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EDITOR’S LETTER

Transformation Yukio Mishima wrote that “Knowledge alone is capable of transforming the world, while at the same time leaving it exactly as it is. When you look at the world with knowledge, you realize that things are unchangeable and at the same time are constantly being transformed.”

So life has been over the past couple of years, and so it is today, with everything in transformation even if, in so many ways, the rituals and structures of our larger world remain roughly unchanged. It seems a fitting season in which to examine transformation, given the falling leaves, the closing year and, we hope, the coming emergence from COVID. One of the first signs of that (and a welcome one, to be sure) was the reappearance of fans at TOUR events this year, beginning with the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented

by Mastercard—which, curiously, was the last tournament to host fans in 2020 before the world turned upside-down.

Transformed sidelines did not change the game, of course— attempting that was left to API champ Bryson DeChambeau, who along with his jaw-dropping power brought fresh drama to our sport with his verbal sparring partner, Brooks Koepka.

Even here, though, what seems a departure is simply par for the course; read about other relationships in the rough on p68. On a sweeter note, on p102 we look at the rare miracle that is tupelo honey, a transformation that is possible only for a few weeks—maybe days—each year, and which yields one of the purest expressions of consumable natural beauty.

Thanks specifically to Ben and Glynnis Lanier for sharing their knowledge on that, from a family that’s been gathering tupelo since 1898. Back in golf, shifting landscapes have

inspired great courses, but some of those courses last but an instant. On p50 we look at venues once lauded, now gone, plowed under to make way for real estate, roads, or perhaps another golf course. Food transformed by excellent Italian wines from the good people at Pasqua is on p152; subtle variations transform a classic cocktail on p158; Will Zalatoris is transforming himself—after setting a new bar for rookie years—on p42; Rolls-Royce is transforming air travel on p114; and golf’s dynastic families continue to push and to shape the game on p32. Even Kingdom is in transformation, enjoying an evolution and expanded potential with our new publisher, a fine company called North & Warren, staffed by people eager to explore our planet and to communicate its wonders—to share knowledge that, hopefully, can help you to transform your own world. In that spirit, we look forward to journeying with you next year, and to seeing you on course soon. From everyone here at Kingdom, happy holidays, and have a wonderful new year.

Consistently,

Reade Tilley

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PUBLISHER’S LETTER

Captain Palmer with the Ryder Cup in 1963

Dawn of a new era Well, quite a lot has happened since we published the last issue of Kingdom! First we witnessed a magnificent victory for Team USA in the Ryder Cup—although Arnold Palmer’s American record of 22 matches won in the Ryder Cup remains intact, for now. Then Rory McIlroy joined an elite club by equaling the record first set by Arnold Palmer in 1960, of winning 20 PGA Tour titles before the age of 33. We should not under-estimate the enormity of that achievement; a clear illustration of talent, endeavor and durability, both physically and mentally.

Then Will Zalatoris—who we have interviewed for this issue (see p42)—was voted by his peers to receive the Arnold Palmer Award as PGA Tour Rookie of the Year for the 2020-21 season; the first non-member of the tour to win the award since 2001.

Off the course, a lot has been happening here at Kingdom. Celebrating our 20th year—and following 52 successful issues—we are excited to announce that Kingdom is now part of the North & Warren media group. North & Warren is one of the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America and the company has deep expertise in growing premium brands and in digital media.

For Kingdom, this means vastly increased capabilities and resources. We are already putting the finishing touches to our new website which will launch around the Holidays,

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we have deployed a new newsletter, The Turn, which is sent out every Wednesday, and we are very happy to have passed our goal of 150,000 followers across social media channels well ahead of schedule. We also have ambitious plans for the printed issue of Kingdom and events as we expand into 2022 and beyond.

As Publisher, I am delighted to enter into a partnership that guarantees we can continue to secure Arnold’s legacy and convey his impact on the game to an even larger audience, and even more so because my entire team—which has pretty much been with Kingdom since Arnold Palmer founded the magazine—remains in place.

With close friends and family in mind I would like to wish you health and happiness as the Holidays approach, and I look forward to sharing more exciting news and growth for Kingdom next year.

In the meantime, do please sign up to The Turn newsletter online at kingdom.golf.

Happy Holidays!

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CONTENTS

Kingdom Magazine Q UA R T E R LY

ISSUE 53

42

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60

94

GOLF

FEATURES

TRAVEL

32

Golf Dynasties

60

Prestwick

80

Los Cabos

42

Will Zalatoris

68

Lipping Out

90

Ride in Style

50

Lost Courses

74

Back & Beyond

94

Second Acts

102

Tupelo

Golfing families that managed to keep their progeny on course Arnold Palmer Award winner and Masters stunner is a rookie no more Once lauded as some of America’s best venues, now gone but not forgotten

Sticky and bells at The Open’s original home on Scotland’s west coast Bryson and Brooks weren’t the first to talk trash, and they won’t be the last Golf’s crafted cabin getaways, with more than the comforts of home

One of the world’s great golf destinations is emerging in the sun south of the border Beloved by Bubba Watson and other pros, buses are reaching new levels of luxury City icons reborn and repurposed as singular boutique hotels You’ll find there’s more to the world’s best honey than meets the hive

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CONTENTS

Kingdom Magazine ISSUE 53

124 MOVE

114

Rolls-Royce

Pushing the future of flight forward responsibly, quickly, and elegantly

Insperity

In an age of confusion, Paul Sarvadi makes the case for communication

124 130 134

CLUB

120

18

Stephens Cup

The inaugural Jackson T. Stephens Cup is everything its namesake would want

KINGDOM 53

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148

BUSINESS

116

Q UA R T E R LY

Destination Golf

Challenging, beautiful, and altogether accessible; dreams can come true

The Mulligan

A purposeful book finds the big screen, and features a surprise pro cameo

Folds of Honor

Stepping in to ensure the families of America’s best have a path forward

152 FOOD & DRINK

148

Santa Teresa

152

Wine Pairings

158

The World’s Highballs

GIFT GUIDE

139

Tis the Season

Glamorous gifts for holidays or any days, perfect to give, share or keep

Stunning rum from Venezuela celebrates 250 years of perfection When American fare meets Pasqua wines from Italy, the result is beauty on the table A trip around the globe with the classic cocktail, perfect in any language LAST PAGE

162

100 years in Texas

Celebrating a century of the Valero Texas Open

Here to get you back in the swing of things.

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GOLF

e Road to Prestwick

I

n 1851, “Old” Tom Morris was a young club and ball maker of St Andrews. He was keen to broaden his horizons and accepted a job at Prestwick, a new club all the way on the opposite coastline of Scotland. The 110-mile journey from St Andrews to Prestwick, east coast to west, was deep into the unknown.

“Morris was well liked at St Andrews and I think he surprised a lot of people when he moved to Prestwick,” says Andrew Lochhead, archivist at Prestwick GC. “He didn’t have any previous connection with the town and it was a long journey: a day’s travelling incorporating trains and horse and cart. He did it with a young wife and newborn

child too—‘Young’ Tom was only a couple months old. He took a bit of a gamble heading to the unknown quantity of Prestwick.”

At Prestwick, Morris was ‘Keeper of the green, club maker and ball maker,’ with an annual salary of £36 (although his wages were well supplemented by exhibition and challenge matches, and from selling clubs and balls), and it was this job that established the role of the club professional. By all accounts, Morris was the first.

Morris’ move would ultimately be vindicated by the inauguration of The Open in 1860, upon the very links he created with his own hands. The members of Prestwick organized the championship in the hope of establishing who was the best golfer of the day, even if they were surprised at the result.

We venture to Prestwick on p60

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LIFE

Tupelo

H

oney has been on the table for more than 9,000 years, or at least that’s when humans are thought to have begun keeping bees. It’s been lauded as a favorite dish of the Ancient Greek Gods, supposedly pours down heavenly rivers (with milk) and shows up in numerous religious texts around the world (61 times in the Bible, as it turns out). But only one honey is sung about by name, served in fine Parisian restaurants and humble Florida kitchens alike, coveted, chased, faked, and fought-over, and that’s tupelo honey.

Selling for far more than other honeys, tupelo honey is extraordinarily hard to get right. The tree from which its nectar comes, the white tupelo, only flowers for a few weeks—sometimes only for a few days—per year; the flowers themselves are fragile; and there’s only one region on Earth where the trees grow, an area stretching from Florida’s panhandle up into Georgia. The highest concentration of the trees, and thus the source of the best and purest tupelo honey, is the area around Wewahitchka, Florida, where the Lanier family has been harvesting tupelo honey since 1898.

“It’s real labor-intensive,” says Glynnis Lanier, married to Ben, who’s forgotten more than most people will ever learn about bees and honey. “That box can weigh 80lbs. If you’ve got three boxes on one hive, that’s a lot of lifting to take honey in the spring. Most people can’t cut it. We’ve worked a lot of young boys, most of ’em can’t cut it.__ Can’t even make it through the day.”

In the end, however, the reward is pure gold.

Feature on page 102

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FEATURE

Out with the “Old”

F

our times U.S. Amateur champion, Jerome D. Travers was one of the great career amateurs in the first half of the 20th century. Playing out of Upper Montclair Country Club in New Jersey, Travers saved his moment of crowning glory until the end of his playing days, winning the 1915 U.S. Open at Baltusrol. Shortly after this he retired from competition, the summit of his ambition conquered. Travers was the second of only five amateurs to win the U.S. Open, and the World Golf Hall of Fame—into which he was posthumously inducted in 1976—notes that amateur rival Chick

Evans described him as “the coldest, hardest golfer I ever knew,” while Francis Ouimet said Travers was “the best match player in the country.” His match-play success was perhaps aided by a closed, awkward personality: He never gave much away, including short putts.

The picture below was taken at Baltusrol on June 18, 1915, moments after Travers had won the title by a shot. Although all you might see is a crowd of long dresses and blazers, the people are following the champ, who has been carried aloft to the clubhouse. It’s a treasured snapshot from what is remembered as the Old Course at Baltusrol.

Despite hosting a pair of U.S. Opens, this course is pictured in the twilight of its existence.

Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division

Read more about courses lost on page 50

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SHORT GAME

Scholarship Material The Arnold Palmer Scholarship at Wake Forest University was inaugurated in 1963, spurring the university’s famous golf program and transforming a string of promising young golfers into some of the world’s finest players

JAY SIGEL

L ANNY WADKINS

CURTIS STRANGE

Sigel received the inaugural Arnold Palmer Scholarship in 1963 and embarked on the one of the greatest amateur careers of the post-war era.

Sigel played on the U.S. Walker Cup team nine times, he won the British Amateur title in 1979 and the U.S. Amateur title twice, in 1982 and 1983.

At the age of 50, in 1993, Sigel turned pro and won eight times on what was then the Senior PGA Tour.

Wadkins was awarded the Arnold Palmer Scholarship in 1969 and a year later he was U.S. Amateur champ. He played in the Walker Cup in 1969 and 1971. 25 tour wins included major glory in the 1977 PGA Championship, when he defeated Gene Littler in a play-off, having started the final round six shots off Littler’s third-round lead. Wadkins played on eight U.S. Ryder Cup teams and was captain in 1995.

Strange was awarded the Arnold Palmer Scholarship in 1973. He led a golden era for the Demon Deacons as part of the team—along with future PGA Tour star Jay Haas—that claimed the NCAA Team championship in 1974 and 1975. Strange was NCAA individual champ in 1974 while Haas took the honor in ’75. A Walker Cup and Ryder Cup star, Strange won the U.S. Open twice, in 1988 and 1989.

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“THERE IS ONLY ONE STATUE ON CAMPUS and that is of Arnold

Palmer,” starts Jerry Haas, who has been Head Coach of Wake Forest’s Demon Deacons men’s golf team since 1997. “It doesn’t matter if you are young, old or whether you know your golf or not, everyone knows who Arnold Palmer is. Arnold loved Wake Forest and he was one of our own.”

Palmer joined Wake Forest as a freshman in the fall of 1947, he won the Southern Conference Championship in 1948 and 1949, the Southern Intercollegiate in 1950 and a

lifetime’s bond with Wake Forest was set. He and his team-mates even built some golf holes on which the team could practice.

“To be able to offer the Arnold Palmer Scholarship to a kid is amazing,” adds Haas, who was a recipient of the scholarship himself in 1981. “We try to offer it to a golfer who we think shares Arnold Palmer’s values: someone who is very competitive, shows a true love of the game, who we hope will do well in school and graduate and will try to live up to the very high standards set

by Arnold Palmer.”

BILL HAA S

WEBB SIMPSON

WILL ZAL ATORIS

Haas, the son of Wake Forest legend Jay, received the Arnold Palmer Scholarship in 2001 and was coached on the Demon Deacons by his uncle Jerry. A scoring average of 68.93 in 2003-04 remains a Wake Forest record and Haas was the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year in 2003 and 2004. Haas turned pro in 2004 and in 2011 he won the Tour Championship and the FedExCup.

Simpson received the Arnold Palmer Scholarship in 2005. He won the Southern Amateur title at Pinehurst in 2007 and was named ACC player of the year in 2008. He played in the Walker Cup and Arnold Palmer Cup before turning pro in 2008. Seven PGA Tour victories include the 2012 U.S. Open at the Olympic Club, San Francisco, when Simpson shot 68-68 over the weekend to win by one.

Zalatoris received the Arnold Palmer Scholarship in 2014 and ultimately broke the Wake Forest career scoring record previously held by Bill Haas (records held since 1981). Zalatoris averaged 70.44 between 2015 and 2018.

He was named ACC rookie of the year in 2015 and player of the year in 2017, and turned pro in 2018. Zalatoris made headlines with a runner-up finish in the 2021 Masters.

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FEATURE Golfing Families

GOLF DY N A S T I E S Politics has the Kennedys, football has the Mannings, country music has Hank Williams (three times), and so on, but what of golf? One could make the argument that, when it comes to the club and ball, it’s easier to pass along the antiques than the techniques. A pop star’s favorite nephew might land a record deal, for example, but a family tie would do little to secure a spot on the Ryder Cup team. Still, some families have kept their progeny on course, continuing to strike a little white ball that in some cases was teed up many generations ago. Racing has the Earnhardts, cinema has the Barrymores, and when it comes to golf, among many families, here are a few of our favorites…

T H E M O R R I S FA M I LY The game’s foundation

Golf ’s most celebrated father-and-son team reached unparalleled highs before being plunged into despair. Old Tom Morris was golf’s first professional of international renown, champion of The Open four times—a man who set the standard for club pros and tour golfers alike in the formative era of the sport in the late 19th century. His son Tommy, “Young Tom,” then emerged as the greatest golfer the game had seen, playing with an attacking brio that overshadowed his father’s more cautious approach. Young Tom also won The Open four times, but after he lost his wife and child in childbirth the lights went out. Alcoholism took hold and Young Tom died aged just 24.

Old Tom was born in St Andrews in 1821 and became apprentice to leading player and ball-maker Allan Robertson. Highly regarded by the members of his hometown’s Royal and Ancient Golf Club, Morris was lured from Scotland’s east coast to the west, where he laid out the course at the newly formed Prestwick Golf Club and became its club professional.

It was Prestwick’s members who established The Open in 1860, in the hope of proving that Morris was the finest golfer of his time. However, his great rival, Willie Park Snr of Musselburgh, rode in and won. Morris won the following year, however, and in 1867 became The Open’s oldest champion at 46, claiming the title for the fourth and final time. In 1864 Morris returned home to St Andrews to become Keeper of the Green on the Old Course, a position he held for the rest of his life.

The Open’s oldest champion was swiftly succeeded by its youngest. In 1868, the year after Old Tom won at 46, Young Tom won The Open aged just 17 years, five months and eight days. He won again in 1869 and 1870, becoming the first golfer to win The Open in three successive years and thereby he was allowed to keep the Challenge Belt.

Left without a prize, The Open was not held in 1871 but when it returned in 1872 with a Claret Jug, Young Tommy inevitably won again—the only golfer to win the championship four times consecutively.

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T H E S T R A FA C I S

The Powells [top]: [l to r] Billy, Marcella, Larry, William and Renee Powell at Clearview Golf Club The Harmons [top-right]: Claude Harmon III (l) with father Butch at The Open in 2011 Alliss father & son [above]: Peter Alliss [l] with his father Percy

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Frank Strafaci, grandfather of current U.S. Amateur champ Tyler Strafaci, almost knocked Arnold Palmer out of the 1954 U.S. Amateur. Frank won the Met Amateur seven times. Both of Tyler’s parents, Frank Jr. and Jill, played golf for the University of Florida. In 2021 the Strafacis became the second family to send grandfather and grandson to the Masters (after Tommy Armour and Tommy Armour III).

THE POWELLS Changing the game

After serving in Europe in WWII and distinguishing himself as an amateur golfer as well, William “Bill” Powell returned to Ohio and found local golf clubs less than welcoming to African Americans. Accordingly, he secured backing and then became the first African American to design, build, own and operate his own course: Clearview Golf Club in East Canton, Ohio. Powell wrote in his autobiography: “Golf is a part of society and I wanted to be included. I want you to be included, too.” He raised his daughter, Renee, and son, Laurence, on the course (now on the National Register of Historic Places), and both found careers in golf. Renee, the second African American on the LPGA Tour, played in more than 250 pro tournaments, winning the 1973 Kelly Springfield Open in Brisbane, Australia. She also traveled the world promoting golf and working to improve its diversity. She was one of the first seven women invited to join the R&A after it dropped its “men only” policy in 2015, and she remains the only American—and the only golfer—to have a building named for them at St Andrews, with Renee Powell Hall on the university’s campus. Her brother, Larry, superintendent at Clearview since 1971, has distinguished himself in the field, being the first superintendent and GCSAA member to be inducted into the National Black Golf Hall of Fame and sharing in the 2019 Old Tom Morris Award, given to the Powell family. Today, he and Renee continue to work at Clearview, with Renee serving as the head pro.

THE HARMONS Lessons handed down

The Harmons are now deep into their third generation of guiding and shaping the world’s finest golf swings. The foundations were laid by Claude Harmon during golf’s post-war boom, largely working from Winged Foot Golf Club, New York, before all four of his sons—led by the eldest, Butch—became PGA professionals in their own right. Today, Butch’s son Claude III is established as one of the leading coaches on the PGA Tour.

Eugene Claude Harmon was born in Florida in 1916.

He was a teenage golf prodigy and refined his game and teaching skills as assistant professional to Craig Wood at Winged Foot. Wood won the Masters and U.S. Open in 1941 and seven years later Harmon was a major champ himself, matching the Masters scoring record of the time by posting 279, nine under par, to win in 1948. Harmon remains the last club pro to win a major.

Claude “Butch” Harmon Jr. was born in 1943 and was followed by three brothers: Craig, Dick and Billy. Butch earned global acclaim as the coach who guided Tiger Woods through the transition from being the best junior golfer in the world to arguably the finest golfer the world has ever seen. Harmon was by Woods’ side while he won the “Tiger Slam,” taking all four majors in a row—if not in the same calendar year—in 2000-2001.

Second-born Craig Wood Harmon, named after his father’s mentor, served as head professional at Oak Hill GC, New York, for 42 years, following closely in his father’s footsteps. Butch has described Craig as “the finest golf professional I have ever known”.

Dick owned his own golf school in Houston and coached a number of major champions, including Fred Couples and Craig Stadler, before dying unexpectedly of a heart attack in 2006. Bill, who Butch describes as “without a doubt, the most talented junior golfer in our family,” is also a successful PGA pro and established an academy at Toscana Country Club in Palm Springs. He combined teaching duties with caddying for Jay Haas on tour.

Butch, now 78, teaches from his academy at Rio Secco GC, Las Vegas, while his elder son Claude III racks up the air miles on tour. Claude III has worked with a pair of world number ones already—Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka—as the Harmon legacy continues.

T H E A L L I S S FA M I LY The voice of golf

Peter Alliss set his first record in February 1931 as the European continent’s heaviest newborn baby—at 14lb 11oz. Naturally, he was a heavyweight golfer as well throughout his near-90 years. He played in eight Ryder Cups from 1953-69 and won 20 European Tour titles, including three British PGA Championships. But his enduring fame is due to his broadcasting genius—a mixture of acute observation, risqué remarks, quaint anecdotes and all-round good humor. The BBC kept him on because of his almost universal popularity with golfing viewers, and he also enjoyed a successful career in course design (The Belfry was one of his creations).

What is not so well-known is that his father, Percy, was a star in his own right. Born in 1897, he was head pro at Wannsee GC in Berlin when Peter was born and remained a club pro till his retirement at 70, ending with 28 years at Ferndown in the south of England. He finished in the top-six of The [British] Open five times and played in three Ryder Cups (1933-37). On a rare foray to North America in 1931 he took Walter Hagen to a play-off in the Canadian Open but lost in extra holes.

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THE WOODS

When the name is Woods The key shaper in the respective careers of global superstar Tiger Woods and genial journeywoman Cheyenne Woods was the late Earl Dennison Woods, Sr. The Green Beret colonel’s role as father, mentor and motivator to Tiger is well documented, but what is less well-known is how much of an inspiration he was to his granddaughter Cheyenne.

Brought up with two older brothers in Phoenix, AZ, Cheyenne spent a tomboyish childhood honing a variety of athletic skills, from dance and track & field to volleyball. Growing up, Cheyenne paid frequent visits to the California home of her grandfather right up to his death in 2006, when she was 15. “I was only on the course with my grandfather maybe a handful of times,” she says. “Neither of my parents played golf, we didn’t know anything about it. At first my mum and I didn’t even know what a driving range was, so we’d just go to the local park and hit balls in the grass. But my grandfather was the one who guided me through junior golf and told me what events to play in.”

As for Tiger, while she was growing up she mainly saw him at Scottsdale when he played in the Phoenix Open. Her clearest memory dates from 1997, shortly before he won the first of his 15 Majors, when he holed in one at the 16th in front of the loudest gallery on Tour.

“During the week of that tournament, we’d go and see my grandfather and Tiger, say ‘Hi!’ and spend a bit of time with them. I was there for his hole-in-one—that was huge.” Now 31, she plies her trade on the Symetra Tour while her once all-conquering uncle continues his recovery from a serious auto accident in February.

THE KORDAS

The Korda family has transitioned impressively from tennis to golf. Nelly Korda, 23, is ranked number two in the Rolex Ranking for women’s golf at the time of writing, after claiming her first major at the 2021 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and Olympic Gold in Tokyo. Her older sister Jessica, 28, has won six times on the LPGA Tour while younger brother, Sebastian, 21, claimed his first ATP Tour tennis title this year. Parents Petr Korda and Regina Rajchrtova were both pro tennis players. Petr found grand slam glory of his own, winning the 1998 Australian Open.

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T H E PA L M E R S

Arnold Palmer learned the game from his father, Deacon, who also was a superintendent and head pro at Latrobe Country Club, where Arnold was raised and where he learned the game. Arnold’s brother, Jerry, studied agronomy and likewise was LCC’s superintendent and general manager, while Arnold’s daughter Amy Palmer Saunders continues to oversee his companies and PGA Tour event, the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard.

