Kingdom 55

55 | SUMMER 2022

What St Andrews, whisky, and the Cayman Islands have in common

Thomas Keller

Golf and transformation with the Michelin-starred chef

Zach Johnson The Ryder Cup Captain taking on the odds

$20 where sold

Fall Destinations Summer Libations The Tour’s Future

LUXURY | LIFESTYLE | GOLF

- An Island Sanctuary like no other

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Robert Trent Jones Course at Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort 32.170767° N, -80.718912° W

SHARED VALUES. HARD WORK.

Top: Austin Cook, Gaby Lopez, Andrew Landry Middle: Brooke Matthews, Taylor Moore, Maria Fassi Bottom: Dicky Pride, Stacy Lewis, David Lingmerth

We tip our hat to the Stephens Brand Ambassadors on the PGA Tour, the LPGA Tour and the PGA Champions Tour. We are proud to support these players because their values and work ethic exemplify the culture of our firm.

Each of them, along with the University of Arkansas golf programs have made golf an indispensable contributor to the quality of our state and our country.

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EDITOR IN CHIEF

Reade Tilley ART DIREC TOR

Matthew Halnan

PUBLISHER & CO - FOUNDER

Matthew Squire

HEAD OF ADVERTISING SALES

Jon Edwards

FOUNDING DIREC TOR

Arnold Palmer

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Robin Barwick

VP, OPERATIONS

DESIGNER

Joe Velotta

Kieron Deen Halnan

PHOTOGRAPHY

Meghan Glennon, Matt Majka, Evan Schiller, Getty Images SPECIAL THANKS & CONTRIBUTORS

Esme Benjamin, Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., Harry Charles, Ernie Els, Kent Farrington, Full-Time Travel, Larry Gladson, Bob Harig, Aaron Jarvis, Zach Johnson, Thomas Keller, Herb Kohler, Alex Miceli, Cho Minn Thant, Ariana Pernice, Charlie Rymer, Dave Shedloski, Mike Williams 

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14 Murray Street, Suite 274, New York, NY 10007 © 2022 North & Warren, LLC. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

The articles appearing within this publication reflect the opinion of their respective authors and not necessarily those of the publisher. The contents of advertisements and advertorials are entirely the responsibilty of advertisers. No responsibility is taken for unsolicited submissions and manuscripts.

Kingdom magazine was first available to friends & associates of Arnold Palmer, members & guests of his deSigned and managed courses. Now it is available at distinguished private clubs and for discerning golfers everywhere.  Printed in the USA

WE ARE ALL CONNECTED

Connecting more countries than any other airline.

A course so majestic it could only be set in the Queen City.

Home to the Wells Fargo Championship, the 2017 and 2025 PGA Championship, and the 2022 Presidents Cup. The course, modified by member Arnold Palmer and more recently redesigned by Tom Fazio, attracts Major Championships.

And even more compliments.

EDITOR’S LETTER

The Only Constant

W

hen Leo Tolstoy observed that “everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself,” he wasn’t writing about the golf world, but how felicitous his words seem in that context today. In golf and beyond, we are wrestling with dramatic change, much of it effected by men with grand notions of reshaping landscapes in their image and to their profit, but who might be on different paths had they initially considered reshaping themselves instead. Often their justifications include some derision of history—ironic in golf’s case in that the most formidable modern challenge to the game’s traditions has come in the same year as the 150th Open Championship, a tournament with an experience of victory that transcends any monetary prize, specifically because of its history. There’s a lesson in that, and to a different degree a lesson in the Canadian Open, the Valero Texas Open, the legacy at Riviera, at Bay Hill, and so on. And yet.

Focusing on what we can control, we celebrate the 150th Open with Zach Johnson, Ernie Els, the Cayman Islands’ Aaron Jarvis and others in a section that begins on p58, and we consider golf’s modern challenge on p96.

Michelin-starred Chef Thomas Keller explains how he’s using golf to positively change the world (p88), and Napa Valley Wine Academy founder Christian Oggenfuss raises a glass to the wonderful change that comes with the annual wine grape harvest (p108). Great places to golf this fall (p124), great cocktails to drink this summer (p144), great places to live any time of year (p130) and more—it’s all here, in a Kingdom that’s beginning to effect some changes of its own (check out our emerging new front section, for starters). In a world in which change is the only constant, we’re working on ourselves, staying the course even as we evolve, ever thankful to all of you and excited to see you out there in the world this summer.

Canadian Open champions, 1955 and 2022

Warmly, Reade Tilley

SUMMER 2022

15

PUBLISHER’S LETTER

S

What Matters

ummer is here, and I for one am excited to see the greatest players in the world on the Old Course at St Andrews for the 150th Open Championship. What a legacy that tournament has, carried forward by the likes of Arnold Palmer, who made the trip across the pond in 1960 to play at the Home of Golf. His visit helped to spark American participation in The Open, ensuring it would continue in its grand tradition, and so it has.

Even more than The Open, I am looking forward to a healthy period of time away from life’s daily grind, to switching off—even if only in intent—from all that is wrong in the world right now and focusing on what is good. Heaven knows we all need something to make us smile these days!

If you, our readers, are thinking the same thing, you might wish to book a trip to Scotland and play some of the most stunning golf courses in the world. Our friend Herb Kohler has a few suggestions on a great place to stay and things to do (see page 84 & 85), and there’s always the Golf & Whisky tour we have put together (see page 78).

If you prefer to stay closer to home but are planning your autumnal golf getaways, I hope you enjoy our Fall Perfect feature (see page 122), which recommends a handful of great courses that are best enjoyed once the heat of the summer sun has subsided.

Finally, I would like to highlight the introduction of our new “Live Like a King” feature. We’re trying it out in our new front section (dubbed “The Approach”). The new section is a collection of quick reads, course openings, interviews and more, and “Live Like a King” offers daily-life tips from this magazine’s co-founder, Arnold Palmer. The way Arnold treated others—and the way he presented himself—are good models to follow, and everyone who worked in his orbit worked hard every day to meet his [very high] standards. With a bit of a wink and a smile, we hope that you enjoy the new feature and the other new changes to Kingdom, which are very much a work in progress. See if you can spot them—and see if you can spot us on course this summer. We’ll be there, playing all the golf we can—and perhaps finding time for a whisky tour of Scotland.

Be well, Matthew

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KINGDOM 55

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CONTENTS

Kingdom Magazine OLD & NEW ISSUE

ISSUE 55

22

58

THE APPROACH

22 24 26 29 30 34 39 41 42 45 46 49 53 56

Coming Soon Elevated Greener Green No.19 Big & Beautiful Full Round Urban Game On the Water Now Open Scorecard Live Like A King Be Like Bond Giving Game Host Venue

SUMMER 2022

88

THE OPEN

FEATURES

58

Zach Johnson

88

Thomas Keller

68

Palmer’s Opens

96

Takeaway

73

Ernie Els

102

Fish Five Ways

74

Aaron Jarvis

108

The Crush

The last St Andrews Open champ remains the hero of his Iowa hometown Arnie at The Open, in his own words On what it takes to win a British Open vs. a U.S. Open The Open extends reach to the Cayman Islands

78

Whisky regions

84

Snapshot

The finest Scotch distilleries, with golf to match

Eight Michelin stars and a recipe for helping the world through golf LIV Golf and the future of the PGA TOUR Kingdom’s ed-in-chief gets beneath the surface on two decades of fishing editorials The best places to be (and where to turn your feet purple) when the wine grapes come in

Herb Kohler’s St Andrews

SUMMER 2022

19

CONTENTS

Kingdom Magazine ISSUE 55

122

OLD & NEW ISSUE

SUMMER 2022

130

150

LIFE

118 122 130 136 140

20

Pro, Inc.

The off-course business life of a PGA TOUR pro

Fall Perfect

Best places to take your summer-honed game

154 158

Vacation Homes

Siesta on demand in your own private Mexico

162

Summer Chill

Cool accessories for the hottest summer heat

Handcrafted

Hemingway-inspired fishing gear

KINGDOM 55

166

Leaps & Bounds

Chicago kid Kent Farrington at home at the Royal Windsor Horse Show

Well On Course

Wellness travel and purposeful golf in the Berkshires

DRINKS

144

Tiki Tiki

150

Summer Sport

ShotLink

The tech that makes a tournament difference

Gift Guide

Summer gold, for you and yours

Jump in the line with loud cocktails from Orlando’s Aku Aku The two best ways to ice down after a day of sweltering summer play LAST PAGE

170

Swilcan

Golf’s oldest crossing

COMING SOON

Te Arai Links With a course from Coore & Crenshaw opening this fall and one from Tom Doak coming next year, New Zealand’s Te Arai Links looks to be a dream made real

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KINGDOM 55

H

ow long is the new Coore & Crenshaw South Course at Te Arai Links? “We don’t care, we’ve never asked,” says Jim Rohrstaff of Legacy Partners, which also developed the lauded Tara Iti just up the road on New Zealand’s North Island. Though the yardage is, in fact, available, it wasn’t the point, Rohrstaff says. “We told the architects, ‘One: Give us best course in the world on this piece of property. Two: make it fair and fun. And three: we want good pace of play. Within that, you’re the best architects in the world, go and do your thing.’”

That [refreshing] attitude—of “hire the best and let them get on with it”—has added yet another stunner to an already stunning golf landscape, and Doak’s North Course is shaping up to be just as incredible. With homesites and top-end lodging under construction, and with dining and a cocktail-friendly 2.5-acre putting green on offer, we’re counting the days until the ribbon is cut.

Photo: @ricky_robinson

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ELEVATED

Drama at 2,000 Feet The breathtaking McLemore is perched high atop Georgia’s Lookout Mountain, and offers one of the most inspired closing holes in golf

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KINGDOM 55

D

on’t you love it when a good story has a great ending? At the McLemore Club, atop Lookout Mountain in northwest Georgia, a round of golf on its Highlands Course builds to an unforgettable crescendo: a final green more than 2,000 feet above sea level. The par-4 plays up to 435 yards from the tips, with the left side of the hole defined by the cliff’s edge and a dramatic 100-foot drop. The fairway is 40 yards wide and offers plenty of scope to find safety, but a determined hook off the tee by a right-hander will send the ball onto a long-haul flight into the wooded valley below.

The green location also tests a golfer’s mettle as it snuggly sits just feet from the precipice.

McLemore is a golf club and residential community only 35 minutes from downtown Chattanooga, Tenn., yet its mountaintop remoteness makes it and its homesites feel a world away. “It is different here at McLemore,” explains William Duane Horton, club President. “People come here just to look at the land and to experience it. This golf course celebrates the natural areas and is carved into the land in a way that makes it look part of the character, and like it belongs here.” And so it does, and so do you.

SUMMER 2022

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GREENER GREEN

Natural Beauty Santa Lucia Preserve brings conservation, community and culture together, along with a heartening golf experience

26

KINGDOM 55

J

ust a few minutes from Carmel-by-the-Sea in the soul-stirring wilds of California, the 20,000-acre Santa Lucia Preserve holds nearly 300 families, fortunate members and guests who live and play among roughly 100 miles of hiking trails, multiple microclimates, and one of the Monterey Peninsula’s bestkept golf secrets. Meandering among 365 acres of towering oaks and rolling savannas, around wetlands and across seasonal streams framed by the majestic Santa Lucia Mountains, The Preserve Golf Club showcases the area’s rich natural beauty with a Tom Fazio design and careful placement of homesites. The development footprint comprises just 10% of The Preserve, a sanctuary that’s complemented by ocean views, green design and sustainable building practices. The on-site Ranch Club and its Spanish Colonial-style Hacienda offers fresh farm-to-table cuisine sourced from an organic on-site garden (and overnight accommodations for guests) while a cutting-edge fitness center, tennis courts, swimming pools, an equestrian center and more all add to the high quality of life here. To live at The Preserve is to become a steward of the land for future generations—responsible, beautiful and enjoying a truly memorable golf experience.

Photo: Joann Dost

SUMMER 2022

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ddison Reserve Country Club in Delray Beach, FL, inspired us with a Honey Quarantini recipe that we couldn’t leave alone. Theirs comes in a mason jar with the lemon wheel dropped in the glass; we pour ours in a classic martini glass and leave the lemon on the side but however you serve it, this is a chilling summer cooler with a touch of immune-boosting citrus taste—perfect for a world in crazy times or in any times when the sun is shining.

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Add shot of honey to bottom of a martini glass; combine the vodka and Vitamin C mix in an ice-filled shaker and strain into the glass; garnish with lemon wheel.

SUMMER 2022

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BIG & BEAUTIFUL

With the Current Electric and solar power by air, land and sea (and undersea) for those who like their luxury adventures well-charged

SILENT YACHT The Silent 60 from Silent Yachts made (quiet) waves in 2021, winning a nice collection of awards, including a prestigious “Best of Boats” award in the Best for Travel category. Her predecessor, the Silent 64, was the first solar-powered serial ship to cross the Atlantic powered mainly by solar energy, and she encoutered cloudy skies, high winds and 20to 30-foot waves along the way without issue. The Silent 60 is her technologically advaned successor, with zero emissions and unlimited range, meaning you can responsibly chase sunsets or sunrises to your heart’s content. silent-yachts.com

30

KINGDOM 55

SUMMER 2022

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LILIUM JET The first eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) jet is bringing new meaning to the term “charged up” as it advances toward certification. The sevenseater from Germany boasts 36 electric motors, zero emissions, and a NetJets partnership (they have the right to purchase up to 150 of them), and reportedly is on track to begin production in 2023 and to enter service the following year. Going up!

TRITON 660/2 SPII Triton builds submarines for the most demanding professionals, meaning their leisure divison benefits from a world of technology and informed experience.

The SPII was designed specifically for yacht garages, and allows anyone and a friend to explore the depths to 660 feet, silently and with minimal impact thanks to its electric thrusters. James Bond gadgets not included.

2023 LOTUS ELETRE All new and all electric, this “Hyper SUV” from esteemed car-builder Lotus showcases what sustainable materials can do when put to use by 70 years of sports car design and engineering. Numbers are estimated at a 0–60 time of 2.9 seconds, 160mph top speed and a 370-mile range, meaning you can hit the twisties for some fun and still pick up the kids or the groceries on time—while looking simply electrifying, we’d say.

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KINGDOM 55

Where Golf Meets the Metaverse VIP Access & Experiences

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Meet the Harrison Bros., Professional Golf’s Exclusive Putting Instructor Duo. Watch for this incredible first drop of 1,200 unique characters starting in July at The Open Championship.

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FULL ROUND

Tennessee Charlie Former PGA Tour pro and Golf Channel broadcaster Charlie Rymer tells Kingdom about the time Byron Nelson burned him (in a good-natured way) and why his good friend Glen should have kept his mouth shut

34

KINGDOM 55

You first reached national prominence when you won the 1985 U.S. Junior Amateur. Who did you beat in the final?

I played Greg Lesser, who ended up on the PGA Tour, and we had a heck of a match.

I got up early but he flipped me and he was dormie on the 17th tee. The match looked dire but I managed to make a 17-foot birdie putt on 17 to take the match to 18, and then a par was enough to take the match into a playoff.

Sounds tense...

Well, I was trying to be really smart so I said to the official: “I need to use the bathroom.

How much time can I have?” They said I could have 15 minutes, so I went into the locker room while Greg went to the first tee.

I was 17 years old and I was trying to sweat him. I marched out after my 15 minutes and immediately blasted my drive about 80 yards into the right trees! My theory didn’t work but Greg also found trouble and I ended up winning.

What a great moment for a 17-year-old!

Until that point, I had a really good record in the Carolinas but I had not contended at a tournament of national prominence. I still think the U.S. Junior Amateur is the top junior tournament. There is something about being a USGA champion that really goes with you for life. You don’t realize it when you’re 17, but you do when you are 54. I am honored to have my name on that trophy.

You didn’t win on the PGA Tour but you did shoot 61 once.

Yes, at the 1996 Byron Nelson Classic. I played the third round with Davis Love and Donnie Hammond and it was the one and only time in my life that I played golf with Davis. He shot 71 so I beat him by 10.

Believe me, I have never let him forget that.

What stands out from that day?

It was actually a pretty tough day—windy— but I was definitely, truly in the zone. It was a par-70 and I was nine under with three to play.

My good friend Glen Day, who’s from Little Rock, saw me with Davis and Donnie and a bunch a TV cameras and came over to give me and Donnie a hard time about getting our butts whipped by Davis. Then Glen looked at the score sign and said: “Holy cow, you’re nine under par today!”

I said: “Glen, go away. That’s your hole over there, this is my hole.” Davis and Donnie were chuckling away. Glen says: “You’re nine under and this is a par 70!

You’ve got three holes left to play. You’re going to shoot 59 today!” I shouted, “Shut up, Glen! Leave me alone!”

Glen started walking away and I swear to you, you can’t make this up, he looked back and shouted: “Hey, are they still giving a million dollars to anybody who shoots 59?”

I completely fell out of the zone— locked up—I made three pars and shot 61.

I still tied the course record and it was a lot of fun.

What happened on Sunday?

I was paired with Phil Mickelson but I shot 73 or 74 to drop right back, while Phil won.

That was the first and last time I was in the final group on a Sunday on the PGA Tour.

It is something I will never forget. I don’t have a big check or a trophy to show for my time on the PGA Tour, but I have a couple of good stories and that’s fine by me.

You are returning to your roots with your new position as Exec. Vice President at McLemore Club.

Exactly. I was born in Tennessee, maybe 30 miles from McLemore as the crow flies, and I have been up on Lookout Mountain my whole life. The area is very special to me. That part of the world, the way the mountains sit, the friendliness of the people, the weather—it is an anchor point in my life.

“Hey, are they still giving a million dollars to anybody who shoots 59?”

The Highlands Course at McLemore is receiving widespread praise...

It is, but until you step foot on the property you can’t really appreciate how dramatic it is. That 18th hole absolutely takes your breath away. It looks like an impossible location for a golf hole but I don’t want that hole to overshadow the other 17 we have because we’ve got one heck of a good golf course. It is a challenging course and has a number of holes you could call its signature hole.

Did you get the chance to meet tournament host Byron Nelson?

Mr. Nelson was on the first tee on that Sunday morning. He thanked me for playing in his event and told me how good my round was on the Saturday.

He looked at me sort of funny and he said: “You know, I thought about it last night, how I never shot a 61 in my entire life.” I was like, “Wow, that’s really cool.”

Then he glanced at me, smiled a little bit and said, “You know, I did shoot 60 a lot though.”

What is new at McLemore in 2022?

We have a half-acre putting green that is growing in right now, that has the best view of any putting green I have ever seen. We have a short course that really is a lot of fun to play and that is right on the edge of the mountain as well. Hopefully we will open the doors later this year on our worldclass teaching and training center, that will have the latest technology for teaching and fitting. We will also have a really cool golf bar, all with an amazing view.

A lot of work has got McLemore to this point, and what we are building will stand the test of time and folks are going to enjoy McLemore for generations.

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A CUT ABOVE

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Audubon Park Golf Club

URBAN GAME

W

ithin sight of the Caesars Superdome and New Orleans’ bustling downtown, the golf course at Audubon Park has been satisfying urban players since 1898. A 2002 Denis Griffiths redesign of the Olmstead Brothers’ original freshened the 18 holes that meander through ancient oaks and past four lagoons, offering a relaxed Southern challenge in view of Tulane University. Playing just 4,220 yards, you’ll be on and off in the blink of a Crescent City eye—leaving plenty time to visit Bar Sazerac’s airport location for a pre-flight 19th hole libation. Cue the band...

S TAY

Four Seasons New Orleans

Catch a streetcar to the French Quarter or just lounge at the rooftop pool and watch boats go by before dining at the incredible on-site restaurants. This Four Seasons is luxuriously appointed, fantastically serviced and perfectly located.

Don’t miss the jazz in the lobby’s shimmering Chandelier Bar.

E AT

DO

Pêche

Café du Monde

This wood-fired grill in a former carriage house has been delivering inspired takes on South American, Spanish and Gulf Coast seafood for nearly a decade, and a recent visit confirms it’s still the place to go. If you have time for only one meal in New Orleans, you probably wouldn’t regret having it here.

Sure, it’s the most-hyped beignet place in town, but if you’ve not had the donut-like sweets and chicory coffee at Café du Monde, then you’re missing out. Skip the lines at the French Quarter original and hit the Riverwalk location instead, walking distance from the Four Seasons.

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Lana’i

ON THE WATER

A

mong places where serenity coexists with crashing waves, luxury lives among simple pleasures and epic golf complements an epic landscape, Lana’i occupies a special place. Specifically, the golf on Lana’i is at the Four Seasons Resort Lana’i, a five-diamond resort with a dreamlike setting. On one side, a crescent-shaped beach at Hulopoe Bay, with spinner dolphins and rainbows frequently in view. On the other, the Manele Golf Course, a Jack Nicklaus-designed beauty perched atop lava cliffs. Expect carries over gorges and ravines, challenging greens and tough decisions along the way, but you’ll also get startling beauty, no crazy crowds, and one of the most memorable rounds you’re likely ever to enjoy.

