Florida

The Breakers oceanfront hotel at Palm Beach is one of America’s legendary destinations. More than 100 years have passed since the Breakers was founded by oil magnate Henry Flagler and it’s as popular today as it was back then. In 1904, rooms at the Breakers started from $4 per night, including three meals a day. You can expect to pay a little more for the experience today.

There are two golf courses attached to the Breakers. The Ocean course is considered to be Florida's oldest 18-hole course which was redesigned by Brian Silva in 2000. This 6,100-yard track is located next to the main resort. The second course at the Breakers was originally laid out in 1969 and is located inland in a gated community some ten miles due west of the main resort. It was formerly known as Breakers West but we’re not entirely sure who originally designed it. However, the course underwent a serious makeover by the “Open Doctor” along with his co-designed Steve Weisser in 2004. If you’re staying at the resort you’ll receive free transportation to and from the course, which is now called Breakers Rees Jones.

The renovation project included rebuilding tees, redesigning green and fairway bunker complexes and realigning several holes. Par was also increased from 71 to 72. The new Rees Jones course now measures 7,100 yards and it was awarded “Renovation of the Year 2005” by Golf Inc. magazine.

Key to a good score on the Breakers Rees Jones course is to keep out of the water. You will be reminded that you’re close to the Everglades as you play around and over a series of lakes and marshes, which often intimidate, especially on the one-shot holes. The 9th – the doglegged par four signature hole – is a great watery example which requires a tee shot over water and an approach shot over more water to an elevated green. The safe drive is down the right side but that will leave a longer knee trembling approach shot with water beckoning.

Breakers (Rees Jones)

North America

The Breakers oceanfront hotel at Palm Beach is one of America’s legendary destinations and its Rees Jones golf course was awarded “Renovation of the Year 2005”...

Minnesota

Hazeltine National played host to the 2016 Ryder Cup matches between the USA and Europe. Team Captains were Davis Love III (US) and Darren Clarke (Europe). The US team came out of the starting blocks at light speed in the Friday foursomes with a 4 - 0 whitewash, but Europe rallied in the afternoon four-ball matches to trail by 5 points to 3. Saturday’s foursomes went Europe’s way but the US won three of the four four-ball matches in the afternoon to lead 9½-6½. For a brief moment, Europe looked set for a Medinah-style comeback when they led in seven of Sunday's 12 singles matches, but another inspired performance by talisman Patrick Reed, who defeated Rory McIlroy in a thrilling battle, paved the way for the first of seven US singles’ wins. All twelve US team members delivered a point while four Europeans drew blanks, but ultimately it was superior putting that enabled the US to regain the trophy. USA 17 - Europe 11. The Ryder Cup was played at 

Former USGA president Totton P. Heffelfinger founded Hazeltine National Golf Club in the early 1960s and Robert Trent Jones was commissioned to design a high quality course for the Midwest capable of holding a national championship. Hazeltine opened for play in 1962 and only eight years later the club hosted the 1970 US Open. In cold windy conditions Englishman and reigning British Open champion Tony Jacklin triumphed easily.

Hazeltine National was modified by Rees Jones (son of RTJ) ahead of the 1991 US Open which turned into a historic battle between Scott Simpson and Payne Stewart. The championship went to a play-off the next day and Payne Stewart came from behind to win his first US Open title.

The PGA Championship was hosted at Hazeltine in 2002 and it was one of the most memorable events in the history of the PGA. On the par five 15th hole during the final round Tiger Woods launched a charge, posting the first of four closing birdies. Rich Beem held off the rampaging Tiger to claim his first Major, winning by a single shot, but Tiger’s charge constituted perhaps the most exciting finish in PGA Championship history.

The 2009 PGA Championship returned to Hazeltine National and it was a tournament that the whole world expected Tiger Woods to win with ease. Woods had not won a major in 2009 and the world No.1 had a four-shot cushion at the halfway stage. Eight times Woods has led a major at halfway and eight times he has gone on to win. Woods lead had been cut to two shots from South Korea’s Yang Yong-Eun after day three. Against all odds, the South Korean easily outplayed Tiger Woods in the final round winning by three clear shots becoming the first Asian-born male winner of a major championship.

Hazeltine’s signature hole is the 16th, a 396-yard par four that requires skill and nerve. Lake Hazeltine guards the left hand side of the hole and a creek lurks menacingly to the right whilst the distant green beckons perched on a jutting peninsula that is surrounded by water.