Her son, Sam Saunders, learned golf from his dad, Roy, and from his grandfather, and today is a PGA Tour golfer. Sam’s cousins Anna and Will Wears played golf at Wake Forest and Loyola, respectively, and today Will is an assistant golf coach at his alma mater.

THE O’CONNORS Irish cousins

Christy O’Connor and his nephew—also Christy—both passed away in 2016, aged 91 and 67 respectively. Christy Sr. was known deferentially as “Himself” in recognition of his status as Ireland’s leading professional from the early 1950s to the mid-1980s. Had he been born when his nephew was (1948), he would surely have become a world star like Padraig Harrington and Shane Lowry.

But his playing excursions beyond the British Isles were restricted to five of 10 consecutive Ryder Cups in America and 15 World Cup of Golf appearances on behalf of Ireland. Consequently, the only Major he contested was the [British] Open, from 1951-79, but his record of 10 top-10s in elusive pursuit of the Claret Jug would be the envy of many a pro today. In addition, he won 64 titles— 23 on what eventually became the European Tour, eight on Europe’s fledgling senior circuit, and 33 domestic Irish tournaments.

Christy Jr., like his uncle a son of Knocknacarra in Galway, was a fine player in his own right and made two Ryder Cup appearances—in 1975 and, famously, in 1989 when his 3-iron into the home green at The Belfry sunk America’s flagship player, Fred Couples. In addition, he won 16 tournaments, including four on the European Tour. Another string to his bow, not shared by Christy, Sr., was his skill as a course designer, mostly in Ireland.

Woods [top left]: 10-year-old Cheyenne Woods at a junior golf tournament in 2001 The O’Connors [top right]: Christy O’Connor Jnr [l] with his uncle Christy Snr at The Open at St Andrews in 1970 The Palmers [above right]: Deacon Palmer [l] with his son Arnold The Kordas [above]: Jessica Korda [l] and sister Nelly after Nelly won the 2021 Meijer LPGA Classic

T H E PA R K S

Along with the Toms Morris, the Parks dominated 19th century golf. Three Parks won the Open Championship: Mungo, his brother Willie, and his nephew Willie, Jr., the latter also contributing heavily to golf course design (Sunningdale Old, Olympia Fields, the Evian course in France, among others). Willie Jr.’s brother, Mungo Jr., was also a professional golfer who won the Argentine Open three times.

The Stadlers [top]: Craig [l] and son Kevin during a practice round before the 2014 Masters The Haas family [above]: Captain Jay Haas [r] with son Bill at the The Presidents Cup in 2015 The Thomas Family [right]: Justin Thomas [r] and dad Mike after winning the 2020 PNC Championship

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T H E T H O M A S FA M I LY

T H E H A A S FA M I LY

Major champion and Ryder Cup star Justin Thomas is the son of a PGA club professional, who is also the son of PGA pro. Thomas was destined for a life in golf but the dividends for all those free lessons and range buckets have been stellar.

Like so many before him and since, Paul Thomas embarked on a life in golf because it was a way of making money as a kid. He would walk the four miles from home to Avon Fields GC, Cincinnati, to caddie from the age of 10 and play the odd round on Mondays with a spare rental set. He left school early because the family needed him to earn and became an assistant pro as a teenager. Thomas’ career path was set and he eventually settled at Zanesville CC, Ohio, where he served as head pro for more than 25 years. He could hold his own in elite playing company, playing in the infamous 1962 U.S. Open at Oakmont, when local hero Arnold Palmer ultimately fell to the young upstart Jack Nicklaus. Thomas would find more joy later competing on the Senior Tour, again teeing up with Palmer and Nicklaus.

Mike Thomas is the second of Paul’s four sons, and after a decorated amateur career at state level in Ohio, Mike eventually became the long-term head pro at Harmony Landing CC, Louisville. Here the stage was set for his son Justin, born in 1993. The members saw the talent and welcomed the budding star into the fold. Mike gave the lessons while grandfather Paul was the playing partner, storyteller and provider of inspiration.

Thomas turned pro in 2013, joined the PGA Tour in 2015 and won for the first time the following year. In 2017 he became the eighth son of a PGA professional to win the PGA Championship—at Quail Hollow. He added the Players Championship to his resume earlier this year and played in the Ryder Cup for the second time.

Grandfather Paul died in February aged 89, prompting Justin to write on Instagram: “Heaven got a good one yesterday. Wish you were still here to tell me how many putts I missed on days like yesterday! Nobody’s voice would make me happier when I would hear it on the phone. Will love and miss you, G Pa”.

“You could tell when he was seven, eight, nine, 10 years old, he had something,” Paul Thomas once told PGATour.com of his grandson. “You could tell that there was a big possibility there.”

Wake Forest alumni Jay and Bill Haas have enjoyed many moments in the sun during their lengthy tournament careers. They are also part of perhaps the most elaborate dynasty in PGA history.

The first family member to make his mark was Bob Goalby, Jay’s uncle and winner of 11 PGA Tour titles, including the 1968 Masters. Jay’s younger brother, Jerry, a former tour player, has served as the men’s head coach at Wake Forest for the past 24 years. Jay’s brother-in-law, Dillard Pruitt, claimed one victory during an eight-year tour career before regaining his amateur status and spending the last two decades as a rules official.

But Jay, like the finest of wines, improved with age.

Three times a Ryder Cup player and now approaching his 68th birthday, Jay has won 33 tournaments (including nine on the PGA Tour and 18 amongst the Champions fraternity). Son Bill, now 39, has won six times on the PGA Tour. The highlight of his career was a Tour Championship playoff win in 2011 when he sealed the deal by holing a greenside wedge shot from out of a water hazard. His caddie that day was older brother, Jay Jr., now a teaching pro at the family golf center in Greenville, SC.

Pathway to the PGA Championship

Run through Wake Forest

T H E S TA D L E R S The Walrus & cub

Craig and Kevin Stadler, the Walrus and his cub, affectionately nicknamed Smallrus, are as distinctive a ‘father and son’ as can be found in golfing captivity. Stadler the elder, now 68, stamped his passport to immortality with his Augusta National triumph in 1982 and an additional 12 PGA Tour titles. Just before turning 50, he said in no uncertain terms he thought the Champions Tour “sucks” and he wouldn’t be queuing up for any “pension checks”.

Untrue to his word, he duly showed up soon after and won nine times, most recently in 2013, and to this day he’d probably still walk into any field of seniors he wanted to.

Meanwhile, the career of Stadler the younger was more of a slow burn before he finally won at the 239th attempt in 2014 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

That year, the Stadlers became the first father and son to play in the Masters and Kevin distinguished himself on his debut by tying for eighth. Kevin was an aficionado of anchor putting back then, but when the rules police pounced he reverted to left-handedness. To say he hasn’t been heard of since is a little unfair, but not entirely wide of the mark.

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FEATURE Will Zalatoris

THE NEW STAR OF DALLAS He started last season without membership on the PGA Tour, and ended it as the Arnold Palmer Awardwinning Rookie of the Year. From a state where everything’s bigger, the future looks huge for Will Zalatoris.

He spoke to Robin Barwick

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W

WILL ZALATORIS talks of having “tailed” Jordan Spieth

through the junior golf circuit in Texas when they were kids.

Not a bad early role model, rival and friend.

“Jordan was basically winning everything in Dallas for what seemed like forever,” starts Zalatoris, the 25-year-old who is settling into his second season on the PGA Tour, and who is three years younger than Spieth. “It goes back to when Jordan was around 12 and I was nine and I tailed him for a while. Seeing all of his success since then has been a lot of fun.”

Much of the time, the two kids were honing their games just six miles apart, in north Dallas: Spieth at Brookhaven Country Club and Zalatoris at Bent Tree CC. When Spieth was 14 and Zalatoris was 11 the two boys played 18 together at Bent Tree. Spieth sent his opening drive out right, then found a bunker but holed a 30-foot putt to save par (some habits die hard). Then he went on a birdie run, scored 63 and broke a long-standing course record.

“Jordan was always different,” says Zalatoris. “People could see that he was going to grow up to be really, really good—not that anyone could anticipate him winning the Masters at the age of 21—but we all knew Jordan was going to be a force to be reckoned with.”

It was in 2015 that Spieth set a birdie record at the Masters (28 over 72 holes) in becoming its youngest champ since Tiger Woods in 1997.

“Quite often I was runner-up behind Jordan,” adds Zalatoris. “I got him in some individual rounds but that was it. There was one time in the Byron Nelson Junior when I beat him in a round: I shot 71 to his 72, but then Jordan shot 62-69 and won the tournament by nine. That was about as close as I came to beating him as a junior, and it wasn’t very close.

“It literally took me until the [2020] U.S. Open at Winged Foot to actually beat Jordan in a tournament—and that is not an exaggeration or a lie.”

Spieth missed the cut at Winged Foot, mired in the depths of a slump at the time, while Zalatoris was still “Will Who?” at the start of the week, a young prospect trying to

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Spieth [l] and Zalatoris at the 2021 PGA Championship [above]; teeing off on the 12th hole in the 2021 Masters [right]

“Jordan [Spieth] is a bit like Michael Jordan in as much as you don’t want to talk smack with him or get him riled up” force his way onto the PGA Tour. He finished in a tie for sixth though—spurred by a hole-in-one in the first round— for his first top-10 on the PGA Tour, and all of a sudden people started talking about Zalatoris as if they had been warning you about him for years.

“I have not told Jordan about [beating him at] Winged Foot,” adds the modest Zalatoris. “Jordan is a bit like Michael Jordan in as much as you don’t want to talk smack with him or tell him anything that might get him riled up.

“Maybe if we were playing for a little currency at home we might talk a little smack, but with his putter and with his unlimited range on the greens I need to pick my moments very carefully if I am going to talk smack.

“I love the guy and he has been a great friend and he is super inspiring to me, to see his success and to see how hard he works.”

DRAWING PARALLELS It turns out that tailing Spieth is a pretty solid pathway to success, and there are a pair of striking parallels between the two’s early careers in particular. Spieth was Rookie of the Year on the PGA Tour in 2013, having picked up his first pro victory at the John Deere Classic aged just 19, making him the youngest winner on the tour since Ralph Guldahl in 1931. Zalatoris followed suit and picked up the Arnold Palmer Award as Rookie of the Year this past season, becoming the first non-member of the tour to win the award since Charles Howell III in 2001.

Then there are the Masters debuts. Spieth finished tied as runner-up on his Masters debut back in 2014, having held a share of the third-round lead with eventual winner Bubba Watson. Seven years later, in April of this year, Zalatoris delivered an equally stunning performance to finish second to Hideki Matsuyama at Augusta National.

Still without his PGA Tour card at the time, Zalatoris was the only player in the entire field to shoot four rounds under par—his 70-68-71-70 leaving him just a single shot shy of Japan’s first men’s major champ.

“Having seen him progress and his confidence level just continue to rise over the last year and a half, I’m not surprised,” said Spieth after the Masters, where he finished

in a tie for third, two shots behind his old sparring partner.

“It is very difficult to come out in the position he was in, in the final group, it’s just a different feeling. Then in this wind, to control his high ball flight and to make putts on these greens when you don’t see other greens like this, it’s extremely impressive. It’s awesome, but I’m not surprised.”

Recalls Zalatoris: “I enjoyed every moment out there.

While I was playing I was also just sitting back and appreciating the history, and particularly on the back nine I would think of spots where players had hit famous shots, like Phil from the trees on 13, Jack making the putt on 15, Tiger multiple times on 16.

“If anything, it was freeing for me as I didn’t let the weight of trying to win the Masters get to me. I just played golf and kept pinching myself and telling myself how cool it was. Don’t get me wrong: when it came down to Sunday I was absolutely focused, but being able to appreciate the moment helped. It felt like every day it was building up, from hitting the first tee shot and playing with Bernhard Langer, to working my way into the final group, to playing decently on Saturday to still give myself a chance, and then it was Sunday at Augusta, a moment I have always dreamed of.

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Zalatoris and caddie Ryan Goble at the Masters

Zalatoris finished his freshman year with a scoring average of 70.07, the lowest ever for a freshman Deacon “It was funny because it felt like I was playing in the Masters but at the same time it didn’t. Was I surprised by how I felt? Absolutely! But it was like, hey, I have wanted to be here for so long, why shy away from it now?”

“He is fun to watch to tell you the truth,” says Langer, the Masters champ of 1985 and 1993, who played the first two rounds of the 2021 Masters with Zalatoris. “He is an unbelievably good player for his age. He is as skinny as a rail when you look at him but man can he pound that golf ball.

He hits his 3-wood further than I hit my driver. When you have that kind of power and also the spin he gets with that clubhead speed, you can really tear courses apart. We are going to hear a lot more about this young man.”

Eric Hutto, President and Chief Operating Officer at Unisys, is also convinced we are going to hear a lot more about Zalatoris.

“Not only is Will Zalatoris a great golfer, but also a great person who we are proud to have be a part of our golf program and represent the Unisys brand,” says Hutto. “Will aligns greatly with our company theme of ‘Building Better,’ which we continue to pursue on behalf of our clients, associates and communities around the world.”

RECORD - BREAKING FRESHMAN It must have helped Zalatoris that he has grown up with high expectations swirling around his ability. Having attracted attention from a host of the country’s top college golf programs, he was offered the Arnold Palmer Scholarship by Wake Forest, which is offered to one golfer each year.

“I saw a kid who could really, really hit a golf ball and I knew we could figure out how to make him a better putter,” recalls Jerry Haas, Head Coach of the men’s golf team at Wake Forest. “The rest is history, Will has done really well.

He started at Wake playing unbelievable golf, shooting 65s, 64s, 63s. It was like, ‘holy cow, this is the best freshman in the country.’”

Zalatoris finished his freshman year with a scoring average of 70.07, the lowest ever for a freshman Demon Deacon. His four-year average of 70.44 remains a Wake Forest record.

“I visited Wake and loved how small it was, and yet it is a top-30 academic institution,” says Zalatoris, who was awarded the Arnold Palmer Scholarship in 2014. “It has the history with Mr. Palmer and all the great players that followed him there, so when I got offered the scholarship

by Coach Haas my decision was almost made for me: how would I say ‘No’ and why would I want to go anywhere else? Receiving the high honor of Mr. Palmer’s scholarship was incredible.”

Zalatoris did not get the opportunity to meet Palmer, who died in 2016, but he did receive a letter of congratulations from the Wake Forest legend on winning

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the U.S. Junior Amateur title in 2014 at the Club at Carlton Woods, Texas, soon after accepting his scholarship to Wake.

“I got a signed letter from Mr. Palmer after I won the U.S. Junior title,” recalls Zalatoris, who was 17 at the time. “It has been misreported that I smudged Mr. Palmer’s signature—giving the impression I ruined the signature— but I absolutely did not. When I got the typed letter, with the umbrella logo, Mr. Palmer said congratulations and that it was phenomenal that I was on his scholarship at Wake Forest, and he signed the letter. I put my thumb on the “r” of “Palmer” to see if the signature was real just because it was such a perfect signature and I wasn’t sure.

“As we all know Mr. Palmer signed everything, and when I lifted my thumb from the “r” it took a little bit of the ink and I remember my mom looking at me, giving me the evil eyes and the temperature in the room dropped about 25 degrees, like, ‘I can’t believe you just did that’. She said, ‘You are not going to look after this letter until you get your own house.’ The letter is still framed and at my parents’ house.”

The U.S. Junior Amateur title is something else Zalatoris shares in common with Spieth, who became only the second golfer—after Tiger Woods—to win the Junior title twice, in 2009 and 2011, three years before Zalatoris.

Heading into 2022 as a full member of the PGA Tour, Zalatoris already has a pair of top-20 finishes in the fall to earn him a top-40 ranking in the FedExCup at the time of writing. His results are solid and his form is promising.

“I want more and I know that there’s more in there,” he says. “I definitely feel my first win could come soon.”

If the parallels with Spieth continue it won’t be long, but make no mistake: Zalatoris is playing his own game—and from what we can see, there’s no limit to it.

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Zalatoris makes his debut in The Open at Royal St George’s in July [top]; representing Wake Forest in 2017 at Rich Harvest Farms, Illinois [above]

“I want more and I know there’s more in there. I definitely feel my first win could come soon”

Unisys Congratulates Will Zalatoris, recipient of the Arnold Palmer Award as the PGA Tour’s Rookie of the Year Unisys is a global IT solutions company that delivers successful outcomes for the most demanding businesses and governments. For more information on how Unisys delivers for its clients across the commercial markets, financial services and government, visit www.unisys.com.

Photographs Courtesy of Baltusrol Golf Club

FEATURE Disappeared

LOST COURSES

A

mong the global pantheon of lost wonders, a few loom large: New York City’s original Penn Station, London’s Crystal Palace, the Church of the Archangel Michael in Warsaw, Franny’s pizza in Brooklyn… Well, Franny’s might not be as mourned as the others (unless you’d tried the pizza) but it carries the point. Transcending their essential purposes, some structures come to define their communities and to engender personal relationships with individuals, and so when the wrecking ball swings it creates emptiness beyond the skyline. A fact of life in big cities, such losses come to golf too, with gamedefining courses sometimes replaced by lesser updates, condos and the like. To paraphrase Confucius, it might be worthwhile to study golf’s past if we would define its future, and so here, in a game that’s about moving forward, we offer a look over golf’s shoulder with six U.S. courses pulled from a global list of plenty more.

Feel free to find us online and to let us know which course you miss the most…

BALTUSROL GOLF CLUB’S OLD COURSE Yes, we know that the club named for murdered farmer Baltus Roll still exists in Springfield, New Jersey, and that it’s been around for 126 years. We also know that it’s on the National Register of Historic places and that the visionary 36 holes originally designed by A.W. Tillinghast are pure class. However, those holes sit atop a different golf course, one designed by George Hunter in 1895 and later revisited

by George Low, who as Baltusrol’s golf pro and greenskeeper improved the course tremendously, by all reports. This “Old Course,” which no longer exists, was no weed-strewn sand lot. Rather, in fine

fashion it hosted the U.S. Open in 1903 and 1915, the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 1901 and 1911, and 1904 U.S. Amateur. Following the major in 1915, Baltusrol’s Green Committee noted in its annual report that “In June we held the Open Tournament of the USGA which was described by the officers of that Association as one of most successful ever held.” The course and its conditioning were credited for the tournament’s success, making it perhaps even more incredible that, just three years after hosting a successful (second) major, the Old Course would be plowed under to make way for a new design.

The 10th Island Hole was one of the most photographed holes of its day [far left].

View of the Island Hole green [above left], which was the first island green built in the United States. The green of the 1st [above right].

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THE LIDO

Perhaps the most venerated lost course, The Lido is being resurrected in Wisconsin

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Aerial shots of The Lido in its heyday

Photo: Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Inc NYC

Of all of the lost courses on golf’s ofrenda, Charles Blair Macdonald’s The Lido occupies a frame gilded as much by legend as by plaudits. After its 1917 opening on Long Island, NY, Hall of Fame golf writer Bernard Darwin called it “the finest course in the world” while 1948 Masters champ Claude Harmon offered that it was “the greatest golf course ever.” The U.S. Navy used The Lido as a base during WWII, and eventually the course was demolished.

Today, Long Beach High School sits on what used to be No.16 and there are condos where the clubhouse once stood. Its demise and apparent desecrations elevated The Lido from “praised” to “venerated,” and its legend has only grown over the years, with the tone of people in some online forums making one wonder if The Lido’s water hazards weren’t instead running with milk and honey, the bunkers filled with gold dust, and the breezes somehow scented rose. Such a shame that mortals today cannot experience this ethereal track—but wait! Thanks to the wonders of modern technology and a bit of well-funded nostalgia, The Lido is getting a second act.

The entrepreneurial Keiser Brothers have engaged Tom Doak and historian Peter Flory to resurrect The Lido in the sand hills of Wisconsin, far from the cry of Long Island’s gulls. Lido2 is set to rise from the ashes in 2023 as “a faithful re-creation of the original course,” as the developers have it, and reportedly will be open only to guests of the Keiser’s Sand Valley resort.

Press your plus fours and stay tuned.

FRESH MEADOW COUNTRY CLUB Long before the New York City borough of Queens hosted frantic travelers rushing to make planes at JFK and La Guardia airports, it held Fresh Meadow Country Club and one of the country’s finest golf courses. Designed by A.W. Tillinghast and opened in 1922, the club featured Gene Sarazen as its head pro and hosted not one, but two major championships: the 1930 PGA Championship and the 1932 U.S. Open. Sarazen finished runner-up to Tommy Armour at the 1930 event but took the 1932 tournament (after having left to work at another club), further adding to Fresh Meadow’s lore. The course reportedly featured clever doglegs and cruel bunkers, as was Tillinghast’s style, and earned praise from the likes of Horton

Smith, who won the inaugural Masters and the third Masters as well. He called Fresh Meadow’s 578-yard No.5 “one of the finest he had ever played,” and the club’s longevity seemed assured. However, as anyone in New York City knows, and as countless authors have written in various forms, just about the time you fall in love with something in NYC they tear it down, and so it was with Fresh Meadow CC. City expansion and housing needs—not to mention wildly increasing land values— compelled the club to sell in 1946 and relocate to Long Island, where it operates today. Though Flushing lost an American golf gem, at least it continues to host the US Open of tennis, and then there are the Mets…

Gene Sarazen [above] tees off at the 1932 U.S. Open. Sam Snead on the ninth green [below] in the 1938 Metropolitan Open

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PECAN VALLEY GOLF CLUB

Considered among the best in Texas Golf, Pecan Valley closed in 2012 A victorious Julius Boros at the 1968 PGA Championship [above], having beaten Arnold Palmer, whose heroics [this shot on the 17th hole, right] weren’t enough to close the one-shot gap

For golfers of a certain age, this loss in San Antonio, Texas, still stings. In 1968, at a PGA Championship played over Pecan Valley’s tight layout and quick greens, a 48-year-old Julius Boros became the thenoldest winner of a major, beating Arnold Palmer by a single stroke (Phil Mickelson took the “oldest” record this year at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course, winning the same event at 50 years of age). Palmer hit what was arguably one of his best-ever shots during the tournament: a 3-wood out of deep rough on No.18 that traveled 230 yards and settled 12 feet from the hole. The shot earned him a plaque on the course marking the spot where the shot occurred, but Palmer missed the putt (and a chance at the major he never won), tying for second at 2-over with Bob Charles. It wasn’t Pecan Valley’s only event, as the club also hosted the LPGA’s Alamo Ladies Open from 1963 to 1966, the Texas Open Invitational in 1967, ’69 and ’70, and the USGA’s 2001 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship.

Generally regarded as one of Texas’ better courses, Pecan Valley was acquired by the ironically named Foresight Golf, which abruptly closed the course in 2012, making Pecan Valley the first major championship venue to shutter in the U.S. since the 1939 PGA Championship-hosting Pomonok Country Club in Queens, NY, in 1949. As of press time, the land was still vacant and the course overgrown, while plans for a veterans’ community (talked about since 2012) continued to inch forward.