Klipsch T5II

TRUE WIRELESS SPORT

From the elite company that pioneered audio solutions for top theaters and live venues alike, these waterproof wireless Bluetooth earbuds like a dip in the pool or a day on the sand or golf course. Look for the PGA TOUR edition with its clever golf green-inspired charging mat.

Bare Republic | GEL SUNSCREEN Reef-safe, effective and essentially invisible when applied, this clear gel’s non-nano zinc oxide particles offer plenty of protection while its botanical oils keep skin moisturized.

Palm Angels |

BUCKET HAT

With its Milan-meets-street style and a fan list that includes some of the biggest names in sports and music, Palm Angels sets the look for summer, not least with its Hawaii PXP Bucket hat—swaying palms not included.

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NOW OPEN

GO BIG & GO HOME At more than 8,000 yards long, the new course at RainDance National Resort & Golf isn’t just one of the most exciting openings this year—it’s the longest

Photo: Wheeler Golfscapes/Colorado Avid Golfer

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B

ig news in the golf world came from Windsor, Colorado, this summer with the opening of the 18-hole RainDance National Resort & Golf, about an hour north of downtown Denver. “Big” because the design from course architect Harrison Minchew and PGA Tour professional Fred Funk is a stunning highland links-style course that we can’t wait to play, but also because, at 8,463 yards, it’s one of the longest in the world. Featuring five par fives, eight par fours and five par threes, RainDance offers roughly 225 feet of elevation change and is routed to return to the

clubhouse three times: at No’s 9, 12 and 18. The full length will only be in play during tournaments and special events, while the rest of the time five sets of tees can see it play as short as 4,989 yards. Golfers of all levels should enjoy it, with better players getting a special bonus: a roughly 10 percent increase in carry compared to courses at sea level, thanks to the average elevation of 4,875 feet. Include the mountain views and an array of resort-style amenities at the development that also features 2,500 homesites, skiing and biking facilities and more and, beyond just playing it, we’re guessing people will want to make RainDance their home.

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total rounds played:

82,698,495

Popular Game

#of 9-hole rounds:

11,528,226

countries with golf

38,864

golf courses in the world

1

# of courses on Christmas Island, 961mi north of Australia Founded in 1955, the course has a rule on crabs stealing your ball

Las

gas Pop Ve

15,500

approx # of courses in the United States

556,176 golf holes

(R&A source for “countries” stats)

All data NGF unless otherwise specified

+18%

63

5,0 0 0

da Popu na

8

ion lat

209

From 2019 to 2021:

3

#of countries

–6.9%

Golf is on the rise in some surprising ways—and the proof is in the numbers

tion ula

249

Change in total rounds played from 2016 to 2018:

Ca

2021

SCORECARD

m illi o n

+600,000 37.5 M # OF NEW GOLFERS IN 2021

TOTAL GOLFERS IN 2021

12.4 M

# THAT PLAYED OFF-COURSE ONLY (TopGolf, etc)

SUMMER 2022

45

LIVE LIKE A KING

CLEAN SHAVE To Arnold Palmer, a slap-perfect face was more than just a point of grooming: it was a statement of self-respect The notion that a clean shave is a necessary facet of a solid character might be faded, but there’s something in the notion’s spirit that does ring true. Namely: presentation matters.

Still, there are advantages to a hairless mug, including unclogged pores, healthier skin and (usually) a more youthful appearance.

Whichever you choose, bare or beard or somewhere in-between, keep it sharp and take this cue from Palmer: As much as it is a matter of appearance, a clean shave is a state of mind.

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KINGDOM 55

Face Off Tommy Fleetwood’s famous beard disappeared before the 2022 Arnold Palmer Invitational because, the 31-year-old (pictured) said, “I was in a really bad mood. It was like break some golf clubs or shave my beard, then I went for the beard.”

Beard Yea

Mrs. Fleetwood. “She definitely has a preference,” Tommy said. “And it’s not this one [a bare face].”

Beard Nay

Just last year at the British Open at the Old Course at St. Andrews, I was lingering with [business advisor Alastair Johnston] in the R&A clubhouse commenting on the beard David Duval was sporting and that I thought it was not becoming of an Open champion to have facial hair. Alastair wheeled his gaze around the room at the portraits of past champions like Old Tom Morris, Willie Park, and others. Of course, they had healthy facial hair. I had to laugh at the irony.

Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa. Says Fleetwood: “I was playing with [Viktor] and Collin and both of them were looking at me like, ‘We had to Google your age.

I thought you were 37, 38.’ That’s a pretty harsh comment, to be fair. When I shaved it off, I think it took about 15 years off me.”

Solution?

Fleetwood’s beard began to return during THE PLAYERS, and so did his game. An opening round 66 gave him a share of the lead heading into Friday, but as the scruff deepened so did his place on the leaderboard; he finished T22, leading us to think a 5’o’clock shadow might be the answer.

Arnold Palmer, A Life Well Played

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Escape

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As a golf experience, American Dunes Golf Club is a great day out; as a source of true inspiration, it is far more than that

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he Jack Nicklaus signature golf course in Grand Haven, Michigan, is only part of the story here, where Lt Col Dan Rooney’s vision for a club that commemorates the birthplace of Folds of Honor and deeply honors American Veterans came to life just over a year ago. Benefiting Rooney’s Folds of Honor Foundation, which provides educational scholarships to the dependents of military members who have fallen or been disabled while serving in the United States Armed Forces, American Dunes uses its beautiful landscape and the social nature of golf to tell the stories of those willing to pay the ultimate price. Now, a new Wall of Honor is being created to help tell those stories, providing a lasting way to honor heroes and reminding us all that freedom isn’t free.

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Lt. Col. Dan Rooney and Jack Nicklaus Photo: Nile Young

“Nothing like this has ever been done in golf,” Rooney said upon announcing the Wall of Honor. “The impetus came from people playing American Dunes or just hearing about it. We received calls asking, ‘How do I get involved?’”

For $313 with a yearly renewal, an 8”x 2” plaque will be created to honor a hero in their lives, with all money going towards a goal of raising $1 million for scholarships. The plaques will be engraved with the names of those honored and then installed on the Wall, and replica plaques will be sent to the donors as well. The Wall of Honor is viewable upon arrival to American Dunes, and it can be seen from No. 18 green—it is an integral part of the golf club and a strong part of the experience of American Dunes.

That experience also includes golf, of course, on a stunning track that offers a “sandhills” type of round just off the coast of Lake Michigan. Pros and high handicappers alike should have a special day here, made all the greater by the knowledge that 100% of the profits from their round will go to Folds of Honor Foundation, named for the 13 folds it takes to fold the American flag into its triangle shape. Nicklaus waived his $3 million design fee for the project, a touching statement that underlines the importance of American Dunes’ mission to “Honor their sacrifice. Educate their legacy.” With discounts for Veterans and active military, and a fantastic golf experience for everyone, playing at American Dunes is a purposeful part of the golfing landscape and a great way to make a difference.

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“Honor their sacrifice.

Educate their legacy ”

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EVENT HOST

Presidential Venue One of America’s most respected golf destinations and the site of the 2022 Presidents Cup, Quail Hollow Club knows how to host champions

N

orth Carolina’s Quail Hollow Club is no stranger to big tournaments. The annual site of the Wells Fargo Championship has been a PGA TOUR host since 1969, when the Kemper Open began its 10-year run here. With one PGA Championship behind it (2017) and at least one ahead (2025), this major venue is host to the 2022 Presidents Cup, and it’s no wonder. Designed

by George Cobb in 1961, modified by Arnold Palmer in 1986, redesigned by Tom Fazio in 1997 and modified by Fazio again in 2016, the course today is as resplendent as ever, a serious (and pastoral) challenge that brings out the best in everyone who plays it, including the best in the world.

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OPEN SPECIAL

NEVER DAUNTED Zach Johnson has spent his life proving doubters wrong. A golfer who comes into his own when the odds are stacked against him, he knows how it feels to beat Tiger Woods in the Masters and what it is to raise the Claret Jug at St Andrews. But can the new American Ryder Cup team captain defy the last 30 years of history and bring a win home from Europe?

Robin Barwick wouldn’t bet against him

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T The Open at St Andrews in 2015 was so wet that ducks paddled on the 18th green of the Old Course. The R&A clubhouse behind the first tee was barricaded with sandbags, but it was too late for the nearby media center, which flooded. The second round began at 6:32am on the Friday and, after delays from flooding and subsequent high winds, it did not finish until 9:18pm on the Saturday.

Zach Johnson didn’t mind at all. He was on the right side of the draw that week, was fortunate to complete his second round before Mother Nature turned dark and stormy, and he watched from the comfort of the great indoors on the Friday afternoon and Saturday while many of his rivals—early leader Dustin Johnson included—toiled through the bad weather and delays. As South Carolina’s Johnson was about to mark his ball on the 14th green, it suddenly rolled away. Louis Oosthuizen—the champ at St Andrews in 2010—thought he was about to play a two-foot putt on 13, until his ball was blown eight feet from the hole. Meanwhile the other Johnson—the one from Iowa— watched some TV, had a little practice and took his wife out for dinner.

Once the 144th Open ran over into a fifth day, Z. Johnson was fresher than most and he took full advantage, picking up seven shots in the first 12 holes.

“Usually on the Old Course you have to take advantage going out and then hold on coming in,” he says now, in an exclusive interview with Kingdom. “I just got off to a rip-roaring start; I was on cruise control. Under those circumstances, in the final round of a major with a few groups playing behind me, that was probably the best start to a round of my career. Then I made a couple bogeys but birdied 18 to shoot six under. I posted a number that I knew had a chance. I thought a play-off was the best-case scenario, and that is how it turned out.”

Johnson had the measure of the front nine that day, and birdies at holes one and two set up a play-off triumph over Oosthuizen and Australia’s Marc Leishman. Johnson, aged 39 at the time and the Masters champ of 2007, added his name to a very short list of golfers to have won major titles at both Augusta National and St Andrews, joining Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros and Tiger Woods.

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“On the Old Course you have to take advantage going out and then hold on coming in”

“It was an amazing week, just a lot of fun,” recalls Johnson, now 46 and the recently appointed U.S. Ryder Cup captain. “I love the town, the atmosphere, the golf course. I have a lot of appreciation for that place and for everything that has come through there. That is what St Andrews is all about: it represents golf in its purest form.”

That weather was pure, for sure, or maybe “raw” better describes it, but that is what gets Johnson going. It was similar at Augusta in 2007, when the weekend was cold and the azalea petals were strewn around by high, gusty winds. And there he was, rising to the top of the pile with a tie for the highest winning score in Masters history; Johnson won by two with Woods a runner-up alongside Retief Goosen and Rory Sabbatini.

Johnson with the Claret Jug in 2015; getting his Green Jacket in 2007

No golfer has been described as “gritty” as much as Johnson since the “Gritty little Bruin” himself, Corey Pavin; another under-sized major champ who could take down the big guy with a sweetly timed upper cut.

“Corey is one of my favorite golfers of all time,” notes Johnson. “He is someone I could model in many respects.”

The PGA Tour lists Johnson as 5 ft 11, 164 pounds— two inches taller than Pavin in fact—which is small by tour standards, and he was really the shrimp growing up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa’s second city, and playing golf at Elmcrest Country Club under the guidance of PGA pro Larry Gladson.

“Zach was under-sized but he was a fierce competitor,” recalls Gladson, who joined Elmcrest at around the same time as the Johnson family and 10-year old Zach. “He gave some yards off the tee to the bigger kids but Zach’s strengths were his accuracy and short game. That is what he was.”

That didn’t change. When Johnson won the 2007 Masters he laid up on every single par five over four rounds, scoring 11-under-par on those 16 holes.

SECOND - BEST

Growing up in Cedar Rapids, Johnson held his own on the basketball court and excelled at soccer and golf, although throughout high school and even college he was never the star guy. Johnson kept his full potential under wraps a lot longer than virtually any other professional athlete you can imagine.

“The grit was always there but being on those teams, in those environments, made me want it even more because I was one of the guys who was not supposed to make it,” adds Johnson. “I like being that guy, but I also hate it. It’s like: ‘Don’t tell me I can’t do something.’ That is going to make me want to do it all the more. I know the odds are against me, I firmly understand that, but I am going to work at it and I am going to surround myself with the right people to help me and stretch me and make me uncomfortable.

“It is just the way I am wired. I was pretty good at basketball, soccer and golf but I was never the best on any of those teams. In my senior year at high school I was consistently the number two guy on the golf team. I was

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Johnson tees off in the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine [top] and chips in on the 1st hole at Gleneagles during the 2014 Ryder Cup, watched by playing partner Matt Kuchar

The street leading up to Elmcrest CC is now called Zach Johnson Drive

always trying to prove myself. Our teams were competitive, and within the teams we competed against each other, too, and that was healthy. These guys were my best friends.”

Gladson eventually served as chief executive at Elmcrest—“a tremendous individual; he is the best,” says Johnson—and he has recently retired, but still teaches and sits on the board of the Zach Johnson Foundation, which helps under-privileged children in Cedar Rapids.

“It was not obvious at all that Zach would become a tour star,” says Gladson, “but the thing with Zach was that every year he continued to get better, through high school and college. He was still getting better as a golfer when he graduated from college and that is when he decided he was going to try to make it to the PGA Tour. Zach gave himself five years—he would give it everything he had for five years and then re-evaluate.”

Johnson turned professional in 1998, scraped around the Prairie Golf Tour, the Hooters Tour and wherever he could play before really beginning to find his mojo on what was then the Nationwide Tour, in 2003. One step away from the main circuit, Johnson won twice, smashed the prize money record with season earnings of $494,882 and was named Player of the Year. The five-year plan worked like clockwork, and at the age of 28 in 2004, PGA Tour rookie Johnson won the BellSouth Classic. Then, with his path set in stone, Johnson made his Ryder Cup debut on Tom Lehman’s team in 2006.

A year later he was a Masters champ, and in Cedar Rapids the street up leading up to Elmcrest CC is now called “Zach Johnson Drive.”

“All his success and glory has not changed the man he is one bit,” adds Gladson. “Zach knows where he is from and his character has remained the same, and we just think the world of him in Iowa.”

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“Some players can’t be intimidated and Zach Johnson is at the top of that list” The newly appointed Ryder Cup skipper; captains past & present celebrate in 2016 —[l to r] Tom Lehman, Johnson, Davis Love, Steve Stricker

THE MARCH ON ROME

Steve Williams, the abrasive caddie for Woods for many years, once told Golf Digest: “Some players can’t be intimidated and Zach Johnson is at the top of that list. He knows his game, its strengths and limitations and he trusts it… It doesn’t mean Zach will win every time; it just means he won’t lose because of the guy standing across from him.”

Johnson has proved the point time and again, not least in the Ryder Cup. Despite being on losing American teams four times in five appearances, Johnson’s singles record reads three wins, one defeat and one tie. No, Johnson doesn’t win every time, but he was the singles opponent no European wanted.

Even as Europe edged towards a hard-fought victory at Celtic Manor in 2010, Johnson would not concede an inch late in the singles matches. He defeated European talisman Padraig Harrington 3&2 just before the home side clinched it. Two years later, as the American singles line-up crumbled at Medinah, Johnson stood resolute to defeat Graeme McDowell 2&1. Johnson was one of only three home players to deliver a point that day.

Despite the dominance of the United States in the last Ryder Cup, at Whistling Straits last year—winning 19-9 to post the biggest margin of victory since the British and Irish team expanded to all of Europe in 1979—the Stars and Stripes have a poor away record in the biennial event. It has not won in Europe since 1993, when Johnson was still in high school.

Being the U.S. Ryder Cup captain away from home has become one of the toughest assignments in golf, and so what did Johnson say when he was announced as skipper in March? “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

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From six simple words, therein lies leadership.

“We will be going into an arena where the odds are against us,” explains Johnson, who will lead the American charge at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome in September 2023. “But I don’t know anything different in my life. That is just the way I am built. I welcome the challenge.

I fully embraced it as a player and I will as a captain.”

There is no doubt, Johnson has fully embraced the challenge of being underdog all his life. The PGA of America has chosen well.

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THE OPEN

A British Love Affair

A

rnold Palmer’s first trip to The Open was in 1960, at St Andrews, but as he wrote in his autobiography, A Golfer’s Life, his desire to play in the event “went back much further than that—to my days as a schoolboy golfer, when I followed newspaper accounts of the British Open and read exciting biographies of top American players like Jones and Walter Hagen, who not only played there but won there.”

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From a schoolboy dreamer Palmer rose to become a man to whom The Open “owed a debt,” according to former R&A Chief Peter Dawson, who like many others gave Palmer no small amount of credit in rejuvenating, and perhaps even saving, golf’s oldest major championship.

Here, we look at excerpts from Palmer’s book describing his and his first wife, Winnie’s, competitive trips to The Open, which began and ended at St Andrews—snapshots of what Palmer called “a love affair with British golf fans and their venerable Open.”

On his first appearance, in 1960

“My first glimpse of St Andrews one afternoon the following week wasn’t exactly the religious experience I’d hoped for.

To tell the truth, the sight of the Old Course links didn’t exactly overwhelm me with fear. In fact, I thought it was probably as easy a golf course as I’d ever seen. Of course, this is exactly what most Americans think the first time they lay eyes on the place. …As I discovered, though, it’s only after successive rounds at the Old Course that you begin to realize the subtle brilliance and high degree of difficulty the most famous golf course on earth throws at you. Bob Jones wasn’t particularly impressed by the course his first time around it, either, but he eventually became such a devoted student of the course that he compared it then to a ‘wise old lady, whimsically tolerant of my impatience, but ready to reveal the secrets of her complex being, if I would only take trouble to study and learn.’

I couldn’t put it any better than that. Study and learn.

That’s exactly what you have to do to try to prevent the Old Course from beating you.”

Only after successive rounds do you realize the subtle brilliance of the Old Course

Upon winning at Royal Birkdale in 1961

“Winnie and I were both ecstatic, and I think our enthusiasm spread through the large galleries, who stayed to watch the presentation ceremony in the blustery winds. I was enormously pleased when I read how Henry Longhurst described the moment: ‘It is doubtful that there was a man present at Birkdale who wanted Palmer to lose. It is impossible to overpraise the tact and charm with which this American has conducted himself on his two visits to Britain. He has no fancy airs or graces; he wears no fancy clothes; he makes no fancy speeches. He simply says and does exactly the right thing at the right time, and that is enough.’

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“It may be years before I fully appreciate it, but I am inclined to believe that winning The Open at the Home of Golf is the ultimate achievement in the sport.”

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“I never thought that I belonged... When I left there, was the first time I really felt deep down that I belonged, I’ve arrived, I’m one of the guys.”

T IG E R WO ODS

LEE TREVINO

after winning at St Andrews in 2000

on his 1971 victory at Royal Birkdale

“I can’t believe this is me standing here. I can’t believe this is mine.”

“I liked being Open Champion so much I didn’t want to give the trophy back”

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S H A N E LOW RY

PA DR A IG H A R R I N GTON

2019 at Royal Portrush

on defending in 2008 at Royal Birkdale

On winning at Troon in 1962

“Probably the finest finish of my career. My drives found every fairway, and the great galleries at Troon encouraged and rewarded me with enthusiastic applause for each good shot, feeding my confidence and pumping me up. I’ll never forget how they swarmed around me as I came up the 18th hole, held perfectly still as I made my approach shot to the final green, then swarmed ahead again to encircle the green.

Winnie later commented to me that she thought they were going to charge right into the stately Troon clubhouse itself!

My goodness, what a feeling. I still get chills remembering that final walk through the crowds. A few minutes later, I tapped in for a final-round 69, a six-stroke victory, and a 276 total that eclipsed the old Open mark by two strokes. Almost as important to me, I’d successfully defended the championship—the first American player to do that since Walter Hagen in the 1920s.

As I remarked to the British press afterward, I’d never—and I meant never—played better tournament golf. They responded by using up most of their stock of superlatives, heralding my final two circuits of Lady Troon as the finest finish in the history of the event. I remember that a correspondent for the London Observer wrote that I might well be the greatest player of all time. This was the first time anybody had written that, and that statement gave me tremendous satisfaction and a deep thrill.”

“My goodness, what a feeling.

I still get chills remembering that final walk through the crowds”

On his final Open appearance in 1995

“I’d also made up my mind to formally announce that this would be my farewell to The British Open, fittingly at the place where it all began for me thirty-five years earlier.

People were so extraordinarily nice to us that week.

