FarmLinks GC is a laboratory for great golf

About an hour southeast of Birmingham, on a remote -- but not too remote farm used for the things about all farms are used -- is a living laboratory for the game of golf called FarmLinks GC.

The golf course there, designed by the renown team of Hurzdan-Fry, is owned by the Pursell family, which, for the better part of the last century, has made its living as one of the world's largest manufacturers of controlled-release fertilizers, many of which are used on golf courses.

The Pursells envisioned and then commissioned a track that would be used to showcase their and the competition's golf-related products and varied methodologies, all as an experiment to see how the chemicals work on different grasses.



Golfers around the globe are beneficiaries of all the research going on at FarmLinks. But those that get to tee it up here get the immediate value - and it's an experience to appreciate and enjoy. Since it is a showcase, golfers won't find more immaculate course conditions anywhere. Each tee, fairway and green on the course features a different variety of turfgrass, which only enhances the playability and challenge.

Here is the link to the story I wrote for Cybergolf about FarmLinks, truly one of the nation's most unique golf courses: www.cybergolf.com/golf_news/outstanding_conditioning_more_at_farmlinks_in_alabama.

A few paragraphs and pics are below:

FarmLinks is routed over and through dramatic and rolling countryside with plenty of elevations changes and corridors framed by huge stands of trees. On some holes (mostly those on the top of the ridge and in an unprotected plain below), the wind whips across to affect every shot, adding to the equation and making this more of a strategic layout than a haven for bomb-and-gougers.



FarmLinks also offers five-stand clay shooting, hunting, fishing and five types of deluxe accommodations for nearly 80 guests, depending on taste and need. Guests can choose from a cozy, Southern-style guesthouse, a rustic lodge with all the amenities, or they relax with all the creature comforts in a spacious, four-bedroom cottage or cabin.

Guests staying in the cottages and cabins even get personal Club Car vehicles, handy for navigating the sprawling property. While FarmLinks doesn't sell alcohol, guests can bring their own.



FarmLinks has collected numerous awards, including a listing on Golf Digest's 2011 75 Best Golf Resorts in North America (tied for 39th); No. 1 in Alabama in Golfweek's 2011 Best Courses You Can Play state rankings; Golf Digest's 2008-09 Best Places to Play (4.5 out of 5 stars); and being named the No. 1 Public Golf Course in Alabama by the Birmingham News in 2009.

FarmLinks also garnered the highest customer-satisfaction rating by the National Golf Foundation for five straight years, beginning in 2006.

I was lucky enough to tee it up at FarmLinks last fall and am happy to report that the experience is one that needs to be seen and played to be believed.

Part four of Irish golf course series

The fourth story about my trip to Ireland last July to play a handful of the Emerald Isle's top golf courses has been posted to the Cybergolf main page. This one is about the wild and wonderful experience at Old Head, one of the world's most spectacular sites for golf.

Here are a few paragraphs and a few pics from the feature:

Golf courses are usually dictated by one underlying tenet - they are what they are because of their locations. Would Pebble Beach, Torrey Pines or Bandon Dunes be so well regarded without their Pacific Coast settings; would Kiawah Island be the same were it removed from its lowland locale alongside the Atlantic; or would Liberty National Golf Club be as stunning removed from its expansive views of downtown Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty?



The same notion applies to Old Head, a great golf course made more spectacular by its stunning and singular place - a rocky, 220-acre promontory jutting more than two miles into the Celtic Sea and connected to the mainland by a narrow, tunnel-filled land bridge.



The course is exposed to the elements and, with dramatic 300-foot-high cliffs on all sides, provides ocean views from virtually every hole.



Playing a round of golf at Old Head makes you feel as though you're on the edge of the world. There are seagulls flying below you, and waves reverberate in the many caves hollowed out of the headland's base, making a tremendous booming noise.

Getting a chance to play Old Head was the impetus behind the trip across the pond. It provided a round I will never forget. See the entire feature at http://www.cybergolf.com/golf_news/old_head_golf_links_more_than_a_fabulous_location.

Palmer and Seay's Tralee gives links golf a newer flair

I just posted a feature about my July trip to Ireland and my round of sumptuous golf at Tralee Golf Club, one of the Emerald Isle's newer links layouts. Tralee is a course that may be overlooked by some golfers more interested in playing just the tracks build before the turn of the 20th century, but it's a must play if you are ever across the pond and looking for a golf course that will take a little of the starch out of your britches.