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Edgar Rice Burroughs at home in Tarzana

ENGLEWOOD GOLF CLUB Just over half an hour from Baltusrol, straddling the border of Englewood and Leonia in New Jersey, Englewood Golf Club was another major host that fell, although it wasn’t replaced by golf. The track was built in 1896 as nine holes but by 1900 had 18 and was regarded as one of the area’s finest venues. Consider that it hosted both the 1906 U.S. Amateur—arguably the most prestigious event in golf at the time—and the 1909 U.S. Open, becoming New Jersey’s only other course to date to host that major, along with Baltusrol. A U.S. Open scoring record was set at the 1909 event, when English victor George Sargeant made 290 and took $300 for his work. The tournament featured two other notable moments as well, when Tom McNamara (69) and David Hunter (68) became the first two competitors to break 70 in U.S. Open play.

Two years after the major, the club hosted the Met Open, and shortly after that Donald Ross was brought in to sort new bunkers and

new green contouring. Despite the club’s optimism for the future, its national event days were over. Englewood’s relatively short length (6,205 yards during the U.S. Open) and a 1920s boom in course development likely kept it out of the running for more majors and, as writer Daniel Wexler had it, the club eventually became “a ‘colorful’ place featuring many show-business and Mafia personalities.” Still, Englewood wasn’t done-in by its changing audience.

Rather, the lauded venue was bisected by Interstate 95 in the 1960s, with the on-ramp to the George Washington Bridge cutting right through the course. Play continued for a while, but by 1976 the economics weren’t working and the club closed. Cross Creek Point condominium complex was built on the Englewood side of the property while homes appeared on the Leonia side, the latter keeping the only remnant of the course alive with a street named “Golf Course Drive.”

Colorful characters came to Englewood but the real killer was I-95, which cut the course in two

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EL CABALLERO COUNTRY CLUB Located in Tarzana, California, this William P. Bell design opened in 1924 on land once owned by writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan. Burroughs was on the club’s Board of Governors along with several prominent developers, including Alphonzo Bell, who developed Bel Air, and so El Caballero didn’t lack for VIP visitors and events. The course itself wound its way through a couple of large canyons and generally pleased the media, with the Los Angeles Times lauding its “pair of famously diminutive par threes, the 144-yard fifth and the 115-yard 17th. At the former a mid-iron generally was required to find an L-shaped green perched just above the canyon; the latter was notorious for its tiny, bunkerringed putting surface.” Sports-writing legend Grantland Rice said El Caballero was one of the West Coast’s most amazing courses, and the national press regularly praised El Caballero as well. It hosted the 1927 Los Angeles Open (won by Bobby Cruickshank) and seemed destined to be a classic, but the Great Depression hit it hard and WWII dealt the final blow. The course was converted to housing during the postwar real estate boom, although a club of the same name opened in 1957 at a different location.

Our past isn’t just a part of who we are, it defines our present and our future. www.penfoldgolf.com |  penfoldgolf

TURKISH AIRLINES: READY TO TAKE TRAVELERS AROUND THE WORLD AGAIN

Turkish Airlines, flying to more countries than any other airline in the world, invites travelers to once again seek the destinations they’ve dreamt about this past year. With 321 destinations to choose from, in 127 countries spanning five continents, the opportunities for exploration are endless.

Success in Uncertain Times Despite the pandemic, Turkish Airlines was able to maintain a robust route network, closing 2020 as Europe’s busiest in flight numbers. Building on this success, the global carrier continues to provide connectivity and add new flights: most recently, the carrier launched service from its 10th U.S. Gateway, Newark Liberty International Airport.

Turkish Airlines Premium Travel Experience Travelers can look forward to world-class services and amenities, award-winning cuisine and world-famous Turkish hospitality whenever they board a Turkish Airlines flight.

The airline is known for a rare dining service offered to Business Class passengers: Flying Chefs who prepare gourmet meals on board using only the highest quality and freshest ingredients, which have earned the airline many awards, including the title of the “World’s Best In-flight Catering Service” on numerous occasions.

New Amenity Kits Let You Travel In Style This year, in collaboration with one of Turkey’s most prestigious artists, designer Devrim Erbil, Turkish Airlines launched an exclusive new line of travel kits. Provided to all Business Class passengers on five to eight-hour flights, they feature an eye mask, earplugs, non-slip socks, a dental care set with toothpaste, hand cream and lip moisturizer by New Zealand brand Antipodes, known for its premium all-natural ingredients. Offered in eight different artwork designs, each one features a different iconic Istanbul landmark.

Health & Safety at the Forefront While added routes and onboard services resume, health and safety continues to be Turkish Airlines’ top priority, and has been since the pandemic began, when the airline introduced new in-flight health protocols: “Hygiene Kits” containing a face mask, disinfectant and antiseptic tissue, as well as “Hygiene Expert” cabin crews, appointed to flights to enforce all on-board hygiene and social distancing measures. Turkish Airlines was awarded the highest “Diamond” level status by APEX (Airline Passenger Experience Association) Health Safety, powered by SimpliFlying, for the airline’s continued efforts in ensuring the highest standards of cleanliness and sanitation, which was deemed worthy of less than 10 airlines.

Istanbul Airport’s Innovative Travel Experience The airline’s hub at Turkey’s new, state-of-the-art Istanbul Airport, which is the biggest built-from-scratch airport terminal in the world, also offers an incredibly smart and innovative travel experience. Next-level precautions, from smart screening helmets measuring passengers body temperatures to sanitizing luggage during the X-ray screening process and terminal cleaning via UV autonomous robotic cleaners, continue to keep travelers safe during their journeys.

Travelers in search of a flight experience that offers world-class amenities and reassurance that health and safety are top of mind, as well as an experience that reminds them exactly why they love to travel in the first place can seize the opportunity to widen their worlds in style with Turkish Airlines.

FEATURE Prestwick

BACK TO THE START With The Open set to be played for the 150th time next summer at St Andrews, we decided to take the road less travelled and head across Scotland, to Prestwick in the west, where The Open actually began.

Robin Barwick pays homage Photos: STUART MCINTYRE

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TOM WATSON PHONED PRESTWICK GOLF CLUB to

ask for a Saturday morning tee time. Ever since Old Tom Morris was the founding professional at Prestwick, Saturday mornings have been for members only, as the bartender knew all too well when she took Watson’s call in 1981.

Watson was the reigning Open champion and a winner of five major titles by this point and so hoped his name might help. “I don’t care if you’re Sherlock Holmes,” she replied. “You can’t play on a Saturday.”

Watson called the pro shop and longstanding pro Frank Rennie—now retired and a member at Prestwick— found him a game. The American guest soon learned that lunch at Prestwick is as important as golf. Years later Watson would admit it was “a rather long and very unsobering lunch.”

“They had a good lunch and enjoyed some typical Prestwick hospitality, which can get quite dangerous if the members get hold of you,” starts Ken Goodwin, club secretary at Prestwick GC. “Watson was introduced to the delights of Kummel and the story goes that he couldn’t remember playing the first six holes at Troon in the afternoon, yet apparently he played them quite well.”

Despite the fact Watson had won The Open three times in the previous six years, he only really started to appreciate links golf on this tour he made 40 years ago with old friend Sandy Tatum, a former president of the USGA. They started at Ballybunion on Ireland’s west coast, then came to Prestwick before heading to neighboring Royal Troon, and then up to the Scottish Highlands to Royal Dornoch.

The 18th green at Prestwick GC

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CHAMPION GOLFER REQUIRED Famed for its history and its lunch, and with The Open to be played for the 150th time next year—at St Andrews—we have come to Scotland’s west coast to discover the club where golf ’s oldest major began.

Like many great epics of the 19th century, this one begins with a death, to Allan Robertson of St Andrews, a golfer so highly regarded they simply called him “The Champion Golfer.” Robertson died on September 1, 1859 at the age of 43, and so the question was: who would become the next Champion Golfer?

Morris learned his trade under Robertson at the Home of Golf, as a ballmaker, clubmaker and competitor—they say Robertson and Morris were undefeated as a pair—before Morris was lured to Prestwick in 1851 to lay out and maintain a new golf course, and to serve the new club’s members.

Prestwick’s members were keen to establish their man Morris as the new “Champion Golfer,” so they commissioned the Challenge Belt and organized the inaugural Open. Only eight entrants competed for the belt on Wednesday, October 17, 1860, playing three rounds on Prestwick’s 12-hole course in one day. Willie Park Snr from Musselburgh, a lifelong rival to Morris, beat the local favorite by two shots.

The Open tradition had begun—and Morris soon would wrap the Challenge Belt around his waist, winning his first of four in 1861. Of the 149 Opens played to date, the first 12 were at Prestwick, and another dozen were staged on the Ayrshire links once a rotation of Open venues was established, with Prestwick’s last Open held in 1925.

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The original 12-hole route was extended to 18 holes in the 1880s—laid out by Morris and his successor as professional at Prestwick, Charlie Hunter—and while the course lacks the acreage and length to host a modern professional championship at 6,908 yards from the back tees, it remains a haven to how the game was once played.

“We say that golfers from the United States should start at Prestwick when they come to Scotland,” starts Rennie, pro at Prestwick from 1962 to 2004, as he enjoys a post-round pot of tea in the cards room. “At Prestwick they can discover the way golf used to be played. It’s not a long course and we have small greens.”

There is also a small stone wall that interferes with a golfer’s equilibrium on the first tee, to separate the first hole from the Glasgow to Ayr railway line.

To say the first at Prestwick has a righthand side is exaggerating to be truthful, and the low wall maintains its stubborn line all the way up to the greenside, before the second hole mercifully veers away. The railway trundles up past Troon and is particularly visible from the 11th hole at Royal Troon although not in quite such an intrusive manner.

Like the first at Prestwick, the 11th at Troon is called “Railway” in that classicly blunt, matter-of-fact Scottish way. Just say it as you see it, laddie.

And so the tone for a round of golf at Prestwick is set.

They wouldn’t lay out a modern golf course this way—and that, truthfully, is both the charm and the challenge of this storied links. Some holes can be sincerely confusing to the newcomer, such as the par-five third hole, Cardinal, which follows the Pow Burn while golfers negotiate the vast Cardinal bunker and its uncompromising ramparts of railway sleepers.

“If golfers can see a flag ahead they are probably not facing in the right direction”

The view from the tee on the par-3 5th [top left]; putting on the 12th [left]; the cards room in Prestwick’s clubhouse [top] and the bell behind the fifth green [above]

Adds Goodwin: “I warn visitors who don’t know the course that when they stand on a tee, if they can see a flag ahead they are probably not facing in the right direction.”

This historic golf course boasts eccentricities by modern standards, but when Old Tom Morris came here in 1851 to lay out the course, he set the standard for the design of links courses for generations to come.

“Prestwick was the first course Tom laid out, and his approach to golf course design was to first find a good place for a green,” adds Goodwin. “Once he had identified that, he would find another good place for a green, and so it went on.

If there happened to be a sand dune or a depression on the road to the green then it was up to the golfer to negotiate it, one way or another.”

So to the mighty 206-yard, par-three fifth hole, ‘Himalayas’, which requires a blind tee shot over an imposing dune. On exiting the green, golfers must ring the bell to let the group behind know they can tee off.

“Himalayas has a big sand dune between the tee and the green,” explains Goodwin. “You would never be allowed to build that hole today. Pros today would hate it in a tournament, but golf in the early days was all about negotiating obstacles like on our fifth hole.”

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From the course to the Clubhouse, this collection lets you play and leisure as a top performer.

EXPERIENCE THE RG CLUBHOUSE AT ROBERTGRAHAM.US

THE EARLY CHAMPIONS Winners of the first 12 Opens held at Prestwick GC : 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872

Willie Park Snr 174 Tom Morris Snr 163 Tom Morris Snr 163 Willie Park Snr 168 Tom Morris Snr 167 Andrew Strath 162 Willie Park Snr 169 Tom Morris Snr 170 Tom Morris Jnr 157 Tom Morris Jnr 154 Tom Morris Jnr 149 No championship Tom Morris Jnr 166

The clubhouse clock reminds golfers that a drink in the Smoke Room awaits, followed by lunch in the Dining Room Prestwick provides a formidable challenge, and while it is short by contemporary standards, it only becomes very noticeable at the tame final hole, which is the shortest par-four on the course at 288 yards from the back.

LONG TABLE, LONG LUNCH

Prestwick’s clubhouse [top]; the dining room awaits [middle]; one of Prestwick’s many unrelenting pothole bunkers [above]

Many of the members welcome the abbreviated challenge of the closing hole—named “Clock,” and the clubhouse clock is the target line from the tee—as the clock reminds them that waiting inside is a drink in the Smoke Room, lunch in the Dining Room and then, as long as schedules have been properly arranged, probably another drink in the Smoke Room.

Jacket and tie are required in the Smoke Room and Dining Room but don’t jump to the wrong conclusion about it being formal. Members and visitors alike have dined at the single, long dining room table at Prestwick since the 1880s—maximum capacity for one sitting: 32—and when you walk into the dining room you don’t know who you are going to sit next to. ’Twas ever thus.

“This is a very welcoming club,” says Goodwin. “If visitors are having lunch in the dining room our members

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Golfers are not supposed to wash any spilt Kummel off their hands before a game will join them and ask them where they are from. The dining room layout is a great way of mixing people up on the one long table.”

Then comes the Kummel, or the “putting mixture” as is it sometimes known. A rich, caraway seed-based digestive served neat or on ice, Kummel emerged in the mid-19th century from Riga in Latvia, on the shores of the Baltic Sea, and became popular as an after-dinner drink in the gentleman’s clubs of the UK. Kummel is not widely enjoyed in Britain these days, with its strong flavors of aniseed and liquorice, and it is heavily loaded with alcohol.

Sometimes taken with coffee, Kummel brings warmth to the Smoke Room as a bracing Scottish afternoon recedes into the twilight.

“It seems that we have embraced Kummel more than most,” admits Goodwin. “It has been said that at one time, a third of all Kummel drunk in Scotland was drunk at Prestwick Golf Club. It is still very popular.”

Try it chilled and the bartenders at Prestwick will fill a shot glass to the brim. Sometimes it might spill on your fingers, hence its other nickname, a “Sticky.” Traditionally, golfers don’t wash off the stickiness if they are playing an afternoon round as it helps to grip.

Tom Watson thought it was a growing appreciation of the classic links that enabled him to play so well after lunch that afternoon in ’81. Whether it was that or the Sticky, it comes down to Prestwick—where the majors began.

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Lunch in the dining room [top] and a bottle of Mentzendorff’s famous Kummel [above]

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GOLF Trash Talk

AS 2021 APPROACHES the end-of-year awards season, the prize for the most pointless distraction in golf must be shared between the incredible sulks, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau. Adult males in their athletic prime, their back-and-forth has seemed to be a playground dust-up, just without the bumps and bruises. They should have received afterschool detention but got off the hook—after creating a social media frenzy. With the pair confirmed for the next episode of The Match this “feud” will come to a head of sorts, probably in front of a disproportionate TV audience. It’ll be “wheelbarrow time,” as Ernie Els once called it. Skepticism of the spat is fueled by the $40 million made available by the PGA Tour’s new Player Impact Program, which rewards PGA Tour members who generate exposure for the tour— though no one’s exactly sure what that means. So is Koepka–DeChambeau more Shaq–Kobe or Rocky– Apollo? Who knows, but one thing is for sure: the Brooks and Bryson tiff pales compared to a few other relationships that found the rough. Consider...

Lipping Out

Don’t taunt the Tiger Before their knock-out match at the 2006 WGC Match Play, Canada’s Stephen Ames said of Tiger Woods: “Anything can happen, especially where he’s hitting the ball.” Unfortunately for Ames, he is remembered more for what happened next than he is for his four PGA Tour wins: Tiger beat him 9&8, having missed a putt on the 10th green to make it a perfect 10&8.

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SEVE V. ‘ZINGER Paul Azinger recently spoke to Golfweek about his interactions with Spanish legend Seve Ballesteros, saying, “We were never what Brooks and Bryson are: No.1 and No.2 on the list of most interesting players in today’s game.” We beg to differ— Seve versus ’Zinger had way more spirit and personality—even if, as Azinger had it, “everyone had a back-and-forth with Seve.”

The tension might have begun at the 1989 Ryder Cup, when Ballesteros asked Azinger if he could replace a scuffed ball on the green and the American said no, the ball was fine. At the next Ryder Cup Seve returned the favor, accusing Azinger and his partner Chip Beck of changing the type of ball they were using. The moment cost the Americans their focus and might have contributed to their loss. At the same Ryder Cup, Azinger also accused Ballesteros of making noise in his backswing, prompting Seve to respond, “Everybody knows I have allergies.” The coals were stoked two years later at Kiawah Island when Seve labelled Azinger a “liar,” then Azinger called Seve “the king of gamesmanship.”

The Spaniard ultimately made his opinion clear as day, commenting that “The American team has 11 nice guys… and Paul Azinger.”

Entertaining surely, these were the building blocks of the modern Ryder Cup, let there be no doubt.

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TIGER V. PHIL

Woods deflated Mickelson at the 2001 Masters, out-driving him with a 3-iron

The Squire v. the Haig When asked how Walter Hagen might do in the 1933 U.S. Open, a younger Gene Sarazen replied, “Why, they don’t have rocking chairs any more in golf. How can Hagen win?” The older champ tied for fourth at four over while Sarazen stumbled to a 15-over finish. At the end of play on Sunday, a very young caddie reportedly brought a small rocking chair to Sarazen, offering that “Mr. Hagen sent this out.

He thought you might need it.”

Watching Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods at their prime was a joy: one exceptional golfer pushed by a norm-destroying force to be even better. In the semi-controversial HBO documentary, Tiger, Woods apparently used to look at Phil in “disdain”— unimpressed by Mickelson’s perceived poor work ethic.

A publicly tense rivalry came to a head of sorts at the 2001 Masters when Mickelson and Woods were paired on Sunday. On one tee shot, Woods followed a great drive by Mickelson with an even longer 3-iron, after which Phil reportedly asked Tiger if he normally hit a 3-iron that far. Woods said he usually hit it further, as Tiger’s former caddie Steve Williams has it, adding, “I could sort of sense that Mickelson was feeling a bit dejected… That shot just deflated Phil’s ego.”

The relationship was not helped at the 2004 Ryder Cup [left]. Woods was world No. 1, Mickelson No. 2, and U.S. skipper Hal Sutton thought they would be “as strong as old rope” as a pairing. They promptly lost the opening fourball match on the Friday morning, Sutton stuck with them and the pair lost their afternoon foursomes too.

Mickelson had recently commented that Woods was playing with inferior Nike clubs, yet it was Mickelson who wildly sliced his drive on 18 into an unplayable lie, to put the final nail in this pairing’s coffin. Europe won that Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills by a record margin.

European captain in 2004, Bernhard Langer, later told Kingdom: “The last thing you want is to put players together who don’t like each other. You can’t expect them to carry each other and to encourage each other.”

Clash of Styles England’s Mark James was nothing if not a combative Ryder Cup golfer. Prior to the 1993 Ryder Cup he said: “The only thing that scares me is the Americans’ dress sense.”

James would lose three points from three matches as the U.S. team won 15-13 at The Belfry.

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Brutal Honesty At the 1967 Ryder Cup, U.S. captain Ben Hogan introduced his team as “the 12 best golfers in the world.” Hogan’s confidence was vindicated as his team, including Arnold Palmer, Billy Casper, Gardner Dickinson and Gene Littler trounced the GB&I visitors 23 ½ to 8 ½.

VIJAY V. THE TOUR

BLACK KNIGHT V. KANSAS CIT Y KID In his 1991 autobiography, To Be The Best, Gary Player didn’t exactly praise Tom Watson when the Black Knight wrote that he once thought, “Tom, you aren’t half the man.” Watson had already referred to Player as “the little man,” and twice accused him of wrongdoing. At an early 1980s Canadian Open, Watson accused Player of illegally fixing a spike mark, while at the 1983 Skins Game, Watson accused Player of, as the Washington Post reported, “flattening out a rooted leaf directly behind his ball before attempting a delicate chip shot on the 16th hole—a hole where $120,000 was at stake.”

Player denied breaking any rule and later, for his part, suggested that Watson should return his 1977 Masters and Open Championship titles as both were won with non-conforming grooved irons—a violation that wasn’t uncovered until years after the events. One has to wonder what thoughts were flowing as Watson slipped the Green Jacket onto Player in 1978, but it’s worth noting that the pair apparently never meant for their tension to go public.

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There’s no shortage of spats from which to choose when it comes to Hall of Famer Vijay Singh, the No.1ranked golfer for 32 weeks of his career, and it’s fair to mention that he’s otherwise a fairytale story of sorts who came from incredibly modest circumstances and worked ridiculously hard to achieve greatness. But, a decade following his disparaging comments regarding Annika Sorenstam competing in the 2003 Colonial (look it up if you don’t know), a peculiar brouhaha emerged when the PGA Tour launched an investigation of Singh for doping. Singh had admitted in a magazine article to using “deer antler spray,” which apparently contained the Tour-banned IGF-1 growth hormone. The Tour later dropped its investigation and issued a statement saying it had “no reason to believe that Mr. Singh knowingly took a prohibited substance” after “new information” from the World Anti-Doping Agency “deemed it only fair to no longer treat Mr. Singh’s use of deer antler spray as a violation of the Tour’s anti-doping program.” Singh wasn’t done, however, and filed a lawsuit alleging the Tour had created “public humiliation and ridicule” for him. The slightly askew chapter wasn’t sorted until 2018.

The last word This is not as much trash talk as it is plain razor wit. In the 1972 World Match Play at Wentworth, Lee Trevino was drawn against Tony Jacklin. Jacklin wasn’t in the mood for Trevino’s famous verbal stream of quips. He said, “Lee, I really don’t feel like talking today, if that’s okay, so I’m probably not going to say much.”

In a flash, Trevino replied: “Hey, Tone, you don’t need to talk, just listen.”

There was no stopping Trevino, and Jacklin couldn’t find the answer that day either, losing at the last hole.

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GOLF Stay-aways

BACK & At the right time, in the right place and with the right people, you just can’t beat a great cottage or cabin getaway.

We’ve been into the woods, beyond the river, and through the mountain pass in search of the most restorative cabins and cottages around.

Here’s what we found Views over Big Cedar

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BEYOND

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LOCATION IS NOT EVERYTHING when considering where to find the best cabins and cottages, but it is more than something. Cabins are meant to provide shelter for those who have mounted a great escape, including from urbanization.

Put one behind the cart barn, next to a busy road, near any kind of function-holding facility and what, really, is the point. Just as bad: build the cabins in the perfect place but forget to create an experience to match.

But if one starts with the right spot, a world of potential opens up. A scenic and probably solitary location sets the atmosphere, the sense of freedom, it releases internal pressure valves and it enhances the sense of sanctuary a great cottage provides from the wilderness (even if that wilderness happens to feature a few golf holes here and there).

A great cottage or cabin is where you gather friends, teammates, colleagues or loved ones after a day of sports.