Everywhere we went it was easy to see that the appreciative British fans were as moved as we were by the fare-thee-well nature of the journey. Winnie and I greeted lots of old friends, had some big laughs, and shed more than a few tears.

On Friday afternoon of the second round, when it was obvious to everybody—including me—that I wouldn’t make the cut, I walked toward the famous little stone bridge over the Swilcan Burn on the 18th hole. Photographers were calling out to me. They knew what the moment meant, and they wanted me to pause and give them a wave. So, at the top of the arched bridge, I turned, framed by the stern visage of the Royal and Ancient clubhouse, lifted off my visor, and gave the gallery a long farewell wave with it. …Memories were flooding my brain, and emotions were washing over me like you can’t imagine. In the instant it took for the camera’s shutter to flip open and close to capture that memorable photograph, I was also thinking how it all seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. True enough, my British Open magic was dimmed, but the magic of the British Open was as strong as it had ever been for me.

With that, I turned and walked up to the green and finished my Open career.”

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THE OPEN

Open Authority Among his 72 professional victories, former World No.1 Ernie Els has earned four major championships in his estimable career, winning two British Opens and two U.S. Opens. Who better, then, to tell us of the differences in what it takes to win— and how it feels to win—a Claret Jug and a U.S. Open Trophy

How do you prepare your game?

Obviously, they’re two of the most different setups you’ll find. In an Open Championship you’re going to have to have your wind game there; the elements play a bigger part in the actual tournament. The U.S. Open often has thick rough, and you’re going to have to hit driver. Basically, in the Open Championship you have to be able to play in weather conditions that you will not normally see on U.S. Open sites.

How do you prepare your mind?

Going into any major championship you need to have a mindset of ‘survival mode’; all the disciplines of the game need to be in good order. You have to get yourself familiar with the golf course, familiar with the surroundings, get yourself comfortable in what you need to do and what your planning is for each and every hole—and then you need to start sticking to a game plan that you like. In many ways the two Opens are very similar in terms of your mindset and your immediate preparation.

Which is more difficult to win?

It depends on how you play. Most of mine I had to go through playoffs or I won by one shot. My two U.S. Opens, one was a playoff and the other one I won by one shot over Colin Montgomerie. And then the Open Championship was the same: I was in a big playoff at Muirfield and then I won by one shot over Adam Scott. Mine were very, very tight down-to-the-wire types of wins, a lot of pressure. And both events were very, very different in setup. They were very different but the pressure was exactly the same.

Do they offer different experiences in victory?

U.S. OPEN

THE [BRITISH] OPEN

1994 Oakmont 1997 Congressional

2002 Muirfield 2012 Royal Lytham & St. Annes

To ask me that question is a privilege, because not many people have won two of each. The euphoria is the same afterwards, winning and lifting the two trophies is amazing; they’re two of the oldest championships you’ll ever win in the world. The experience of winning each is very similar, but the pursuit of the trophies is very different. You couldn’t have two more opposite events of the same prestige.

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O C E R

N

T

H

ES M

HE

THE OPEN

E SU

The 150th Open welcomes its first golfer from the Cayman Islands in Aaron Jarvis, who’s bringing the Caribbean heat

T

The Cayman Islands is comprised of three islands, two golf courses, and exactly one golfer who is participating in The Open this year at St Andrews: Aaron Jarvis. As a UNLV freshman he punched his ticket to Scotland (and to the Masters) by winning the 2022 Latin America Amateur Championship at Casa de Campo Resort in the Dominican Republic, and the video clip of his moment of victory is an instant pick-me-up for anyone who needs a shot of joy.

More than just a win for Jarvis, however, this was the first time that a golfer from the Caribbean had won the event, meaning that the celebration was shared. It also means that the young man from George Town suddenly had some weight on his shoulders: a sense of responsibility for growing the Caribbean game and for representing the Cayman Islands on some of golf’s biggest stages, and all of the time-management issues that come with suddenly being noticed.

“It took me hours to go through my phone to see the messages,” he says, reflecting on the mayhem that followed his Amateur win. “It was a lot right after. I had to take a couple of days off of golf and sort out my life, sit down with my coaches, balance out school and golf when I first got back to the university after the tournament. I just had to take a minute and breathe a little bit.

“One of the players from Jamaica, he said a lot of people in Jamaica are playing now because of [the win].

That means a lot. It meant a lot for me, but it meant a lot for the Cayman Islands to take home the title, and hopefully we’ll have many more in the future.”

Going into the final round of the LAAC, Jarvis started three back of the lead. He carded three birdies in the first five holes, but then erased them with a bogey and double bogey and ended the first nine at even par. Three more birdies appeared in the first six of the back nine, but then he put it in the water on the par-3 16th and a chance at victory seemed in doubt. A massive putt for bogey kept his hopes alive, and a birdie on 18 left him barely in the lead with a total 281, 7 under for the week and on the edge of his seat.

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FIRST IMPRESSIONS

“I was in a perfect spot,” he remembers. “Three back, no one’s really paying attention to what I’m doing, so I just went out there, played my game, posted a number and then watched them come in.

“That wait after… I was three or four groups ahead.

I mean, I was more nervous watching them come in than I was playing.”

The last few groups all contained players who were higher-ranked than Jarvis (No. 1,669 at the time), including Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira, the No.38-ranked amateur from Argentina. When each of the contenders missed putts that would have forced a playoff, Jarvis—and the small group of other Caribbean golfers gathered around him— exploded with joy, a moment brilliantly captured in a video posted to LAAC’s Twitter account.

“That was crazy, what happened on the 18th. It was insane in the last group, when that putt missed and I won— it was a dream come true.”

And a dream shared, as someone from the Caribbean group underlined, exclaiming “Finally, someone from the Caribbean!” during the celebration.

“Bro, he’s going to the Masters!” added Justin Burrowes, a competitor from Jamaica. And Jarvis did go, becoming the first Caymanian to play for a Green Jacket. He made birdie on the par-3 No.12 in each of the first two rounds and nearly aced No.16 on Friday, a day on which his 74 tied for the low round among amateurs but failed to help him make the cut. Calling the experience “incredible,” he admits that the

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Long before Aaron Jarvis headed to this year’s Open at St Andrews, he played the Old Course in the 2018 Junior British Open. If his first visit didn’t leave him awestruck, at least it had him in good company: “I thought the first three holes and the last three holes were special,” Jarvis said. “The rest of the course I thought was a normal golf course.”

Now 19, Jarvis’ first assessment parallels Bobby Jones’, who at the same age remarked, “I considered St Andrews among the very worst courses I had ever seen.” Sam Snead was more blunt, offering that it “looked like the sort of real estate you couldn’t give away.”

John Daly, who won there in 1995 agreed: “It looked like the cow pasture everyone told me it was.”

Arnold Palmer thought the same at first, and there are others. But if Palmer and other luminaries were unimpressed at first, each came to love and to respect the challenges posed by the Old Course. For Jack Nicklaus, the first golfer in the modern era to win a Claret Jug at St Andrews twice, it was love at first sight, though he acknowledged that it took a while to “get” the Old Course: “A golfer must play [St Andrews] at least a dozen times before he can expect to understand its subtleties,” Nicklaus wrote in The Greatest Game of All. That means a few more trips for Jarvis to plan after July—but he’s on the right track, following an esteemed legacy of acquired taste.

“I always try to look chill and be chill; growing up [in the Cayman Islands] has helped me to have that relaxed vibe”

THE CAYMAN ISLANDS

The 102 square miles of the Cayman Islands occupy a special place in the Caribbean, functioning as a sort of cultural hub with an array of top regional cuisine, natural wonders, and luxurious dining and accommodations. Add some of the world’s nicest beaches to five-star dining, a couple of lovely golf opportunities via the North Sound Golf Club and the Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman, and a wealth of dive sites—365 at last count, including steep walls, shipwrecks and artificial reefs—and it’s no wonder that the world’s most discerning travelers make the Cayman Islands a regular stop.

Served by numerous daily nonstop flights and just one hour from Miami, it might be the most easily accessed bit of paradise on Earth, and one of the most beautiful.

spectacle at Augusta proved a learning experience. The trip to St Andrews, he suggested, might be more even keel.

“I’m not going to go out there and be like ‘Oh my God! Oh my God!,’” says Jarvis. “That doesn’t really help my game. The first time I went to Augusta I did that, and I didn’t play really good golf because my mind was blown about the place and the course.”

With Scotland, however, “I have been out there a couple of times. I played in the Junior British Open in 2018 and I got to play the Old Course, which is good. It’s good that I’ve been there before.”

It’s also good that before he makes his debut in The Open, he’s headed to the British Amateur at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, where he could work out any kinks. As for his opinion of the Old Course, Jarvis says that at first blush he didn’t find it overly intimidating (see sidebar: First Impressions), a fact that might actually help, quelling nerves during what is sure to be a pomp-charged 150th. Regardless for Jarvis, a huge victory already has been won in getting to The Open; some might even call it “unlikely.”

“We have two courses, an 18 and a 9,” he says, painting a picture of golf in the Cayman Islands. “I grew up playing here, and took advantage of every opportunity to play.”

Jarvis got into the game at the age of 12 when, as a soccer player, he watched his older brother, Andrew, playing in the Caribbean Amateur Junior Championships and decided he wanted to have a go. Now, he says, “We compete with each other all the time. I haven’t won the Island Championship; he’s won it three times.

“I mean, it wasn’t easy growing up with one full course.

We would travel each year to go play different teams around the Caribbean, and it was good when I started going to the States, learning how to play different courses. Game management is one of those things I still need to work on.”

Jarvis says his strength is from 140–175 yards, his short and mid irons—“when I do my stats, those are above TOUR average every single time,” he points out.

And after moving from the Islands to the desert of Las Vegas to work with the coaching staff at UNLV, he says his game is improving: “I practice a little different to others; I don’t need to hit 1,000 balls on the range. My training is more specific to what I need to work on. I’ve always thought about being a pro golfer. I know it takes a lot of work, and I know I’ve still got to put in way more work.”

For now, he’s taking a moment to appreciate the work he’s already done—and where it’s taking him: to the Masters, The Open and who knows where after that.

“I always try to look chill and be chill,” he says.

“Growing up [in the Cayman Islands] has helped me to have that relaxed vibe. I’m just trying to be grateful for each opportunity… I mean, it’s going to be a good summer; I’m looking forward to it.”

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REGIONAL DIALECTS Before golf in Scotland, there was whisky — as illustrative of regional character as any golf course on which it might be enjoyed. A conventional Scottish whisky map shows six regions, but ours has seven as we feel the abundance of Highlands spirit demands it. Ours also contains course recommendations, meaning that when you visit Scotland, this might be the only plan you’ll need

NORTH HIGHLANDS Highland whiskies are often quite light and approachable, fresh and fruity, perhaps with some tropical notes and floral sweetness, but also with soft, mellow tones if you find a good one.

Bringing a new dimension to the northern Highlands right now is the Brora Distillery, which closed in 1983 but has now re-opened after a major investment by Diageo.

The restoration brings a modern twist to a distillery that first fired up the stills in 1819, as a biomass boiler powered by sustainably and locally sourced wood chips will ensure Brora Distillery is carbon neutral.

For the collector, the Brora Triptych has been released on a limited basis, incorporating three Brora expressions of different ages: Timeless Original distilled in 1982; The Age of Peat from 1977; and Elusive Legacy from 1972.

Like the distillery, Brora Golf Club also dates back to the 19th century, where the classic links was laid out along this North Sea shoreline by James Braid in 1891.

Joining the distillery and golf course in a Brora triumvirate is the charming and traditional Royal Marine Hotel. Offering views of the golf course, the beach and the

North Sea, the Marine Hotel provides a homely welcome and country house accommodation of the highest order, with a range of twin and double guestrooms and suites.

Equally suited to short and long stays, the hotel’s Braid Lounge is the ideal haven where guests can reflect on a day spent sipping malts, steering golf balls through the coastal breezes, beachcombing or perhaps all three.

Less than 20 miles down the road and past another storied links—the great Royal Dornoch—lies the secluded members-only retreat of the Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle.

Industrialist Andrew Carnegie purchased the stunning 8,000-acre Skibo Castle estate as his Highlands getaway in 1898 and built the Carnegie Links, taking golfers down to the tranquil edge of Dornoch Firth. A century later (and some) and the ambience and sense of escape at Skibo Castle remains the same as it ever was, while country sports like fishing and horseback riding endure, along with falconry and hiking amid this unspoilt land of wooded hills and heather. Limited opportunities for international membership to the Carnegie Club are available, for a share of this idyllic Highlands lifestyle.

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1. Dun Aluinn House, Aberfeldy 2. Carnegie Club 3. Brora Golf Club 4. Royal Marine Hotel, Brora

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SOUTH HIGHLANDS

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Moving south within the Highlands region can often bring nutty notes and a hint of honey to complement the fruity qualities from the north.

The Aberfeldy Distillery, on the banks of the River Tay, is the spiritual home of Dewar’s whiskies. Back in 1787, the bard Robert Burns wrote of wanting to “spend the lightsome days” in Aberfeldy with a particular “Bonie lassie.” Aberfeldy has retained its natural beauty and Burns would savor the quality of Dewar’s blended whiskies.

They call the Aberfeldy single malt the “Golden Dram” because of its tantalizing, golden, honeyed color. Patient fermenting for an extra-long 72 hours brings out its honey notes, which are joined by delicate floral sweetness and a hint of peat smoke.

The finest accommodation in Aberfeldy awaits at the five-star, nine-bedroom Dun Aluinn House, sitting in five acres of land overlooking the town and the river, while golfers would enjoy the trip to Blairgowrie Golf Club, one of the finest inland golf venues in Scotland, where its famed Rosemount Course was designed by Alister Mackenzie.

The Scottish island of Islay—the “Queen of the Hebrides”— only measures 25 square miles yet it’s cool maritime climate and quiet isolation lends itself perfectly to resident golden eagles, and also to the distillation process. Islay is home to eight whisky distilleries that are renowned for their robust, peaty, smoky, uncompromising whiskies. Islay whiskies don’t hold back.

The Lagavulin distillery was established in Islay more than 200 years ago by a bay of the same name, and where the ruins of the medieval Dunyvaig Castle now house abundant bird-life. The distillery remains modest in size by modern standards. That’s how they like it here, with demand comfortably out-stripping supply and minimizing the need for marketing. Lagavulin 16 Year Old is the classic Islay single malt, with peat smoke at the forefront, yet it is balanced with cereal tones and rich fruits. As they say on Islay, “Time takes out the fire but leaves in the warmth.”

If you make it to Islay, stay and play at The Machrie, where the stunning links bordering Laggan Bay dates back to 1891. The course was laid out by Musselburgh’s Willie Campbell, who played in the first U.S. Open in 1895.

SPEYSIDE Speyside is renowned for soft water, peat and the finest barley crops, which in the right hands can produce soft, elegant, perfumed and fruity single malts. They are often easy to drink, floral and sweet.

Established in 1824, The Macallan was one of Scotland’s first distilleries to become legally licensed, and it produces some of the most famous and sought-after single malts from Speyside. The Macallan 12 Year Old—aged in Oloroso sherry oak casks from Jerez, Spain—has been described as the best 12 Year Old in the world.

The clubhouse at Castle Stuart Golf Club, with panoramic views over the Moray Firth, would be an appropriate spot to savor The Macallan after 18 holes. The Gil Hanse design at Castle Stuart opened in 2009 although it looks as if it has hugged the coastline for centuries. A former Scottish Open venue, hazards here are geared towards the lower handicapper and forgiveness directed towards the higher. The cottages at Castle Stuart are also hard to beat for an overnight stay.

As they say on Islay, “Time takes out the fire but leaves in the warmth”

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ISLANDS One hundred miles due north from Islay—as the eagle flies—brings you to the island of Skye and the home of Talisker whisky. Dating back to 1830, Talisker is the oldest distillery on Skye, in the remote village of Carbost and on the shores of Loch Harport. The Talisker 10 Year Old is a powerful single malt with a sea-salty nose, spicy complexity, smoky yet sweet character and a famously peppery finish.

The Isle of Skye Golf Club offers a genuine down-toearth, no-frills, nine-hole seaside layout on Skye’s eastern shoreline, where a straight-forward golf course can be made much harder than it looks, depending on the weather.

Calm, still days are few and far between, while the Kinloch Lodge Hotel provides the ideal retreat and an acclaimed and eco-sensitive restaurant.

LOWLANDS While the Lowlands often are associated with grain whiskies made from wheat—like a high-strength bourbon—the region also produces an array of excellent whiskies distilled from malted barley.

At Lindores Abbey in Newburgh, Fife, they are producing both a single malt and bourbon. The Lindores Distillery was established in 2017 and whisky sales began last year, while the Abbey ruins date back to the late 12th century. The abbey is the site of the first recorded Scotch distillation, from 1494, when King James IV commissioned the monks to produce a supply of “Aqua Vitae.”

In addition to producing whisky, the distillery is reinstating orchards and gardens first introduced by the founding Tironensian monks over 1,000 years ago.

The most famous hotel in Fife might be the finest: the recently renovated Old Course Hotel in St Andrews, which overlooks the notorious 17th hole on the Old Course, the “Road Hole.” The St Andrews Links Trust looks after an array of seven links courses in St Andrews, including the incomparable Old Course, while a short southbound drive takes golfers to the modern links classic of Kingsbarns.

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The ships carried whisky out west and returned home laden with tobacco

C A M P B E LT O W N Not many people can pinpoint Campbeltown on a map. It is only 35 miles to the southwest of Glasgow yet by road it is 140 miles. Campbeltown sits at the southern end of the Kintyre peninsula, which stretches out from the Scottish mainland, around the Isle of Arran and down to where the waters of the Firth of Clyde (from the east) and the Irish Sea (from the south) meet the Atlantic (from the west).

Campbeltown has three distilleries—Glen Scotia, Springbank and Glengyle—but at the turn of the 19th century it had 36. It may have been at the end of the road to nowhere but it was the whisky capital of the world, and strategically placed for the ships out of Glasgow to make an early stop before making the Atlantic crossing to the United States. The ships carried whisky out west and returned home laden with tobacco.

Glen Scotia’s Victoriana single malt is particularly striking. The distillery takes it’s 12-year-old malt and puts 30 percent of it into sherry casks and 70 percent into American white oak bourbon barrels with a deep, deep char. After 12 months they are brought together to create Victoriana, with a beautiful dark color and rich sherry sweetness.

Outside Campbeltown, Machrihanish Golf Club was laid out in part by Old Tom Morris, while its young neighbor, Machrihanish Dunes, was designed by David McLay Kidd.

The two courses make Campbeltown an exciting destination for devotees to links golf, while the Ugadale Hotel at The Village of Machrihanish Dunes offers excellent shelter and a fine Kintyre Club steak restaurant.

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1. The shop at Glen Scotia 2. Machrihanish Golf Club 3. The stills at Lindores 4. Road Hole Bar, The Old Course Hotel 5. The Village of Machrihanish Dunes

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West Sands Sunrise Portrait of Herb Kohler by Leon Harris for Kingdom magazine, taken at the Old Course Hotel in 2010

SNAPSHOT

Herb Kohler first visited St Andrews as a young boy in the late 1940s. He loved the town then, and his attachment has only grown since.

Executive Chairman of the Kohler Company— which owns the Old Course Hotel—Kohler offers a personal tour of “The Home of Golf”

“I think I was nine,” starts Herb Kohler, now 83 years old and Executive Chairman of the Kohler Company, in recalling his first visit to St Andrews. “We sailed over from New York and we were in St Andrews for about three days.

I didn’t get to play the Old Course but we walked the West Sands and flew a kite. There was a good wind on the West Sands and certainly the kites were quite magnificent. You would have had to travel a long way to find anything better than the West Sands kites.”

Today, as Kohler reflects on a fast-paced business career and extensive travels, St Andrews remains a reassuring constant in his life. Some things at St Andrews have changed—the championship tees on the Old Course are a lot further back than they used to be and the Old Course Hotel has been recently embellished by an impressive renovation—but the essence of St Andrews stays unaltered.

“Before sunrise you can take a walk from the hotel,” recommends Kohler, “across the 17th and 2nd fairways of the Old Course, and you end up at the West Sands. To watch the sunrise from the West Sands is really quite magnificent.

“From there you can walk right into the town and surround yourself with some of the oldest buildings belonging to the university. Then you get past North Street and up to the cathedral and the cemetery, and that is a mandatory visit. ‘Old’ Tom and ‘Young’ Tom are buried there and the history is remarkable, in terms of the setting among the ruins and the stories of the people buried there.

“What’s amazing about St Andrews is that the town does not really present itself for tourists. It is just “as we are” and that shows the character of the people. These are honest, hard-working people and some of my best friends are in St Andrews.”

The West Sands Immortalized by the opening scene from Chariots of Fire, the West Sands is a broad two-mile beach along St Andrews Bay that runs beside the links golf courses.

