ouimet well. I mentioned the late Billy Joe Patton, the amateur who finished a shot out of the Hogan-Snead playoff at the 1954 Masters, a Seminole mainstay for years. I mentioned the late Bill Campbell, who played at Seminole with Hogan and held his own. Campbell, winner of the 1964 U.S. Amateur, could hold his own with anyone.

I repeat this next part from that Seminole story because it says so much about Campbell and Hogan while doubling as timeless parenting advice. Campbell had six children. They weren’t interested in golf. One day he packed them into the family wagon and brought them over to Seminole, to watch Hogan practice. The father gave these instructions: “Don’t ask him anything. Just watch. You don’t have to have a good time. Just remember it.”

A day or two after that piece ran, I heard from Ted Emerson’s Boston neighbor, who noted that Ted had a Volvo wagon, its back seat filled with folders about USGA rules decisions. I heard from Billy Joe Patton’s grandson, describing the pride his grandfather would have felt, with the Walker Cup coming to Seminole next year. (Patton played in five Walker Cups and captained one.) And I heard from one of Campbell’s daughters.

“You correctly state that we were not so very interested in golf,” Victoria Campbell Collins wrote. “However, the nature of the game and the standards it demands were an allegory for much more than simply golf. It was a game of civility, beauty and precision. The game has morals and yet it offers freedom. My father always found his peace when playing golf.”

Forty years from now, Matt Wolff will likely be saying the same thing, although, most assuredly, in a way that’s all his own.     

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael_Bamberger@GOLF.com

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The post Watch the TaylorMade Driving Relief skins game with GOLF.com’s experts appeared first on Golf.

The day is finally here! Live golf with PGA Tour golfers! The TaylorMade Driving Relief skins match will finally bring some of the best players in the world back to our televisions screens. 

NBC is the place to watch, but GOLF.com will be the place to tune in as well. Our staff will be dishing insights and commentary via a “second-screen” viewing experience, in which we’ll watch the action right along with you. Starting at 2 p.m. ET, you’ll find our live feed in this space, plus on our YouTube and Facebook page. 

We’ll have various experts calling in to talk all things equipment, instruction, gambling and what the scene is like down at Seminole. You’ll be getting the best out of Alan Shipnuck, Dylan Dethier and Luke Kerr-Dineen — three of our starved-for-Tour-golf staffers who will join me for action on the front nine. 

So, jump on in and join us to discuss whatever’s on your mind. Rory and DJ’s prodigious power, Matt Wolff’s funky swing, what makes Seminole special — and, of course, all your pro bets.

Enjoy the show! 

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The post Rory McIlroy reveals what makes Seminole Golf Club so different appeared first on Golf.

The post Rory McIlroy reveals what makes Seminole Golf Club so different appeared first on Golf.

Long before this weekend’s skins game was announced, Rory McIlroy had spent plenty of time at Seminole Golf Club. McIlroy’s Florida residence is just a short drive away, and his father, Gerry — whom Rory gives four shots a side, he said — is a member at the exclusive club.

This website has extensively chronicled what we know about Seminole over the course of the week leading up to Sunday’s Taylormade Driving Relief skins game. Seminole insider Michael Bamberger has written about what the course is like as a hang. Our Top 100 Courses panelists have detailed its best holes and how amateurs would fare. But what does McIlroy himself really think of the place? Luckily, he dished on the course earlier this week on the McKellar Golf Podcast (which you can and should listen to here!) and gave some insight into what makes Seminole different.

“It’s brilliant. It’s a pure golf club, I think that’s first and foremost, there’s no — obviously over here in the States, there’s a lot of country clubs and there’s a lot of stuff that goes on outside of the golf, y’know, pools and tennis courts and gyms and there’s a big social thing. Seminole is just a pure golf course. The president of the club, who I’ve gotten to know pretty well over the years, Jimmy Dunne — he always describes it as, ‘Seminole has probably the highest golfing aptitude of any golf club in the United States,’ which is a pretty good way to describe it.”

To hear McIlroy tell it, this isn’t a course where members will lounge about the pool, nor even the distance-restricted driving range. They’re eager to get out and play.

“But people roll up half an hour before their tee time, hit a few balls on the range — the range is 230 yards long, I definitely can’t hit driver on it, a few of the members can’t either — but you warm up and then you go out and play and it’s brilliant.”

That squares with McIlroy’s recent ethos that his time is better spent playing rather than merely practicing. It’s also primarily a walking course, a fitting site for Sunday’s skins game, where players will carry their own bags.

“Everyone walks, you can obviously carry your own bag if you want, there’s caddies. … Jimmy Dunne a few years ago took out all the benches just to speed up play, so people can’t sit down.”

According to McIlroy, the club wastes no time reminding you about pace of play.

“There’s a note on the first tee, it’s: ‘Play good, play fast. Play bad, play faster.’ That’s the motto. So they’re very proud of the fact that they can get around the golf course in a four-ball in just over three hours.”

McIlroy also revealed on the podcast that he’s been focusing more on the finer points of golf course architecture, which has allowed him to appreciate Seminole in a whole new light.

“So it’s a real golf club, and it’s brilliant, it’s a wonderful design, Donald Ross, some of the greatest green complexes in the world, it’s a very cliche thing to say in golf course architecture that it’s a second-shot course, but it really is. There’s plenty of room off the tee, but you really have to think about where you’re placing your ball with your approach shots.”

You can (and should!) listen to the entire podcast interview here.

The post Rory McIlroy reveals what makes Seminole Golf Club so different appeared first on Golf.