This is where you can watch the warm glow of flames from the fire pit climb into the night sky, when the best cigars are handed around and when the time is finally right to uncork that magnum of special vintage pinot noir. It might be from California, it might be European, but it tastes all the better when shared with those who are close to you. And then the scene is set to debate the merits of bourbon versus Scotch, and how that missed putt on 14 should have been a gimme anyway (not if you missed it, it shouldn’t!).

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BIG CEDAR LODGE

Big Cedar Lodge is unequivocally “America’s Premier Wilderness Resort.” Sling a fishing line, play golf, hire a motorboat on Table Rock Lake or explore an abundance of tracks by foot, mountain bike or horseback—until it’s time for skiing, the primary winter activity at this rustic retreat in the Ozark mountains of Missouri.

Untouched nature combines seamlessly with contemporary luxury at this 4,600-acre destination, and guests can stay in a broad range of beautifully built log cabins, cozy cottages and more substantive lodges. There is a variety of options for every group, from a couple to two eight-man golf teams under one roof. Some of the exquisite details in the cabins and cottages need to be seen to be believed, like the stone-clad bedroom fireplaces and outdoor fireplaces, vintage leather furniture, bedrooms with private balconies—complete with recliners—ornate mirrors and stained glass windows, infinity pools and copper tubs.

And from a spectacular array of 77 golf holes at Big Cedar, don’t miss Big Cedar’s nine-hole, par-three test of breathtaking beauty, Top of the Rock, for which resort owner and conservationist Johnny Morris collaborated on design with Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson.

ERIN HILLS

Erin Hills is a modern club with a traditional feel—having opened in 2006—and spectacular use has been made of this 652-acre expanse of Kettle Moraine post-glacial terrain, which is hemmed in by wetlands and the Ashippun River, 35 miles north-west of Milwaukee.

The five Irish cottages at Erin Hills are spacious, wellappointed and beautifully furnished, epitomizing that homeaway-from-home feeling we all want from a golf cottage.

Named Royal County Down, Royal Portrush, Ballybunion, Lahinch and Waterville in tribute to the homeland heritage of many Wisconsinites, their construction from timber and stone offers striking aesthetic appeal. They are rustic in feel yet comtemporary in amenities.

The cottages reflect the sense of innovation intertwined with tradition that emanates from the whole club, which is something to appreciate while taking in the far-reaching golf course view from the veranda, perhaps while sampling Erin Hills’ own pilsner, which is Milwaukeebrewed, of course.

Erin Hills was built with the specific ambition of hosting major championships, and hosted the U.S. Open in 2017.

Copious use of timber and stone set the scene at some of the world’s best golf properties

Big Cedar Lodge in the Ozarks [above]; Waterville cottage at Erin Hills [left]

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The Golf lodge at Castle Stuart [below]; Sand Valley [right & below right]

CASTLE STUART

Consider this location: Scottish Highlands to the west, the Speyside whisky region to the east, the untouched, rugged majesty of Cairngorms National Park to the south, and to the north, the ice-cold waters of the Moray Firth that flow in and out of the North Sea. Welcome to Castle Stuart, where one of the world’s finest contemporary course designs ties in perfectly with the timeless beauty of northern Scotland.

Castle Stuart has painstakingly renovated three old cottages on the property to ensure golfers can enjoy convenient stays that share the same caliber of amenities as those at the club’s famous art deco clubhouse. The Castle Cottage—which is literally next door to the medieval Castle Stuart itself—the Golf Lodge—hidden amid the dunes and fescue between the 14th and 15th fairways—and the Farmhouse can each cater for four to eight guests.

As for the golf, Phil Mickelson, who won the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart in 2013, went as far as to say that playing Castle Stuart “should almost be a prerequisite before you’re allowed to design golf courses nowadays.”

The course opened in 2009, when Golf Digest called it “the first great links of the 21st Century.” Co-designed by founder Mark Parsinen and architect Gil Hanse, this is a young course with an old head, and while it offers plenty of forgiveness to the lesser player, its hazards are intended to punish the mistakes of the more accomplished.

SAND VALLEY

As if the Sand Valley golf course designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw was not good enough on its own (and believe us this golf course is a spectacular modern classic) they have perched the perfect pint-sized cabin in perfect isolation on a hillside above the 18th hole. “Crenshaw’s Cabin” has one spacious and idyllic bedroom, a screened-in porch and beautifully-appointed bath, and a golf-loving couple could not ask for better.

Four- and eight-bed cousins also feature at Sand Valley, complete with outdoor fire pits. The eight-bed Lake Leopold Cottages have been built on the property’s highest ridge, overlooking the lake while the four-bed Glacial Lake and Dunes Valley Cottages are nestled into sand barrens and are surrounded by oak savannahs.

Sand Valley offers 36 holes of championship golf and a 17-hole short course in the heart of Wisconsin, 160 miles northwest of Milwaukee.

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Irish Influence “I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made; Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee, And live alone in the bee-loud glade” From The Lake Isle of Innisfree, W.B. Yeats (1893)

The Outlook Cabin at Fairmont Jasper [above] and the pool table awaits at Dundonald [right]

FAIRMONT JASPER PARK LODGE

With elevated golf in mind, the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and its broad range of cabins offer the quintessential hideaways in the Canadian Rockies. Settled into Jasper National Park in southern Alberta, 220 miles east from Edmonton, Fairmont Jasper is defined by rich pine forests, the extraordinary and historic mountain golf course, the emerald green waters of Lac Beauvert, and all is enclosed by the towering Rockies.

A broad range of cabins here starts with the quaint, one-bedroom Athabasca Cottage—alternatively known as the Honeymoon Cabin—sitting above the rushing waters of the Athabasca River. A king bedroom is adjoined by a jacuzzi bathroom while a fireplace provides glowing warmth to the cozy living area. The other cabins vary in size but all emanate the same Rocky mountain charm, working up to the imposing Milligan Manor, featuring eight bedrooms and a “great room” with a vaulted ceiling, which must be one of the most desirable reception rooms in the Rockies.

Bob Newhart would have loved it for the Christmas special.

The Manor overlooks the first fairway and even has its own putting green.

The golf course is an alpine masterpiece and dates back to 1925, having taken 50 teams of horses and 200 men a year to clear and build.

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DUNDONALD LINKS

Dundonald Links, sitting amid the golf stronghold of Scotland’s Ayrshire coastline, opened 18 new lodges this summer, providing an impressive illustration of how far contemporary cabins have advanced since the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Offering ideal shelter for visitors looking to play Dundonald and its historic neighbors Royal Troon, Prestwick and Turnberry, these accommodations are the latest manifestation of a recent $35 million investment at Dundonald.

Club manager Ian Ferguson tells us: “The opening of the new lodges is the start of an exciting new chapter for Dundonald Links and we’re thrilled with the initial feedback we have received from guests.”

The new lodges come in two-, four- and six-bedroom varieties and have been built with bag storage and drying areas, and en-suite bathrooms; some even have their own pool tables—rack ’em up.

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TRAVEL Los Cabos

Land’s End, Situated at the tip of the Baja Peninsula, Los Cabos is the Land’s End of the eastern Pacific, providing golfers, fishers and sun-seekers with the whole enchilada on a silver plate

The arch of Cabo San Lucas, “El Arco”, at the extreme southern end of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula

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Baja Style WINTER 2021

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LOS CABOS RADIATES a dry desert climate with low humidity and cool sea breezes, particularly from November through to late spring. Brilliant blue skies and beaming sun?

Check. Technicolor sunsets? Like clockwork.

Formerly a rustic port favored by deep-sea anglers, in the span of 30 years Los Cabos has been reinvented as a beacon for upscale tourism. The game-changer has been the introduction of a pristine portfolio of golf courses built along the 20-mile coastal corridor stretching between San Jose del Cabo—a quaint colonial town—and Cabo San Lucas, a sports fishing mecca and nightlife capital.

Jack Nicklaus, the Golden Amigo, should take a bow.

He first ventured to Cabo in the 1960s to take a break from the PGA Tour and to troll the deep seas for trophy marlin, and he would later put Los Cabos on the international golf

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map with his designs at Palmilla in 1992 and the Ocean Course at Cabo del Sol shortly after.

Nicklaus has since returned to build four additional layouts, thereby almost single-handedly catapulting Los Cabos into the golf vacation stratosphere. If his output is prolific, so is his enthusiasm.

“I couldn’t be happier with the way things have evolved in Los Cabos,” Nicklaus said. “I truly believe Cabo is not only a flagship destination for golf in Mexico, it’s as good as any golf destination in the world. It’s nice to have a legacy of spectacular courses in one of my long-time favorite places.”

Situated at the junction of the Sea of Cortes and the Pacific Ocean, Los Cabos features a unique landscape where the mountains, desert and oceans converge. This is “sui generis”—a place unto itself. The verdant green fairways drop from cactus-studded foothills to golden beaches and the deep blue fishing grounds.

Los Cabos has become the undisputed golf capital of Latin America and improved flight connectivity from most major U.S. cities has put this exotic getaway within easy reach of most intrepid Americans.

Palmilla

The first Jack Nicklaus Signature course in Latin America, Palmilla Golf Club, set the stage for top-shelf golf in Los Cabos when its Mountain and Arroyo nines opened in 1992. Chiseled into a box-shaped canyon walled-in by stark brown peaks, Palmilla fully partakes of the region’s deserton-ocean ecosystem. Routed around cactus-covered hills, boulder-strewn arroyos and vast waste bunkers, the layout’s five sets of tees provide admirable versatility. Several holes call for heroic carries over “no man’s land” from the tips, but broad terraced fairways, generous bail-out areas and openentry greens accommodate players of lesser attainment. The Ocean nine, added in 1997, features a 600-foot elevation change, carrying players from the mountains to the sea.

The golf club is five minutes from One&Only Palmilla, a legendary hideaway built in 1956 by the son of a former president of Mexico. The hotel was later transformed by South African entrepreneur Sol Kerzner into a worldclass resort. This elite retreat, a favorite of Hollywood A-listers, extends onto a rocky promontory that juts into the azure-blue sea. The water is calm enough for swimming at a trio of sheltered coves. Even before its guest rooms were restyled and its restaurants rebranded, this lushly landscaped property reigned as the grand dame of Cabo’s 5-star hotels.

Cabo Del Sol

Cabo Del Sol’s Desert Course was laid out by Tom Weiskopf.

Renowned for his striking creativity in desert landscapes, Weiskopf shoehorned holes into rugged terrain bisected by deep barrancas. The sea floods the horizon at every hole. A thick cactus forest and granite outcrops flank broad fairways, defended by large sculpted bunkers, while the slick greens, the heart of the course, feature long slopes and subtle rolls.

Chileno Bay

The calling card at Chileno Bay Golf & Beach Club is a Tom Fazio design with rolling fairways interlaced by sandy arroyos and framed by flower-strewn hillsides. Elevated tees offer magnificent views of both the mountainous interior and the sea. Fazio created a graceful, flowing course intended to simulate rolling ocean waves. Formal bunkers are filled with bright white sand while native tawny sand outlines the fairways. The back nine builds to a crescendo at the 512-yard, par-4 18th hole, which tumbles downhill to an infinity-edge green.

Costa Palmas

Tucked away on the East Cape, 45 minutes from Los Cabos International Airport, Costa Palmas Golf Club opened in 2019 and stretches across a rolling “dunescape” ringed by the Sierra de la Laguna Mountains. Described by designer Robert Trent Jones, Jr. as “a golf symphony composed of three movements and two transitions,” the layout’s opening holes have greens with open entrances, a design trait that invites players to use bump-and-run shots.

Upland holes explore a lovely parkland setting at the high point of the course. Fairways and greens are defended at every turn by well-placed bunkers on this breezy 7,221yard layout. The golf club includes a six-hole, par-3 short course, a one-acre practice putting green and Bouchie’s, a casual, open-air café.

One of Earth’s most beautiful places, Los Cabos is also one of its greatest golf destinations

[Left page] Cabo Del Sol; Costa Palmas [left]

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Golf Rancho San Lucas

Twin Dolphin

Routed across a broad sloping plateau bisected by three major arroyos high above Santa Maria Bay, the scenic, naturalistic layout at Twin Dolphin Golf Club—built by Fred Couples and Todd Eckenrode—makes excellent use of the site’s native contours and rock outcrops. Opened in 2018, the golf club occupies the site and retains the name of the iconic Hotel Twin Dolphin, a Cabo hospitality legend.

Framed by tall, serrated peaks, this unembellished course has spacious fairways and open-entry greens, conditions are firm and fast. In addition to four sets of tees ranging from 7,156 to 5,011 yards, the club offers three additional sets of combo tees for maximum versatility. Twin Dolphin’s $450 green fee (plus mandatory $50 caddie fee) is the top ticket in town.

Rancho San Lucas

Centerpiece of a resort community set back from a virgin stretch of Pacific beach, the Greg Norman Signature course at Rancho San Lucas Golf Club, opened in 2020, is the destination’s newest venue. Known for his “leastdisturbance” design, Norman engaged the site’s existing terrain, creating a low-profile layout with ocean views from every hole. Spanning three different ecosystems, it rambles through windswept dunes at the start, climbs through a cactus forest, and returns to the sea on the back nine.

The club’s signature features are its revetted pot bunkers.

These sharp-edged, steep-walled sandy pits, constructed

from recycled artificial turf, are identical to the natural sod-walled bunkers often found on British links courses.

During the winter months, golfers can observe breaching humpback whales directly offshore from the seaside holes.

Diamante

Located 15 minutes north of downtown Cabo San Lucas on the Pacific, Diamante is a sprawling resort community with 36 holes of golf plus a family-friendly par-3 course.

The Dunes Course is a brawny Davis Love III design parted through vast white sand hills set back from the sea. This breezy, lie-of-the-land links, known for its huge undulating greens, skirts enormous 50-foot dunes and big blowout bunkers on its journey to and from the sea. Among the feature holes on this prodigious layout is the massive 590-yard par-5 18th, which offers multiple landing areas and calls for a lofted approach to a shelf-like green perched 50 feet above the fairway.

Diamante’s El Cardonal, featuring an “Old California” design motif, marked the architectural debut of Tiger Woods when it opened in 2014. Defined by bold, flashed-faced bunkers, the course transitions from sand dunes to rolling foothills edged by desert and winding arroyos. Woods also designed Diamante’s Oasis Short Course, a versatile test with 12 par 3’s ranging from 41 to 143 yards. The lakefront layout, accented by swaying palm trees, can also play as a three-hole loop featuring a full-length par 3, par 4 and par 5.

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Quivira

Grafted onto a spectacular site at Land’s End, Quivira Golf Club—the sixth Jack Nicklaus-designed course in Los Cabos—is an aesthetic tour de force. It also has massive dunes, twisting arroyos, rolling foothills, lots of rock… so, a little bit of everything Cabo has to offer.

The course passes a famous landmark, the El Faro Viejo lighthouse, which dates back to 1905, and is the centerpiece of Old Lighthouse Golf & Ocean Club. The course weaves through dunes before the 13th—a short par 3—plays across a yawning abyss to a green set atop a pinnacle of granite rising from the surf. Perhaps the most daring, eclectic course Nicklaus has ever built, Quivira presents an unforgettable test.

Old Lighthouse Golf & Ocean Club is an exclusive community that occupies one of the most dramatic locations in Los Cabos, set high above the cliffs at Land’s End, where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific.

Co-developed by Lyle Anderson, the visionary who created Desert Mountain in Arizona, Old Lighthouse offers spacious custom homesites where views are “only limited by your own peripheral vision”. Owners enjoy both sunrise and sunset from homes they personally designed, or from one of the community’s luxurious villas.

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Quivira [top]; Cabo Real [above]; Club Campestre [right]

Old Lighthouse Golf & Ocean Club is set above the cliffs at Land’s End, where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific

Marlin Alley Nicknamed “Marlin Alley,” Los Cabos is a sport fishing capital nonpareil—more big-game fish are caught here than anywhere else in the world.

Blue and black marlin season runs from June through December. Striped marlin are plentiful year-round. Sailfish are taken from April through October. Tuna, dorado, wahoo and roosterfish are among the prized species that swim in Cabo’s nutrient-rich waters. In addition to deep-sea fishing, inshore fishing is popular on pangas, a 22-foot Baja skiff.

Puerto Los Cabos

Situated on the outskirts of San Jose del Cabo, Puerto Los Cabos Golf Club is a 27-hole facility with an 18-hole course

by Jack Nicklaus and a nine-hole layout by Greg Norman.

Puerto Los Cabos offers three 18-hole combinations. While the club dates to 2007, Nicklaus unveiled his second nine, along with revisions to the previous nine, in 2018. The new holes emulate the original style: subtly contoured greens, large sculpted bunkers and dramatic elevation changes.

Large bunkers, inspired by Melbourne’s Sandbelt, signpost the fairways and defend the greens on the Norman Course.

Cabo Real

Winter warmer The whale watching season in Los Cabos, December through March, marks the arrival of whales that migrate from the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean to the warm, calm waters surrounding the Baja Peninsula. Ideal salinity and abundant marine life make the bays and lagoons around Los Cabos the perfect place for whales to birth and rear their young. Of the eight species that venture to Cabo, the most visible are the humpback whales, which spout close to shore and thrust themselves out of the water in fantastic leaps. Whale-watching excursions are available from the Cabo San Lucas marina.

The reversal of the nines at Cabo Real Golf Club several years ago improved the balance of a Jekyll-and-Hyde course designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. The front nine spills down to the Sea of Cortes. Cabo Real’s back nine, marked by steeply pitched holes carved into rugged desert foothills, features elevated greens and ridgetop fairways to create a top-of-the-world feel nearly 500 feet above the sea. Green complexes and containment mounds mimic the shapes of the richly hued mountain peaks that backdrop the course.

Club Campestre

Sandy waste areas, large-scale bunkers and sinuous arroyos mark the Nicklaus Design at Club Campestre San Jose.

Campestre’s greens, among the most liberally contoured in Los Cabos, can be very challenging depending on pin placement. The signature hole is the risk-reward par-5 seventh, a double-dogleg that plays to a peninsula green that juts into a pond. The longer, tougher back nine ascends to higher ground, circulating players around a rolling desert plateau. Club Campestre showcases the beauty of the Baja desert and represents excellent value.

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The Cabo lifestyle, elevated.

Welcome to Old Lighthouse Golf & Ocean Club. Barely one mile outside the heart of Cabo San Lucas, this private gated community embodies the very finest of the Cabo lifestyle. Once here, you won’t want to leave.

After all, everything you come to Cabo for is right here. Enjoy three miles of pristine beaches, one of Golf Digest’s “World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses,” and world-class amenities.

Spectacular ocean and golf view homesites are nestled atop dramatic dunes nearly 300 feet above the ocean, offered from $2 million.

For a private tour, visit the Quivira Golf Club 1-888-864-2224 (US) | 52-624-142-9934 (MX) | Lighthouse.Golf

TRAVEL RVs

GOLF & RV’ING

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Bubba Watson adds elegance to his drive with a new Marathon Coach

H

aving travelled the country as a professional golfer for nearly 20 years, Bubba Watson has experienced his share of magnificent surroundings. But it was only recently that the two-time Masters champion decided to have some of his favorite luxuries and creature comforts custom-designed into an elegant home away from home on wheels, and it’s made a big difference for his family.

Watson’s vision of a luxury RV came to life in April when he took delivery of his new quad-slide Marathon/ Prevost H3-45 coach.

It’s a spectacular, one-of-a-kind drive (and ride), the motorcoach equivalent, if you will, of the 424-yarder Watson lasered down the 16th fairway at the Bridgestone Invitational a few years back.

Just like that other-worldly drive, Watson’s new Marathon Coach has to be seen to be truly appreciated.

From the custom exterior paint with metallic blue accents to the comfortable, contemporary interior, the luxury styling certainly meets the expectations of a 12-time tournament champion. And, with room to spare, Watson’s family can also join him on his travels.

All of this begs the question: What convinced Watson to become the latest in a line of pro golfers to embrace luxury RV’ing on the road?

“I never really considered getting an RV until a few years ago,” says Watson. “Wish I had done it sooner. It is

so much nicer than I imagined. I used to worry if my hotel room would have a comfortable bed or a funny smell.

Not anymore. With my RV, I know exactly what to expect at every tournament, and it is really nice. It’s easy to see why so many people think of RVs as their home away from home but, like a lot of people, I didn’t really understand until I gave it a try.”

Watson’s first try sealed the deal. It came during a golf tournament in Orlando, Florida, during which Lee Pharris, owner of Pros Home on Tour, convinced the Watsons to stay in a coach built by Marathon’s Quebec-based partner, Prevost. Pharris has a long track record of successfully introducing professional golfers to the benefits of the luxury RV lifestyle.

“My whole selling point with delivering luxury, on-site tour accommodations is players can have a greater sense of stability and a home life by getting a motorhome, and living on the road that way, as opposed to the hotel,” Pharris says.

“They’re not living out of a suitcase all of the time.”

Founded in 1983, Marathon Coach is the world’s largest and most experienced luxury bus-conversion company, turning shells built by Prevost into lavish traveling residences. In its nearly four decades in business, Marathon Coach has produced more than 1,300 custom bus conversions worldwide, by far an industry record.

The company has earned its standing by producing innovative luxury coaches that meet and exceed their

[left ] Exterior of a Marathon/Prevost coach; [right] Interior of Bubba Watson’s home away from home

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Interior shots from Bubba Watson’s Marathon Coach

owners’ exacting standards for quality and design then backing them with an unwavering commitment to exemplary service after the sale. That commitment is demonstrated in countless ways and is no more evidenced than in Marathon Coach’s commitment to operate sales and service facilities in Oregon, Florida and Texas to best serve its family of valued owners and future customers.

Watson and his wife, Angie, are among the more recent owners to experience Marathon Coach’s exceptional quality and service. Once they made the decision to buy, the Watsons connected with Marathon Coach sales representative, Kasey Hess, and Marathon’s design teams, who guided Watson and Angie through the tailoring process.

“The Watsons were so great to work with,” says Hess.

“Creating a ‘home on the road’ for Bubba, Angie and the kids became a great project.”

The Watsons and Marathon Coach designer Brenda Kraft customized their interior together. “The challenges that come with an RV are quite different than residential design,” Kraft says. “From our years of experience making a small space feel larger, we know that scale is everything. In such a limited space, every choice matters.

“If design isn’t thought out thoroughly, you can quickly get a lot of visual noise from too much going on, like patterns, lines and colors. Knowing where to place eye-catching elements and where to use a ‘quieter’ material is so important. It takes a judicious eye and a lot of experience to walk the line between too much and not enough when every fabric, leather and tile in the world is at your disposal.”

Because Watson isn’t the first professional athlete

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Consistency, stability and luxury on the road—for Marathon owners and families Hess has worked with, he knows first-hand how dramatically a Marathon Coach enhances the life of someone who spends so much time on the road.

“The pros who’ve established the motorcoach lifestyle are able to stay near the courses they’re playing and bring their families along; they are basically taking their homes with them,” Hess says. “It provides a sense of normalcy and consistency from week to week.”