It begins near the first tee of the Old Course and reaches up to the top of the promontory where the bay meets the Eden Estuary.

The Cathedral If you think the R&A Clubhouse is old—it dates back to 1854—it is a new build compared to the cathedral, which dates back to 1160. It took 150 years to build and it was the largest place of worship in Scotland. When the cathedral was dedicated in 1318 in attendance was Robert the Bruce, who was Scotland’s king at the time. It is now a ruin and around the corner are the 13th century ruins of St Andrews Castle, which was the residence of the archbishops and bishops of St Andrews.

The Burial Ground The Cathedral burial ground presents an ID parade of the pioneers of Scottish golf. No fewer than a dozen of The Open’s earliest champions are buried here, along with Allan Robertson—the first golf professional to find real fame—whose death in 1859 prompted the inauguration of The Open. “Old” Tom Morris is buried here and, most poignantly, so too is his son, “Young” Tom Morris, the four-time Open champ who died aged just 24.

The University The renowned St Andrews University dates back to 1413.

Among the world’s English-speaking universities, only Oxford and Cambridge pre-date it. It was at St Andrews University that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Catherine, met as students in 2001.

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WE ARE ALL CONNECTED:

PANGEA

Millions of years ago, the world was a single continent. This supercontinent called Pangea inspired Turkish Airlines to create a new vision of a world where continents, people and emotions reconnect.

Even though millions of years have passed since the Pangea era, when the world was a united whole, to today’s world, where the continents have separated and changed, and in spite of all the stories the world has heard and told, the essence of mankind is still the same: Our need to come together, unite and understand one another in spite of the differences that separate us and over which we have no control.

Turkish Airlines connects more countries than any other airline through its hub in Istanbul, the meeting point of continents, bringing together those separated by long distances with its unrivaled flight network. This unifying force connects people, cultures and countries, holding out the promise of a new Pangea experience for the modern world.

OUTLIER

The Secret Equation Chef Thomas Keller explains to Reade Tilley how dishwashing, baseball, and Jackie Kennedy can lead to golf and a better world

T To brunoise a carrot, for example, first julienne cut it, then give it a quarter turn and dice it. Like an open step in tango or playing scales on guitar, the brunoise is a fundamental skill, and yet when executed by a master as part of a greater performance it needs to disappear—not because it is unimportant, but because it is vital, and its disappearance creates the possibility for beauty.

Chef Thomas Keller, current holder of seven Michelin stars and the only American chef to have been awarded simultaneous three-star ratings for two different restaurants, knows how to brunoise. He also knows how to putt, and he knows about baseball.

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“Of course they never really listen to who they’re playing with at the pro-am when they first meet somebody, and I understand. It’s ‘this is Jim, Billy and Steven,’ right?

But once they found out I was Thomas Keller, that was my redeeming moment where, as poorly as I played, it was OK.” The experience encouraged Keller’s interest in the game, he says, and so he began working with a coach and playing at various clubs, building a network of golf friends along the way. There’s been an affiliation with TaylorMade, last year he worked with Scotty Cameron to create a series Once upon a time he dreamed of being a Baltimore Oriole, of putters “inspired by The French Laundry,” and more but his future wasn’t on the field. Rather, Keller created recently he began a collaboration with Peter Millar to beauty in the kitchen, long after he stopped having to benefit charity. His progress in the game, he says, comes think about brunoise and other fundamentals, long after from a similar place as his success in the kitchen—just don’t he liberated himself from the “how” of life and was able call it passion. to focus on the “what” and “where.” That led him to open “I would never use the word ‘passion,’” Keller says. such celebrated restaurants as The French Laundry and “Desire is much more important than passion. Passion ebbs Per Se (3 Michelin stars each); The Surf Club Restaurant and flows, when you’re sick and tired of something it comes (1 star), Bouchon, and others, and it’s led to the Thomas and goes, but desire... That’s different.”

Keller Golf Classic, a tournament that helps to fund Desire, Keller says, sets the table for repetition, and scholarships at the Culinary Institute of America. Whatever repetition is how one ultimately finds liberation. With a nod Keller does, in the end you can bet it likely involves a lot of to author Malcom Gladwell, he explains: work and that it’s part of a bigger story, “Who’s doing what they do and one about nurturing others—including doing it extremely well? Whether those who dine at his restaurants. it’s physically or mentally, it’s those I would never use Keller remembers playing golf individuals who continue to practice as a kid with his older brother, Joseph what they do and learn about what the word “passion” (also a noted chef), but says his first they’re doing. You think about cutting — desire is much regular exposure to the game came brunoise, which is a very small dice more important during rounds with Eric Ziebold, of vegetables. You learn how to do whom Keller mentored at The French it, and you start to practice it. At first than passion Laundry, Keller’s legendary Napa you’re adequate, you really have to restaurant. (Ziebold is now a Michelinfocus and concentrate, you’re kind of starred chef as well.) slow because you’re trying to do the “Eric and I would go out and play the nine-hole at perfect job—because it is supposed to be a perfect cut every Chimney Rock Winery,” Keller remembers. “Eventually they time. You’re doing it in abundance, so it takes a while, so it’s replaced the course with more grapes, which made sense. something you have to focus on (which is another thing about I started with Eric, and then I’d get invited to play golf.” golf and cooking: focus). And you get better at it as time One invitation came from the 2010 BMW goes on, to the point where you can actually teach somebody Championship. Keller had a partnership with BMW, and as how to do it, which is really important. And then it becomes one of the most decorated American chefs in history he was liberating, because you don’t have to think about it, you just most welcome in the pro-am. do it... and now you can think about other things, like ‘What “They thought I knew how to golf—I really didn’t know am I going to do with brunoise? I’ve got all these ideas about how to golf,” he remembers. “Quite hilarious. I embarrassed brunoise now, and I can actually think about those ideas while myself thoroughly, but I redeemed myself because at some I’m doing it.’” point during the round I pulled out a hat. I didn’t put a cap Keller says repetition applies to any pursuit, and on to begin the day, I put my cap on probably around the points to Billy Horschel’s winning performance at this fourth or fifth hole, and it was a French Laundry hat. I was year’s Memorial Tournament, including a 53-foot eagle putt, playing with Charley Hoffman, and Charley’s swing coach as just one example of how repetition liberates one in golf. was Sean Foley at the time; he was with him and he saw The “You see him chipping, putting,” Keller says. “There’s a French Laundry cap and he was like, ‘Wow! Who do you little bit of luck in golf, I think we all believe that, but a lot of know at The French Laundry? That’s pretty cool. Charley practice. Billy’s out there putting every day, chipping every and I go to his restaurant in Las Vegas all the time.’ day. Repetition, in anything you do, it’s important.”

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Photo credits: David Escalante (right); Michael Grimm (below); Adrian Gaut (below right)

Clockwise from top: Thomas Keller and Chef Chad Palagi at Per Se in NYC; The Surf Club Restaurant; The French Laundry exterior

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Photo credits: Adrian Gaut (below left); PRC (top left and left)

Keller putting; exterior of The Surf Club Restaurant; Keller on the tee

He said to me, “Thomas, why do you think cooks cook? We cook to nurture people”

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M Mastery demands repetition, but it also requires input and inspiration. For Keller, that came in the vibrant American culinary scene of the 1960s and early ’70s, which the chef credits in part to the election of President John F. Kennedy.

“It was a significant moment because his wife loved France,” he explains. “She brought to the White House its first French chef. What woman in this country did not want to be Jaqueline? Jackie was ‘it’—the pillbox hat, everything.”

Keller says Jackie Kennedy’s affection for France changed the way Americans looked at French culture, and that included food. The shift was bolstered by the emergence of Julia Child, who popularized French cooking; by WilliamsSonoma founder Chuck Williams, who introduced Americans to French culinary and dining tools; and by Robert Mondavi, who created and strongly promoted Napa Valley wines.

“Those three as a trilogy,” Keller says, “One food, one equipment, and one the beverage that goes best with food; they’re a significant part of the beginning of the resurrection of the culinary world in America.”

Julia Child made TIME’s cover in 1966; French Chef Paul Bocuse fronted The New York Times Magazine in 1972; and Chef Jean-Louis Palladin came along a few years later, liberating French cuisine in America and, one could argue, laying the foundation for the modern “farm-to-table” scene.

The Rolling Stones were sharing the radio with Fleetwood Mac, Grease was on Broadway and Keller was in the kitchen, part of the first generation of American chefs to emerge in a French-flavored world that culturally sat somewhere between Jules et Jim and Star Wars.

“I was comfortable in a kitchen because my mother ran restaurants, I’d stay out of trouble by being there,” he remembers. “Joseph always wanted to be a chef; I wasn’t really thinking about it. Because of his aspiration, he got to play with the cooks—and I got to play with the dishes.

In 1977, Keller was working for Master Chef Roland Henin, still not quite sure of where he was headed. “[Chef Henin] came to me one day and asked me, ‘Thomas, why do you think cooks cook?’ What the hell? What kind of question is that? I fumbled with some answer, I’m sure, and he said, ‘We cook to nurture people.’

“In my mind, in my heart, there was a connection.

I realized I was a nurturer, and I decided at that moment I was going to be a chef.”

Keller says Henin was his third mentor, after his mother, Betty, and his brother, Joseph. Henin gave Keller a copy of Fernand Point’s definitive Ma Gastronomie, Keller’s second cookbook after A Treasury of Great Recipes by Mary and Vincent Price [the horror actor], which Betty had gifted to him: “I know she bought it because it was probably the most ornate book on the shelf,” he says, laughing fondly. He still has both books.

Keller himself has authored a few books since then, including The French Laundry Cookbook, which won numerous awards when it debuted in 1999, as much for its stories as for its recipes.

“Recipes are fine, but at the end of the day they’re kind of boring,” Keller says. “Recipes are everywhere, but to be able to tell a good story is something people never forget.”

Keller says he doesn’t eat out too often, which makes sense when you work in your own restaurants. In the evenings, a friend might come by the restaurant where’s he’s working and they’ll go down to Bouchon or to Ad Hoc, another of Keller’s Yountville restaurants, have salmon and spinach, maybe something else.

“There are occasions when In-N-Out Burger is appropriate,” he considers. “Maybe twice per year.”

He says he doesn’t cook as much these days, either, and suggests he’s moved more into the position of “coach,” (though a recent online review of The Surf Club Restaurant, located in the revived Miami landmark, noted that a masked Keller was walking the floor, checking on patrons, and that he personally prepared a tableside Caesar Salad for a guest).

“I wanted to be an athlete,” he says. “I don’t know how many kids who loved the Orioles wanted to be Jim Palmer, Boog Powell, Brooks Robinson—fantastic. You wanted to be one of those guys. I knew I wasn’t going to be that person, but I found in the kitchen that same purpose: people, each with different disciplines, all working for the same thing.

First baseman, second, third, shortstop; a kitchen is the same: you’ve got your assistant coach (sous chef), your coach (chef), everyone else, all making a common effort to make sure the guests get the experience you want them to have.”

He still washes dishes sometimes (“repetition for me began standing in front of a dishwasher when I was 14 years old; I got really good at dishwashing, I still love it; it’s become a Zen thing for me”). He’s mentoring the next generation of chefs, and practicing his putting when possible.

All of it—what’s happening in his kitchens, at his golf event, and throughout his life—points to something bigger: “I want to nurture people,” Keller says. “It’s not just through food, but through their memories, through those individuals, their loved ones, their friends. You think about that whole experience around eating: food is a very important part of it, but it’s those individuals that you’re with, that’s even more important. The experience, the memories, the people that you’re with—there’s nothing else like that.”

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A GOLF TOURNAMENT LIKE NO OTHER

October 27 – 30, 2022

Join Kingdom magazine & Hilton Head Island for a weekend of world-class golf & luxury island lifestyle.

Enjoy a two-day golf tournament at the Robert Trent Jones and Arthur Hills courses at Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort— along with entertainment, epicurean events and an awards event, benefitting Folds of Honor.

FOR DETAILS & TICKETS:

Kingdom.Golf/cup

TAKEAWAY “I wake up every day assuming someone is trying to take my lunch.

That’s the way I operate.

That’s the way we operate as a team.”

— PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan, speaking to the press on March 8, 2022

“Where is golf headed?” That former intellectual musing is now a genuine question, following this year’s debut of LIV Golf. The Saudi-backed, Greg Normanfronted challenge to the PGA TOUR has dominated headlines with Tour player defections, claims of Saudi “sportswashing” and eyebrow-raising quotes from Norman and others. And did we mention the money?

To help make sense of it all, to consider new angles and to put some context around the current situation, we spoke with a handful of people who’ve been following LIV closely. The story is evolving by the hour, and who knows where it will be by the time you read this, but we hope that the following points—edited excerpts from conversations at press time—will prove useful in informing your thoughts on the subject, even as we all wonder at the future of the game we love so much.

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Participants: AM: Alex Miceli, journalist, radio/TV personality; founder of Morning Read, SI.com contributor BH: Bob Harig, Sports Illustrated writer; longtime author and journalist; formerly with ESPN CMT: Cho Minn Thant, Chief Executive of the Asian Tour, which has partnered with LIV Golf Investments to create an International Series of 10 events DS: Dave Shedloski, longtime journalist, author and GolfDigest writer XX: A representative from a major agency

(name withheld)

Is LIV just a blip on the greater sports timeline or is it unprecedented?

AM: Norman says “I don’t hold a grudge.” That’s

BH: It’s very difficult for a rival league to make it in

professional sports. There’s a reason there’s only one MLB, only one NFL. And yet there were others. In fact, all of the four major sports have all had rival leagues that were absorbed or went out of business.

DS: The only unprecedented part is there’s someone with a lot of money who doesn’t care how much they spend. If they were out there looking around for support, you’d think “they’re dead in the water.” But when you’ve got the money already, and it’s “we don’t care how much it costs,” that’s something different. It’s a threat.

XX: If the model doesn’t change in terms of revenue, has

there been a sports entity like this that has persevered and existed long-term? The biggest challenge is the unlimited money.

AM: The NBA–ABA merger, when the NBA

started. Then pro football had the same issues. At the time they seemed like such a big deal, and over time they end up being part of the sport… Do I think in the end that’s what’s going to happen with this? Yes, but right now it’s a big deal. It’s a huge deal.

CMT: If LIV runs tournaments for $25 million

and players play and fans get behind it, it becomes a product that will gain momentum.

There is definitely going to be a shake-up.

absolutely not true. He’s held a grudge for over 20 years.

He needed the money and the concept.

The Tour has sat on their hands and not done anything, and so they’ve created an opportunity for someone who’s a little more innovative. If people find it on YouTube TV and they like what they find, we’ll see.

How much is the issue of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record and “sportswashing” a distraction?

BH: I don’t want to make it sound like I’m ok with the whole Saudi human rights thing, but do I think it’s a convenient excuse for the Tour. It’s easy to refer to “blood money” or “sportswashing.” All of those things may or may not be true. We know they have human rights issues to be sure, but I’m not convinced in the short term they’re using this as sportswashing. If Mark Cuban [was funding it], it would still be a threat, the PGA TOUR would still be pushing back, there would still be negativity toward it, it would still be a problem.

There’s a reason there’s only one MLB, only one NFL; others came along, but eventually they went away

Is LIV a genuine threat to the TOUR?

AM: So much Saudi business is done in the U.S.,

there are private investment people, money comes from the sale of assets or from their investments in the West, from selling oil—we’re legitimately funding this now.

CMT: The European Tour did the Saudi International for its first three years. Newcastle United FC has been taken over by the Saudis.

The Saudis support F1, the Ladies European Tour (LET) and... the R&A and European Tour sit on the board of the LET. The LIV issue has been taken out of context.

DS: Greg Norman would like to see the LIV Golf series

bury the PGA TOUR. It’s not just that they want to compete; they want to bury them with as much money as they can come up with, and it seems pretty endless.

XX: It is a fairly direct attack. Norman and that group, Trump in the mix, willing to take on the status quo, whether it’s bitterness, anger; the fact that they put as many events in the U.S. as they did.

Not sure what the impact is yet. Is the YouTube telecast of the LIV event going to take away from a CBS broadcast of the John Deere? The question will be if LIV develops a premiere field; how does that do? They have some names, but a lot aren’t big names.

Suspending players, refusing to engage, is the PGA TOUR going down a bad road in its response?

DS: I don’t think it’s a bad road. I don’t think it’s totally well thought-out, but it’s an understandable reaction.

If you’re trying to protect your enterprise, this is what you’re going to do. You want to work for Wal Mart? Ok, you’re fired from Target. I understand it.

CMT: The PGA TOUR has drawn a line in the sand, not

having anything to do with the Asian Tour while we are partnering LIV Golf, which I find quite extraordinary, but obviously that is their mechanism for dealing with a competitive threat.

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Does LIV have a point about player value?

Does this open the door for a PGL to re-engage?

BH: Look at the PGA Championship. Tiger [Woods]

DS: The DP World Tour is in a world of hurt because of LIV, a very precarious position. If those two entities [PGA TOUR and the DP World Tour] can come together with the PGL and figure out some other way to do something, maybe they can stem the brunt of the challenge.

brought all of the attention to the event. He was a huge point of discussion, TV talked about him, we all wrote about him, people wanted to see him. If they weren’t sold out, he helped sell them out. Then he withdrew and he didn’t make a penny. LIV is striking a nerve with: ‘we’re going to pay you for your value.’ Even if they don’t get a big up-front amount, they’re guaranteed to be paid every week. They have shown these guys, ‘hey, there is another way.’

I use the example of Steph Curry, who I believe is making $52m a year. He helps sell tickets and ratings. If he doesn’t perform, he still gets the money and he has endorsements, he has all of his travel paid for, even on the road they get per diems on top of all the money they make... Tour pros have their caddie and trainers to pay, their team they work with and so on. I guess golfers aren’t bringing as much to the table as an NBA star, but I just think it’s a much more complicated situation than; ‘where’s the money coming from’ and ‘these guys shouldn’t do that.’

Is any of this about improving golf?

AM: Here’s the thing: golf inherently, as we watch it

today, is terribly boring. It’s the same every week except for a different venue: four rounds, 72 holes, stroke play. Is there room to change that? Yeah, absolutely. So Norman sees a way to change it but in reality nobody’s really spending much time talking about the team concept or shotgun starts; they’re just talking about the money. There’s not one pro athlete who doesn’t use money as a measure of their value. So when you hear DJ gets between 100 and $150 million, Phil’s getting over $200 million, this is what it’s all about.

Nobody’s talking about the shotgun starts or teams, they’re just talking about the money

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AM: The PGL doesn’t have the money... The Tour looked

at this proposal because Rory [McIlroy] asked them to.

They looked and said this isn’t going to work. Pass.

BH: PGL’s goal is to be part of the PGA TOUR. They would like their events to come under the Tour umbrella, which would give it a better chance of being incorporated: spend a lot of money, get some players to come on board and then see if it’s sustainable.

Does it make sense for a player to join LIV? XX: It looks like Oosthuizen wants to be on his farm, Lee Westwood wants to be in the Bahamas… It appears in a lot of these guys’ cases this is an exit strategy.

Or they’re not relevant enough to command the endorsement value that they’ve traditionally had. If you’re Graeme McDowell and guaranteed a check even in last place, it’s hard to argue. I’d argue that the whole picture for someone like Jon Rahm, the incentives, FedEx… What’s the “give” to go get that money at LIV? It’s probably more money, but how much do you need?

If you’re making 20 or 30 or $40 million, so now you can make 40 or $50 million?

BH: You have to play your ass off to win this kind of money [on the PGA TOUR]. If someone you’ve never heard of is making a lot of money doing this, I think you’ll see a few more people straggle over when it hits home that, ‘That guy who has no chance to beat me is making X amount more than me.”

DS: There’s no guy I think that I could say, “Yeah I support this guy doing this.” Is the guy I mentioned, a James Piot, looking at this like it’s a perfect opportunity— if he wants to play pro golf, he starts out already with his feet on solid financial ground with half a million or whatever he’s getting? If he can sleep with the knowledge of where that money came from. Somebody who might be struggling... I understand he’s not making much from golf right now. Well, play better.

What about players going to LIV out of college?

DS: That’s definitely a threat. The question is, how do younger players view the arc of their career? And if it’s to make a lot of money quickly and then see what happens, OK, but they may not like where they end up in five years. Or they may think it’s a wise choice to play on the PGA TOUR...But what if it just looks way more inviting to take that money and see where you go, like James Piot has done, then what does the Tour have in response?

AM: The guy who won the amateur [Piot]… He’s going

to go over and play for two years, and if everything goes well then we’ll see what happens. Then he could come back if he doesn’t make it over there. What would be the problem with going to the Korn Ferry, to the PGA TOUR? Anything he does before he becomes a member, they can’t do anything about that.