Hazeltine National Golf Club was once more in the spotlight when the club played host to the thrilling 2016 Ryder Cup. In 2029 Hazeltine will become the first American venue to host the Ryder Cup for a second time.

Hazeltine National

Hazeltine National Golf Club was modified by Rees Jones (son of RTJ) ahead of the 1991 US Open which turned into a historic battle between Scott Simpson and Payne Stewart.

Hawaii

First set out by Jack Nicklaus within a 36-hole golf facility known as Kauai Lagoons Golf Club in the late 1980s, the remodelled Ocean course at the Hōkūala resort winds through mango and guava groves on a dramatic clifftop property.

Around 2010, the intention was to revamp the original Kiele and Mokihana 18-hole courses to form a new 27-hole layout (comprising the Mauka, Moana and Waikahe nines), with greens converted to TifEagle Bermuda grass and red sand bunkers replaced with white silica sand hazards.

Unfortunately, the Waikahe nine no longer exists and several of the holes have since been turned into walking trails and an organic farm.

The Mauka nine is routed through native vegetation, with three tough par fives in the first six holes and a heroic par three at the fifth hole, where the green sits behind a gulley filled with a forest of mango, guava plum and schefflera plants.

The Moana back nine reaches the shoreline at the 13th green then the next three holes are laid out along the coast before heading inland for the par three 17th then the 459-yard closing hole (rated stroke index 2) which narrows to a peninsula home green.

Hokuala (Ocean)

Illinois

Kemper Lakes is one of three golf course in the Chicago area that has hosted a major championship, fulfilling the vision of founder James Kemper for a long, challenging club to test the best.

Payne Stewart won the PGA Championship during 1989 for his first major victory, and the club hosted the U.S. Amateur Championship soon after, during 1992. Although she never won an LPGA event, Vicki Goetze won her second U.S. Women’s Am at the event and, perhaps more notably, edged out Annika Sorenstam to do so.

The course, designed by Ken Killien and Dick Nugent, makes no bones about its penal nature. Numerous holes are guarded along their entire lengths by lakes; the first two par fives feature more than 1,000 yards of waterfront property, while the closing hole hooks severely around a lake, daring players to take a tiger line.

No. 17, a par three, is almost as intimidating despite its short length. Its slender green stretches nearly 60 yards, with water all along the left, and bunkers on the right. The club was public during its time on the Tour, but became a private club during 2003.

Kemper Lakes

A private club since 2003, Kemper Lakes Golf Club hosted the PGA Championship in 1989 (won by Payne Stewart) and US Women’s Amateur in 1992 (won by Vicki Goetze), back in the days when it was still a public facility.

All Areas

Bermuda

Set on the northeastern tip of Bermuda in wealthy Tucker's Town, is one of the world’s finest golf courses. The “Father of Golf Architecture”, Charles Blair Macdonald and his associate, Seth Raynor, originally laid out the Mid Ocean Club course and it opened for play in 1924 adjacent to the Atlantic.

, George Bahto commented as follows: “Macdonald and Raynor traveled to the island and drew up several possible routings from relief maps of the area, finally settling on one. Once the planning stages were complete, Macdonald left Raynor to attend to the actual construction, assisted by Charles Banks and Ralph Barton, a construction supervisor. It was Banks who later built the 

“When the course opened in 1924, Mid Ocean set a new standard as the finest inland course in the world. Rather than succumb to the temptation of forcing scenic cliff-top holes at the expense of good golf, Macdonald and Raynor showed great restraint by skilfully routing Mid Ocean to take full advantage – first and foremost – of the natural contours of the site.”


The Atlantic Ocean does not play a major part in the design of Mid Ocean it merely provides a beautiful backdrop to a number of holes, the majority of which are set back a little further inland among the stately pines, the pretty glades and the dramatic valleys.

The course was lightly modified by Robert Trent Jones in the 1950s when he added new tees and bunkers. Today’s layout is a stern test, especially when the trade winds are freshening, but with numerous tees to choose from it’s also a very enjoyable course for the handicap golfer. Perhaps Mid Ocean's most notable and most treacherous hole is a Cape template, the 433-yard par four 5th, with its elevated tee atop a hill with a glorious view across the shimmering Mangrove Lake.