There’s no telling what all the benefits of Bubba Watson’s luxurious new home will add to his already great game. It remains to be seen, for example, whether there’s another 424-yard swing in his future. But as long as he owns his Marathon Coach, he’ll always have a spectacular drive.

Marathon Coach is the world leader in luxury motorhomes, known for top workmanship, craftspeople and clients. Since 1983, the family-owned firm has produced over 1,300 Prevost luxury motorhomes for customers. These unique works of art are complete with almost every modification imaginable, including many industry-patented amenities. Whether chasing the luxury RV lifestyle or in need of a luxury motorcoach for business interests, Marathon Coach has the answer.

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The World’s Largest Luxury Bus Converter Marathon Coach Oregon Marathon Coach Texas Marathon Coach Florida 91333 Coburg Industrial Way 1175 Post and Paddock Lane 11623 Corporate Lake Blvd.

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www.marathoncoach.com

The environmentally-conscious, neoBaroque grandeur of Villa Copenhagen

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TRAVEL Second Acts

Old School, New Lease Surprises await in former government buildings, post offices and warehouses that have been reimagined into hotels brimming with fascination, warmth, color and a vibrant new lease on life Words: Alexandria Abramian & David Hochman

Danish Twist

T

wenty years ago, guests went to a hotel to be

hermetically sealed from a city’s shabbier elements. Now old bones are the draw, lending a sense of history, a connection to place and perhaps a bit of luxurious virtue signaling, Hey, this isn’t just indulgence! We’re good for you, too!

In Denmark’s capital, the latest noble overhaul is Villa Copenhagen, a grand dame hotel for the 21st century built within the stunning frame of the 1912 Central Post and Telegraph head office. A herring hawker from a century ago might recognize the neo-Baroque gem alongside Central Station and opposite Tivoli Gardens but the updates completed over nearly three years (London’s award-winning Universal Design Studio oversaw the build) are pioneering even for this forward-facing city.

More than 600 new windows match the originals exactly, except these are double glazed to preserve energy and eliminate noise pollution (trains on Track No. 1 arrive directly under the building). There’s an outdoor lap pool that draws its heat from excess A/C energy and the flipflops are fashioned from old tires. The hotel’s Earth Suite is sustainable from floor to ceiling, using only recycled materials and textiles and eco-friendly furnishings by Danish manufacturer Mater Design. Looking for the minibar? It is located inside an old-fangled bank safe.

“Tourists may come to Copenhagen to see the Little Mermaid but much more they want to see what makes this city so livable and sustainable,” says Peter Høgh Pedersen, Managing Director of Villa Copenhagen, a member of Preferred Hotels & Resorts. Luxury, he says, is dependent on conscious and sensible choices that take the environment and communities into account, going beyond material things to an appreciation and an enjoyment of the best that life has to offer. “One of the reasons we’re consistently ranked as the happiest city on earth,” he says, “is because of our conscientious values, and we live and breathe that ethos.”

Balance is one of those values and the Villa brings that back, too. On the roof, away from all the tram and bicycle traffic, there’s a hidden herb and spice garden ready for the picking and a beehive producing organic honey. The dining program by executive chef Tore Gustafsson (from buzzy Paté Paté) aims to be “carbon free.” Even the hotel air was tweaked to promote harmony with the environment. In the courtyard, Danish fragrance brand Skandinavisk created signature scented candles that blend smells of nature and Scandinavian life. Needless to say, all their products come in refillable bottles to limit single-use plastic across the property. “Everything we’re doing is very deliberate,” says Pedersen.

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Delicately rich and fantastically elegant, JK Place offers fine fare and royal-esque refuge

Parisian Art

C

onverted from three separate buildings that

once served as the Norwegian Embassy in the 7th Arrondissement of Paris, JK Place marks hotelier Ori Kafri’s first venture beyond his Italian enclaves of chic in Rome and Capris. The result is a highly personalized, quietly opulent townhouse hideaway with interior design by Michele Bonan, although art enthusiast Kafri enjoys hunting down many of the eclectic works of art that decorate his hotels and capture the attention of guests. Italian furniture and objets d’art commune with antiques from the French capital’s bestknown flea markets.

Overlooking the Seine’s Left Bank and steps from the Orsay Museum—and behind a discreet entrance that’s easy to miss—the location of JK Place could not be closer to the grand old heart of the French capital, where the architecture and outward prospects are coveted as much as the current occupants of the Musée du Louvre, just across the water.

The hotel features 29 spacious rooms, each with sprawling bathrooms, while its Sisley Spa includes an indoor swimming pool crafted from Bisazza mosaics. Its restaurant, Casa Tua, offers an exceptional departure from typical luxury hotel fare with its focus on relaxed Italian cuisine with a French twist.

A discreet entrance and a location near the French capital’s heart makes this the perfect Parisian escape

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Last stop: Memphis

M

emphis is a musical holy land. Groove

Hayes from his Black Moses album gazes over the lobby, where a double-height wall is made of hi-fi speakers.

Most impressive is the 8 & Sand Bar. Designers transformed the former train concourse into a step-down lounge with thousands of vinyl records, hundreds of music books and at least two DJs per night. All the records are Memphis-related. (It’s amazing how much of it there is!)

The DJs know their tuneage and happily tell you how to find the famous but hidden Royal Studios (Elton John, Snoop Dogg, Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson, and so on).

The property anchors the revitalization of the South Main district, now bouncing back with new and historic clubs and restaurants. Central Station is even directly across the street from Arcade Restaurant, where Elvis had his own booth.

Courtesy of The Central Station Hotel

worshippers worldwide come here to visit Elvis Presley’s Graceland, Sun Records studio (where everyone from Johnny Cash to U2 made huge hits), Beale Street (where live blues bands kill it nightly), and Rev. Al Greene’s Full Gospel Tabernacle church (where the legendary soul singer performs and preaches occasional Sundays). Now musical pilgrims have the ultimate home base: Central Station Hotel.

The property is a stunning $23.2 million “adaptive reuse” of Memphis’ 1914 depot. The station remains while the new boutique hotel unfolds within it like a musical shrine.

Each of the 123 guestrooms have handcrafted EgglestonWorks speakers, made in Memphis and pumping Memphis-oriented songs. A mammoth portrait of Isaac

Deep South meets modern design —and top tunes—in the Central Station Hotel, blue suede shoes not required

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WITH HALF A DAY TO SPARE:

PARIS

Steve Carr / Le Golf National ©

Other Reinventions

Head to Le Golf National and play the Albatros Course, venue for the 2018 Ryder Cup and home to the French Open.

In the Post

Located in the heart of Ghent, 1898 The Post is a striking boutique hotel that has recently emerged from an identity change as a 19th century post office. With its neo-Gothic bones maintained the hotel casts a moody spell throughout—

dark woods, sloped ceilings and a captivating mash-up of worn antiques with modern-day amenities.

Desert Drift

A remote, roadside retreat, Cuyama Buckhorn has been entirely reimagined for food-focused, high-desert drifters.

Originally a high-desert roadside motel on Highway 166 outside of Santa Barbara, this 1952 retreat keeps its Mid-century design cred while catering to a new crowd of cowboys moonlighting as winemakers and celebrities looking for a weekend escape.

COPENHAGEN

Book a tee time at Royal Copenhagen Golf Club, the oldest golf club in Scandinavia and land that was once hunting grounds.

An art-fueled odyssey engineered by Hauser & Wirth power couple Iwan and Manuela Wirth, The Fife Arms fuses past and present from what was once a humble Victorian coaching inn, nestled in Braemar in the Scottish Highlands.

Look for period details (floral wallpaper and intricate wood headboards) and massive statements by today’s current art stars, including Guillermo Kuitca’s cubist-inspired murals; Subodh Gupta’s colossal chandelier made from Indian pans and bicycles; and Richard Jackson’s tangle of neon antlers suspended in the stairwell.

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MEMPHIS

Enjoy tour-level golf and facilities at TPC Southwind, home to the PGA Tour’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Classic.

TPC Network

Highland Retreat

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An Ogeechee tupelo tree highlighted in the Dead Lakes area of Wewahitchka, Florida

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FEATURE Golden

The flowers are fragile, the season short, its bees are under attack and there’s only one small region on Earth where it can be made.

So what’s so sweet about tupelo honey?

Everything.

S

SPUN OUT OF NIGHT, the darkness here oozes over the

roads, drips between the leaves and down the trunks of the cypress and tupelo and settles deep into the swamp water of the Florida panhandle, turning it so black you can’t tell where to breathe. The cypress wear it, hang it in their Spanish moss and carry night into day. But the tupelos do something else in the darkness, something extraordinary and golden, and when dawn breaks in the right season and the awesome sunlight warms the swamps, that gold can find your lips, and then the center of your open heart, for no other tree in this world makes a tupelo flower, and no other flower makes possible the pour of heaven that is tupelo honey.

Treasure-gold with a lime tint, tupelo honey tastes like soft buttered citrus. It has a sense of fresh-cut white wood about it, maybe a whisper of pear and spice. There’s no aftertaste of which to speak, but the best parts of the sweetness linger longer than a contented sigh. It adorns dishes in fine European restaurants and sweetens coffee in humble North Florida kitchens, and it’s there for the taking

wherever tupelo trees and bees come together. Compared to the stuff in the plastic bear that goes for $5 at your local grocery (which might not even be honey), tupelo honey can sell for $30 per pound online, with one company offering a 20oz bottle of its “Gold Reserve” for $120.

It’s expensive because it’s good, rare and hard to harvest. The tupelo tree only flowers for a few weeks each year, sometimes only for a few days, and so there’s not much time to get it. Add in weather, worker issues, out-of-state bees brought in by seasonal interlopers looking to score big, plus plenty of fake tupelo honey on the market, and the challenges are daunting. There are no shortcuts; it can only be gathered where people care enough to do it right— and where there are tupelo trees. Primarily, that means in Wewahitchka, Florida, and don’t try telling anyone here that folks up in Georgia make tupelo honey, too.

“This is the only place in the world where the trees grow in enough abundance to produce it commercially,” says Glynnis Lanier, married to Ben Lanier, whose family has been making tupelo honey in “Wewa,” as the locals call it, since 1898. “Tupelo trees will grow in different places, but you don’t have enough of them to make quality honey.

Quality tupelo honey is made only in Wewa.”

Georgians will disagree, of course, but there’s no denying that the Wewa area is the center of the tupelo universe, and possibly nearer to heaven than even the beekeepers realize.

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The Trees

Wewa sits in the wilds of Florida’s panhandle, about an hour and a half down a state highway southwest of Tallahassee.

Besides a honey festival in May, near when the tupelo tree flowers, and some attention as the setting for the Peter Fonda-as-beekeeper movie Ulee’s Gold (the Laniers were consultants for the film), it’s a quiet town. Back in the 1950s the area raised a chorus when a local Baptist preacher named Elvy Callaway declared his nearby town of Bristol to be the site of the Biblical Garden of Eden. Elvy noted the area’s gopher wood (Noah’s preferred material for arks); the local river system with four heads, as described for Eden; and that 28 of the 30-some trees mentioned in the Bible are found here. Tupelo didn’t make it into the Good Book, but the tree is here, and nearly only here.

Specifically, the tree in question is nyssa ogeche, a deciduous tree commonly called white tupelo or Ogeechee tupelo [ just “tupelo” throughout this story].

“It’s native to this area, but there are pockets throughout the Florida panhandle and up into Georgia,” says Ray Bodrey, Jr., an agricultural scientist who directs the University of Florida Gulf County Extension, based in Wewa. “The population here is one of the largest population sets of the tree that I know of.”

As Bodrey explains, tupelo trees require a lot of water and like to grow in the water, but not in water that’s too deep. Also, tupelos like water slowly flowing, not standing, and they like a temperate climate. All of that nicely describes Wewa’s Dead Lakes area, 6,700 acres that is, as local Matt Godwin describes it, “part swamp, part river, part lake and all pristine Florida wilderness.” Accordingly, it’s no surprise that the trees flourish here, their branches winding over the water, sometimes bearing little bunches of fruit, a not unpleasantly bitter “river lime” once favored for preserves.

Godwin runs Off The Map Expeditions, taking tourists fishing, kayaking and exploring on the Dead Lakes, where the Chipola and Apalachicola Rivers connect. He explains that where you do find tupelos inland, they won’t be far from water and likely were in water at some point. This last fact sets locals buzzing as dams in Georgia and fights over water rights have led to lower water levels in the Wewa area and, according to a 2008 U.S. Geologic Survey report, a 44 percent drop in the region’s Ogeechee tupelo population between 1976 and 2004. Adding to the challenge is that the tupelo tree’s flowers, when they do appear, are fragile, easily knocked off in a strong rain, for example.

“Everything comes into play with the tupelo tree,” says Glynnis. “It’s a real fickle bloom. It’s like other things that the bees work, other blossoms, it can rain and then they can go back to work and get nectar from it. But with the tupelo blossom they can’t do that; it has to completely dry back out before they can get nectar out of it again.”

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Bee hive in a home garden at Blue-Eyed Girl Honey [above]; white tupelo “river limes” [left]; a bee working a tupelo flower [opposite]

The Bees

“The manufacturing process doesn’t change across honey types,” explains Dr. Jamie Ellis, Gahan Endowed Professor of Entomology in the Department of Entomology and Nematology at the University of Florida, and a renowned honey bee expert. “Bees will collect nectar the same way, take it back to their hive the same way, and mix in enzymes and evaporate off a lot of water the same way, but you’ll get different colors and flavors and qualities of honey. Honey bees are really good at finding nectar and will gravitate to plants that produce a lot of it. Tupelo produces a lot of nectar, and the unique attributes of the nectar that are part of the tupelo contribution make it a palatable and desirable honey for humans.”

Dr. Ellis points out that most of the roughly 20,000 species of bees in the world are solitary bees, not social, while honey bees live in a colony—a functioning group of bees, usually near 1,000, that all live together in a “hive,” which is the structure in which they live. He says an average Florida colony will forage from three to five miles from its hive and produce between 50 and 60lbs of honey per year, perhaps up to 250lbs if it’s a really good year. It’s tough to put an average on tupelo production, given the variables involved and the short production window, but he agrees the bees favor it when it’s in bloom.

In terms of actually gathering the nectar to make tupelo honey, bees will eat a little honey pre-flight for energy, and then the process goes something like this: Honey bees go to flowers, stick their tongues in, and suck nectar up into a special organ in their body called the “crop,” which is kind of a nectar storage tank, and then fly back to their hive and spit that up into wax cells—aka the honeycomb, which in a beekeeper’s hive is built on a “frame.”

Frames are kept in “boxes,” and often there are ten frames to a box, with multiple boxes stacked in a hive. While the nectar is in the crop, certain enzymes begin to mix with it, and the enzymic changes continue once the spit-up nectar is in the comb. Raw nectar is something like 20% sugar and 80% water, and the bees need to reverse that ratio; it needs to be roughly 20% water and 80% sugar, for logistical reasons (more concentrated means it takes up less space) and because wet nectar is prone to fermentation. To dry the nectar, the bees will stand at the entrance to the hive and fan their wings, evaporating off the excess moisture. Once that’s sorted, they cap it with a layer of wax and it’s done.

Curiously, as Dr. Ellis explains, individual bees are cold blooded while a colony is warm blooded. This is demonstrated in the colony’s ability to thermoregulate, keeping the hive’s center core near 94.5˚F, he says, which is critical to keeping the colony safe.

“When it’s hot, the bees will collect water and sprinkle it around the comb,” he says, “then they’ll stand at the hive

entrance and fan their wings to cool the nest.” Conversely, when temperatures dip below 50˚F or so, “they’ll cluster into a tight ball, un-hinge their flight muscles from their wings and shiver their flight muscles, which heats the cluster of bees. The honey is in there to help them generate the energy to keep them alive.”

Bees can’t do much about the weather, of course, and Hurricane Michael—the category 5 storm that hit the Florida panhandle in 2018—tore them up, damaging hives and stripping vegetation to the point that the bees were effectively starving. Some beekeepers brought in trucks of corn syrup to feed their bees while the vegetation repopulated, but the hurricane’s impact can still be felt today. Worse than weather, however, is the varroa destructor, a parasitic mite that gets onto a bee and sucks out its fat bodies, often transmitting various viruses back to the bee in the process. An infestation of these leads to the death of an entire colony, and the Laniers and other beekeepers say there’s little they can do to fight it.

“There’s hardly anything that’ll kill that mite; nothing works anymore,” says Glynnis. “They will kill your hives so fast it’s unbelievable… It’s kinda scary because people don’t understand that one out of every three things you eat primarily comes from a honey bee; they’re the pollinators for that food and people don’t realize that. Ben’s dad had a lady tell him one time, she wasn’t worried about the bees— she’d ‘just go buy her food at the grocery store.’ People, they just can’t make that connection.”

The bees will stand at the hive entrance and fan their wings to help evaporate excess moisture off the honey

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The People

For beekeepers like Ben Lanier, that connection is very real.

“He’s an old-time real beekeeper,” Glynnis says, “takes care of them like they’re his children.” As part of family tradition of working tupelo honey that goes back over 100 years, Ben and Glynnis still sell their honey today under the L.L. Lanier & Son’s label (still appropriate, as the Lanier’s 18-year-old son is in the business, too). Having forgotten more about bees than most people will ever learn, Ben still remembers his first bee encounter: “Getting stung on the lip when I was about 2,” he says. “Daddy toted me out in the bee yard and one stung me on the lip; my lip pooched out and I remember momma holding me, and I remember slobberin’, my lip swelled up and they got me a straw so I could drink. That’s the first bee sting I remember.”

On the other end of the experience spectrum, Gary Adkison and Pam Palmer are just a few years into the tupelo trade, working 50 hives under the Blue-Eyed Girl Honey label while running their construction business, Hive & Home. For the couple, there’s more to it than just the business, there’s something elemental.

“I had this great career, changing people’s lives putting them in houses that I’d built,” says Gary, a hardworking home-builder who explained that the crash in 2008 essentially wiped him out. “I lost everything I’d worked for. It was like stepping back in time, and when I found bees it was like getting back in touch with mother nature, getting back in touch with God. I fell in love with beekeeping.”

A Wewa native, Gary says the honey connection to his hometown also means something to him, a sentiment shared by Pam, also an area native, who met Gary through bees. The former school guidance counselor and principal of the local middle school, she’d helped enroll Gary’s kids in kindergarten. A few years ago, with the kids grown and both of them moved on from past relationships, “the bees definitely brought us together,” she says. “Gary gets it from the hive to the bottle, and I get it from the bottle to the store shelf. I could never do what he does, and he could never do what I do. Everything in our lives is that way.”

There’s a wide range of people in beekeeping for a wide range of reasons, and while the bees do the work of actually making the honey, each beekeeper also affects the finished product—and not just a little.

The bees are just after the nectar—it’s up to the beekeeper to determine the quality of the honey

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Ben & Glynnis Lanier and a jar of their much-lauded tupelo honey; sign on a roadside shop in Wewa [opposite]

The Product

“The bees are just after the nectar,” says Glynnis. “It’s up to the beekeeper to determine the quality of the honey.” As she and Ben explain, bees make honey from whatever’s around, and so an area sparsely populated by tupelo would yield a honey only fractionally made from tupelo nectar—i.e., not pure tupelo honey. Also, if the harvested honey includes portions of honey made before or after the tupelo blooms, then it, too, would contain honey from other nectars.

Some beekeepers put their hives on barges and push them up under the tupelo that grow along the riverbanks.

Others build dirt mounds near the tupelo and set their hives on them, out of the water. The closer to the tupelo, the easier for the bees and the more honey they make.

Another problem, several beekeepers told us, is people from out of town bringing bees into the Wewa area during tupelo season and “squatting” them on land around town. I spoke with one such operator from Michigan who, like many other beekeepers, does big business by pollenating agricultural

fields in California and other states, moving his bees around on trucks or shipping them to areas that need his services.

Come tupelo season, he told me he’ll take 8,000 hives to the Wewa area to harvest as much tupelo as possible. Consider that the Laniers run fewer than 1,000 hives and one can understand the local frustrations, especially as the Laniers make only tupelo honey with their bees; they don’t send them out for pollenation or make other honeys. Outside of tupelo season, Ben says, “I’m just tryin’ to keep ’em alive.”

The Michigan company purchased land in Wewa and has reached out to locals, but, the rep admits, “we’re still a Yankee from Northern Michigan in the Southern Florida panhandle, and some people let us know it.”

When the tupelo season is on things move fast, and knowing when to start and stop taking honey is key. Take honey too early and it will include nectar from whatever bloomed before the tupelo. Leave your last take too late, and you’ll get nectar from whatever’s blooming after, often gallberry. The key is to get as much pure tupelo honey as possible in the short couple of weeks the tupelo is blooming, which means cleaning the hives’ frames during the “overlap” period at the beginning of the season and taking your last honey before the bees are into something else. Timing comes down to experience, and Ben has plenty.

“I watch the trees, and how the blossom is progressing, I will get in a boat and go down the river and look at the trees. And I’ll taste of it, stick my thumbnail in it and taste of the nectar that’s coming in,” he says. “Black gum’s the last thing that blooms before the tupelo; it’s real clear, clear as water almost, but it sugars—if you let it go in with the tupelo it turns to sugar, and a lot of people do that. And I’ll take the honey a second time, before the tupelo. I’ll clean ’em out and then go back and clean ’em out again if they put black gum in there, and I’ll make less honey to make a better grade of honey.”

In working with the bees, the Laniers and other experienced beekeepers use smoke to help keep the bees calm (it masks an alarm pheromone bees give off when they feel threatened) but they don’t care for the hazmat-style top-to-toe bee suits you see on TV: “We never wear bee suits, never have,” says Glynnis. “A lot of times we work ’em even without a bee hat on, but you have to pick your days and times to do that.”

The ideal time, she says, is when it’s bright, “sunshiny” and warm—“when they’re out working. The more are out working, the less there are at home to get angry with you.”

Full hives are offloaded onto boats or trucks, the frames removed, the wax caps covering the honey are cut off of the frames, and the frames are then put into a honey spinner/extractor, which does just what it says: spins the frames around ’til the honey comes off. From there, the

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It’s hard work taking honey in spring; most people can’t cut it, can’t even make it through the day Laniers strain it and bottle it raw, with no in-between stages to compromise the honey’s taste or quality.

“It’s real labor-intensive—anything you do with bees, it’s labor-intensive,” Glynnis explains. “The boxes get really heavy. That box can weigh 80lbs, and if you’ve got three boxes on one hive, that’s a lot of lifting to take honey in the spring. You have to have some big, strong, young boys, most people can’t cut it. We’ve worked a lot of young boys and most of ’em can’t cut it, can’t even make it through the day.

“We keep things pretty basic. We do a lot of things the same way they were doing it back when Ben’s dad worked.

We have a machine now that cuts the caps off; we used to do it by hand with a scraper. And the extractors used to be hand-cranked, they’re run by a motor now; but that really is about the only thing that we’ve changed. We strain it through cheesecloth to catch the wax, and we still bottle it by hand. When you run it though those bottling machines it puts heat on it. We don’t let any heat touch our honey, it’s one of the reasons our honey tastes so much better.”