How will joining LIV impact players’ legacies?

DS: People have short memories. In 100 years they

may not even know what these guys did, but I think in the short term a little bit of shine has come off of their names. Their legacies are still to be determined.

BH: With the Olympics, there was going to be an Olympics somewhere, it just so happened that it was in China. NBC is forced to cover it, and are they going to address atrocities or just show the pretty pictures of Beijing? But when it gets to the swim meet [for example], those swimmers have nothing to do with it being in China. In this case the golfers do have something to do with it, they didn’t have to go over, that’s the problem.

Charl Schwartzel and Hennie du Plessis open Champagne at the LIV Golf Invitational at The Centurion Club

“I’ve never looked at where the money has come from” — SCHWARTZEL

What do the sponsors make of all of this?

AM: I think they’re going to stay on the sidelines. The XX: We represent major brands that are major sponsors

in golf. Could be a title sponsor, player sponsors, whatever. Any way somebody could be an active brand sponsor in golf, we work with that. Everybody’s having a wait-and-see moment, to see what it really is. The ecosystem of golf, it’s incredibly healthy, there are waiting lists for sponsors. And now you have a disruptor with unlimited money coming in.

Thus far companies have been wary because of the Saudi investment fund. RBC said it, where you know this is being viewed as a threat to the PGA TOUR and we spend millions of dollars, so this is a threat to our sponsorship initiatives. It’s like in nature, if this is a threat to one of us then it’s a threat to all.

equipment manufacturers are on the sidelines, they have told their players they’re not doing anything. There are reportedly some equipment manufacturers on site [at the London event] with no logos on their trucks at all, so you wouldn’t know they’re from these organizations.

Let’s take Coca Cola. Do they not sell Coca Cola in Saudi Arabia? UPS, who took their logos off of Westwood and Louis Oosthuizen, do they not have offices in Saudi Arabia? KPMG I know has offices. What’s happening is these groups don’t want to do anything to embarrass the PGA TOUR. They have relationships with the Tour, but once those relationships are altered, if somehow they come up with an agreement with the Saudis, then I think you’ll see these guys open up a little.

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Will this force change on the PGA TOUR?

In that scenario, LIV is a threat to smaller events…

XX: Certainly it has driven up player value on the PGA TOUR: the PIP Program, the Fedex Cup is going up, there are so many ways these guys are making money.

That’s the one impact that’s already seen: the value of these guys’ time has skyrocketed.

AM: You can’t have 48 events and trim it down to 24 and

AM: I think they’re going to have to change how they

operate, meaning sit down with the top players—this is all about the top players, don’t think it’s anything other than that—and what do we need to do to get you comfortable with what you’re doing so you have no desire to move? That’s going to be scheduling, purses, whatever it takes. It will transform professional golf.

DS: What’s that saying? ‘You evolve or you die.’

Are there too many Tour events? Could a response to LIV include cutting the schedule, re-allocating money and tightening the Tour experience?

not think that somebody’s going to get hurt.

BH: One of the great strengths of the Tour is that they

play in so many different communities and people buy into it. There’s the charitable component, but it’s also become a thing in their community; they really, really enjoy having the Tour come to town. Sometimes we lose sight of that. Maybe it’s not all about TV ratings or having superstar players.

DS: I think [LIV] is a bigger threat to the smaller events.

One possible scenario is that money is thrown into stronger PGA TOUR events and we could end up with a schedule of 15-20 events or so plus majors, and that’s it for all of professional golf; no Korn Ferry. Let’s protect Genesis and the Arnold Palmer and Memorial and WGC and THE PLAYERS and a few other big traditional events and then the rest of it is gone.

AM: Absolutely. There’s 40-something events, four

Why will the PGA TOUR survive?

rounds to an event—that’s like a baseball season, nearly twice as many as NHL and NBA.

DS: There are two distinctions with the PGA TOUR. One

BH: The beauty of the NFL’s 17 games is that every game

has a pretty intense meaning, then it goes away and we can’t wait for it to come back. In golf they’re going to play the Tour Championship in August and then two weeks later they start the new season. No other sport has as little fanfare for its season opening as the Tour— how could it? It just finished.

is history. The Canadian Open is this week. Whoever wins that, that’s a pretty cool tournament to win. Oh, by the way, Arnold Palmer won it in 1955, and you’re linking yourself tangentially: “I won a tournament that Arnold Palmer won.” Or the Texas event that Ben Hogan won or any other PGA TOUR event. You can’t discount history.

The other aspect is the charity aspect. I know the PGA TOUR plays that up ad nauseum, but at the end of the day they give a lot of money to charity.

Can the PGA TOUR and LIV coexist?

The PGA TOUR and LIV Golf could coexist, but I think they’re designed not to coexist

DS: I think they’re going to have to learn to coexist for a while. I think you’re going to see some kind of merger or LIV is going to go under eventually.

XX: They could coexist, but I think they’re not designed

to coexist.

AM: They [the PGA Tour] don’t have the pockets [to

out-spend LIV Golf], which begs the question why aren’t you at least talking to them? And they’re not, they’re not opening the door to talk to them. Jay Monahan does not want to have a conversation with LIV Golf.

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CMT: The Asian Tour is very open to continuing co-sanctioned events with the PGA and European Tours.

We have not said to our sponsors that they need to decide which way to go. We welcome collaboration.

The main thing is that we are creating new playing opportunities. We are increasing the size of the pie rather than taking someone else’s piece.

BH: [When the players broke away from the PGA of America to form the PGA TOUR in 1968] they weren’t breaking off to form a separate league that would have to compete against the existing league, they were just breaking off to be run by themselves. With LIV and the PGA TOUR, the bottom line is that they’re going to be going up against each other.

Can the Tour just wait this out?

XX: LIV has a $2 million production budget for the London tournament with no revenue. You have to think they’ve already spent over a billion with the players and everything else. And no revenue. From a business perspective, there’s nothing in LIV that makes sense now or in the immediate future. This is a mission and money is no object. But I don’t care how much you have, people don’t like to keep bleeding money. At what point can this be successful?

“You want to have records, I want to win tournaments, and for me, that's why for now, LIV Golf doesn't interest me" — FITZPATRICK

DS: People say, “this can’t be sustainable,” but how do we know that? If they don’t care how much they spend, then how do we know? We’re dealing with sums we can’t really comprehend, and we don’t even know the depth of the riches that they’re willing to pour into this.

Any chance LIV Golf just disappears?

AM: 10% chance.

XX: Look at every predictor along the way, you would

have said this won’t work: the PGA TOUR is so established, it has so much momentum, there’s no sponsorship, no TV partner, no revenue, questionable golf courses even. And yet it’s happening.

DS: No. There’s just too much money—and that’s the

great fear. Norman wants to bury the Tour and he’s got the resources to do it. I think it’s going to get very ugly and there’s going to be a loser and there’s going to be a winner, and I couldn’t predict who that is.

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FISH STORIES

Fish Five Ways After nearly 20 years of dropping lines in the water with Kingdom, the editor looks beneath the surface of what he’s learned

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here are five ways to fish, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. One could fish in a bowler hat or from an airplane wing or while standing on one foot, but the actual process of attempting to secure a fish would fall into one of five basic methods, apparently. These include bait fishing; fly fishing; bait casting; spinning; and trolling. The good folks at Britannica do not count spearfishing, casting a net or dynamiting a lake as basic methods, though clearly fish can be gotten in those ways and others, and perhaps those methods are filed under a different category.

As for the five, I’ve employed all of them at one point or another, often for stories in Kingdom with people who know infinitely more about fishing than I do. Here, then, are a few vignettes I’ve reeled in over the years, mostly Kingdom excerpts that demonstrate some of the moments fishing has brought to my life. Whether you keep ’em or throw ’em back, I hope they’ll stir some angling memories of your own. Good luck out there.

Bait Casting & Spin Casting: Bait casting usually employs a reel with heavier line, often in the 10- to 20-pound test range. Most spinning reels are usually spooled with lighter lines in the 6- to 10-pound test class. Spinning rods are generally 6–10 feet long, while the usual length of a bait-casting rod is 5–6 feet.

Bluegill, somewhere My earliest memory of fishing is someone putting a little fiberglass rod into my hands, pointing to a red and white bobber floating on the surface of a lake, and telling me to keep the tip of the rod down and to keep an eye on the bobber. “If it goes under, pull up hard and start reeling!”

It would have been something like that. I remember that I held the rod tightly in both hands and that I fixated upon the plastic ball until my eyes hurt, barely daring to blink in fear that if I looked away it would disappear and I’d get in trouble

for not paying attention. I’m not sure that the fish had much to do with my experience, but I do remember catching one, a bluegill, and the terrific mayhem of the moment when I yanked it onto the muddy grass bank and it flapped around like a frantic single hand suddenly bursting into applause; the joy of catching the fish and of pleasing the adults around me mixed with the sudden realization that the fish was more beautiful in the water, and that I had ruined it. I felt relieved when we threw it back.

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Bait Fishing: A bait is impaled on the hook, which is “set” by the angler raising the tip of the rod when the fish swallows it.

Halibut, off the coast of British Columbia After an hour or so of not much luck, dad announced he’d hooked something. In his late 70s but still strong as an ox, his rod tip was stuck to the water and so Duncan backed off the motors and came over to help. At first, it appeared dad had hooked the bottom. “I don’t think so,” he insisted.

After a few minutes of watching him hold the rod with no progress, Duncan took it from his hands and jerked on it a few times, sure it was hung on a rock. It only took a second or so before his face changed. Kind of a quizzical look at first, head cocked to the side, Duncan suddenly registered something else: Excitement. “That’s a fish,” he said with determination. “That’s a big fish. A really big fish. Do you want to bring in a really big fish? Do you want to bring in a really, really big fish?” By now he was excited, and we were, too. “Let’s catch him!” said dad, and it was game on.

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We tried. Oh man did we try. At one point I was in front of dad pushing the rod up with my shoulder and reeling down in reverse as he struggled to hold it steady.

Duncan tried to help with maneuvering the boat, but in the end it was no use. An hour? Two? However long it was, we set the resistance on the reel to maximum—more than 120 pounds—and when the fish decided he was bored, he took off, diving and stripping out line like there was no resistance at all. All we could do was to watch until it stopped, and it did stop, finally going slack when the fish broke free. Fair enough. It’s not like we were going to parade home as heroes carrying hundreds of pounds of halibut to sustain our village. And anything that had lived long enough to get that big might as well keep going. If nothing else, we had a great fish story to tell that evening, and we still tell it.

Fly Fishing: Employing a rod 7 to 11 feet in length, a simple arbor reel, and a heavy plastic-coated line joined to a lighter nylon leader. The rod is used to cast artificial flies… designed to imitate the natural food sources of the fish.

Trout, on the Battenkill in Vermont The riverbank had grown quite wide and so Antoine and I were walking side-by-side, moving to fish a new spot.

I’d been pondering how much I didn’t know about fish and about fishing and I’d started to wonder how good a fisherman Antoine really was—and how much that really matters. It’s a fish, I thought. There’s some element of luck to this, right? I put my musings to Antoine and he stopped

walking. He set his bag down, walked to the river’s edge, looked over at me and said in his marvelous French accent, “And now, I will catch a fish.” Then he cast his line into the water and pulled out a trout. Just like that. Maybe I counted to three in my head, but really, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. Who needs luck?

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Trolling: Trolling involves the use of live bait or artificial lures that are drawn through the water behind a slow-moving boat, originally rowed but now generally motor-powered.

Dorado, off Zihuatanejo, Mexico Motoring out of the marina, the 28-foot La Bamba feels ready to go. The two Ernestos are setting lines, checking reels and pushing hooks into bait. The sky has taken on the beautiful blue-black of a Japanese kimono, and all unnecessary sounds have given way to the purr of the Ford motor and the dark water against the hull. I, for one, am lost in thought, feeling a little rough from a touch of the ubiquitous stomach issues known to Mexico, but made contemplative by the surroundings. The others, too, are quiet, thinking their own thoughts. This pensive moment lasts until we round the edge of the bay, at which point the Pacific comes alive. From here through the end of the day, high and heavy rollers push La Bamba around like a drunk partner on the dance floor. The pitches, rises and falls are substantial, but after days of tranquil afternoons, they’re kind of a welcome change from the lazy beach we left behind. And anyway, the waves are forgotten when two of the lines suddenly take off, almost simultaneously whirring loudly and sending Ernestos into action. Not one hour out and we’ve two fish hooked!

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My friend Steve and I each jump into a chair and take a rod from an Ernesto. Immediately I’m pulling up and reeling down, pulling up and reeling down. I’ve no idea how Steve’s fight is going because I’m so focused on my own. The rod is heavy, then light, then heavy again, the line drawing a frenetic pattern where it disappears into the water, cutting waves as they rise and fall. It seems only seconds before Steve’s fish is in, a gorgeous blue dorado that immediately commences kicking me in the legs as I try to focus on the business at hand—and there is business at hand. Real fish fight to stay wet, and though this one isn’t huge it’s not long before my forearms feel a slight burn and my hands start to cramp. The fish is leaping out of the water, coming into view and then rocketing back out, the loud whizzing of the running line simultaneously frustrating and strengthening my resolve. Pull up, reel down. A hundred more turns of the crank and he’s in.

Another beautiful dorado, this one startlingly gold with a strong blue back. What a day, and the light’s only started to come up.

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TRAVEL

It seems such a simple process: grow, harvest, crush. But then the magic of making wine is in the details and the subtleties, the myriad activities that begin in the ground and end in a glass. Key to the process is the harvest, which presents a rare opportunity for average wine-lovers to become part of the wine-making story. For more than eight millennia, humans have picked grapes and crushed them en route to enjoying wine, and so to participate in the harvest is to become part of a larger human story as well. Many of the following places can help you kick off your shoes, climb in the barrel, and join in one of the oldest celebrations around—forever changing your relationship with wine.

Welcome to the crush

Harvest is...

H Harvest is all about the opening and closing chapters,” says Christian Oggenfuss, founder of Napa Valley Wine Academy (NVWA) in California, one of America’s premiere wine education academies. “It is the closing chapter of a vintage in that things are baked-in to the grapes at that point, but it is the opening chapter in that it is the unlocking or translation of that vintage into the final product, that point of alchemy where grapes become wine. For a traveler or a casual observer it’s a magical time, the most beautiful time of the year. The leaves on the vines change color, going from gold and red from green, there’s a flurry of activity in the vineyards, and the whole valley smells like fermenting grapes, a candied fruit smell like an aroma you would find in a panettone. You have winemakers out practicing their craft, the weather is starting to cool down, and there’s so much excitement— there’s a real energy and optimism during this time of year.”

NVWA offers a wide spectrum of educational opportunities throughout the year, including tastings for casual enthusiasts and top-end certifications for professional sommeliers, and similarly it hosts various options during harvest. There’s a three-day “grape stomp experience,” which Oggenfuss says offers a wonderful sense of the wine-making process, and there’s also a seven-day boot camp, a far deeper education. Whichever guests choose, he says visitors walk away understanding one of the most important aspects of winecraft: community.

“We often talk about ‘terroir’ in wines, and people ascribe terroir to the ground and the interplay between ground and sky, geology and climate,” he explains. “But it really is a triangle, because there’s the human element, and that’s beyond just one person, beyond the winemaker. It’s about the culture that exists around those other elements, and how that culture interprets what is happening. It’s about tradition, and knowledge that’s passed down, and the impact generations have on how vineyards operate and how various wines are made. We often say the same grapes from one vineyard at two different wineries will yield two different wines that taste completely different. That’s the human element, and it’s beautiful.”

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Napa/ Sonoma The Town of Calistoga For the past few years the town of Calistoga, at the Napa Valley’s north end, has been hosting an incredible Harvest Table. The town blocks off its main street and sets more than 1,000 feet of tables in the downtown center, replete with Old West charm. Nine local restaurants and more than 40 wineries participate to serve what organizers call “an unparalleled culinary experience,” and they’re not kidding.

Tickets go on sale in July on Eventbrite for the dinner, which this year takes place on September 11. Even if you don’t get a ticket for the table, an extended public social hour gets you in on local wines and conversation from 4:30 pm to 6pm—just long enough to talk a new [ticketholding] friend into sharing a tasting plate. visitcalistoga.com

V. Sattui Winery

Frog’s Leap We’ve long been fans of this winery, with its luxe-casual tasting room and principled organic grape growing, dry farming and biodynamic attentions. In fall, Frog’s Leap runs a Frogtoberfest end-of-harvest celebration for “Fellowship of the Frog” winery members. It’s quite a limited affair, 90 seats only, but for the lucky few who get to attend a proper feast is on offer. Owner and Winemaker John Williams shares wines and stories from the vineyard, Chef Daniel Bruce creates an incredible menu and, with no detail left to chance, a good time is had by all.

This winery, which grew out of a business founded in 1885, is known for embracing the fun side of the vine, and so it should come as no surprise that their annual October Crush Party is one of the more popular in the area. They throw open the doors of the winery and give people a behind-thescenes look at how their wines are made, plus there’s live music and piles of amazing food pouring out of their woodfired pizza ovens and off their live-fire Tuscan grill. Best of fellowshipofthefrog.com all, there’s an “old fashioned grape stomp” with numerous buckets set up for individuals and couples to crush away.

Grgich Hills Estate And when you’re done turning your feet purple, you get to enjoy some beauty in your glass—more than 40 wines “In the past you followed a stranger into the grapes and stomped, but since Covid that won’t fly anymore.” So are on offer to try, each glass getting you a little closer explains a tasting room representative at this Napa to the dance floor… vsattui.com institution, named for Miljenko “Mike” Grgich, who made history in 1976 by beating an array of French Burgandies in a ZD Wines blind Paris Tasting to have a Napa Chardonnay he’d crafted Three generations of the deLeuze family operate this be named finest white wine in the world. Today, rather than winery, which was founded in 1969. Building on a legacy crowds milling among the vineyards and stomping away, of respected and lauded pours, their Crush Challenge in wine club members can book a picnic experience, which August is a fun-filled day of great food, cycling and wines. includes a gourmet picnic lunch for two in an elegant tote Come harvest time, their Harvest Wine Celebration in (which patrons get to keep). Book the picnic experience November focuses on the bottled stuff and benefits the and you can add a grape stomp to your day, making for an Boys & Girls Clubs of Napa Valley’s Teen Center. enjoyable, wine-soaked afternoon. zdwines.com

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grgich.com

Schramsberg One of Napa’s oldest wineries (it was founded in 1862) and home to the sparkling wines that have been served at all official State functions by every U.S. President since Nixon, Schramsberg goes deep during harvest. They host a Camp Davies Fall Harvest Session in October, a three-day “wine adventure” that begins with an orientation dinner and sparkling wine reception and then enters two days of wine education. The first includes a trip to the vineyards with the director of winemaking to harvest grapes and to get a crush course (sorry!) on various viticultural practices, learning how sugar and acid balance and how various techniques play into the Davies Vineyards wines. Campers get to experience “the crush” on the same day, following through on the winemaking process and enjoying lunch. Day three is all about [grape] skin contact, tastings and more education on the wine process. The whole thing concludes with a graduation and certificate (and presumably more wine). For true oenophiles who want a deeper dive into the barrel, this is a great way to enjoy the harvest season. schramsberg.com

Rutherford Hill For fans of BBQ, good music and wine, this Terlato Family Winery’s annual Barn Bash release party in September is a harvest celebration not to be missed. Live music plays and the food keeps coming, even as wines are paired with incredible views from the top of the winery’s namesake, Rutherford Hill.

Rutherford Hill holds the distinction of employing wine caves, which it built and in which it ages wines year-round in nearly 8,000 French and American oak barrels. rutherfordhill.com

Harvest bootcamps offer fun, immersive experiences, great camaraderie — and wine Napa Valley Wine Academy Bootcamp (top and middle). Schramsberg (above)

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Trefethen Vineyards Held in late September, Trefethen’s “Hands-on Harvest” gets you into the grapes to lend a hand and to follow the juice on its journey from vineyard to bottle. Set in the Oak Knoll District of Napa’s southern end, the vineyards benefit from a mild, cool climate and a temperature that can be up to 10˚F cooler than properties further north in the valley.

This can mean opportunities for a wider variety of grapes, which on Trefethen’s property are grown along principles of biodiversity and sustainability. As a responsible vineyard that produces beautiful wines, it’s a great option for a harvest experience. trefethen.com

Stay Montage Healdsburg

If you’re looking to stay in Sonoma and maximize your access to the breadth of Northern California’s wine country, this retreat sits among 285 beautiful acres. Three restaurants, a “zero-edge” pool and an 11,500-square-foot spa nicely complement any harvest vacation.