Here are a few paragraphs from the story, which can be found it its entirety at www.cybergolf.com/golf_news/tralee_golf_club_goes_out_like_a_lamb_roars_in_like_a_lion:

The par-72 Tralee Golf Club stretches 6,991 yards from its back set of four tees. The strip of land on Barrow Point upon which the course was arrayed is a mixed geographical bag. Cobbled together out of numerous smaller pieces of farmland, the site not only provides all the ingredients of links golf - hard, fescue greens, undulating fairways and punishing rough - but also some of the perks of its volcanic geography.



It has some very high dunes, wide white-sand beaches, inlets and some of the most eye-popping backdrops of mountains and ocean you will see in all of Ireland. Scenes from the Oscar-winning film "Ryan's Daughter" were shot on the beach alongside the second hole.

The links features several rollercoaster holes, bunches of treacherous traps, and greens that are undulating but not severely so. There are numerous blind shots; a half-dozen sightlines off the tees that appear to be different than they are and more than one putting surface that breaks uphill or away from the ocean counter everything the eye and logic dictate.

Walking past and above the 16th green and looking down on the grass waving on the dunes below really hit me "right there." The course looks like a painting that -- thanks to the combination of wind and surf and sand -- is being created as you play it.



I had a whale of a time on my trip to Ireland and can't wait to get back.

Desert golf without a cactus in sight

Last spring I went west to the Valley of the Sun and Scottsdale for the second consecutive year to visit a handful of the region's many spectacular golf courses. One of the most noted facilities of last year's trip was the Westin Kierland Resort, which I profiled recently in Cybergolf (www.cybergolf.com).

Scottsdale is one of my favorite destinations for may reasons, two of which are: 1. there are so many golf courses you can play two different ones a day and never run out of options; and 2. you can actually play 36 holes a day for four straight days and never get bored or too worn out (unless you can't take the sun, that is).

Here are a few paragraphs of my Cybergolf story on Kierland that ran last week and a pair of photos that might want you to head straight to your computer and book a trip to the over-the-top-but-within-most-budgets resort:

There are myriad options for great golf in Scottsdale. But if a visitor is looking for the Valley of the Sun's ultimate destination for fun on and off the course, the Westin Kierland Resort has to be atop anyone's list.

Featuring three Scott Miller-designed nine-hole sides, Kierland Golf Club is the centerpiece of the 730-acre master-planned Kierland community. The development, located inside Loop 101 in north Scottsdale, also features plush residences, retail centers and the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa.



Some consider Kierland Golf Club's three nines - Acacia, Mesquite and Ironwood - Miller's best work. That's saying a lot since the Scottsdale-based architect has done many fine courses, including the ballyhooed We-Ko-Pa Cholla course in nearby Fountain Hills, the sublime Sandia Golf Club in Albuquerque, Coeur d'Alene Resort's course, among about 100 others.

Kierland Golf Club is routed across land that was once flat and lifeless, devoid of even the obligatory Arizona cactus. Miller moved 1.3 million cubic yards of dirt in shaping these 27 that now have elevation changes of up to 75 feet, along with mounds and berms that run up and down hills and through valleys, over desert washes and past huge lakes. The property is surrounded by Pinnacle Peak, Camelback Mountain, Mummy Mountain and the McDowells, all seemingly so close that on a clear day it feels like these promontories can be reached with a well-struck 7-iron.



Here's the link to the feature if you would like to continue to read: http://www.cybergolf.com/golf_news/kierland_golf_club_desert_golf_without_a_cactus_in_sight.

Ballybunion is the real deal

My first story about my trip to Ireland last summer and about my round of golf at world-famous Ballybunion Golf Club's Old Course has been posted on Cybergolf and ready for perusal.

A few paragraphs and a couple of photos to whet the appetite:

Every knowledgeable golfer has heard tales of Ireland's Old Course at Ballybunion Golf Club, either from a friend who's been lucky enough to venture across the Atlantic and play it or from the reviews by famous personages such as Hall of Fame golfer Tom Watson and former president Bill Clinton.



Perhaps golfers have gone online to see what all the fuss is about and perused Ballybunion's expansive website (www.ballybuniongolfclub.ie), conjuring up thoughts of teeing it up on the windswept bluff at the southern juncture of the Atlantic and the Shannon River in County Kerry, on the Emerald Isle's southwestern coast.

Last summer, during a glorious stretch of warm, relatively calm days, I was able to cross a round at Ballybunion's Old Course off of my bucket list. I can verify that the experience was all it's cracked up to be - and more. I have played more than 600 golf courses in the past five years - and likely more than a thousand since my golf infatuation began in 1986 - and the round at Ballybunion was my all-time favorite.



Here's the link: http://www.cybergolf.com/golf_news/old_course_at_ballybunion_everything_its_cracked_up_to_be_and_more. Enjoy...

