Stories
Will Bardwell
Too Big to Trail

Imagine building 26 golf courses at the height of the golf development bubble, with nine figures in public pension money — in an effort that now loses money year after year. Welcome to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.

Too Big to Trail
Stories
Will Bardwell
Rebirth and Reimagining in Mississippi

In theory, 12-hole designs should be cheaper to play, build, and maintain. But in the staid industry of golf course development, there’s been no rush to test the theory. The minds behind Sweetens Cove are ready to change that.

Rebirth and Reimagining in Mississippi
Stories
Will Bardwell
Rob Collins and the Long Road Out of Hell

Rob Collins had one shot. At Sweetens Cove, he took it — and he bet on himself over and over again. Somehow, impossibly, it worked.

Rob Collins and the Long Road Out of Hell
Pros
Will Bardwell
Coffee, a Dark House, and the Open

Waking up at 1:30 a.m. to watch golf isn’t conducive to work, or anything else really. But it’s become my favorite TV viewing experience of the year.

Coffee, a Dark House, and the Open
Pros
Will Bardwell
History will Judge the PGA

Through its silence in the face of Donald Trump’s racism, the PGA of America is not merely acquiescent in his behavior — it is complicit.

History will Judge the PGA

Conversations

Tom Coyne

Tom Coyne

“When we organize ourselves in groups — yeah, that kinda stinks, because we start to shout; we start to divide. But person to person, there hasn’t been a person that I haven’t enjoyed meeting and getting to know.”

Troy Miller

Troy Miller

“If you go back and start looking at the golf courses from the 1920s that have stood the test of time, versus some of the stuff that we were building in the Fifties, Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties — some of those golf courses are more obsolete than golf courses that were built generations before.”

Andy Johnson

Andy Johnson

“It’s tough being critical, but you have to be. If you’re not critical, then how can people ever trust you?”

Zac Blair

Zac Blair

“I hadn’t won in a really long time. So I didn't know what to expect. You see a lot of fist-pumps and people crying, and I was like, ‘Man, am I gonna cry? Am I just gonna fist-pump? What am I gonna do?’ Then it was just kind of like, ‘OK cool, I won.’”

Lauren Greenlief

Lauren Greenlief

“In college, one thing I struggled with was going to tournaments and playing with the extra pressure of, ‘I need to play well so I can make it in the lineup for the next week,’ rather than going out for me and trying to win the tournament. Now, the alternative to playing in a golf tournament is being at work. So I enjoy being on the golf course a lot more.”