Meadowood

Set behind a vineyard close to nearly everywhere you want to visit in Napa, the elegant Meadowood features superlative accommodations, a top spa, and tremendous amenities, including a professional-level croquet lawn and a charming 9-hole golf course.

Buena Vista Winery Opposite Napa in Sonoma Valley, Buena Vista Winery takes a festively relaxed approach to harvest with its annual harvest brunch for club members. The day takes guests through the process of wine-making, touring various areas of the winery before retiring to the courtyard for a fantastic brunch. If you want to get into the crushing action they’re happy to oblige—just let them know you want to join the crush team and, if it’s not already sold out, prepare to stomp. buenavistawinery.com

Trefethen harvest and bootcamp; Montage Healdsburg pool

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Carneros Resort

We could spend all day in the pool at this Napa property, staring at the hills and enjoying a glass of something wonderful—but then we’d miss out on the newly renovated cottages, which feature clean lines and sharp California design, and we’d miss the spa, complimentary bicycles and great dining as well. Heated floors in the bathrooms, deep soaking tubs and wine tastings, too? Count us in.

Beyond Napa Oregon Carlton Crush Like Calistoga in California, the whole town of Carlton, Oregon, gets in on the harvest activities, manifested in the Carlton Crush Harvest Festival in mid September.

Held in downtown, the festival is something of a town fair, with different age-grouped categories of grape stomping competitions, team grape stomp competitions, a dunk tank and all manner of dining, wine and beer on offer, plus arts and crafts, live music and the best kind of small town fun. carltoncrush.com

Soter Vineyards With Bravo Top Chef contestant Sara Hauman directing the culinary program here, you know this winery has good taste.

Its Mineral Springs Ranch tasting room offers an array of seasonally appropriate tastings and experiences, including some of the property’s fantastic fare, while the wines leave no doubt that this is a worthwhile stop during harvest or any other time. sotervineyards.com

Domaine Serene In mid-September, the winemaker and others recap the year’s growing season, discuss what’s going into the bottles and answer any questions you might have before the wine starts flowing and the food starts showing up. Numerous local vendors participate, and food pairing is the name of the game, with sommeliers matching vineyard selections to a diverse array of cuisines. Live music and a good time are guaranteed. domaineserene.com

Stay Black Walnut Inn & Vineyard

The valley view suites are a perfect home base for exploring the local wine country, with French doors that open to patios featuring stunning views across Willemette Valley vineyards. With top-end wine and culinary experiences on offer and luxury everywhere, what’s not to love.

Soter Vineyards; Black Walnut Inn

blackwalnutvineyard.com

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Washington Catch The Crush Washington’s Yakima Valley knows how to party when harvest comes around. In mid October, the Catch The Crush event brings a wide array of local wineries together for a festival that features grape stomps, plenty of food, live music and specialty wine releases. Best of all, the festival is free. Just show up and jump in—literally. Stomp with the area’s VanArnam Vineyards and you can get a T-shirt with your grape-soaked footprints on them—an unofficial badge for members of the Purple Feet Club. One thing to remember: bring your own (non-breakable) glass. visityakima.com

Tasting at Three Rivers Winery; Elevation Vineyard; Eritage Resort (bottom)

This Walla Walla winery (say “Walla Walla winery” quickly five times after a few glasses) celebrates fall with a mid-September Harvest Party. Held on the broad lawn in front of the wide-open tasting room, the festival is a casual affair that allows you to stomp grapes, play lawn games and listen to live music while someone else handles the grill and keeps the wine flowing. canvasbackwine.com

Italian Heritage Days If you like your wine with Italian food and music, this Walla Walla celebration of Italian heritage in mid-October coincides with harvest and features grape stomping competitions, a parade, Italian dancing, Italian music, and a seemingly endless supply of inspiring Italian foods and local wines. Salute!

Stay Eritage Resort

Set on 300 acres of rolling wheat fields and vineyards, this modern property just minutes from downtown Walla Walla feels a world away, thanks in part to the spacious guest rooms and suites, some of which feature high ceilings, fireplaces and amenities and all the room you need to stretch out, wine down and relax. Remember to enquire about harvest-related dinners and events.

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Photo: WWVWA/ Richard Duval Images

Canvasback Harvest Party

Discover Payne’s Valley by Tiger Woods and TGR Design, recently voted

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THE BUSINESS

PRO, INC.

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One veteran and two rookies talk about the challenges of turning pro, choosing your relationships carefully, and if it makes sense to book that fivestar room on tour (hint: probably not in your first year)

“You dream about playing the TOUR and you dream about what playing the TOUR is like, but you don’t know,” says Jim Furyk, 17-time PGA TOUR winner and the only professional golfer to shoot 58 in competition. Furyk said that when he first joined the TOUR in 1994, he had no idea what would be expected of him in terms of the business side of life—and being a professional golfer does, in many ways, mean that you’re starting a business.

Along with needing a home base, which often means rent or a mortgage and utilities, pros need a place to practice; they need to eat; there might be coaching staff and physical trainers; a vehicle; equipment costs (in the early days, at least); and other “life” expenses—and that’s before they join a tour. Once they’re playing, there are entry fees to pay; caddie salaries; flights; hotels; rental cars and all of the rest of it. For veterans juggling families and full schedules that include golf events, non-golf event appearances, multiple endorsement deals, sponsors and ancillary businesses, it can mean working with a wide and trusted network of agents and advisors. For younger or newer pro golfers the challenges might not be as complicated, but they can be just as daunting, as University of Houston standout Karen Fredgaard found when she joined the Symetra Tour this year.

“In college you’re used to just showing up on time, everything is taken care of for you,” she says. “You do the practice and play the golf they tell you to play.”

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On tour, however, she says things are quite different, and slightly complicated by the fact that she’s from Denmark, meaning there were additional issues to sort out.

“Things certainly didn’t change overnight” after going pro, she says. “It was a long process of getting the visa status and setting up your own business accounts, focusing on all of the other things like travel and booking hotels and planning your trips and all of that.”

And there’s more to it than just renting a car, she points out, explaining that if locations for tournaments and other commitments are all over the place, there can be some serious decision-making involved, especially on a rookie’s budget.

“It can be like ok, I’m trying to figure out these first five tournaments. Do I like to drive if it’s a far drive? Do I like to fly? What makes more sense? And then how and when do you plan your practice around all of these things? Some of it comes kind of easily because I’m good at budgeting and stuff like that, and booking flights and hotels, but all of the money and responsibility and organizing the bigger questions, my dad helps me out; he checks through it and will be like, ‘Don’t book a five-star hotel!’”

Former SMU golfer Mac Meissner joined the Korn Ferry Tour last year, after graduating with a finance degree, and says that the challenges of pro life haven’t been as daunting as they might have been, thanks to a solid foundation provided by his parents.

“My mom was a teacher, so she instilled that work ethic in me, making sure school was of the upmost importance to me and that golf was second,” he says. “I had the time management skills, good study habits, and when I got to college that kind of translated and I was able to manage both academics and golf really well—and also to have some social life as well—and that’s helped now as well.”

The Byron Nelson award-winner took a slightly different tack in that he almost immediately began working with an agent, something Furyk did as well. Meissner also had some notion of what he’d be facing as his uncle Todd Haney played professional baseball and his brother, Mitchell, a former Rice golfer, is on the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica.

“I always knew I wanted to turn pro, and my brother graduated college and plays pro golf, so I knew a little about what it was going to be like, what I was getting into,” Meissner says. “I had enough success in college that I’d spent time with an agency, and having my agent now being able to help me with the travel part—I would be lost without him.

“In college you’ve got people helping out, booking your travel and doing all this stuff, handling where you’re going to live and so on. Now, booking flights and travel and rental cars and hotels and then obviously balancing corporate days with my sponsors, being able to schedule all of that, it would be really difficult for me without the help of my agent

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A lot of people don’t know what goes on behind the scenes in professional golf; it can be complicated and my mom and dad. I would have been pretty frustrated with the business side of it if it wasn’t for them. And now I keep my own expenses. I’ve got a spreadsheet that I update every two or three weeks just to make sure I keep track of the accounting side of things. A lot of people don’t know what goes on behind the scenes; it can be complicated.”

It doesn’t get easier, Furyk says.

“As I’ve gotten older, you start a family, maybe have other businesses outside of golf, those things start to become part of your life and I guess you have to deal with time management more. It can be fun in one sense, but if you don’t do it the right way it can take away from your career as well. I’m happiest when I’m playing my best, and so playing my best always has been first and foremost. But

priorities can change as you get older, and getting married and having children, being a father and a husband, that all comes first—but outside of family I haven’t ever really put anything above golf.”

Furyk has had the same agent essentially since he turned pro—“not many people can say they’re still with the same agent,” he correctly points out—and says that choosing your team wisely can be key to success.

That includes choosing your agents, coaches and trainers, but it also includes aligning with your sponsors. In this regard it’s interesting that all three—the veteran Furyk and the two newcomers, Fredgaard and Meissner—share an affiliation in Insperity, the leading HR solutions company behind the long-standing PGA TOUR Champions event, The Insperity Invitational.

“I get asked that a lot about the corporate relationships I’ve had,” Furyk says. “Why does it make sense for you?

With Insperity, for example, they’re the title sponsor of a PGA TOUR Champions event that raises a lot of money for people. Two, as a player I think you’re looking for successful companies, folks that are at the top in their category. And three, when you do a deeper dive about the company, what they do with their golf tournament in raising money, but also their other interests in the community, their employees are very active in charitable work, and when I look at what they’re interested in, it’s the same interests as my wife and I with the Jim & Tabitha Furyk Foundation.”

Meissner credits Insperity’s values as attractive to him as well.

“Being business-minded it aligned really well for me,” Meissner says. “And one of their most important values is integrity, and with golf it’s probably one of the most important things out here. Integrity is really important to me.”

And Fredgaard likewise says the character of the company means a lot to her.

“Insperity’s values and my values are pretty much the same; we both care about helping other people, about working hard and having a lot of integrity. I’m super blessed that they are able to help me play on the tour and reach my goals and try to go out for my dreams of winning majors and playing on the LPGA. They’re a huge help and part of this new life that I’m building.”

At the end of the day, as Furyk says, being a professional golfer takes a team and careful planning.

“My main concern as a young player was playing well,” he says, “and everything off course I tried to simplify: hire an agent you trust, work with good people. What it brought to my career, what it did for my career was imperative. I think I’ve always been able to focus on golf. It’s what I love and enjoy, and I’ve never really gotten sidetracked too much by outside businesses. I still, even at 52, really enjoy competing and playing, and it’s what I’m best equipped to do. I’ve always tried to keep it so that nothing from a business perspective outside of golf has gotten in the way or hindered me from playing my best. If I’ve not played well, it hasn’t been due to the business side. I don’t have that excuse.”

Karen Fredgaard and Mac Meissner were both college standouts who now play the game professionally

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GOLF TRAVEL

FALL PERFECT Your game is in great shape after playing all summer, the air is crisp and dry and happy to let your ball fly, the summer heat is gone and winter is yet to come: can we all agree that autumn golf is the best golf? If there’s any doubt, visit one of the following—and feel free to pack a sweater

Photo Katie Park / Bluejack National

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BLUEJACK NATIONAL

Montgomery, TX

Instantly famous in 2016 as Tiger Woods’ first U.S. golf course design to open, Bluejack National has earned a reputation as one of Texas’ best. As good as it is, it’s tough to enjoy during the height of summer, when Texas heats up hotter than a blow-torched ghost pepper. In fall, those fortunate enough to live in one of the lovely homesites at Bluejack enjoy days in the 70s and low 80s, and golfers enjoy them doubly. Beautiful routes through pines and hills, endless options around the greens, and wide fairways that offer fun for everyone make this one of our favorite places to play, especially after Labor Day. www.bluejacknational.com

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We could have chosen any of the 23 courses on Hilton Head Island, an American golf paradise

PALMETTO DUNES

Hilton Head Island, SC

We could have chosen any of the 23 courses on Hilton Head Island, which together comprise an American golf paradise, but Palmetto Dunes is especially close to Kingdom’s heart.

There are courses from Arthur Hills, Robert Trent Jones and George Fazio, a TOPTRACER range, and a wealth of dining and other activities here, making the resort a “must play” for anyone in the area. And in autumn, the summer crowds and summer heat both dissipate, making for clear cool skies and beaches, and epic golf. This October 27–30, some of that will be enjoyed at the 2022 Kingdom Cup—a weekend of great golf, food and friends to benefit Folds of Honor Foundation. Feel free to join us, and to enjoy one of fall’s best golf destinations.

To find out more about the Kingdom Cup, visit kingdom.golf/cup

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SARATOGA NATIONAL GOLF CLUB

Saratoga Springs, NY

We’re not fans of the term “leaf peepers,” but we’re happy to say that we enjoy seeing the autumn colors come in along the highways in New York State. On any windows-down/ eyes-wide-open visit to the area, Saratoga National Golf Club is a fantastic autumn stop that allows us to indulge a love of the changing season and a love of golf. It feels like the kind of early 20th century track you find nestled throughout the Northeast, but in fact the Roger Rulewich design only opened in June of 2001. With great service and a layout that makes reassuring use of the forests and water features, this is a beautiful place to spend a crisp autumn day. golfsaratoga.com

BIG CEDAR LODGE Ridgedale, Missouri

FIRESTONE COUNTRY CLUB Akron, Ohio

Home to the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Dow Finsterwald, Harold Varner III, Renee Powell, Tom Weiskopf and many, many other top golfers, Ohio can be brutally hot in summer and teeth-rattlingly cold in winter. Thank goodness for autumn, when the Buckeye State is blanketed in cool sunny days, red and gold leaves, and picture-perfect golf as well. There’s no better place to enjoy that than Firestone Country Club, the storied host of numerous PGA Championships, PGA tournaments and other top competitions. Try to recreate a bit of Nicklaus magic on the South Course’s “Monster” No.16, test your targeting ability on the RTJ Sr.-designed North Course, or hone your links game on the links-style Fazio Course, home to the Ohio Senior Open. Each provides an unforgettable experience to complement the fine hospitality, accommodations and dining you’ll enjoy off course.

Invitedclubs.com/clubs/firestone-country-club

When Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris does something, he does it right—and he does it big. No place is that better on display than at his Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale, Missouri, where golf courses designed by Tiger Woods; Jack Nicklaus; Arnold Palmer; Tom Watson; Gary Player; Tom Fazio; and Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw join simply stunning natural beauty, fishing and top accommodations. This is one of America’s best getaways, with friendly staff and proper hospitality and more to do than one could fit into a single visit. In fall Big Cedar is particularly lovely, with a landscape popping with color: wild grasses and flowers and vibrantly patterned trees blanket the rolling Ozarks, with postcard-perfect views at every turn. Really, it must be seen to be believed, and that includes the Payne’s Valley course designed by Tiger Woods.

Much has been made of the course and its surprise No.19— an “extra” par 3 at the base of a giant limestone rock wall, complete with dramatic waterfalls — but no written words can truly capture the visual impact it makes. Same goes for the Player-designed Mountaintop Course, which winds through rock formations for an unforgettable 13 holes.

With a selection of top-quality restaurants on site, plus lakeside cabins and other beautiful accommodations available, Big Cedar Lodge is a family-friendly and golfbuddy-friendly destination not to be missed—in autumn or any other time of year. bigcedar.com

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EDGEWOOD Lake Tahoe, CA

The stunning cerulean waters of Lake Tahoe reflecting a cool sky, snow-capped mountains on the not-so-distant horizon, and a verdant golf course gilding the edge of the lake—what could be better? The Edgewood Tahoe Resort opens in May and closes when the ski crowd starts eyeing the place. In-between there are ample opportunities for remarkable days on course, and we submit that they’re even better in the late season, when the colors are sharper, the air is more crisp and the joys of wearing layers and indulging in late-night cocktails by an outdoor fire pit with friends make all the sense in the world. Designed by George Fazio in 1968 and later renovated by his nephew Tom, Edgewood has hosted the 1980 USGA U.S. Public Links Championship and the 1985 U.S. Senior Open Championship. It’s home to the American Century Championship—and to one of America’s most scenic rounds of golf. edgewoodtahoe.com

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WILD DUNES RESORT charleston, sc

One of America’s most classic cities might best be explored from the “home base” of Wild Dunes Resort, an oceanfront paradise with a refreshing spa, great restaurants and, compellingly for us, 36 holes of Tom Fazio-designed golf.

The golf here is transportive in that both the Links Course (Fazio’s first design and still one of his favorites) and the Harbor Course (with its myriad water features) are timeless; one could imagine them in a different era—were it not for the modern facilities and top-end amenities of the contemporary resort. Family friendly, golf trip-friendly and perfectly equipped for the best sorts of visits, we count this among our favorite fall escapes. destinationhotels.com/wild-dunes

WYNN GOLF CLUB BLACKWOLF RUN Kohler, Wisconsin

Part of The American Club and sister course to the more famous Whistling Straits, Blackwolf Run is a forested gem with two lauded courses and a world of experiences to present, usually until nearly November, when the property shutters for winter. Those experiences take on a different emotional cast in fall, when the Wisconsin weather begins to cool, the leaves change and the game acquires a more literary tone, perhaps. Sweaters and caps during crisp fall days, whiskeys and fireside conversations in the chilled nights; a special place any time of year, The American Club is even more so in autumn, and it’s an experience that shouldn’t be missed. destinationkohler.com

Las Vegas, NV

With a recent Tom Fazio refresh, the impeccable accommodations of its luxury home resort and its status as the only top-quality championship course on the Las Vegas Strip, the Wynn Golf Club is a no-brainer for “must play” while visiting Nevada’s most famous city. In fall, however, it takes on extra appeal when temperatures dip into the 70s and a full round is transformed from a rather sweltering affair into a few hours of bliss. There’s been golf on the site since it was the old Desert Inn Golf Club. Wynn bought the real estate in 2000 and a Fazio-designed course opened in 2005. That took a pause in 2017 but reopened in 2020—just in time for the pandemic. With that (hopefully) on the wain, the club is open and playing like a new experience, one that’s even better with an autumn sunset. wynnlasvegas.com

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THE DESERT Fall is the perfect season for golf, and perhaps especially in the Palm Springs area. Summer temperatures in the desert can crest 120˚F, making rounds possible only in the early morning or end of day, and sometimes not at all. But when summer ends and autumn arrives, the region transforms into one of the greatest golf destinations on earth, with a wide selection of courses, festive dining and immensely pleasant days.

ays.

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MISSION HILLS COUNTRY CLUB

The host of the LPGA’s ANA Inspiration is a Coachella Valley oasis, complete with world-class golf, a wonderful array of country club sports experiences, social activities and views of the incredible surrounding mountains. Members here enjoy all of that and more, especially in fall when the desert climate approaches perfection. The season makes the on-site array of great courses even more compelling, with the Arnold Palmer Signature Course, Dinah Shore Tournament Course and Pete Dye Challenge Course, each of which offers its own delights and challenges.

Invitedclubs.com/clubs/mission-hills-country-club

INDIAN WELLS COUNTRY CLUB

With a rich history and an incredible menu of modern-day amenities and activities, this desert club really comes alive after summer’s end. The original home of the Bob Hope Desert Classic, and a venue that’s seen the likes of Frank Sinatra, Desi Arnaz and others on the tee, keeps golf front and center with 36 holes of play across its Classic Course and Cove Course. Beyond that, there’s an engaging fitness center, bocce, great dining and a desert night sky full of stars to enjoy when it’s cocktail time.

Invitedclubs.com/clubs/ Indian-wells-country-club

SILVERROCK GOLF RESORT

Designed by Arnold Palmer to sit right up against the Santa Rosa Mountains, this stunning course is the longest in the Coachella Valley, coming in at 7,578 yards off the tips. In fall, the clear skies and bold light make the place come alive with incredible shadows and definition, making the always-good views that much better. Mountain walls come into play on a couple of holes here—and could come into play on the picturesque par 3 No.8, which features a huge rock outcropping as a backdrop to the green.

Silverrock.org

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SECOND HOME

YOUR OWN PRIVATE MEXICO

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Like golf, Mexico has seen its popularity rise during the pandemic. The country’s agreeable climate, vast coastal spaces and, let’s face it, lack of COVID-testing requirements have conspired to lure travelers to its booming beach destinations in droves. The vacationhome market has subsequently soared, especially in locales where a world-class golf course is involved.

For those dreaming of their own private villa on one of Mexico’s best courses, we’ve teed up a few inspiring options at the premier resort communities from the Caribbean to the Sea of Cortez

Costa Palmas East Cape

The Community: A tranquilo alternative to Cabo, Baja’s East Cape is a sparsely developed stretch some 60 miles north along the Sea of Cortez. At Costa Palmas, a 2.5-mile-long swimmable beach flanks a Four Seasons resort, a marina fit for super yachts, and a sports complex complete with a baseball diamond. Residential options include 24 villas at a soon-to-open Aman resort.