It’s also the reason real tupelo honey offers so many nutritional benefits. Tupelo honey has a uniquely high fructose-to-glucose ratio; seven types of vitamin B; vitamin C; amino acids; and small amounts of proteins and various enzymes. Because of its composition, it doesn’t crystallize like other honeys. Large honey operations typically heat honey to keep it from crystallizing, extending shelf life in grocery stores, but this process also removes the nutritional benefits and yields little more than a sugary sweetener.

Beekeepers told me that the State of Florida only requires 51% of the honey to be sourced from tupelo to be labeled as such, and so there’s a wide range of qualities on the market, making it advisable to source from a reputable provider.

“I can tell you immediately about the quality of a honey,” Glynnis says. “It’s just years of doing it; you know by the smell, the taste and several different things.”

Open a jar of regular honey, Glynnis says, and you’ll get a “caramelly” smell, which means it’s been heated. In contrast, a jar of pure tupelo offers a floral smell. Likewise, if there’s gallberry in there, not uncommon for some honeys

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Sign at the Lanier’s honey shop [above]; Pam Palmer and Gary Adkison of Hive & Home and Blue-eyed Girl Honey

sold as tupelo, she says there will be a bitter taste at the end, which pure tupelo honey does not have.

Color, smell, taste… It’s not easy, but that’s why tupelo honey commands the prices and the affection that it does.

There are a lot of realities and challenges to tupelo honey, and no matter how prepared you are or how ready you feel, it all comes down to a single truth: “You get one shot a year at it,” Glynnis says, “and that’s it.”

LEGACY 60 Years

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“The Big Three” first played together on the pro debut of Jack Nicklaus

Arnold Palmer [right] at the ground-breaking of CC of Miami with [l to r] Charles Netter, John Black, Guy Bailey & Joseph Benner

Palmer, Nicklaus and Player became known as golf’s “Big Three” by the end of 1962, but records show that the first time these three legends played together was at a made-for-TV exhibition at the Country Club of Miami nearly 60 years ago. From waist-deep in the archives, Dave Shedloski reports IT WAS BILLED AS A GRAND OPENING but also as a grand

entrance for another potential star of professional golf.

It ended up signifying a grand beginning to perhaps the most compelling and important era in the game, marked by the intertwining careers of three all-time great competitors and sportsmen.

The occasion was an exhibition, dubbed the “Orange Bowl Classic,” and it was set up to a blast. Portions of it aired on CBS Sports, and it featured a fourball of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Sam Snead on December 30, 1961, at the Country Club of Miami, which was marking its grand opening.

Now approaching its 60th anniversary, this was among golf’s earliest made-for-television events, and our research shows it was the first time the “Big Three” played together as professionals—and probably the first time they stepped on a tee together at all.

It was a power foursome who split four ways a purse of $10,000, no matter who won. Palmer, the reigning Open champion, already was the most popular figure in the game.

He also was the host professional at the new Florida club.

South Africa’s Player was coming off a season in which he’d won the Masters and had become the first foreign-born player to lead the tour’s money list. Nicklaus had finished off his amateur career by winning the NCAA Championship and his second U.S. Amateur title and was making his professional debut. And Snead was a legend, of course, once part of another exceptionally gifted trio that included Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan, all of them born in 1912. Though he was nearing 50, Snead had captured the Tournament of Champions that year for his 81st victory, the penultimate win of his career.

Nicklaus and Palmer had crossed paths once before, in the fall of 1958 in Athens, Ohio, as participants in

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“Yep, I hit my first shot as a professional in the water.

All these years later I still want to go back and hit that shot again” — Jack Nicklaus “Dow Finsterwald Day” at Athens CC. Finsterwald— one of Palmer’s closest friends—had won the 1958 PGA Championship, and as part of the celebration Palmer paired with Ohio’s amateur phenom against Finsterwald and another amateur standout, Howard Baker Saunders of nearby Gallipolis, Ohio. The Palmer-Nicklaus team won, thanks mainly to a course-record 62 from Palmer, the reigning Masters champ.

Meanwhile, Player never had met the “burly Ohioan,” as one newspaper described Nicklaus, but he immediately took a liking to the young Golden Bear in Miami. “He’s a powerful boy… and a nice fellow besides,” Player was quoted in the newspapers after shooting a winning 70. “It’s one thing to be a great golfer and quite another to be a nice fellow, too.”

Snead carded a 71, while Nicklaus and Palmer settled for 73s. The four men carded a best-ball score of 67. The host pro was less than thrilled. “My game is shot,” Palmer told reporters. “You saw how terrible I was out there.”

Nicklaus, who stopped by CC of Miami a few years ago unannounced, thrilling golfers in attendance, recalls the day clearly, mostly because he hit into water hazards three times, including a pull-hook on the first hole. He told the Miami Herald after the event: “I was disappointed because I wanted my first drive as a pro to be something extra.”

“Yep, I hit my first shot as a professional in the water,” he said more recently. “All these years later I still want to go back and hit that tee shot again.”

Palmer said the exhibition was the first of many “to stimulate interest in golf,” and when Nicklaus won his first professional title, the 1962 U.S. Open at Oakmont—by beating Palmer in a playoff—a pattern started to emerge.

Fred Corcoran, a former tournament manager for the tour, was telling reporters that golf was on the verge of “the third great cycle of golf,” with Nicklaus, Palmer and Player. Before them, he said, had been Snead, Nelson and Hogan, and preceding them was Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen.

Later that year, the first World Series of Golf was held at Firestone CC in Akron, Ohio. It featured the major winners of 1962. They were Palmer, Nicklaus and Player. The

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MIAMI FIVE

Today, the Country Club of Miami is part of a five-strong portfolio of golf courses operated under the auspices of Miami-Dade County Parks. The other four courses are the nine-hole Briar Bay layout (designed by Bruce Devlin and Robert Von Hagge); Crandon Golf at Key Biscayne, which is a former Champions Tour venue; the nine-hole Greynolds Golf Course which dates back to 1964; and Palmetto Golf Course, which is the oldest of the quintet, dating back to 1959 and designed by Dick Wilson, who also laid out the original 18 holes at Palmer’s Bay Hill.

The Country Club of Miami is a 36-hole club with a rich tournament history. Robert Trent Jones designed the original 18 to wide acclaim, with Lee Trevino among the list of its tour champions. Comedian Jackie Gleason lived at the club and would regularly host famous guests on the course including Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.

era of “The Big Three” was at hand.

The legendary “Big Three” marked a period of golf that saw unprecedented growth and popularity in the game spurred by three men who were rivals, fierce competitors, friends—and the best players in the world who took their craft to practically every corner of it.

“I don’t know that we ever talked about our being ‘The Big Three’ or any of us ever uttered any personal thoughts about the fact that we shared that sort of collective identity,” Palmer once told me. “I think we just let it happen.” It happened, as Nicklaus said, “because we were winning everything,” and Player noted that, “Jack, Arnold and myself, we won over 350 golf tournaments.”

“The Big Three” was a marketing dream for sure, but it was no gimmick: the moniker was well-earned—and was integral to the evolution of the pro game we know today.

AAGOLF GOLFISLAND ISLANDPARADISE PARADISE

MINUTESFROM FROMDOWNTOWN DOWNTOWNMIAMI MIAMI MINUTES

Is your game ready for Crandon?

Is your game ready for Crandon?

Crandon Golf at Key Biscayne 6700 Crandon Boulevard, Key Biscayne, FL 33149 • 305-361-9129 • golfcrandon.com

To request in accessible format, sign format, languageplease interpreters, and/or any accommodation To obtain materials this information in accessible call the PROS ADA to participate in any Miami-Dade Parks sponsored program or meeting, contact Mary Palacios, Coordinator or email Gisel.Prado@miamidade.gov 305-755-7848at or 305-755-7848 Mary.Palacios@miamidade.gov at least 7 days in advance to initiate your request.

TTY users may also call 711 (Florida Relay Service).

MOVE Aviation

Rolls-Royce Designing the future of sustainable power and helping business aviation customers to meet green goals

Rolls-Royce’s electric Spirit of Innovation

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f the challenges of the past few years have compelled some to consider a better future, so have they driven innovation and excellence among the best of us. Among the group pushing to do better, certainly, is Rolls-Royce, which has used the recent turmoil to redouble efforts in advancing green technologies across its many platforms. Long an industry pioneer at the forefront of power technology, the storied firm is strongly focused on its goal of becoming a net zero company in terms of carbon impacts. Responsibly racing toward meeting this goal, Rolls-Royce is looking to ensure that its new products will be compatible with net zero by 2030 and that all of its in-use products will be compatible with net zero by 2050. For its aviation sector, part of that solution is a new engine that can use Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs)—but, ambitiously, as Rolls-Royce expects its current products to be in use for several decades, it has pledged to have proven all of its in-production commercial and business jet aeroengines to be compatible with 100% SAFs by 2023. This is an incredible leap forward for aviation as a whole as it will mean that two-thirds of Rolls-Royce Trent engine fleet and three-fifths of its business jet fleet currently in service will be SAF-ready, helping customers to meet their own goals to reduce climate impacts.

Further helping customers, Rolls-Royce this summer announced that it was launching a new SAFinity service, which will allow business aviation customers to operate flights in a carbon-neutral way. As a first of its kind, this flexible service combines independently verified sustainability projects with a direct investment in Sustainable Aviation Fuel, aiming to further support and accelerate the availability and use of SAF in the aviation industry.

As part of the service, Rolls-Royce and Shell extended their more than a century of cooperation by partnering in a commitment to support decarbonization of the aviation industry, with Shell as the sole SAF supplier for SAFinity.

In recent testing, Rolls-Royce demonstrated that current engines for large civil and business jet applications can operate with 100% SAF as a full “drop-in” option. At present, SAF is only certified for blends of up to 50% with conventional jet fuel, and Rolls-Royce’s results are a step forward in moving SAF towards certification. Unblended SAFs could significantly reduce net CO2 lifecycle emissions compared to the conventional jet fuel currently in use.

SPIRIT OF INNOVATION

SAFs are only part of Rolls-Royce’s greater efforts. The company also is exploring all-electric urban air mobility and regional aviation, hybrid-electric systems, fuel cells, microgrids and even small modular nuclear reactors. One of the more exciting manifestations of Rolls-Royce’s progress was the flight this summer of the company’s Spirit of Innovation electric aircraft. Working together since 2018, a diverse team of experts in aviation, motorsports, research institutes and academia assembled on the morning of September 15 at Boscombe Down Airfield in England and watched their sublimely elegant creation take flight. The all-electric plane, dubbed Spirit of Innovation, was powered by a groundbreaking new battery and electric propulsion system, and its first flight was a resounding success—and a hint of progress to come. As the UK’s Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said after the flight, “The first flight of Rolls-Royce’s revolutionary Spirit of Innovation aircraft signals a huge step forward in the global transition to cleaner forms of flight.”

Rolls-Royce’s CEO Warren East concurred, offering that the flight was just one example of the company’s focus “on producing the technology breakthroughs society needs to decarbonize transport across air, land and sea.”

Technologically brilliant and aesthetically pleasing, the aptly named Spirit of Innovation is a positive sign of things to come, from a company that long has set the standard for elegance and cutting-edge performance.

Find out more about Rolls-Royce’s pioneering pathway to net zero at rolls-royce.com

The aptly named Spirit of Innovation is a positive sign of things to come

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BUSINESS

Talk & Listen In his excellent book Take Care of Your People, Insperity co-founder Paul Sarvadi explains that communication with employees is a twoway street—and offers sage wisdom on how to keep the conversation going

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n 1986, Paul Sarvadi launched a modest personnel management company in Kingwood, Texas. Today, it is a powerhouse firm trusted to manage HR and more for some of the world’s leading businesses. As Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Insperity, a company with more than $4 billion in revenue, Sarvadi’s business chops are unassailable and well-tested.

Never has his experience been more on display as over the past few years, which have seen businesses upended by the pandemic, having to adapt to “work from home” mandates and dramatic cultural changes in the workforce. Still, Sarvadi and his team have kept a steady hand on the tiller, keeping businesses on course and successful. In the end, he says, that success ultimately is about one thing: people.

Here, we share an excerpt from Sarvadi’s Take Care of Your People, which offers 10 strategies for getting your human capital strategy right. Published by ForbesBooks, its chapter on “communications” seems particularly relevant just now, and so without further ado, here’s an edited excerpt.

Excerpt from Take Care of Your People Strategy #9: Employee Communications KEEP THE DOOR OPEN

Communication is the lifeblood of any relationship. If communication is healthy, it can build trust and loyalty.

When poorly handled or nonexistent, it can wreak havoc.

Most companies develop strategic communication plans for their external customers while neglecting their internal customers: the employees, who as a group are its most important investment. The goal of an effective employee-communications strategy is to cultivate a pattern of information sharing that builds trust, confidence, and mutual respect among employees on a daily basis. The fast rate and sheer magnitude of change that occurs in business today makes this element of your human capital strategy more important than ever.

For business leaders, good communication is a matter of “painting the picture.” That means being clear with employees about what they’re being asked to do and why, how their role is important within the framework of the organization, and what is the game plan for the following weeks, months, and years. Don’t keep people in the dark; bring them into the light. The more you can share with them, the more likely it is they’ll contribute discretionary effort in pursuit of the mission.

LINK TO COMPANY CULTURE

The best way leaders can grow the culture they want is to talk to employees about it at every opportunity. Mission and value statements are only as good as they are communicated.

Simply creating a mission and values statement isn’t enough— employees need to be reminded of them and the important role they play in their daily interactions.

A client company of ours—a 700-employee, heavyindustrial engineering/infrastructure subsidiary—was struggling with leadership-alignment problems. Leaders’ responses on the business-alignment survey varied nearly 100 percent of the time, indicating severe misalignment when it came to the firm’s human capital strategy.

One of the survey questions was “Does the company have a mission statement?” to which the CEO and almost everyone else answered yes. Only the CFO answered differently. He had put down “uncertain.”

During the post-survey debriefing, when the CEO saw the CFO’s response next to the near-unanimous “yeses” of the rest of the leadership group, he got angry. In a flash, the CEO marched out of our presentation, grabbed the mission statement off the wall in the lobby, brought it back to the conference room, and slammed it on the table.

“What does this look like?” he spat. “It’s the mission statement!”

The CFO calmly looked at the CEO and said, “If you’re asking me if we have two paragraphs filled with words most of our employees don’t use, then yes, we have a mission statement. But do our employees understand our mission, and can they tie it to what they do each and every day? I answered ‘uncertain’ because I don’t think they can, and our productivity metrics confirm it.”

The room grew quiet as everyone pondered the undeniable truth of the CFO’s words. The company had a mission statement, but the mission statement itself wasn’t the problem. The problem was communication. The mission statement may as well not have existed.

A company’s culture should guide the tone of all communications. Before we started Insperity, my business partner and I were determined to make sure that our management team walked the walk by doing what we said we were going to do. We meant this not only for the way we wanted to serve our clients, but also for our relationships with employees. “Integrity,” “respect,” and “perseverance” are values that we practice from the moment we enter the office to the moment we leave (and, I like to think, in the intervening hours, as well). In turn, employees also practice these attributes in their personal interaction with their coworkers, clients, and prospects.”

That’s just good leadership—if you live it, others will follow suit.

The greatest communications plan in the world will backfire if employees don’t trust the company’s leadership.

Employees have a keen sense of when leaders are speaking from the heart or concealing something.

One way we’ve continued to build our company’s culture as our organization has expanded over the years is through Insperity’s award-winning intranet. In addition to delivering important company news, it is eminently useful for highlighting the important contributions employees have made throughout the organization. From recognizing quarterly award winners to running features on individual employees, our intranet has kept employees connected to each other and informed.

The best way to grow the company culture you want is to talk to employees about it at every opportunity

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BE STRATEGIC AND CONSISTENT

What are your reasons for communicating with employees?

Are you trying to build trust or promote the exchange of ideas?

Is it to open dialogue between employees and management?

Or is the purpose to educate employees about the business model or update them on internal developments? Whatever the reason, business leaders need to establish the intent, which may include several objectives and involve different approaches.

Emotions affect employee performance. When employees are feeling anxious or upset, negativity creeps in and hampers productivity. Over the years, our management team has striven to maintain emotional stability in employees through a consistent communications strategy.

Once we determine the messaging and how we plan to communicate it, we stick with it and repeat it as often as possible. This approach has helped us to build and maintain a positive, enthusiastic environment.

Employee communications should be a stabilizing factor in the organization. Employees need to be lifted up, not pushed down, especially during difficult times. And that also necessitates some measure of regularity in terms of how often you communicate with them. If they become used to a certain style and volume of communications, and then that dialogue suddenly stops, it creates a sense of emotional unease. That kind of uncertainty is toxic to productivity and morale. The best way to avoid this is to continue to provide a steady flow of communication.

Especially in large and geographically diffuse organizations, business leaders are confronted with the ongoing challenge of making sure everyone is on the same page. For example, our service organization is one of the largest departments at Insperity, totaling more than a thousand employees at four different service centers and over seventy local offices in the United States. These employees are on the frontline and serve our clients on a daily basis, and they need to be kept well informed of any changes that may affect our clients.

Consequently, our service organization has established a formal communications process to ensure that our service teams quickly and reliably receive the latest information.

Our executive vice president of service operations formed our Service Operations Leadership Team, which meets for two days twice a month with our general managers and field operations leaders to review important information and changes that need to be communicated to our teams. This forum gives these field operations leaders an opportunity to ask questions on behalf of their staff. We want our supervisors to be equipped to answer questions from our service providers, who need to know the “hows” and “whys” so they can serve our clients. This communications chain has been a very effective way for us to manage information among the service providers and build trust between our leadership and service teams.

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THINKING STRATEGICALLY: 1.

2.

3.

Communication is part of any entrepreneurial endeavor, but different situations demand different communication styles. Think about what you’re trying to achieve (build trust, stimulate innovation, reinforce compliance with company norms, cultivate loyalty?), and tailor your message and medium to that goal.

Emotion—don’t think of it as touchy-feely stuff that’s irrelevant to the business world or to a professional setting. On the contrary, emotion is a central part of strategic employee communication.

Craft a reliable, even-toned, honest communication policy that creates a sense of emotional stability in the organization. How you regularly talk to employees has a big impact on how he or she feels at work.

Strategically effective communication runs both ways: from management to the workforce, and from the workforce to management. Candid, open dialogue and a culture of sharing (feelings, information, ideas) benefit all parties.

Take Care of Your People The Enlightened CEO’s Guide to Business Success Paul Sarvadi 2019, ForbesBooks. Available at Barnes & Noble, on Amazon, Apple Books and more.

CAMARADERIE — ˚ — TRADITIONS

A rarified community.

A legendary course.

A world apart.

— MOUNTAINLAKEFLORIDA.COM —

One of Florida’s best kept secrets since 1916, Mountain Lake is a community that’s anything but ordinary. Secluded among the hills of a thousand-acre enclave of natural and architectural beauty, centered around its Seth Raynor-designed course, this privately inviting community offers standards and traditions that make its residents feel like it’s right where they belong. mountainlakeflorida.com | For inquiries: 863.676.5900

CLUB Event

Great Beginnings Tournament photos: THOMAS METTHE/ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT - GAZETTE

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The inaugural Jackson T. Stephens Cup was a resounding success, reflecting its namesake’s commitment to growing the game—and the elite college tournament is just getting started

W

WHEN STEPHENS, INC. CEO Warren Stephens announced

the creation of the Jackson T. Stephens Cup last year, he said, “Our goal is to create a distinctive and highly-competitive collegiate tournament that is comprised of tomorrow’s PGA TOUR and LPGA stars playing some of the country’s premier golf courses.” This October, that goal was met when top college players came to Stephens’ Alotian Club in Arkansas for three days of fantastic golf. More than “just” an elite college event, the tournament named for Stephens’ father, the late businessman and one-time Chairman of Augusta National, was a way to keep Jackson’s legacy alive via the game that he loved so much. In that respect and others, the tournament was a resounding success.

“In my view, the whole thing reflected him,” says Warren Stephens, taking stock of the inaugural event and thinking of his father. “Young people playing golf—young people from all over the world were on these teams.”

Competitors included top teams from NCAA Division I men’s and women’s programs, along with players from service academies and HBCUs. Jackson, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was also a huge supporter of growing the game, and believed that everyone should have access to golf.

“The players from the service academies, which were near and dear to his heart and which are near and dear to mine, these are not your typical college students or college athletes,” Stephens explains. “They’ve got a commitment to serve in the United States military, so they have a different outlook on it. And with the HBCUs, their individual players, to be able to provide them not only the experience of playing Alotian, but they’re going to experience great clubs going forward. That helps grow the game.”

Indeed: Following Alotian Club, the next Stephens Cup is set to be played at the exclusive Seminole Golf Club, and from there it’s on to Trinity Forest Golf Club—venues that many Stephens Cup competitors would not otherwise have a chance to play.

“To have that exposure widens their experience,” Stephens says, pointing out that his father, who grew up during the Great Depression, didn’t have the chance to play golf growing up, and only took up the game at the age of 36.

Warren Stephens presents the Jackson T. Stephens Cup to Notre Dame coach John Handrigan after beating Arkansas [above-left]; Arkansas’ Mateo Fernandez De Oliveira hits from the 18th fairway [left]; Arnold Palmer shares a joke with Jackson T. Stephens [above-right]

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“He loved golf, and he was so involved in the early development of the FirstTee, he wanted to make golf as accessible to everyone as he possibly could. I think this makeup of the tournament, the players, and the teams, this is something that reflects everything he stood for.”

Played from October 9–12, the tournament featured 36 holes of stroke play on Monday, 18 holes of stroke play on Tuesday, and then a match play final round, by seed. In the end, Notre Dame’s men’s program and LSU’s women’s team emerged victorious, claiming team championships, but their victory was simply the icing on the cake to what was, comprehensively, a beautifully spirited event. That’s not to say there weren’t challenges, of course...

“Any time you stand something up that’s never been quite done before, it’s a challenge,” says Stephens, citing COVID as the first of many hurdles organizers had to overcome.

“You have to overlay COVID over the whole thing; for the first time—and hopefully for the last time—we had to really focus on that. And we were dealing with inviting players and teams that really didn’t know what we were about. I think some of them had a really good idea, they knew the format and what-not, but they didn’t know if it was going to really be a premiere event, and so some of them had to trust us on that. Also, some of the teams that we invited had other commitments. We’re the new kid on the block and so there was a lack of awareness of what this is.”

Along with the teams, Stephens says tournament partners, which included his own Stephens Inc., Workday, Dillard’s, Simmons Bank and others, also took a “leap of faith” to some degree.

“Lastly, the final thing—which we have zero control over—is the weather,” he adds. Even that cooperated, however, with the tournament playing out over wonderfully sunny days, all broadcast on Golf Channel.

Discussions have already started for the 2022 event at Seminole Golf Club, and while some challenges will always remain, Stephens says “awareness” is no longer one of them.