If you are only remotely interested in golf, a walk round Mid Ocean is a joy and naturally you must wear the mandatory Bermuda length shorts. Contrary to Mark Twain, Mid Ocean is most definitely not “a good walk spoiled”, we tend to agree with Mr Twain’s alternative saying, "you die and go to heaven, I'll stay here in Bermuda".

Mid Ocean Club

Caribbean

The “Father of Golf Architecture”, Charles Blair Macdonald and his associate, Seth Raynor, originally laid out the Mid Ocean Club course and it opened for play in 1924 adjacent to the Atlantic.

New York

Oak Hill played host to the 1995 Ryder Cup matches between the USA and Europe. Team Captains were Lanny Wadkins (US) and Bernard Gallacher (Europe). The 31st Ryder Cup matches were settled in the final-day singles which the US started with a three-point lead. Rookie Phil Mickelson was unbeaten throughout the event but strong all-round European performances culminated in Philip Walton two putting for bogey on the last hole to beat Jay Haas and claim the Ryder Cup. Europe 14 ½ - USA 13 ½. The Ryder Cup was played at 

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” Well, according to the top touring pros and the Seven Dwarfs, it’s the Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester. For this venue is regarded, almost universally, as the fairest but most challenging course on the US major circuit.

When Oak Hill Golf Club started out in life back in 1901, golf was played on a barren rudimentary nine-hole course set close to the banks of the Genesee River. Things at the club remained low key until the beginning of the 1920s. Or so the members thought. Little did they know that the University of Rochester had their hearts set on a new riverside campus, which they wanted to develop on the site of the Oak Hill course. Fortunately, for Oak Hill, the rich University had land and cash to spare and a trade-off took place – 350 acres of farmland plus $360,000 for 85 riverside acres.

Naturally Oak Hill grasped the golden opportunity and commissioned Donald Ross to build two courses on the new site at Pittsford. Tens of thousands of oak trees were planted, and the new Oak Hill gradually started to take shape.

Before play commenced in the 1956 US Open at Oak Hill, Ben Hogan suggested that the East course was not hard enough to host this top event. After missing a short putt on the penultimate hole and losing by one shot to Cary Middlecoff, Hogan changed his tune and declared Oak Hill’s opening hole to be the toughest he’d ever played.

Since then, Oak Hill has been a regular US Open and PGA Championship venue and only the world’s very best golfers have managed to better the Oak Hill par.

The venerable Oak Hill is in fact the only club to have played host to the U.S. Open, PGA Championship, Ryder Cup, U.S. Amateur, Senior U.S. Open and Senior PGA Championship. The PGA Championship returned to Oak Hill in 2013 after a ten-year gap when, in 2003, Shaun Micheel became a surprise major winner.

The PGA Championship returns to Rochester in 2023 when the players will experience a very different East course following a major course renovation. Work started in August 2019 with the rebuilding of all greens and bunkers. The club’s aim was to return the East course back to Donald Ross's intent using the Scotsman’s original drawings.

Jeff Sluman, who competed in the 2019 Senior PGA at Oak Hill, assisted renovation expert Andrew Green, whose experience includes work at 

 (August 2020 post), the intrepid septuagenarian commented as follows after playing the newly renovated East course:

“The trees were choking Ross’ superb design and three holes designed by George and Tom Fazio 30+ years earlier still looked out of place. After viewing Andrew Green’s efforts at 

 in Toledo, Ohio, the leaders of OHCC placed some heavy bets on Green and agreed to massive and controversial tree reduction and pruning.

The results are simply outstanding, creating spectacular vistas and allowing the land to receive necessary sunlight and fresh air. Green also redid every green and bunker to restore aspects of Ross’ design… and changed three holes substantially (#4, #6, and #15) and created an all-new #5… all in order to conform to Ross’ intent.

The course reopened for play a couple of months ago and plays firm and fast… and very difficult but also fun.”

Oak Hill (East)

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” Well, according to the top touring pros and the Seven Dwarfs, it’s the Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester.