The Course: Billed as Baja’s only walkable course, Costa Palmas’ Robert Trent Jones II layout embodies the East Cape’s mellow mindset. Three six-hole loops—conducive to casual rounds when time is short—meander along the marina, past an estuary, and over coastal dunes. A 30,000-square-foot putting course is made for family fun.

The Home: Beach Club Casita 8 ($14.95 million) is a contemporary retreat just steps from the Sea of Cortez. The 5-bedroom spread spans more than 7,000 square feet inside, plus some 2,000 feet more of pool, patio, dining, and grillstation space. Costa Palmas’ beach, yacht, and golf clubs are all a short walk or cart ride away. costapalmas.com

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Punta Mita

Danzante Bay

Riviera Nayarit

Loreto

The Community: A 1,500-acre haven of sun, surf, and sand set just north of Puerto Vallarta at the tip of Banderas Bay. Nearly 10 miles of shoreline wrap this private peninsula, where you’ll find five beach clubs, 19 residential neighborhoods, and hotels from Four Seasons and St. Regis.

The Community: Baja’s rugged desert and sparkling Sea of Cortez converge at Danzante Bay, a 741-acre community outside the resort town of Loreto. A hub for land and sea adventures, the resort offers a range of beach-, mountain-, and course-view residences priced from $1.7 million.

The Course: Punta Mita’s two Jack Nicklaus Signature courses consistently rank among Mexico’s best. The original, Pacifico, features the oft-photographed “Tail of the Whale,” a bonus 180-yarder that plays to an offshore green on a natural island.

The Course: Rees Jones’ TPC Danzante Bay is as dramatic as its setting, following the chaotic contours of the Sierra de la Giganta mountains as they spill down toward Loreto Bay National Marine Park. Grab a cart—this is definitely not a walking course—and enjoy an adventurous round that peaks on the clifftop tee of the par-3 17th.

The Home: Good times are guaranteed at Casa Mia Kupuri 12 ($6.8 million), which comes equipped with a home theater, a bocce court, two Polaris ATVs, and three golf carts. The ample 6-bedroom estate accommodates 18 guests, who can also avail themselves of an ocean-view pool, a gym, and concierge services.

The Home: Danzante Bay co-owner Owen Perry snagged the prime lot—an elevated expanse above the 18th hole—for his personal home. He’s now listing the 6-bedroom villa, dubbed Danzante Casa Uno ($7.2 million), with its 6,100 square feet of living space, infinity pool, game room with pool table, and two-story fountain.

puntamita.com danzantebay.com

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Chileno Bay

Tamarindo

The Community: Chileno Bay stands apart for its swimmable coves, Auberge Resorts hotel, and Tom Fazio course.

Members at this Discovery Land Company property also enjoy a private beach club, a sprawling sports complex, and an extensive outdoor-pursuits program.

The Community: A brand-new Four Seasons hotel anchors this reinvigorated resort area on a stunning stretch of the Costalegre, just north of Manzanillo. Tropical jungle and tranquil coves make up most of the private 3,000-acre peninsula, only 2 percent of which will be developed.

Amenities include a pair of clay tennis courts, a dock for fishing and diving trips, and El Tamarindo Golf Course.

Los Cabos

The Course: Fazio has designed more than 15 courses for Discovery communities from Nashville to Portugal. His Chileno Bay effort soars high, offering ocean views from every hole. Discovery’s beloved “comfort stations”— on-course eateries stocked with gourmet snacks and cocktails—and come-as-you-are club rules (playing barefoot is perfectly acceptable) round out the superlative experience..

Costalegre

The Course: Opened in 1995, this David Fleming design is a remnant of the site’s old El Tamarindo hotel and club.

Now under Four Seasons’ management, the course has persevered for good reason—most notably the beauty of its out-and-back layout that cuts through the jungle from cove to cove and offers ocean views from half the holes.

The Home: Ballena Bay ($60 million) is the ultimate Cabo estate. Set above a cove where whales (ballenas) gather in winter, the 20,500-square-foot contemporary palace is a sanctuary for escapists and entertainers, with 8 bedrooms, infinity pool with island, media room with golf simulator, and ballroom for as many as 120 guests.

The Home: Four Seasons is keeping quiet about the resort’s residential options, planning to announce details sometime in 2023. What’s known is this: There will only be 23 Four Seasons residences, they will occupy one of the best sites in Mexico, and they promise to go fast.

chilenobayclub.com

fourseasons.com/tamarindo

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Mayakoba

Riviera Maya The Community: Mexico’s top Caribbean community spans more than 600 acres of mangrove forests, lagoons, and white-sand beach. The verdant swath is shared by four hotels—from Rosewood, Banyan Tree, Andaz, and Fairmont—and a combined 25 restaurants, four beach clubs, a dive school, a cooking school, and more.

The Course: Even among the many diversions at Mayakoba, the development’s El Camaleón course is not to be overlooked. The Greg Norman design—which hosted Mexico’s first PGA Tour event back in 2007—is flatter than its Pacific-coast counterparts, but it does not lack for variety, with holes alternating among mangrove, jungle, and beach backdrops.

The Home: Mayakoba’s Fairmont and Rosewood hotels offer private residences starting at about $1.7 and $4.5 million, respectively. Scheduled for completion by the end of 2023, the newest at the Fairmont will feature six three- and four-bedroom fairway residences with an all-new interior design package. Only three villas remain at the Rosewood, including the 4-bedroom, lagoon-front Casa Coral. mayakoba.com

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NATURE HEALS— WE HELP

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

PALMERFOUNDATION.ORG

FASHION

COOL DOWN Bright & bold accessories to put the cool in the hottest of sun-splashed summer days

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Malibu Sandals Zuma Nylon Team Slide in Red, White & Royal, made with 100% cruelty-free materials

Robert Graham Rainforest Swim Shorts

Ray-Ban Burbank Sunglasses in striped blue

SUMMER 2022

Vessel Bags Custom Golf Bag in Tourgrade synthetic leather

Sol Angeles Men’s Marble Swirl Jersey T-Shirt

Ultimate Ears Waterproof and floating Wonderboom 2 portable wireless Bluetooth speaker in Radical Red

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HANDCRAFTED

Inshore The man behind handcrafted bamboo fly rods and top-quality reels sold under the Hemingway name cuts no corners in building equipment of which Papa would be proud

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n 1940, en route to Ketchum, Idaho, for what was meant to be an epic fishing trip, Ernest Hemingway packed a steamer trunk with his favorite fly-fishing tackle, loaded it onto a train, and set out from his home in Key West, Florida. The trunk never made it. Verified throughout history as lost, various accounts attributed to Hemingway’s sons say it was stolen from the Railway Express, and the great author and outdoorsman lost his favorite bamboo fly rods, top-quality reels and who knows how many treasured flies.

Fast forward to a few years ago, when rod-builder and avid fisherman Anthony Toro presented the Hemingway family with his idea for selling handcrafted bamboo fly rods and other fishing gear of the highest quality under the Hemingway name. The family approved, and Hemingway Inshore was born. Today, the brand sells a tight range of fishing equipment, including beautiful boats perfect for fishing the waters frequented by the author, but the rods and reels are the heart of the collection. Toro builds the rods himself, spending between 60 and 70 hours on each, using

high-quality Tonkin bamboo and the patience of a craftsman who cares about his clients’ experience.

“Going from a piece of bamboo to the finished product takes time,” he says. “A lot of time. While I’m working on it, for me to think that I’m making a fishing pole is almost crazy. I think of it as if I’m making a musical instrument, and then it makes more sense.”

Toro explains that each rod begins with a clump of Tonkin bamboo, favored for its thick walls and long fibers.

“It grows in China, in the perfect mix of heat, humidity and rainfall,” he says. “What happens is the walls of the tonkin bamboo get really thick, and that’s what you’re looking for. Not only the thickness but the fiber. They get so much water that the way the fibers form is there will be a single piece of fiber running all the way from the bottom to the top, a single piece.”

A piece of raw bamboo will start out near 12 feet long, Toro says, and result in a rod that’s 8 feet long. First the bamboo is tempered, with hand application of a flame via a torch. Once Toro is satisfied with that, he splits the bamboo in half, then splits it in half again. He says a typical piece will start roughly 2.5 inches thick, with walls near 1/4 “ thick, and he splits it until it’s down to 3/8” or ¾” and then starts working it from there. The final rod is comprised of a series of octagonal pieces, tapered from a thick end at the butt to a smaller end at the tip. The trick, he says, is maintaining a constant 60˚ among the edges so that when each section is put together, it forms a consistent octagon shape.

“The tapering is done by hand,” he says. “We have a metal bar, you adjust the gap in-between the groove, then you put the bamboo strip in and plane it with a hand planer.

Do one side, turn it over, do the next side, turn it over, make sure you’re at 60˚ measuring as you go down. It’s kind of like the old violin makers, the old luthiers, paying attention to the thickness of the wood, how to make it sound. Everybody has their own taper to make a bamboo fly rod, everybody’s taper is different. Since I’m in saltwater, I like a heavier, stout taper.

That way, when I’m fishing in the Everglades, I can pull the snook or the tarpon out of the mangroves; the rod is strong enough, and strong enough to throw big flies.”

Toro’s rods are 9wt, larger than a trout rod for example, which run 3wt or 4wt, and he points out that he doesn’t make custom-spec rods: “I just do my rods; I make saltwater bamboo fly rods, and that’s what I like.” Custom, maybe not, but they are highly personalized.

“I make the grips out of cork,” he starts,” but one of the things I do is that I will send my client, whoever buys a rod, I’ll send them a fake wooden grip, a pair of gloves and paint. I tell them to put on the gloves, go ahead and put your hand in the paint, and then hold the grip and give me a print of your thumb where your thumb and fingers are on the grip.

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That way, I can fit the grip right to you. Nobody [no other rod-builder] does this.”

Using these wooden lasts, Toro builds the grips, ensuring to add a specific place for the thumb on each grip.

“I got the idea from playing guitar,” he says. “You’ve got to anchor your thumb on the back of the guitar neck.

Well, when casting, it’s not so different. People will start casting and they’re moving their thumb up or down and don’t realize it. ‘I was casting great a little while ago, what happened?’ they’ll think, and it’s because they’re moving their hand just a little. I’ll hang onto these lasts, and if people need a new grip years later, they’ll call me up and I’m able to build them a new grip. I keep the lasts for every rod that I build, and they’re precise. Don’t just say ‘Oh, it’s just over an inch.’ No, it’s not. It’s 28.7mm. It makes a difference.”

While Toro’s grips are cork, he goes the extra mile in hand-building the rod butt, reel seat and “fighting butt” out of mahogany. With other builders these parts of the rod are often done in fake wood, but Toro says he’s thinking generationally and that he likes to do all of the work.

Beyond that, all of the guides are wrapped with Japanese kimono thread, 100% Japanese silk—incredibly strong, Toro explains, and applied in a “long, tedious process”—and all of the components are top-notch, including the Italian-made reels, which Toro designs (see sidebar: The Reels).

“Every rod I make, I name it,” Toro says. “It has a serial number. A composite fly rod, you’ll have it for a season or two and then you’re ready for the next one to come out. The people I sell my equipment to, they’re going to keep it, it’s not going into a garbage can. That’s what I like. That’s the part of it I really like, when I’m working and I’m thinking, ‘This is going to be something that this guy is going to keep and give to his son or his grandson.’ It’s really something special.”

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THE REELS

Hemingway Inshore reels are made to Anthony Toro’s specifications and design by reel firm Everol, a Modena, Italybased business that’s been building the highest-quality reels since 1958. “The original designs, I probably received 10; and when I first opened and launched Hemingway Inshore, the reels were gone in about three hours,” Toro remembers.

Made of top-quality aircraft aluminum and designed with the highest tech possible and with combined lifetimes of fishing experience behind them, the heavy-duty reels are beyond superlative in both look and function.

“Some companies make a reel to last three or four seasons and then they want you to buy another one,” Toro says.

“That’s not what we’re about. I want this to be the best, I want this to last 40 years or more. Ernest Hemingway wanted the best, but he wanted it to be the best because it worked. Function. We can do things differently, we can do it the way other companies wish they could do it.”

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SPIRITED

TIKI TIKI Shake your summer blues away with colorful cocktails from the rock stars at Orlando’s Aku Aku, an homage to an era when every hour of the day was tiki time When Don the Beachcomber and a small group of others combined tropical fruit, booze and a “let it fly” ethos in the 1930s, they lit a [tiki] torch that’s burning brighter than ever today. Currently tending the flame is Todd Ulmer, founder/owner of Aku Aku in Orlando, Fla., a nod to the Polynesian Vegas institution that kept the party going in the 1960s. Ulmer—and his friend and chief mixologist, Eric Solomon (pictured)—celebrate the loud pineapple and its curative effects every day, dispensing modern classic libations perfect for the sunshine-minded. If you can’t make it to Orlando to try their award-winning drinks, fire up your blender at home and join a beautiful rum-soaked tradition of swaying palms, screaming shirts and raised glasses. Just don’t expect to see any drinks on fire— modern insurance companies aren’t enchanted by the volcanic possibilities...

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TIGER F***ER The name has a relatively tame story behind it, but this jalapeño, blackberry and vodka concoction is all wild. Eric’s original (awarded) masterpiece has appeared on Brooklyn menus and beyond—the recipe thieved, perhaps, but then a drink this good was never going to be caged

2oz 44 North Mountain Huckleberry Vodka 1oz muddled Blackberry/ Jalapeño mix (house ratio is a secret, but experiment and find your own joy) 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice 1 1/2 oz passionfruit nectar

The real deal is a secretive affair, but this is a good approximation.

Combine ingredients in a shaker and shake for 10–15 seconds, strain over pebble ice, then serve with a mighty roar

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MAI TAI The gold standard of tiki drinks. Get this right and you can be trusted (Aku Aku can be trusted). One of the keys is to use the best orgeat syrup, Eric says.

He makes his own, but you can get by with quality pre-made stuff— just don’t skimp on it!

1 oz Fresh Lime Juice 1/2 oz Orange Curaçao 1/4 oz Orgeat Syrup 1/4 oz Sugar Syrup 1 oz Dark Jamaican Rum 1 oz Aged Martinique Rum

Shake with crushed ice and pour (unstrained) into a double old fashioned glass, then garnish with a fresh mint sprig and whatever else sparks island joy

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1934 ZOMBIE Eric and Todd prefer the original paralyzing recipe from Don the Beachcomber, who allowed only two per customer...

3/4 oz Fresh lime juice 1/2 oz Don’s Mix 1/2 oz Falernum 1 1/2 oz Gold Puerto Rico Rum 1 1/2 oz Dark Jamaican Rum 1 oz 151-proof demerara rum 1 Dash Angostura bitters 6 drops of Pernod or absinthe 1 tsp Grenadine 6 oz crushed ice

Put everything in a blender and blend for five seconds at high speed, then pour in an appropriately fearsome vessel, add ice cubes to fill and garnish ornately

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DOT DOT DOT DASH Named for the Morse code for “victory” during WWII, this vibrant symphony is a winner every time

1/2 oz Fresh Lime Juice 1/2 oz Orange Juice 1/2 oz Honey Syrup 1 1/2oz Amber Martinique Rum 1/2 oz Demerara Rum 1 dash Angostura bitters 1/4 oz Falernum 1/4 oz Pimento liqueur 6oz Crushed ice

Blend at high speed for 5 seconds max; pour into a victorious glass and garnish with three speared cocktail cherries (the three “dots” speared with the “dash”)

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DRINKS

SUMMER SPORT

Cooling cocktails and chilled wine go best with hot-season pursuits, including beloved sports made to be played in the sun. When it comes to icing down after a match, we’ve chosen to highlight what we feel are the top two options for effortless victory this summer. Play hard, then celebrate in style

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B

ombay Sapphire gin is renown for stirring senses and elevating cocktails, not least the beloved Gin & Tonic—a gloriously straightforward libation that has brought celebratory cooling relief to many a summer afternoon. Now, the celebration is brought more easily than ever as the venerable brand offers the Bombay & Tonic as a bartender-quality cocktail in a smartly designed can. We’re big fans of this in both standard and “Light” manifestations: the World’s No.1 Premium Gin mixed with real premium tonic water, crafted to showcase Bombay Sapphire’s juniper and citrus notes. It’s a win, no matter how it’s played.

Straight from the can or poured over ice with a lime (or lemon, if that’s your thing), this is one great way to chill out during a hot day with friends. Even the can is well-considered, its sleek matte-finished packaging specially designed to help preserve the flavor of the cocktail inside and to protect it from the sun, keeping the G&T colder and better—a premium experience in every sense, and one that’s filling our beach cooler and poolside fridge this summer.

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The perfect complement to club sports and one of the greatest wines ever created, Whispering Angel is part of a family of summer-perfect pours that will enhance both days at play and evenings with friends.

Summer never had it so good

W

hispering Angel might be the most lifestyle-defining wine ever made, and it’s certainly among the most popular.

The legendary rosé from Château d’Esclans and its owner, Sacha Lichine, strikes an almost unbelievably perfect balance of fruit and acidity, offering an upscale, refreshing experience with a crisp, dry finish. It pairs nicely with almost anything (though it favors lightly grilled meats and light fish, salads and various cheeses) but it also stands very well on its own, making it ideal for afternoons at the club, days on the water or get-togethers anywhere the sun is shining. Part of a family of rosés that includes Rock Angel (sometimes described as “Whispering Angel in a biker jacket”) and Garrus, made from 100-year-old vines on the Château’s estate in Provence—and perhaps the most sophisticated expression of rosé ever—Whispering Angel was the official wine of the recent Queen’s Jubilee Pageant, celebrating 70 years of HRM Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years of service on the throne.

Good enough for royalty, good enough for us as an elevating complement to golf, croquet, tennis or any other pursuit that brings good times and good friends together.

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LIFE Defiance

RIDING HIGH

Kent Farrington grew up without privilege in inner-city Chicago, yet forged his way to the summit of a sport often considered a special reserve of the elite. Robin Barwick caught up with him in the heart of the British establishment, at the Royal Windsor Horse Show...

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Windsor Castle has stood on high ground above the River Thames for more than 1,000 years. Commissioned by William the Conqueror, the castle is a magnificent icon of British royalty and has been home to 39 monarchs. It is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world, and to this day it remains the preferred residence of Her Majesty the Queen. The town of Windsor is also notable for being home to Eton College, that bastion of upper-class English boys’ education (since 1440, by the way) that has schooled a succession of British kings and prime ministers.

In the expansive grounds to the north of Windsor Castle and across the river from Eton, the Royal Windsor

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Horse Show has been staged annually since 1943. It began as a “Horse and Dog Show” fund-raiser for the war effort, but after a lurcher on the loose borrowed a slice of chicken from King George V’s lunch plate in ’43, dogs were barred from the show.

Famous for its broad range of equine events, May’s Royal Windsor Horse Show staged classes in show jumping, dressage, driving, endurance and “showing,” which is an equine beauty pageant and a particular favourite of Queen Elizabeth II, who had over 40 horses entered into the showing classes this year. Now 96 years old and celebrating her peerless 70th year on the throne, the less-mobile Queen is reducing her public appearances, but didn’t miss watching her horses at Royal Windsor.

A staple of the UK’s landed gentry, where floral summer dresses, blazers and ties are de rigueur—Royal Windsor might be the last place you would expect to find a rider from inner-city Chicago, especially one who

started riding at the modest stables where they kept the city’s carriage horses. Yet, sipping a morning Americano in the sophisticated comfort of the Rolex hospitality suite— in pride of place by the show’s main arena, opposite the Royal box—here is Kent Farrington, a native of Lincoln Park, the son of a traveling salesman, and the former World No.1 show jumper.

“Royal Windsor is a great show,” starts Farrington, 41, in his distinctly clipped Chicago brogue, sitting beneath a framed photograph of Her Majesty presenting Farrington with the prestigious King’s Cup at Royal Windsor in 2016.

“There’s big prize money, top competition and you can’t beat this setting. It’s an exciting weekend of sport.”

A world away from Windsor, Farrington grew up in the shadow of Wrigley Field. His dad traded-in three second-hand laptops to buy Farrington his first horse, and heading out to Winnetka, Ill. as a teenager back in the 1990s, he scraped a few bucks together by becoming the best ponyracing jockey around. At the age of 17 he arrived at the first career crossroads: college or professional riding?

“My dad thought I was wasting my brain by pursuing sport,” admits Farrington, “particularly because the places where I was competing didn’t look anything like this where we are today. I certainly wouldn’t call it glamorous. It would have seemed to him like I was joining the circus.

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“I promised that I would try my best for a few years and if I was not cutting it, then I would still be young enough that I could go back to college. But I wanted to try.”