“It’s a really positive problem to have: everybody knows who we are now, and we have a lot of teams that want in,” he says. “There’s a chance we’ll expand the team event somewhat, but it’s not going to be by much. If you get too big, it becomes even more of a challenge, and we don’t want that.”

Stephens references the Arnold Palmer Cup, which he hosted at Alotian Club in 2019, as an example of a nicely sized event: “That was one of the things that was so appealing to us and to me about the Palmer Cup; this is not massive, it’s a big undertaking but this isn’t something we can’t easily handle.”

He also appreciates that the Palmer Cup is about more than just the competition, a sentiment that certainly is part of the Stephens Cup as well.

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Notre Dame's Taichi Kho with the Jackson T. Stephens Cup trophy after beating Arkansas [top]; LSU players celebrate after beating South Carolina [above]

“[Jackson] was a huge champion of the amateur game,” Stephens says. “At the JTS Cup, to have Christyn Carr from North Carolina A&T shoot 69, shoot birdie on four of the last five holes and set a collegiate course record and a school record, and to see Fernandez De Olivera shoot three consecutive rounds of 70—a young African American woman from an HBCU and a young man playing at Arkansas who’s from Mexico—it makes you think, ‘Hey, this is pretty cool!

This is what we’re trying to do! This is what golf is all about.”

Carr set a course record by becoming the first collegiate player to shoot a score below 70 at Alotian Club, and her 69 was a lowest-round-ever school record as well.

As Stephens summarized following the event: “I think we’re onto something.” We think so too.

Find out more about the tournament at stephenscup.com

NATURE HEALS— WE HELP

Continuing the Palmer family’s legacy of supporting children’s health, character, and nature-focused wellness

PALMERFOUNDATION.ORG

CLUB

TIME IN THE SUN As the warm shades of Fall harden into the cold tones of winter, as the gates close on many of the great golf courses of the American north, blessed are the migration spots of southern climes.

It is time to fly

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M O U N TA I N L A K E Florida

U

nderstated compared to many less meritorious golf courses in Florida, Mountain Lake is a private community that remains something of a secret treasure in Lake Wales, 50 miles south of Orlando and 60 miles east of Tampa, right in the heart of the Sunshine State.

Mountain Lake offers much of what most Florida courses miss: rolling ground that lends beautifully to golf, real estate that does not dominate the course, and an impressive heritage

that itself rolls back more than 100 years. Mountain Lake is one of the finest designs by early 20th century architect Seth Raynor—who learned his trade from the legendary C.B. MacDonald on courses like Shinnecock Hills—and in recent years the original layout, dating back to 1916, has been vigilantly restored by Gil Hanse.

Life at Mountain Lake revolves around the Colony House, featuring a 36-room inn, food and beverage outlets and other amenities, which also dates back to 1916 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Mountainlakeflorida.com

Mountain lake’s 18th hole, leading up to Colony House

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Photo: Chris Miller / imagineimagery.com

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CLASSIC CLUB Palm Springs

T

he Classic Club in Palm Springs lives true to its name.

This famous Arnold Palmerdesigned golf course opened in 2006 and was immediately rewarded when the PGA Tour brought its Bob Hope Desert Classic to the club, in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

The Classic Club represents desert golf at its very best, with the rust palette and wild west beauty of the Coachella Valley and San Jacinto mountains contrasting with the immaculate yet environmentally-sensitive carpets of golf course green. The painstaking development program

at the Classic Club has earned recognition as a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, thanks to its wildlife and habitat management, chemical use reduction and water quality and conservation.

Just two hours from downtown Los Angeles, the championship course offers wide landing areas and five tees on every hole, allowing golfers of any skill level to enjoy the tour-level challenge.

Elevated tees and desert panoramas are enhanced by 30 acres of lakes and streams, 14 stone bridges, thousands of California pepper, pine and olive trees, with the setting completed by the Tuscan village clubhouse as the centerpiece.

Classicclubgolf.com

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F

P O R T R O YA L Bermuda

or an Atlantic outpost occupying just 21 square miles, Bermuda shows great devotion to golf, neatly fitting seven golf courses into its limited dimensions. The most famous of the septet is Port Royal, one of the finest public golf courses anywhere in the world, and former TV star as host venue of the PGA Grand Slam for several consecutive years.

Perched high above the Atlantic surf and just down the road from Gibb’s Hill Lighthouse,

The signature 16th hole at Port Royal

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along Bermuda’s southwestern reaches, Port Royal is home to one of the most photogenic holes in golf: Its tantalizing, 235-yard, par-3 16th. There are four tee boxes serving golfers of all levels so for goodness’ sake, don’t try to be the back tee hero unless your game is really on. The tee shot has to take on the cliff ’s edge to find a small green occupying its own peninsula. There is room to bail-out to the right of the green, but sand traps await and a bunker shot towards the ocean is not the shot of your tropical dreams.

Portroyalgolfcourse.com

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CLUB Movie

The Mulligan A former pro’s “parable of second chances” comes to the big screen

[L to R] Tom Lehman in his big screen debut ; Pat Boone and Eric Close between scenes (Image: Calvin Aurand); Wally Armstrong makes a cameo (Image: Image: Logan Fincher Fincher); Jim Nantz on camera (Image: Calvin Aurand)

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E

xplosions, fight scenes, heated locker room arguments and high-octane car chases… are not typically part of golf movies. Rather than leaning on any number of devices common to cinema, films about golf are challenged to engage audiences by making sense of a game that, in many ways, doesn’t make much sense.

One might argue the intrinsic qualities of any game, and yet there are plenty of movies featuring baseball and other team sports. In golf, however, the drama is less physical, more cerebral, and inherently solitary, and so golf movies are faced with exploring the subtle but often profound experience of the game beyond the simple ball-into-hole result—no small feat. A new film, The Mulligan, based upon a book of the same name, is giving it a go, and a few of the key players involved graciously offered their time to Kingdom to explain how and why they teed up this project. Lights, camera aaaand… Action!

“It is very important to me that we represent the game in the proper way. If a character is supposed to have a bad swing, then fine, we can go for that; but I want to make sure that the golf is authentic and that the guys who are supposed to be able to play really can play.”

And with one of his first comments, Rick Elridge hits upon one of the more visible challenges of making a good golf movie: the actors’ swings. Elridge produced The Mulligan, a new golf film set to be released in April of 2022, and met the challenges head-on. Some actors who portray golfers have never swung a club but need to look like seasoned pros on the big screen. This can involve arduous training sessions (Matt Damon spent eight hours a day working on his swing for The Legend of Bagger Vance, cracking a rib in the process) and can still yield questionable results. Elridge had what seems like an obvious solution: “When we needed a golf pro in the movie, who plays a critical role in the initial stages of the film, we decided to get a real pro,” he says, explaining that they hired Tom Lehman to portray a golfer. Which, of course, he is.

“During filming there was more for me to do in the movie than I had expected, to be honest,” Lehman explains.

“I didn’t realize I would be speaking so much, but the whole cast and director were incredibly helpful, and there was a really great spirit around the set, too… I did feel nervous at first, having to speak my lines in front of professional actors and crew—the people who do this full-time—but I think it really helped being someone who is used to performing in front of people, albeit in a different way for me usually.”

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Lehman is friends with Wally Armstrong, the former PGA TOUR pro who, with Ken Blanchard, wrote The Mulligan. The story is described as “a parable of second chances” and involves a businessman who sees his life falling apart, only to find a path to a personal “do over” via golf and a mysterious character known as “The Old Pro.” Seeing the book, which he originally wrote in 2006, come to life as a movie has been an amazing experience, Armstrong says.

“It has been beyond my wildest expectations, to see a book that I created in my mind be lived out on the screen,” the author explains. “I was up there watching them film it and a few times I was in tears, when I saw particular elements on the screen, that might help people experience the opportunity of a second chance in their own lives, as I have had and everyone has.

“One of the reasons I wrote the book was to give people hope, that no matter where they are or however old they are, there is always an opportunity to start over and get a second chance. That is the essence of the book. It is a book of hope and forgiveness—and that is what a mulligan is—it is a real metaphor for a second chance.”

As Armstrong explains, the book itself had two mulligans in that it went out of print, then came back into print, then went out of print again and then was rediscovered and presented as a movie project. Chris Byrd was the self-described catalyst for making that happen.

The entrepreneur, who among other successes had quite a hand in bringing the Arnold Palmer Half & Half beverage to market with AriZona Beverages (look for the drink’s cameo in the film), gave a copy of Armstrong’s book to a friend who worked in television, and from there it found its way to Elridge, and then to the screen. Byrd also managed to sneak into the film as an extra—though not as sneakily as the director might have liked!

“There is a scene when I am in the background with Wally… while the two main characters are sitting by the green talking,” Byrd explains. “I was supposed to make this 20-foot putt while they are talking, so I made the putt and Wally jumped and yelled, and then we heard ‘Cut! Cut! Wally you can’t say anything! The actors are talking!’ We had to run that scene about 10 more times before I made the putt again.”

In the film, The Old Pro works with the Payne Stewart Kids organization—a real-life program that Armstrong helped to assemble.

“I played on tour with Payne quite a bit and we knew each other fairly well,” Armstrong says. “Payne became very strong in his own personal faith and he really wanted to make a difference to kids’ lives, not only in getting them into golf but impacting their lives with God’s love, and to give them hope at an early age. I have helped to create Payne Stewart Kids Golf program, and the whole idea is to introduce kids to golf at an early age—aged four to nine,

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Also Consider…

Tommy’s Honour 2016: Jason Connery ably directs the dramatic story of the Toms Morris, doing well to avoid ye olde clichés and offering what, to our minds, is one of the best golf films ever.

From The Rough 2011: Perhaps too light of a touch was brought to the incredible story of Catana Sparks, the first woman ever to coach a college men’s golf team, but it’s a worthwhile couple of hours regardless.

Three Little Beers 1935: Before Happy Gilmore, there were the Three Stooges as beer delivery drivers looking to cash-in by winning their brewery’s golf tournament—despite not knowing how to golf.

Zany hijinks ensue, of course, good for a chuckle.

Chris Byrd on set (in Wally Armstrong’s chair)

which is an age that has not really been addressed—and we work with churches, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and YMCA, so we have a huge opportunity to introduce more kids to golf and channel them into other local golf programs as they get a little older.”

The Mulligan stars Eric Close and Pat Boone (and Tom Lehman) and is set for an April, 2022 release, with initial distribution slated at 1,200 brick-and-mortar theaters, to be followed by availability via online streaming.

Visit themulliganmovie.com to learn more.

CLUB Folds of Honor

Folds of

Honor The Foundation started by Lt. Col. Dan Rooney honors those willing to pay the ultimate price by providing scholarships to their families, including the O’Hares

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[Opposite] Lt. Cmdr. Raymond O’Hare, second from left; [above] with Colleen and their young daughters

H

HER BROTHER’S FRIENDS INTRODUCED THEMSELVES one by one, each young man, right down the row seated for Sunday brunch. But when it came to the last, an incoming freshman who, like the others, was on the Harvard football team, Colleen suddenly took notice.

“Ray,” she says. “At the end was Ray. His voice…

I couldn’t have defined why, but his voice sounded so unique, resonant.”

Ray was a freshman, Colleen was a sophomore, and the two began dating. In love essentially since the moment they met, they were married in 1992, three years after Ray graduated college and two years after he joined the Navy as an aspiring astronaut. Children came next—Katie, Elizabeth and Tommy—and life for Colleen and her Naval Flight Officer husband was going beautifully. Then, one day in the summer of 2000, Colleen’s world fell apart. Lt. Cmdr O’Hare’s T-38A Talon training jet crashed while on a routine instrument approach at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Maryland, and just like that Ray was gone.

“He was larger than life, a huge personality,” she recalls. “The smartest person I had met and that I probably

ever will meet. He was always happy, always wanting to play, super energetic, and he was my rock.”

As it happened, Ray’s parents were on their way into town from Chicago at the time, visiting for Ray’s upcoming 34th birthday. When they arrived it fell to Colleen, still in shock, to tell them that their son had died. And there were the children, of course. At the time, Katie, Elizabeth and Tommy were aged 4 years, 3 years and 9 months, respectively.

“One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was tell them their dad died,” Colleen says. “Tommy was too young, but the girls, they understood. Grief is so powerful and it would overwhelm me at times. The three little kids, because they lost their dad, they were stuck like glue to me.

I do recall sinking to the ground and crying. I had tried going into my closet and wailing but my kids would be at the door; they’d bring tissues and be with me, that was what it was.

But it allowed them to learn that it’s OK to grieve, it’s OK to be sad. It’s a real, authentic emotion.”

For all of the emotions that came with Ray’s death, there were practical challenges, too. A photographer and graphic designer, Colleen had worked before Ray died, but only part time and hardly enough to support a family’s needs. The community at the Test Pilot School was great, she said: “Navy folks really trying to lift me up. Not saying, ‘Hey, if you need anything let me know’—they just showed up. Showed up and mowed the lawn, showed up and said, ‘I’ll take the kids for a couple hours’; that support network was great.” And family helped. “The uncles have done a good job filling in, father-daughter dances and that kind of thing… but the children always had to borrow dads and father figures; I always felt terrible about that.”

With the children fully dependent on her, Colleen said she refocused and, in 2003, hit a turning point of sorts.

While raising her children, she earned her MBA at night and started her own business. Still, there were concerns.

“It’s one of the last things you have to do raising children,” Colleen explains, “families are really worried about a college education. When they’re that young you want to start saving, but you’re just surviving every day. Still, pretty much what I had decided with my kids, what I told them, was to focus on doing well in school and I would work on getting the funding, navigating all of the paperwork.”

In the midst of searching for scholarships, Colleen found Folds of Honor, and another chapter of her life began.

Named for the 13 folds it takes to fold the American flag to its triangle shape, the Foundation was created in 2007 by Lt. Col. Dan Rooney, a decorated military aviator who served three combat tours in Iraq. Returning home from his second tour, he witnessed an irreverence toward U.S. service men and women that he found unacceptable, and he decided that he wanted to dedicate his time to honoring those willing to pay the ultimate price. It wasn’t

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long before he identified a need for educational support.

Many veterans’ dependents do not qualify for federal scholarship assistance and, despite some options from the federal government, many could miss out on the dream for which their loved ones had fought and perhaps died. Folds of Honor addresses this need for the dependents of soldiers killed or disabled in military operations, giving back by providing educational scholarships to their children. To date the Foundation has handed out roughly 35,000 scholarships worth about $160 million, helping the O’Hares and a wide range of other families, 41 percent of which are minorities.

“It almost seemed too good to be true,” says Colleen.

“A wonderful reality and resource—funding that we didn’t have to pay back.”

And it wasn’t just the scholarships, she says, explaining that the Folds of Honor community was there for her in other ways, too.

“It’s been great just knowing there’s an extended family that cares about us, offering mentorship and financial support and emotional support for me sometimes, when there have been some tough things going on in my life. They know, they’re on the journey with us, they appreciate how hard it can be.”

All of the O’Hare children are now grown, and Folds of Honor has been an important part of their lives, helping with their education but also helping with their outlook and strength.

“I learned along the way in grief therapy that the kids throughout their lives, at different stages, will re-grieve the loss,” Colleen says. “There have been situations, Katie’s high school graduation for example, where she knows her dad is not there but still there’s that anticipation, that almost looking around. ‘This is a big deal for me; where are you?’

My Elizabeth may be getting engaged soon… You can’t think about those things.

“To see them all in their 20s now, I’m so proud of them. They had to learn a lot of things on their own compared to their peers, but these challenges, they help us evolve into who we’re supposed to be.”

Today both Colleen and her daughter Elizabeth speak on behalf of Folds of Honor, telling their difficult story at events so that people can understand how important the foundation is and offer their support as well.

“I bring the folded flag that was given to me, the one that was over Ray’s casket before he was buried at Arlington,” Colleen explains. “As Lt. Col. Dan Rooney says, it only weights 2.3lbs, but for families like mine it’s an unfathomable weight. There were 1,500 unfunded scholarships last year—with the pandemic, events were limited and we weren’t able to raise as much as we needed, and the need continues.”

Putting that need into sharp focus, Elizabeth’s boyfriend is a U.S. Marine who was on deployment in Kabul

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Elizabeth, Tommy and Katie O’Hare

It’s been great knowing there’s an extended family that cares; Folds of Honor understands how hard it is on August 26th of this year, the day a suicide bomber killed a number of Marines.

“As it was unfolding that 10 Marines had been killed, and she had a vague idea that he was there, she was obviously very, very upset and worried, and because she’s had the experience with her dad, she knows that’s a real possibility. It was a very long night for her, but at 2a.m. she got a text from him that he was OK. He was 100 meters from the suicide bomber. Her story luckily ended well, but a month ago a baby was born to one of the 13 servicemembers who did die in that attack,” Colleen says. “She is a child who is going to be in need of a Folds of Honor scholarship someday.”

To support Folds of Honor Foundation, to learn how you can host a golf tournament, host a golf marathon or join the Folds’ Squadron, visit foldsofhonor.org today.

JOIN THE RANKS Our gratitude must go beyond words.

Grateful Americans across the country are standing together in inspiring unity to fund educations for the spouses and children of our nation's heroes. Together, we’ll ensure their loved ones have the educational opportunities they deserve.

Since our humble beginnings in 2007, we have awarded 35,000 scholarships totaling over $160 million in support. With your help, we can continue showing our militaryIS families they are not THIS YOUR CALL TOforgotten DUTY. and strengthen the bridge to equality for all Americans.

THIS IS YOUR CALL TO DUTY. GIVE TODAY AND JOIN OUR RANKS

FOLDSOFHONOR.ORG/SQUADRON

Folds of Honor recipients and students at Oklahoma State, Christian and Lauren Wong

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GIFT GUIDE Holidays

’Tis the Season...

For giving heartfelt, brilliant gifts— to others or to oneself, consider the following fine options (and if it’s for you, don’t forget to act surprised) Ettinger

L A RG E STUD /J E WE LLE RY B OX In deep Marine Blue, this classic dressing table accessory from London’s exquisite Ettinger keeps precious small accessories neatly organized in fine style. With a durable and elegant goat leather exterior and a contrasting suede interior in Ecru (along with a removable pillow with small goat leather wings), this ensures your valuables are kept in fitting form.

E T T I N G E R .CO.U K

Dubarry of Ireland

C AVAN C O UNTRY B O O T Founded in 1937, Dubarry of Ireland has been at the start of many a great journey—across the world, across a field, or across town. With all of the performance of a Dubarry country boot, the Cavan is a great city option, offering shock-absorbing soles, water-resistant leather with DryFast-DrySoft technology, and all the craftsmanship one expects from a maker with this many miles underfoot. Lace up, and walk on.

D U B A R RY.CO M

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GIFT GUIDE Holidays

Robert Graham ST RE T C H P O LO

Robert Graham’s Golf Clubhouse lets you perform and relax like a top player. This stretch polo features the RG Golf Clubhouse logo as a Signature Skull hitting the golf course with nine iron clubs as the crossbones. Designed in the brand’s unique breathable, moisture-wicking Performance Stretch, look for a glimpse of contrast grosgrain ribbon lining the inner collar as well. Take this whimsical #WearableArt on and off the green, and up your style game with flair.

R O B E R TG R A H A M .U S

Rolex Cosmograph Daytona TIM E TO DRIVE

First seen in 1963, the Cosmograph Daytona was designed for pro racing drivers, offering a tachymetric scale, three counters and pushers in the ultimate timing tool for endurance racing. Elapsed time is visible in hours, minutes and seconds on the dial, while construction and design are superb, as one expects from the brand that sets the standard. Pictured here in white gold, this is a trophy-worthy timepiece, no matter how quickly one takes life’s turns.

R O L E X .CO M

Weatherman

C L A S S IC A RN OLD PA LME R GOLF U MBR EL L A Designed in the colors of the iconic Arnold Palmer umbrella logo, Weatherman’s Classic Arnold Palmer Golf Umbrella serves as an eye-catching tribute to golf’s most popular hero. The shaft and frame are made from industrial-strength fiberglass while the vented canopy is wind-tunnel tested to withstand winds of up to 55mph, so ideal for all playable conditions. The water-repellent fabric is fast drying and also a UPF 50+ sunshine barrier. The umbrella comes with a lifetime warranty.

W E AT H E R M A N U M B R E L L A .CO M

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GIFT GUIDE Holidays

Penfold Heart

XXIO Prime Fairway

“If that’s his original ball, I’m Arnold Palmer.” So said the caddie of Sean Connery’s James Bond in Goldfinger, following a bit of course tomfoolery by the villain. Bond, who won of course, was playing a Penfold Heart, a ball that is competitively in style whether one is playing for Queen and country, or just for fun. Sharpen your game.

From one of our favorite club-makers, the XXIO Prime Fairway Woods’ lightweight construction and relaxed, easy swing feel mean straighter ball flight and enhanced distance—both of which we’ll take any day of the week.

P E N F O L D G O L F U S A .CO M

X X I O U S A .CO M

FO R ST O K E PARK OR A N Y WHE RE E LSE

FAIRWAY WO O DS

The Wellputt Mat

PRAC TIC E W EL L , PUTT W EL L Designed by Cameron McCormick, who coaches a certain Jordan Spieth, this putting mat is built with multiple visual aids for body and putter head alignment, stroke amplitude and eye positioning. Two rolling speeds and an array of exercises available via the Wellputt app mean this can help to up your game anywhere you make space and time. Putt well.

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GIFT GUIDE Holidays

Hubs Peanuts

W E A R E SE RI OU SLY I MPRE SSE D With a strong history and a treasured family recipe, Hubs Peanuts delivers Virginia peanuts that have to be tasted to be believed. We’ve reviewed nearly all of their flavors (including the Peanut Brittle pictured above) and can honestly say these are some of the best peanuts we’ve ever had. As gifts, around the house, or around the club, we consider these a “must try.”

Genuinely fantastic.

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McLaren Edge series S U N G L A SSE S

These chic McLaren Edge glasses from Edward Beiner would fit well in the team enclosures at the Indianapolis 500 or the Monaco Grand Prix.

The glasses are shaped by laser cutting technology on surgical stainless-steel for a unique monobloc front. Made with precision, 180-Degree rotation hinges, they ooze the spirit of luxury performance that defines McLaren.

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Indoggo Gin

L AIDBAC K C AL IFO RNIA - ST YLE S P I R I T This festive gin from none other than Calvin “Snoop Dogg” Broadus offers a bit of all-natural strawberry flavor with its mix of seven premium botanicals: clean and gluten-free, this soulful spirit is perfectly clear and perfect for the holidays.

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GIFT GUIDE Holidays

Peter James LO D GE C HAIR

The Lodge Chair from Peter James achieves what is often most elusive in furniture design: to combine beauty, sophistication and comfort with apparent simplicity. This contemporary club chair with sculptural profile is built with bent-ply arms with a walnut finish, and comes with fabric or top-grain leather cover options.

