http://brianmccallen.com Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:54:59 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Forest Dunes Golf Club, a 1,300-acre development in north central Michigan with a superb Tom Weiskopf-designed course at its core, was completed in 1999 for a reported $40 million but was abandoned before it ever opened. Conceived as an upscale real estate development, the club was later revived by the Detroit Carpenters Pension Trust Fund (one of the original lenders) and reopened 10 years ago. In the face of economic headwinds, it has managed to ... ]]> http://brianmccallen.com/golf/golf/858/forest-dunes-bargain-of-the-century I received in the mail today a Christmas card sent annually by Tom Doak at Renaissance Golf Design. No Santa or wreaths or reindeer on the cover of this year’s card. There’s a picture instead of the famous statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. Why? Because Renaissance Golf is one of eight firms competing to design the golf course for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. “We are busily at work over the holidays ... ]]> http://brianmccallen.com/golf/golf/849/eight-designers-vying-to-build-course-for-rio-2016-olympics Back in the day, thrifty Midwest snowbirds would visit the Mississippi Gulf Coast with a pair of shorts and a $100 bill--and not change either one for the duration of their stay. All that changed 10 years ago, when casino gambling was legalized along the state's Gulf of Mexico shoreline. Huge floating casinos, several of them replicas of old Mississippi River paddle-wheelers, are today moored to docks in the corridor between Gulfport and Biloxi, creating Vegas-style ... ]]> http://brianmccallen.com/golf/golf/843/grand-bear-roars-on-mississippi-gulf-coast Thanks to a recent story I posted on the refurbishment of Pasatiempo, the brilliant Alister Mackenzie-designed course in Santa Cruz, Calif., I received a lovely note from Ian Cook, a member in good standing at Hazel Grove Golf Club in Cheshire, England. While not as famous as Augusta National or Cypress Point, Hazel Grove was designed by Mackenzie, one of the game’s greatest design practitioners. In tribute to Hazel Grove’s centenary, slated to begin in October ... ]]> http://brianmccallen.com/golf/golf/personalities/833/alister-mackenzie-statue-unveiled-in-england New Jersey. Affectionately known as the Garden State. Famous for singers like Sinatra and Springsteen. Also home of Pine Valley GC, but never mind. For the uninitiated, New Jersey conjures a hopeless tangle of thoroughfares and shopping plazas west of the Hudson River where the driving scenes are enough to send even experienced road warriors directly to a bus stop or a train station. However, there is another New Jersey far removed from the densely populated ... ]]> http://brianmccallen.com/golf/golf/courses-and-travel/801/crystal-springs-resort-a-major-golf-destination-50-miles-from-gotham Paging through The Economist last week, I learned that the beleaguered Greek government would miss its budget-deficit targets for this year and next. The country’s deepening recession is to blame. Predictably, euro-zone finance ministers responded by saying they would not hand over the latest tranche of bailout funding ($10.7 billion) to Greece until mid-November, a month later than expected. On cue, Greek unions staged another general strike to protest the latest austerity measures. Given this sand-in-the-hourglass ... ]]> http://brianmccallen.com/golf/golf/804/costa-navarino-a-greek-bail-out Every once in awhile I receive an email that brings equal amounts of surprise and wonder. I don’t know how he tracked me down, but last week, a retired 70-year-old in Wilmington, Del. sent me a brief note. “I finished the top 100 courses,” it read. “Thanks for writing the book. I enjoyed it and the courses. There a story today (Sept. 22) in the Monterey Herald.” Sean McKinley. And so I read the attached newspaper story on ... ]]> http://brianmccallen.com/golf/golf/797/touching-all-the-bases-playing-the-top-100-courses Maybe outspoken Phil Mickelson has a point. Though he didn’t win the Scottish Open held at Castle Stuart Golf Links in July, he had good things to say about the tournament venue,  a newcomer co-designed by Gil Hanse and Mark Parsinen. In a rambling discourse, Mickelson told The Scotsman, “Most of the greatest holes that have ever been designed have been designed 60 to 100 years ago. I don’t see that type of greatness in a ... ]]> http://brianmccallen.com/golf/golf/790/metropolis-cc-a-blast-from-the-past-in-golf-rich-westchester-county Seeking to complete your education as a golfer? An entire semester of advancement can be had in the course of a single round at Taconic Golf Club in Williamstown, Mass. This is especially true in the fall, when the forested peaks surrounding the course are ablaze with the colors of autumn. According to the club’s website, “Of the 375 courses judged by the Boston Globe, Taconic was voted number one in scenic beauty in the state.” No ... ]]> http://brianmccallen.com/golf/golf/783/taconic-golf-club-jewel-of-the-berkshires I’ll come right out and say it. Next to Pebble Beach, my favorite course in California is Pasatiempo Golf Club. In the wake of a 10-year restoration led by Tom Doak and Jim Urbina, Pasatiempo, described by Doak as “the most personal of (Alister) Mackenzie’s designs,” is like a fuzzy photograph that’s been brought into focus by an expert restorer. The golf course, one of the finest classically designed courses in the nation, is a worthy ... ]]> http://brianmccallen.com/golf/golf/776/pasatiempo-alister-mackenzies-beautifully-restored-masterpiece-is-one-of-californias-finest-courses