Farrington worked with two former Olympic show jumpers, Tim Grubb (GB) and Leslie Howard (USA), before Howard encouraged him to take the jump to start his own business at the age of 20.

“Leslie and I didn’t always see things the same way,” admits Farrington. “We still have a great relationship today, but after a year she said: ‘You are a talented guy but you are not a very good employee. You are strong enough in your mind and your will to succeed on your own. You have your own ideas of how you want to do things and I think you should run it on your own. Go for it.’”

Giving riding lessons, training and trading horses, and competing when he could, Farrington gradually built his business, and with it evolved his own team of show jumping horses. Farrington won his first five-star show jumping grand prix at the age of 23 and today, based in Wellington, Florida—the show-jumping capital of the United States— Farrington’s stables house 65 horses. He trains elite horses and riders, runs a team of instructors and manages a team of 10 horses for his own competing.

When Farrington reached World No. 1 in 2017, he had four horses that were all capable of winning five-star grands

“On Sundays we all fear Kent.

He is always there or thereabouts and he is a fearless competitor ”

Photo: Rolex/Ashley Neuhof

Farrington riding Voyeur at Spruce Meadows, Calgary in 2014; at the CHIO Aachen Rolex Grand Prix in 2019

prix. It was the perfect formula and it brought Farrington his first major success, in the 2017 CHI Geneva Rolex Grand Prix, and further major success followed at the 2019 CHIO Aachen Rolex Grand Prix in Germany.

“Kent is a rider I really look up to,” confides Harry Charles, a young English rider competing at Royal Windsor.

“On Sundays we all fear Kent. He is always there or thereabouts and he is a fearless competitor. Kent is a great horseman and he manages his horses fantastically to have stayed at the top level for so many years, which is something I would love to emulate.”

Standing 5’ 8”, Farrington is built like a racing jockey and his horses tend to be smaller and faster than most international show jumpers. He grew up riding agile horses, and his show jumping strategy is proven.

“I prefer careful, lighter horses and usually the question is whether they will make it to jump big,” explains Farrington.

“You never know until they actually go up to that level and perform. You are always going to have questions along the way. If a horse is super careful you don’t know if it will jump big enough. For a horse that jumps big, you don’t know if it is going to be careful enough or fast enough at the top level.

You just don’t know until you get there.”

Ranked seventh in the world at the time of writing, Farrington is nurturing a young team of horses in the hope of finding another quartet that he can steer to success at world level.

“Right now my older horses are in the twilight of their careers, while the younger ones are at their dawn,” he explains. “The baton is being passed along, but I am always looking at new horses. That is part of the game—you have to be a dreamer and a sceptic at the same time. I am a dreamer in trying to see the best in the young horses coming up, but then I have to be a realist and see when a horse is not going to be good enough.

“My horses all have the ability, but the question is whether they want to be great in our sport. It’s the same with other sports. What separates the best basketball or ice hockey player is not always that they are stronger or faster; a lot of the time the separator is the mind, desire, coupled with an understanding of the game, and that can be applied to horses; does it understand how to rise to a big occasion?

Some horses are cut out for it and some aren’t. On a big stage with a big crowd and a lot of atmosphere, some horses rise to that.”

The main event at Royal Windsor was the Rolex Grand Prix on the Sunday. Riding 10-year-old Orafina—a rookie to five-star show jumping in 2022—Farrington finished a creditable seventh. Patience in show jumping is a virtue, and in June at the Thunderbird Show Park in Vancouver, Farrington rode Orafina to her first five-star grand prix victory.

From Wrigley Field, through Windsor Castle and Vancouver, win or lose Farrington is enjoying the ride.

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WELLNESS

Well On Course Mindfulness and personal growth in the Berkshires via the game we all love

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Named as one of the 12 “Last Great Places” by The Nature Conservancy, the northeastern region known as the Berkshires is a natural setting for a wellness retreat.

Occupying part of western Massachusetts and northwestern Connecticut, it is populated by wilderness comprised of rolling hills, lakes and rivers, and part of the Appalachian Trail.

No surprise, then, that the wellness-focused Miraval brand has sited one of its properties here, in Lenox, Massachusetts, not far from many urban centers. What might be surprising, though, is that the resort’s wellness experiences include golf, in all of its transformational possibilities.

Miraval’s official statement is that it has been dedicated to supporting “individuals on their journey to creating a life in balance” for more than 25 years. Miraval’s spas and wellness retreats are renowned as providing the tools one needs to find that balance, sometimes in unexpected ways, via customized programs designed by on-site wellness counselors.

For the Miraval Berkshires, that means an integrative approach to caring for the mind, body and soul via methods and programs that complement the property’s natural,

forested setting. Among those, golf features somewhat prominently, with programming that focuses on the art of putting and on the greater game, in a practice they call “Mindful Golf.” At the heart of the latter is a system of personal growth that is rooted in the ability to “let go.” A lecture addresses players’ inner monologue, the discourse one’s mind provides following a bad shot, for example, or even after a good shot. Understanding not just how you play but why, the potential emotions and architecture that underscore every round, can help to improve performance on course, but it also can help in assessing one’s general approach to life. Are you playing golf from a position of fear?

Anger? Insecurity? It might sound like a bunch of noise, but Miraval has decades of experience helping people to become their better selves, and if it involves golf, then why not.

Another program goes deep on putting—and in a way that, if it seems difficult to comprehend at first, at least sounds like a lot of fun. According to the resort, in an exclusive-to-theproperty session, participants navigate the green barefoot under the stars, using only the sense of touch and instincts as a guide. The dramatic shift in perspective can prompt an unlocking of sorts, and a heightened sense of confidence and trust in oneself. Yet another approach is via a private session, in which a member of Miraval’s golf team works with you on a one-on-one basis, customizing the experience to suit your goals and needs.

All of these experiences are done with The Golf Club At Wyndhurst, a challenging 18-hole course that dates to 1926 (see sidebar: The Golf Course).

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The Miraval Berkshires offers a substantive menu of wellness programming and activities, including seasonally specific options. Here are just a few of the incredible ways that the property can help you to be the best version of yourself:

EQUINE

The equine program here has won awards for its innovation and impact, and that might be because of its immersive qualities. There are many Equine Experience options here, offering a variety of interactions that involve caring for and being mindful regarding an equine partner, but one of the more interesting is the “Journey to Self,” which parallels a hero’s journey. As in a great epic in which a quest is undertaken, trials and temptations are faced, a crisis is overcome and a transformation is achieved, guests lead horses through a series of obstacles that represent challenges and triumphs from their own lives. By reframing one’s own experiences in a partnership of sorts with a living being, a vast new perspective is achieved, and a step forward can be taken.

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CULINARY

In addition to a menu of yoga, fitness and other such pursuits, the Miraval Berkshires offers a mindfulness lesson via culinary education in what it calls “Conscious Cooking.”

The options here are numerous, comprised of immersive cooking classes, light dining experiences, cocktail and wine creation and tasting and more. We like the idea of the “Flower to Root Cooking” class, which digs deep in teaching guests to create and cook a garden-to-table feast. Classes on bone broth, oyster shucking (with Champagne) and the art of sauces are other delectable possibilities, while a “Conquer the Blade” clinic explores every aspect of the kitchen knife and how to use it, teaching blade variations and critical cutting techniques.

THE GOLF COURSE

Miraval’s Golf Wellness programming takes place at Wyndhurst Golf & Club, which features an 18-hole course originally designed by Wayne Stiles and John Van Kleek in 1926. Separately and together, the duo are responsible for more than 140 courses built across the country in the 1920s and 1930s, including Taconic Golf Club in Williamstown, Mass., which is owned by Williams College. As for Wyndhurst, it previously was known as Cranwell Resort, and its course is a classic beauty. Winding through the woods, its holes appear to be “found” among the landscape’s features, they’re revealed as bends are rounded and hills crested. Greens often feature false fronts, are typically slanted the same direction as the fairways, and there are all manner of subtle contours at play on the surfaces, so this is hardly a simple walk in the woods. That written, it is a wonderful way to spend some time, and if it’s part of the wellness programming at Miraval, then it’s a purposeful round as well.

CHALLENGE COURSE

Far more than just a 1990s’ corporate trend, challenge courses teach confidence, assertiveness, self-awareness and communication, and are an established tool in moving forward in one’s personal journey. The Challenge Course at Miraval is a straightforward and effective approach to the core brilliance of the medium, with several courses, including one that offers 20 elevated, honeycomb-designed platforms in the trees and a range of adventures that can impact guests. Ropes courses, a moonlit night climb, and a “Bluebird Climbing Experience” that will certainly help participants manage certain fears and practice teamwork, all present immediately transformational possibilities in a secure setting among Miraval’s well-experienced counselors.

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Courtesy PGA TOUR/TOURCast

TECH

2022 Genesis Invitational, No.15

Cameron Young

Joaquin Niemann

ShotLink What began as an electronic scoreboard system in 1983 today is one of the most sophisticated scoring and data-collection tools in sports, helping the world of competitive golf to build an incredibly detailed record of its history even as it informs the competitions of the future. You might have seen the computer graphics on your television screen, but you likely haven’t seen what goes on behind the scenes. Beyond the fun computer graphics, ShotLink is changing the tournament game

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Collin Morikawa

ShotLink volunteers at the 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club

A

s the PGA TOUR describes it, ShotLink is “a revolutionary platform for collecting and disseminating scoring and statistical data on every shot by every player in real-time.”

That about sums it up, but it also understates things a bit.

Essentially, ShotLink—or PGA TOUR ShotLink System, as the TOUR calls it—captures and reports an incredible amount of data on each shot by each player during PGA TOUR competitions. You likely have seen ShotLink in action during golf tournaments, in the form of computer graphics on your television screen or online via TOURCast, showing an array of arcs and dots indicating ball flight paths and landing areas and detailing whose ball landed where.

Over something like 93 events per year on the PGA, Champions and Korn Ferry tours, ShotLink builds a record that will be important to golf history, but it also helps Tour officials and course managers to form strategies on how best to set up their courses and pins for competitions.

Moreover, it tells the truth of what’s happening on course, and that’s provided some illuminating moments, according to Brandon Johnson.

Johnson, senior architect and vice president with Arnold Palmer Design Company, was working with the PGA TOUR when ShotLink was evolving into its current form.

More than just offering data, he says, it offers truth.

“Being at the TOUR when they were coming up with this, developing what would become ShotLink, was exciting,” he says. “They viewed golf as not having the same kind of statistics as baseball, for example, and thought that if they could track what people are doing, then we can bring to life not only the TV coverage for the fan base, but it could open the door for a bunch of other things, including golf course design and setup, and that’s exactly what it’s done.

“There was a thought or an idea of what was happening at tournaments, but now you have the reality. People might have thought, ‘Everybody is pulling out driver here, this is exactly where everybody hits their tee shot.’ But then it turns out that, ‘Oh! Not everybody is pulling out driver, and there’s a big disbursement of where golf balls go.’

Statistically you really see how the tournaments are played now, they’re tracking so many metrics, and now you can look at course setup based on where a tee is, how wide a fairway is, where a pin is, and you can see a shot pattern developing based on when a pin is placed on the left side versus on the right side, whether distance affects that or not.”

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Before an event, golf courses are mapped, yielding a digital image of each hole. This helps ShotLink to calculate exact locations and distances between any two coordinates on that hole, e.g. the tee box and a player’s first shot. A small staff of TOUR employees and roughly 350 volunteers per tournament (nearly 10,000 volunteers per year) run the ShotLink system, scoring each hole with tools that involve a sort of digital camera system.

The end result is a detailed digital image of each shot taken on a course, with variables factored-in as well. Combined with other available data, such as wind, temperature, ground firmness and moisture readings and so on, it provides a record of what happened at any given point.

The data is then used by television broadcast partners and other media to illustrate and to inform golf fans, and it’s used by tournament officials, course managers and architects like Johnson to inform course setups and design.

“For the casual observer, I think many people are thinking, ‘Wow, look at how consistent they are through the field;’ there’s just a blob of where all of the golf balls are going,” Johnson says. “But you start to see the difference when you have a really good pin or a changing condition, wind or something else that forces the player to think, and now all of a sudden that shot pattern is wider. In the best situations, certainly not every tee marker and every location, but you do get those special holes or certain locations where they know it’s going to challenge the player and force him to think, and you do get this variety of shots.”

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Casual observers might think the pros are all fairly consistent, but ShotLink can show variations in play One thing ShotLink has done in terms of design is to reveal the subtleties of good architecture.

“When you have really good architecture,” Johnson says, “it gives the setup team options and gives the player options, and you’ll see that in the data a little more. I’ve seen it where there’s a par 3 and they’d choose to put a tee in a certain place, and now it’s just a forced carry over water and statistically the hole becomes really boring. Not that many birdies but also not that many bogeys, and everybody kind of shies away from the pin. The casual observer says, ‘Oh, it’s over water, that’s hard!’ But for the pros it’s pretty easy because of the angle. They know they’re going to hit it 190 yards or whatever and they’re more concerned about how far left or right. But bring in the water on a diagonal, move the pin, and now all of a sudden the player has to hedge against going left into a bunker or right into runoff, just because of the angle of where the tee is. That’s the kind of thing that ShotLink can reveal in a detailed way.”

Another aspect to ShotLink, Johnson explains, is that it builds this record of statistics that players can use.

“I don’t think it’s every player, but some players really know their statistics, what their strong points are and what their weak points are based on ShotLink data. You start to see this idea of proximity to the hole, over 40 yards in on a par-5 for example, what’s the statistical chance they’re going to make birdie or 175 yards out, what is the statistical difference of their chance to the green from the fairway versus the rough. Some of them will study that and lean into it and use it in competition in terms of decision-making.”

In terms of affecting course architecture, Johnson says that ShotLink isn’t necessarily used in overall designs, but that it can inform certain decisions.

“When you look at a certain hole and someone wants to put a bunker here,” he says, “is it going to be an effective bunker or not, based on what players are doing? If you have the data, you can see if the bunker will affect any change in how the hole is played, you don’t have to guess.”

In the end, though, Johnson returns to the point that ShotLink is all about truth, hard numbers that make solid decision-making possible.

“I can say that there’s been times you’re out in the field and you’re thinking, ‘This pin location is going to be great,’ and then statistically speaking you look at it and that wasn’t the case, or at least it wasn’t the case on that day.

There were two cases of that I remember specifically from when we were engaged at TPC Twin Cities. The second hole, there were pins they had up against the water that I think for the average player they would be tough, but for the pro they weren’t. Hole 14 was another one, a front pin. Nobody went long and engaged this bunker and the pins that looked dangerous on the water because of slopes or other things weren’t as challengeing or difficult as they thought they would be. But then there was this back right pin up against the bunker, which didn’t look difficult, but the shot pattern went everywhere. You get all of this information and it’s real; how could you look at that amount of data and discard it?”

ShotLink truck (above left); at the 2021 WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession; and on the 17th hole at THE PLAYERS in 2000

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G I F T GU I D E

Sunny Times For the longs days and warm nights of summer, here are some gift suggestions for the people with whom you’ll be sharing those special times

Bang & Olufsen

Offering superlative audio, the wireless Beoplay H95 headphones with adaptive noise canceling from storied firm Bang & Olufsen offer custom titanium drivers and expert tuning to ensure every detail of the music is revealed, even as senses are satisfied with soft lambskin leather, a precision-cut aluminum frame and high-fashion styling. bang-olufsen.com

Aberfeldy

Produced at the famous Dewar’s distillery on the banks of the River Tay in central Scotland. The 16 Year Old single malt is finished in first-fill Oloroso sherry casks to embellish the gently fruity nature of this special malt. Notes of honey, citrus and spicy cloves define a layered whisky, with hints of dark chocolate emerging from the smooth finish. aberfeldy.com

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Triumph & Disaster

This hair clay utilises White Clay and Beeswax mixed with Pracaxi oil and a splash of Brazil wax. This medium hold clay should create the perfect hold for those who want a matte, firm, healthy wave that is flexible enough to mould your own way, and strong enough to keep it that way. triumphanddisaster.com

G I F T GU I D E

Business & Pleasure Co.

Whether you’re heading out for a day at the beach, a picnic in the park or a BBQ in the backyard, enjoying an ice-cold beverage on a summer’s day is priority number one. Teleport back to the 70s with this retro color way, while this cooler will keep all food and drinks cold and crisp, from sunrise to sunset. businessandpleasureco.com

Ettinger

The Roger Clubhouse

The Capra Watch Roll from London company Ettinger is the ideal sanctuary for a watch at home or on the road. Handmade and lined with soft suede, the rolls can be personalized and they come in five sophisticated colors. As supplier of bespoke luggage to Prince Charles, Ettinger was awarded a Royal Warrant in 1996.

Ready for long days and late nights, this highenergy, off-court sneaker performs long after the court is closed. With a nostalgic nod to the nineties and the comfort of next-gen tech, the dashing Roger Clubhouse brings support, comfort and class. on-running.com

ettinger.co.uk

Leica

Understated, lightweight and compact, the new D-Lux 7 from Leica lets its pictures command all the attention.

A large 4/3rd sensor, fast lens and ideal focal length range enable this versatile camera to produce sharp and vibrant photographs from a multitude of situations. leica-camera.com

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G I F T GU I D E

XXIO

The mid to high-handicap woman golfer would struggle to find a finer hassle-free equipment solution than the Bordeaux Premium set from XXIO. The set includes driver, three metal woods, hybrid and irons from sand wedge through to 7-iron, all built with high-strength titanium clubfaces to promote maximum ball speed. The set comes in an elegant white cart bag. xxiousa.com

ASICS Gel-Kayano Ace

The Gel-Kayano Ace represents the latest collaborative triumph between running specialists Asics and golf experts Srixon.

A hybrid between a golf shoe and trail shoe, the spikeless Gel-Kayano Ace is extremely light, snug, cushioned and supportive.

No breaking in required and four color-ways available. asics.com

Western Birch Golf Co. These classic wooden golf tees come in hardwood or bamboo and are designed with a slightly thicker shank for extra durability. Add your own flare and personalize the cup from a wide range of color options. Western Birch offers a premium, fresh and colorful way to accessorize any golfer. westernbirch.com

Uncommon

The Model 55 golf balls are the marquee ball from the innovative Uncommon company. The four-piece, mid-high compression ball maximises distance off the tee without compromising on feel with the scoring clubs thanks to its cast urethane cover. uncommon.golf

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G I F T GU I D E

Ecco

The company that introduced the spikeless golf shoe at the 2010 Masters (as worn by Fred Couples when he shot a first round of 66 aged 50) has just launched the latest generation; the lightweight Golf Biom C4. Built with Gore-Tex to ensure breathability and waterproof endurance, the Biom C4 is also powered by Ecco’s Biom Natural Motion technology. ecco.com

Grindworks

As played by Patrick Reed, the new PR-202 forged irons from Grindworks are built for feel and performance. Featuring a CNC cavity back, these sleek, no-frills irons take the better player back to basics and they are available in 3-iron through pitching wedge. grindworksusa.com

Makefield Putters

It’s all about the way the ball rolls off the clubface. Makefield’s superior club face design keeps the ball rolling on it’s line of axis, thus leading to straighter putts. Voted

by PGA.com as the Most Innovative New Club Technology at the 2022 PGA Show, Makefield’s V-S X3 Weight System is fully adjustable so golfers can custom-fit the putter to match their stroke. makefieldputters.com

Penfold

Penfold’s new GX Performance Gloves are made from the finest cabretta leather to bring a thin touch, light feel, yet strength and durability. A contemporary fit with vintage styling, the gloves come in striking colors to revive those worn on tour in the 1970s. Seve Ballesteros wore blue when he marched to his first major triumph in the [British] Open of 1979. penfoldgolfusa.com

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LAST PAGE

1929: Spectators and players crossing the Swilcan Bridge during the final of the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship

Crossing St Andrews’ famous Swilcan Burn—with its iconic bridge traversed by how many legends over time—once was a wild thing, twisting and turning at the whim of the tides and floods, and shaping the Old Course as it went

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t wasn’t until April of 1835 that it was tamed, with a Robert Goodfellow using trash (the burn was a dumping ground for a bit) and bricks to create a retaining wall. Three decades later Old Tom Morris himself re-banked the burn, burying nearly half of an old stone bridge that crossed it—the same bridge, in fact, that we all know and love today, which apparently remains half-concealed underground. The Swilcan Bridge, also called the Swilcanth, and for hundreds of years referred to as “The Golfers’ Bridge,” is said to be more than 700 years old. How many lost balls, lost wagers and brilliant afternoons it must have witnessed, even half-sunk in the glorious Home of Golf. Long may the burn flow to the future, and long may the bridge stand, connecting generations.

FirestoneCountryClub.com Limited number of memberships. Stay and Play packages available. Other restrictions and exclusions apply. See Club for details. © Invited, Inc. All rights reserved. AJ 2022-153700-00674