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Biscuit Boutique M O S A IC B O N B ON S

Harkening to gilded ages when beauty was brought to every corner of life, the handmade Mosaic Bonbons from Biscuit Boutique bring joy in several ways, starting with the stunning designs that are available across the confections, painted on a soft fondant, and then with what lies beneath: luscious dark Belgian chocolate with Belgian chocolate ganache and nutty hazelnut praline filling. Numerous options available, all of them sure to appeal to multiple senses and to spark joy.

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Designer Backgammon GA M E T O HE L P

This striking backgammon board from luxury board games designer Alexandra Llewellyn is a limited edition—of 10 boards—that features a handcrafted Zebrano wood surface decorated with calla lilies and a sole bumblebee. Packaged with brass-cased mother of pearl and black glass playing pieces, the board sales benefit the Terrence Higgins Trust.

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Theory 11

CHAMP Portable Charger

The American-made Citizen playing cards are the most intricate and alluring deck of cards we have ever seen.

The handcrafted cards feature a striking, classic guilloche pattern, while the Joker and back design include the Latin phrase “Audentes Fortuna Iuvat”— Fortune favors the brave. The fantastic attention to detail extends to the interior of the box, with an extension of the guilloche design. The cards are made from FSC-certified paper derived from sustainable forests.

Smaller than a deck of playing cards, the CHAMP from GoNimble uses high-density batteries to pack a bigger power punch than premium chargers twice its size. That means charging devices— including Apple and Android phones—up to three times faster than competitors. It’s compatible with a wide array of devices, weighs only 6.4oz, and is housed in 72.5% post-consumer plastic to reduce its carbon footprint relative to other options. Add to that plastic-free packaging and several color options and it’s a unanimous decision by a knockout: there’s only one CHAMP.

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CIT IZE N P L AY IN G CA RD S

MO RE THAN A C O NTENDER

Big Green Egg Minimax SM AL L BUT MIGHT Y

Big Green Eggs are known for yielding incredibly juicy, wonderfully flavored meats, naturally vibrant vegetables, and all manner of brilliant grilled creations—now all of that is possible in the Minimax, a portable and versatile version of the Big kamado-style cooker that’s loved the world over. Take it on your next adventure, or use it alongside a bigger BGE to handle sides. Either way, you get all of the quality construction and culinary possibilities for which Big Green Eggs are known.

Fire it up!

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GIFT GUIDE Holidays

Dewar’s 15 Year Old

Gibson 60s J-45 Original

The bottle of Dewar’s 15 Year Old can now be personalized via an online service to create a holidays gift to match the unusually smooth taste of this famous Scotch, with notes of floral honey and toffee to soothe the soul on wintry nights (or any time of day in any season, really). Enjoy neat, on the rocks, or in an elderflower highball (the recipe is on Dewar’s site).

This classically styled J-45 evokes the best of an era, with a period-correct 1 11/16” nut width on its mahogany neck, 1960s’-era double antiqued binding, Grover strap cream button tuners, a white pickguard with “hot stamp” logo—and all of the rich Gibson sound any guitarist (or audience) could want.

A perfect gift for the musician in your life—even if it’s you!

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WI T H PER S O NAL IZED L ABEL

W ITH PERIO D ST YLI NG

Cowboy Cauldron THE DUDE ABIDES

“The Dude” is the latest offering from Cowboy Cauldron, a portable cauldron that looks great and which brings live fire to any setting, beit campsite, RV, tailgate party, beach or backyard patio. A charcoal grate and cooking grill are included, ensuring you can put The Dude to work—or you can let it abide and just watch the flames as you enjoy a quality beverage, cowboy style.

COW B OYC A U L D R O N .CO M

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D’AMBRE EXTRÊME EAU D U PA RF U M

Venture back into the opulence of the 1930s via the distinctive scent of D’Ambre Extreme. Created by master perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena, amber is the principal conductor but emotive oriental notes of cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon and mace complete an unforgettable eau du parfum.

A R T I S A N PA R F U M E U R .CO M

Leith Silver

T H IST L E T U M BLE CU P A traditional but standout design, this sterling silver drinking vessel is perfect for those who like to savor their whisky or bourbon with style. The original tumble cups were designed for gentlemen traveling in carriages, allowing the cups to rock but no drink to spill. The contours lead to the name “Thistle”, very appropriate given the hallmarks of the Edinburgh Assay Office proudly displayed on the front. Your drink becomes alive and its colors dance as it rolls around the gold cup interior, warming in your hand.

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Meg & Bee

C RO SSB O DY BAG Meg & Bee was chosen by Caroline Harrington, wife of European Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington, as the on-course bag for wives and girlfriends of European players at the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. While the camera-style, crossbody bag came in European navy for the Ryder Cup, the leather bag also comes in red, more in keeping with the colors worn by the victorious home team for the Sunday singles. The strap features a suede tassel to finish a compact bag that is as good for holiday festivities as it is for walking the golf course. It also comes in suede in six shades.

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AGED

21 YRS 27 YRS 32 YRS

4 STAGE AGEING PROCESS FOR ULTIMATE SMOOTHNESS

ENJOY RESPONSIBLY. ©2021 DEWAR’S BLENDED SCOTCH WHISKY 46% ALC. BY VOL. DEWAR’S, ITS TRADE DRESS AND DEWAR’S STAY TRUE ARE TRADEMARKS. IMPORTED BY JOHN DEWAR’S & SONS COMPANY, CORAL GABLES, FL.

DRINK Spirit

Spirited Legacy

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Through 225 years of wars, revolutions and societal shifts, Santa Teresa rum has represented more than just a premium spirit—it is Venezuela’s spirit, as rich and complex as the land in which it was born

G GOOD QUALITY ENDURES, and for something to have endured for 225 years, through revolutions, economic upheavals and countless political shifts—and for it still to be thriving today—the quality must be great indeed. So it is with the Hacienda Santa Teresa, home of Santa Teresa rum and one of Venezuela’s most enduring properties.

More than just a success story, the distillery founded in 1796 is a cultural touchstone, one that unites Venezuelans around the world and which invites non-natives to visit a rich and vibrant culture simply by raising a glass. Despite the ease with which its most beautiful products—its rums—are shared and enjoyed, the Hacienda’s journey to the modern era did not come by a carefree path. Rather, the story of the Hacienda Santa Teresa and the rum that bears its name is one of hard work done by hand, careful years of dedication to the highest standards, and long hours perfecting Santa Teresa’s take on the artisanal Solera method of rum-making.

The result is a family of rums that sets the bar for depth and character, with all of the Hacienda’s centuries of experience culminating in the premium Santa Teresa 1796.

To appreciate Santa Teresa’s role in Venezuelan culture, and in the history of the New World, in fact, one must imagine Venezuela as it was in the late 18th century.

While the Americans were fighting for their independence from England, the Spanish colony with jungle-covered mountains and a coast gilded with golden beaches was enjoying a robust trade economy and attracting scholars to its capital city’s music school and top university. Twenty years after the American Declaration of Independence was signed, the Hacienda Santa Teresa was founded in the mountainous Aragua Valley, just over an hour south of Caracas. The next year saw Venezuela’s first attempt at

independence: a proclamation in 1797 that quickly failed but which hinted at coming change. That change came relatively soon, with a war of independence that, in various forms, lasted from 1810 through 1821, when Simón Bolívar rode into Caracas and Venezuela finally broke with Spain. Through it all, the Hacienda endured, initially as a site for coffee, cocoa and sugar cane. In 1830, however, a German merchant named Gustav Julius Vollmer came to Venezuela, met and married a woman by the name of Panchita Rivas, acquired the Hacienda and began producing rum of an exceptional quality. The Vollmer family kept the Hacienda and kept producing Santa Teresa rum over the next two centuries, through all manner of challenges, and Gustav and Panchita’s descendants run the distillery to this day, continuing the tradition begun by their ancestors so many years ago.

Those traditions include the Solera method by which Santa Teresa rum is made, a process that ensures continuity of quality and taste in every bottle (see sidebar: Solera Method). Getting it right takes a steady hand and centuries’ worth of knowledge, handed down from maestro to maestro at the Hacienda Santa Teresa. In a show of how far Santa Teresa has progressed since its earliest beginnings, this year it named its first woman maestro, or “master blender,” who will work alongside the current master blender in handcrafting Santa Teresa rum. It’s an incredible honor and a difficult position to achieve—she’s only the fifth person to be awarded the title, and it only came after 31 years with the brand, studying under previous master blenders. In Bolívar’s day this would have been unconventional in the extreme, but the Hacienda Santa Teresa has a history of pushing forward—and in at least one case, the progress has seen an unconventional effort that’s transformed a community.

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Impact

In Santa Teresa’s case, the “extraordinary force” goes beyond those in Project Alcatraz and includes all of the employees and fans of the Hacienda Santa Teresa, who have carried a legacy of quality and tradition for 225 years—with no sign of stopping. For Venezuelans at home, Santa Teresa rum is a reassuring constant, one of their country’s best products and a readily accessible symbol of endurance.

For Venezuelans living abroad, Santa Teresa is a cultural touchstone, some part of the soul of the country to be shared with fellow Venezuelans and with those who, though they might not understand what it means to be Venezuelan, can at least appreciate 225 years of exceptional quality and the dedicated heart that it takes to succeed for more than two centuries. Highly recommended.

Find out more at santateresarum.com

Project Alcatraz

In 2003, gang members broke into the Hacienda Santa Teresa and attacked a guard. An on-site security team quickly apprehended the gang members, but rather than immediately calling in the authorities, the Hacienda’s leadership gave them a choice: either be handed over to police or work at the Hacienda to make up for their crime. The gang members decided to go to work, and “Project Alcatraz” was born. Today, the program recruits gang members and rehabilitates them, teaching them life skills and giving them another chance at a future.

Along with vocational training at the Hacienda, they’re offered counseling and formal education, and they’re introduced to rugby, through which they learn the values of respect, discipline, teamwork, sportsmanship and humility. A bold move, it’s a good example of the progressive outlook brought

by Santa Teresa CEO Alberto Vollmer, who said of the project: “The guys from the gangs are used to risking everything. So when you give them a chance to do something positive in life and they take it, they become an extraordinary force.”

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SOLERA METHOD Solera is a fractional blending process by which the finished spirit (rum, in this case) is a mix of spirits of different ages. The process has been common in the production of sherry, port and madeira wines since the mid 18th century, although it has been used to make a number of spirits as well. In the case of Santa Teresa 1796, when production begins and a bottle is drawn, younger rum is added to the original cask to top it up, thus blending with the rums that were added before. Because the original cask of Santa Teresa 1796 was never emptied, this process ensures that every bottle produced contains some of the very first 1796 cask running through it. Once a bottle is drawn, it is hand-sealed with wax and then shipped to beautiful gatherings all over the world, to be enjoyed with good friends. Old World methodology, timeless quality.

SANTA TERESA 179 6 Appearance Amber red, rich like a volcanic sunset Nose Fruited aroma with wood notes Palate Leather, vanilla, cinnamon, dark chocolate, nuts, prunes, and hints of honey and pepper—a beautiful combination

FOOD & DRINK Pairings

Amicizia A feast fit for lovers of life, an American table gilded with an array of Pasqua wines from Verona, Italy

When traditional U.S. fare meets Pasqua wines from Italy, the table is set for love of life, a sentiment that crosses borders any time of year, including for this fall menu…

Cornbread w/ Wild Mushrooms & Pecans Ingredients • • • • • • •

6-8 slices savory cornbread 1 large shallot halved lengthwise, then thinly sliced 8 oz wild mushrooms 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped 1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped 2 slices applewood smoked uncured bacon, chopped

• • • • •

1/4 cup dry white wine 1/2 tbsp butter for mushrooms 1/4 cup pecans, chopped 1 tbsp butter to toast pecans Jasper Hill Farm “Alpha Tolman” cheese, finely shredded

Method • •

• •

Set oven to 350˚ and toast cornbread on a sheet pan for 8 min. Flip and toast another 8 min. Set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp butter in small pan over medium heat until beginning to foam. Add pecans and fry until fragrant and very foamy. Remove from heat, set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in pan over medium heat until fragrant. Add bacon and fry until barely crispy.

Add shallot to pan and cook until translucent and beginning to brown. Turn heat to medium-high and add mushrooms and thyme. Cook until the mushrooms are tender. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds, then deglaze pan with white wine. When wine has evaporated, add butter and parsley, cook for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and let rest for 1min. Pile on toasted cornbread and top with toasted pecans and cheese.

Important note: It is essential that the cornbread not be too sweet; a savory cornbread works best.

PA I R W ITH 11 Minutes rosé; the beautiful blend of Corvina, Trebbiano and Syrah brings enough spice to intensify the savory appetizer without over-coloring the flavors

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Asheville Style Trout Dip Ingredients • • • •

8 oz smoked boneless trout fillets - skin removed 1 tbsp red onion minced 2 tbsp chives finely chopped 4 oz cream cheese

• • • •

1/4 cup sour cream 1/4 cup strained plain full-fat yogurt 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice Black pepper to taste

Method Combine all ingredients in a bowl until well incorporated.

Let rest in the fridge for at least 30 min before serving.

PA I R W I T H Hey French; honestly, the wine alone is exquisite, but its chamomile, almonds, white pepper and tropical fruits make it a minerally friend to this dip

Just a few offerings among the family of amazing wines from Pasqua — pasqua.it/en/home

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Watercress, Apple & Cheese Salad Dressing • • • • • • •

Salad

1 tsp Dijon 1 tsp honey 1 tbsp minced shallot 2 tbsp red wine vinegar 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar 4 tbsp good olive oil Salt and pepper to taste

• • •

Deer Creek “The Robin” Colby cheese, sliced 6 oz Watercress (c. two bunches) 1 Pink Lady apple, thinly sliced

Method Whisk together dressing ingredients until well combined, set aside. Place a layer of apple on each plate. Toss watercress in dressing and pile on apple. Add layer of cheese, then repeat until the salads are composed.

PA I R W ITH Prosecco Treviso DOC Brut; clean and fruity, the mineral finish complements the bite of the cheese and greens here

Bone-In Ribeye Buy quality steaks from your butcher, approx. 1 1/2 inches thick; grill at 500˚ for 2 minutes a side, then close down the grill and leave the steak on for another 2 minutes or until the internal temp reaches 135˚F (for medium rare).

PA I R W ITH Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG; a big, beautiful expression of blackberries, cherries, spice and roasted coffee—sublime

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DRINK Wine & Golf

The passion of Pasqua

Francesco Molinari enjoys a glass of Pasqua Amarone Della Valpolicella [left]. Pasqua vineyard [top] and Verona [above]

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Pasqua Wines, the most famous winery in Verona, shares its traditions and values with Italy’s most successful golfer, Francesco Molinari

I

Italy’s north-east is a prolific wine-producing region, exporting more wine than the rest of Italy combined, and within the north-east, Pasqua Wines is one of the most popular and celebrated producers, distributing its exceptional wines to 60 countries around the world. There is a natural affinity then—or call it common ground—between Pasqua and the finest golfer Italy has ever produced, Francesco Molinari.

The Family Pasqua, which has been producing Verona’s finest wines for three generations and nearly 100 years, believes in finding talent, nurturing it and pairing that talent with passion. One side without the other results in wasted potential. The family believes that striving for excellence must be done with tenacity, and the more you learn about the philosophy of Pasqua Wines, the clearer its synergy with Molinari becomes.

Turin-born Molinari, now 39, is the most successful golfer to emerge from Italy. In 2018 he achieved what no Italian golfer had done before him in winning a major championship. Molinari was the model of composure under extreme pressure at Carnoustie in The Open—a golfer capitalizing on his natural ability and a lifetime’s endeavor— to become a major champ. The humble Molinari did not drop a single shot over the final two rounds at Carnoustie, to win the Claret Jug by two shots from a chasing pack that included some of the best golfers of this generation: Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth.

Molinari’s historic achievements in 2018 continued at the Ryder Cup in Paris, where he won an amazing five points from five matches to anchor the European team to victory over the United States. Fittingly, Molinari finished the season as the number one player on the European Tour, and in 2019 he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill—another first by an Italian golfer.

“The talent, personality and style of Francesco Molinari is recognized internationally,” says Umberto Pasqua, president of his family’s business. “Francesco is emblematic of the visionary and tenacious Italy that we love. We are honored that he is able to represent Pasqua Wines worldwide.”

Adds Riccardo Pasqua, CEO of Pasqua Wines: “Our desire is to be ambassadors for Italy in the world through our wines and we are honored to share this ambition with Francesco Molinari in all 60 countries where we operate”.

“We all deeply love Italy,” says Molinari, in considering his partnership with Pasqua Wines. “Being Italian characterizes my life story. I am delighted to be part of this venture with Famiglia Pasqua, with whom I share so many values.”

Marrying great Italian traditions in winemaking with innovation, Pasqua has received special recognition for its 2016 Amarone Della Valpolicella, made from hand-picked grapes and aged in French oak barrels. Deep red in color, this Valpolicella offers a fresh aroma of red fruits, spicy tones and the sweet notes of vanilla. A smooth and velvety wine with silky tannins, a depth of flavor leaves the taste of marasca cherry on the palette.

a roman legacy Valpolicella was first produced by the Romans amid the foothills of the Alps above the Po Valley, near Verona. It started well and has gained in popularity ever since and Valpolicellas are among the most drinkable of light European reds. Valpolicellas are today made in a sub-region of Veneto that reaches from Lake Garda and across Verona to Venice.

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DRINK Highballs

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U

W

L

S

P M LY I

N D F E R

A

mixer and brightened by a chill, the versatile sum inviting contribution.

Thus, and befitting the globe-trotting Tommy Dewar, who in 1892 invented the Highball while visiting New York City, the cocktail travels well. Here we offer global variations, properly served in a tall glass with good company. Cheers to simple pleasures.

A Highball’s mystery lies not in its recipe of whisky, soda and ice, but rather in the endless range of characters possible to those elements.

All the subtlety of a whisky’s form is enlivened by an effervescent

THE ORIGINAL CITRUS

PEAR

JA PA N E S E H I G H B A L L F LO R A L

As straightforward as the bold personality of the city in which it was born, this is Tommy Dewar’s 1892 New York creation: whisky, soda and ice served in a tall glass.

Accordingly, it calls for Dewar’s White Label and simple soda water.

Never was an exotic destination so easily reached, with the cinnamon, sandalwood and honeyed floral notes of Dewar’s Japanese Smooth enchanting the classic recipe.

What:

HONEY

– 50ml Dewar’s Japanese

Smooth

What:

– 100ml chilled Fever-Tree soda

– 1 ½ parts Dewar’s White Label – 4 parts soda water – Lemon twist

How: – Add Dewar’s to a chilled

SA

N DA

LWO O

D

freezer)

How: – Deliberately pour the Dewar’s

Highball glass

– Fill with cubed ice and soda – Stir twice then spray lemon

zest over the top and garnish

C

HONEY

water

– Orange twist – Frozen Highball glass (left in

IN

NA

MON

Japanese Smooth into the frozen Highball glass, then add one long spear of ice – Fill with soda, but do not stir (metal squelches the bubbles!)

– Squeeze the orange zest oils over the top of the Highball then place on top

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OW

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N SUG

Sun-splashed and gilded by golden sands, the blend of 40 single malts and grain whiskies aged for at least 8 years, then double aged before being finished in ex-Caribbean rum casks for up to six months, means Dewar’s Caribbean Smooth is a chilled friend to the Highball.

AR

PICAL FRU

TOASTED CITRUS HIGHBALL

IT

CAR

If Scottish explorers had ridden with cowboys in Mexico, Dewar’s Ilegal Smooth might have been born earlier. As it is, the sustainably crafted Ilegal Mezcaltinged notes of honey-kissed sliced green pepper and delicate smoke is brand new, as is the Highball it creates.

AMEL

What – 2 parts Dewar’s Caribbean – – – – –

AR

ED FRU

160

E FRUI

What – – – – – – –

W

ISP

OF SMO

KE

2 parts Dewar’s Ilegal Smooth 1 part Pink Grapefruit Juice ¾ part Fresh lemon juice ⅔ part Honey Water 4 parts soda water Pink grapefruit wedge

How

– Add all liquids (except soda)

to a chilled highball glass

– Add cubed ice and soda – Stir from bottom of glass – Garnish with pink

grapefruit slice

SPICED TONIC HIGHBALL IT

HONEY

ON

P EEN EPPER

– Add whisky, lemon juice and

syrup to chilled Highball glass – Fill with cubed ice, add soda – Stir ingredients from the bottom upwards to mix thoroughly – And garnish with slapped (but not abused) mint sprig and lime wheel

KR

ST

GR

How

AMEL

S

D

CAR

Smooth ¾ part lemon juice ¾ part Coconut syrup 4 parts soda water Mint sprig Lime wheel

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European relations never went so well as in Dewar’s Portuguese Smooth, an 8-year-old blend finished in port casks that yields a Highball simultaneously evocative of Old and New World hopes and dreams.

The aromatic tonic is an important player here.

What – 50ml Dewar’s Portuguese smooth – 100ml Fever Tree Aromatic Tonic

(or plain tonic water with dash of Angostura bitters)

How – Add whisky to chilled Highball glass – Fill with cubed ice – Add soda

Compliments of Valero Texas Open

LAST PAGE

Arnold Palmer at the 1960 Texas Open

Century Strong The Valero Texas Open, the third oldest tournament on the PGA Tour beyond the majors, celebrates its 100th anniversary next March THE VALERO TEXAS OPEN, which marks its 100th anniversary next March on the Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio, has one of the most impressive tournament histories in world golf.

Its roster of champions is defined by greatness spanning generations, with Walter Hagen, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Lee Trevino and reigning champ Jordan Spieth having all lifted the trophy. And that’s before we mention Arnold Palmer, who remains the only golfer to have won the Valero Texas Open three years in a row, which he achieved in 1960, ’61 and ’62.

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Palmer loved playing in Texas, where the often windy conditions and firm golf courses suited his naturally low, bazooka-like ball flight.

The only golf tournaments in American golf that pre-date the Valero Texas Open are the major pair of the U.S. Open and PGA Championship, and the Western Open and Canadian Open. A record no other can touch, though, is that the Valero Texas Open is the oldest professional tournament to have been played in the same city throughout its history, with all 92 events unfolding in San Antonio, in the heart of Southern Texas.

Celebrating 100 Years of The Valero Texas Open March 28 - April 3, 2022 Be part of a tradition dating back to 1922, filled with some of the world’s greatest players who have won the Texas Open, which includes Walter Hagen, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, and Arnold Palmer. Experience the excitement as the tournament celebrates its 100th Anniversary and a new champion earns himself the title, the trophy and slips on the Champion Boots.

Experience Texas hospitality at its best with a Presidential Pass, which provides credentialed access to three venues (Centennial Club presented by Garrison Brothers Distillery, Cabana presented by UBEO, and Live Ultra at the U) so you can take in the competition and atmosphere from any of these incredible vantage points while enjoying continental breakfast, full lunch buffet, afternoon hors d’oeuvres and hosted bar service. After the third round on Saturday, enjoy the 100th Anniversary Concert featuring Jason Aldean and Darius Rucker.

Hospitality Tickets starting at $550 can be purchased at www.ValeroTexasOpen.com/kingdom