Best courses of 2011

The writers for Cybergolf, the popular website to which I contribute, were asked to name the top five golf courses they played in 2011.

Here was my submission; read the rest of our writers' choices at: www.cybergolf.com/golf_news/cybergolf_writers_top5_courses_of_the_year.

Having teed it up on 151 golf courses this year through Dec. 17, it is difficult to determine which ones were my top 5 or even how to set the criteria for judging those that were best. I like golf, and I like playing golf so spending day after day on the links is my definition of nirvana.

So I decided to list here a quintet of courses on which I had the most fun, separated into categories rather than just listed as a whole. These five courses meant the most to me in 2011 or they were a surprise (aren’t those always the most treasured?). But when reading this please remember that, for me, just about any day on the course is a cherished memory.

Best Short Course – Monarch Dunes’ Challenge Course, Nipomo, CA
Designed by Damian Pascuzzo and Steve Pate, this 12-hole, par-3 course (below) on the central California coast is a treat, filled with holes measuring from 82 to 242 yards with loads of undulation, water, dunes and fescue. I played the course with the architects and five other golf journalists as an eight-some in an hour and 40 minutes. This is a great concept and an even better example of the concept done correctly.



Best Surprise Course – Kokopelli Golf Club, Apple Valley, UT
This Bruce Summerhays-design (below) sits about 30 miles east of St. George and wows with spectacular views of Zion, Gooseberry Mesa and some of southern Utah's most incredible sandstone formations. The course, opened in 2010, has five holes routed up, down and across a mountain and others that play across lava fields and gorges. It knocked my socks off.



Best Municipal Course – Conquistador Golf Course, Cortez, CO
Something needs to be said about city-owned golf courses that have the right formula and put it into practice day in and day out. That’s what the golfer gets at this Press Maxwell-designed jewel. You can view La Plata Peak, Mesa Verde and Sleeping Ute Mountain from virtually everywhere on the course as long as you’re not in the Ponderosa pine and piñon trees that line the fairways. The track was in flawless condition and a blast to play.

Best Overall Course (Domestic Category) – TimberStone at Pine Mountain, Iron Mountain, MI
This Jerry Matthews-designed track is in the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan has a little bit of everything, including the rare 5-star rating from Golf Digest. Isolated, serene and tough (but not severely so), TimberStone is sprawled out across 105 playable acres of Pine Mountain, with elevated tees and greens and a routing that brings golf and nature together. Tall pines line most of the holes, and a stunning finish (the 215-yard downhill par-3 No. 17 and the 625-yard tumbling par-5 18th) will send you straight back to the clubhouse to immediately book your next round. Just freaking amazing.

Best Overall Course (Foreign Category) – Ballybunion’s Old Course, County Kerry, Ireland
I took my inaugural trip to Ireland this summer, and the first course I played was the incomparable Old Course at Ballybunion (below), which dates to 1893. The first six holes are nothing to write home about, but the final 12 may be the finest and most challenging golf I have ever played. These are the holes that are on the bluff overlooking the Irish Sea, and the routing is through huge dunes covered with native grasses that sway constantly in the wind. Walking down the fairway at the 509-yard par-5 16th through a canyon created by the dunes – which were created over the eons from the wind off the sea – I felt like I was as close to the maker as I could be – and that’s a good thing.

Turning Stone is lush and green...and a real treat

The first week in June was a great time to visit the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in upstate New York (about a 30 minute limo ride from Syracuse), especially after the spring and summer we have endured here in Central Texas.

Just before my visit, the Verona area had recorded 26 consecutive days with some measurable precipitation, and the area and the resort's courses we lush and green beyond belief. We were told that the greenskeepers for the resort's three courses were putting chemicals on the turf to keep it from growing -- that would never happen in Central Texas.



We were able to tee it up on all three of Turning Stone's excellent courses -- the Rick Smith-designed Shenendoah (above), Atunyote (fashioned by Tom Fazio and the site of the PGA Tour's Turning Stone Resort Championship until 2010 -- pictured below)and RTJ Jr.'s Kaluhyat. Hard to say which course is better because all we so good, but we had the best conditions (temps in low 60s and no winds)for the final morning at Kaluhyat.



The whole setup at Turning Stone is top drawer, from the Lodge that we stayed in (really a low-rise plush building of suites usually reserved for the casino's high rollers) to the wonderful bar and membership-only dining room atop the 19-floor tower, the tallest building between Albany and Syracuse.

If you are looking for a rockin' golf trip away from the norm, you need to put Turning Stone on your short list.