PGA National played host to the 1983 Ryder Cup matches between the USA and Europe. Team Captains were Jack Nicklaus (US) and Tony Jacklin (Europe). Having never yet lost on home soil, the US Team almost succumbed to the Europeans in Florida. Seve Ballesteros, three up against Fuzzy Zoeller with five to play, stood on the last tee all square. He hit his drive into deep rough and then hacked out into a bunker. Seve then hit a 240-yard 3-wood from the trap to the fringe of the green and then chipped and putted for par and a halve. A wonderful shot from the Spaniard but it wasn’t enough for Europe. USA 14 ½ - Europe 13 ½. The Ryder Cup was played at 

With five 18-hole golf courses in its portfolio, the PGA National Resort & Spa at Palm Beach in Florida offers a true smorgasbord for hungry golfers. The star attraction on the PGA National menu is the Champion course, which was the battleground for the 1983 Ryder Cup – one of the closest contests in Ryder Cup history. The match was deadlocked at 8-8 after the first two day’s play and teams were still tied after the first 10 singles matches. Eventually Jack Nicklaus’s team edged out Tony Jacklin’s European side 14½ 13½, denying Europe their first Ryder Cup victory on US soil.

Tom and George Fazio originally designed the Champion course at PGA National in 1981 with major tournament play in mind. Not only did the Champion course prove to be a worthy Ryder Cup venue but also it was the course used for 1987 PGA Championship which Larry Nelson won after a playoff against Lanny Wadkins.

The Champion course received a major Jack Nicklaus redesign in 1990 and he returned to modify it again in 2002. Now it’s very much a Golden Bear creation and even has the tough-as-nails closing trio (15-17) labelled “The Bear Trap”. Measuring 7,158 yards with par set at a measly 70, the Champion really is a tough course, even for the pros who try to tame it during the annual “Classic”. Honda has sponsored the Classic since 1982 and the event has been contested on the Champion course since 2007 – the Classic was formerly hosted at Mirasol Country Club on their Sunrise course.

Jack Nicklaus – course architect writes: "

We didn't just change the golf course, we basically designed a new one. For the most part, we kept the previous routing in tact because most of the original land usage including the changes in direction were fine and it also made good economic sense. The basic objective of the redesign was to try to make the Champion course a more playable golf course, or feel like it was a more playable golf course for all golfers concerned. To do this, wherever feasible, we eliminated the convex fairways. The original fairways were drained from the center out. This type of fairway has the tendency to make you feel uncomfortable. Balls hit and bounce off the fairways – giving you the feeling that the golf balls are collected into the fairway. We used the same basic philosophy with the green areas. The original greens were designed more as repelling greens. For strategic reasons, there are certain times when you design repelling situations, however for the most part, the fairways and greens now accept shots rather than repelling them."

PGA National (Champion)

The star attraction on the PGA National menu is the Champion course, which was the battleground for the 1983 Ryder Cup – one of the closest contests in Ryder Cup history.

California

The PGA Tour’s CareerBuilder Challenge event (once known as the Bob Hope Classic) used both the Nicklaus Tournament course (featuring two island greens) and Pete Dye’s TPC Stadium course at PGA West to co-host the championship in 2016.

Daniel Wexler commented as follows in the 

: “Also opening in 1986 was the Nicklaus Tournament course, another big (if occasionally overcooked) facility which would surely garner more attention were it not situated immediately adjacent to the Stadium.

Water is actually used somewhat sparingly here (it meaningfully affects only six holes) though with the exception of dry entries like the 549-yard 4th, the 364-yard split-fairway 6th and the 528-yard 11th, it is the primary factor on most of the layout’s more memorable tests.”

PGA West (Nicklaus Tournament)

The PGA Tour’s CareerBuilder Challenge event (once known as the Bob Hope Classic) used both the Nicklaus Tournament course (featuring two island greens) and Pete Dye’s TPC Stadium course at PGA West to co-host the tournament in 2016.

The now defunct PGA Grand Slam of Golf end of season tournament was played between 1994 and 2006 at the Poipu Bay Golf Course in Koloa, near the most southerly point of the island of Kauai. Hosting the tournament in Hawaii allowed the event to be televised live at prime-time in the United States because of the time difference.

Tiger Woods won seven of the eight 4-man competitions that he participated in here – claiming first place in the event for five consecutive years, starting in 1998 – but his best 18-hole score of 64 was easily beaten by the amazing thirteen-under-par course record of 59 that Phil Mickelson posted in 2004.

Highlight holes include the 179-yard 7th (the shortest par three on the card, with a large pond protecting the right side of the putting surface), the 501-yard 16th (the longest par four on the course, played along the clifftops to an offset green that’s partially obscured on the left by an ancient rock wall), and the 550-yard 18th, where water protects the left side of the home green.

Poipu Bay

Poipu Bay Golf Club hosted the end of season Grand Slam of Golf tournament from 1994 to 2006 before it moved to Bermuda.

Bermuda is approximately 20 miles long from tip to toe and if you laid out every single one of Bermuda’s golf holes along this necklace of tiny islands in a Scottish out-and-back fashion, they would stretch out the full length of Bermuda and nearly half way back again. Bermuda is virtually one enormous golf club and Port Royal is the most popular golf course on the islands.

Regularly considered to be one of the world’s best public courses, Port Royal is basically a government run municipal and Robert Trent Jones laid it out on high ground overlooking the Atlantic in 1970. Host to the annual Bermuda Open Championship, Port Royal is a challenging course with huge, gently undulating greens where three putting is commonplace.

The signature hole is the 16th, a par three played from a tee on the cliff edge and it’s perhaps Bermuda’s most photographed hole. Measuring 235 yards from the tips, your tee shot, which could be a mid iron or a driver depending on the wind, must carry a yawning gap to reach the safety of the green which is perched on a promontory. It’s an absolute cracker.

Port Royal played host to the 2009 PGA Grand Slam of Golf which was won by Lucas Glover. Ian Woosnam was the last European to win the PGA Grand Slam of Golf way back in 1991 at Kauai Lagoons. Two Europeans appeared in the 2010 end-of-season Grand Slam at Port Royal but Ernie Els came from three strokes behind with five holes to play to claim the title.

Port Royal

Bermuda is virtually one enormous golf club and Port Royal is the most popular golf course on the islands.

The PGA Grand Slam of Golf was an annual end of season mini-tournament contested by the winners (or alternates) of the four major championships in professional golf: The Open, the US Open, the PGA Championship and The Masters Tournament. Organized by the PGA of America, this invitational event was a lucrative way to end each season for four of the best players in the world.

The first eight editions, from 1979 to 1990, were played as a one-day, 18-hole stroke play competition before it became a two-day, 36-hole stroke play event, except for 1998 and 1999 when the format was match play. If a golfer won more than one major in a year or if somebody declined to participate, an alternative was appointed who was a former major winner with the best record in that year’s majors.

The competition actually had a forerunner between 1962 and 1975 when the World Series of Golf was a 36-hole annual contest comprising the winners of the four majors at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. The field was increased and the event lengthened to 72 holes when it became an official PGA Tour stop in 1976. This tournament was last played in 1998 as it was replaced the following year at the same venue by the WGC-NC Invitational.

The first Grand Slam event was played at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York in 1979, with Gary Player (that year’s Masters champion) and Andy North (holder of the US Open) tied for first place. It would be the only time the tournament never had a clear winner among the four players taking part. Hazeltine National in Minnesota hosted the year after, followed by Breakers West then PGA National in West Palm Beach, Florida.

There was no tournament played in four of the next five years. Kemper Lakes, Illinois in 1986 was the only place to see any PGA Grand Slam action during that period, with Greg Norman claiming the first of his three victories in five appearances at the event. Kemper Lakes then staged three Grand Slams in a row, starting in 1988, and Andy North secured his second win in the competition in the 1990 edition, eleven years after his first success.

The 1991 staging was at the Kauai Lagoons Resort (now the Hokuala Resort) and this example of playing in Hawaii would be a little taste of things to come. After a short 2-year residency at PGA West in La Quinta, California, the event returned to the Pacific islands of Hawaii in 1994, where the next thirteen renditions of the tournament took place on the Poipu Bay Golf Course.

Tiger Woods won seven of the eight 4-man competitions that he contested here – capturing first place for five consecutive years, starting in 1998 – but his best 18-hole score of 64 on this layout was overshadowed somewhat by the thirteen under par 59 that Phil Mickelson posted in 2004. Vijay Singh teed it up four times during this Hawaiian phase of the tournament but he never managed to get his name inscribed on the trophy.

In 2007, the PGA Grand Slam competition underwent rather a long relocation when it moved more than five and a half thousand miles east from Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean to Bermuda in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mid Ocean Club. Two events were played here, with Jim Furyk winning the second one, giving him a record of two victories in four appearances overall.

The final port of call for the tournament was a mere twelve miles south of Mid Ocean at the Port Royal Golf Course and it’s here that the last six editions were held, starting in 2009. Ernie Els won his second title in 2010, thirteen years after his first in Hawaii, and Pádraig Harrington finally came good in 2012 at the fourth attempt. Germany’s Martin Keymer was the last man to lift the trophy in 2014 and we wonder if he still has it at home, giving it a little polish from time to time?