Features
Cover Story – FOX Sports broadcaster Shane Bacon
From the time Marshall native Shane Bacon could walk, he had a golf club in his hands. Trust me, there’s photos on social media to prove it. But while Bacon’s aspirations of playing professionally faded not soon after college, he always believed his career path would involve sports. Boy, was he right. What began as writing for the Daily Wildcat …
Feature Story – Beaver State Anniversary
To build a new resort, where one doesn’t exist for hundreds of miles and most don’t think ever will, as Mike Keiser found out, first you have to be called crazy, delusional and a soon-to-be epic golf failure. And that’s just for starters. But thankful for golfers worldwide, Keiser and then-unknown Scottish golf architect David McLay Kidd persisted, and the …
Tales From the Back Nine Part XII – East Texas
On the debut journey of Tales from the Back Nine, we embarked into the great unknown with stubborn invincibility. Enthusiasm for exploring wilderness golf adventures trumped common sense. With my faithful F-150 loaded with golf, camping and fishing gear, we took off for the remote rugged stretches of West Texas in mid-December feeling bulletproof. Driving rural routes at night. Battling …
Cover Story – Best of Public 2019
2019 was a tremendous year for Dallas/Fort Worth golf. Favorable weather conditions and a Metroplex chock-full of talented agronomy teams kept courses fantastic throughout the year. With that in mind, 2019 was one of the most competitive ever in AG’s annual Best of Public rankings. From Old American and Cowboys to Prairie Lakes and Bear Creek, the area is loaded …
Tales from the Back Nine, Part XI – South Central Texas, Port Aransas
Most native Texans, if they paid attention in grade school, or read the book, or saw the movie, or stumbled onto the hallowed grounds after sipping margaritas on the River Walk, know the Alamo as the enduring symbol of Texas’ heroic fight for independence. So, yeah, we like sorta remember the Alamo. But what about the small towns that made …
Cover Story – Kyle Berkshire, 2019 World Long Drive Champion
With his now signature long hair dripping with sweat, Kyle Berkshire makes his final preparations to become a long drive immortal. Ball after ball sail into the Oklahoma night sky, seemingly never reaching for the ground below. Berkshire, a 22-year-old destroyer of golf balls, known for his flowing brown locks and rock-step triggered, 155-mph swing, has been playing golf since …
Feature Story – The World Long Drive Tour: Past and Present
The 44th edition of the World Long Drive Championship was contested last month in Thackerville, Oklahoma and when all was said and done a new king and queen were left standing on the men’s and women’s sides. It was the first time since 2013 that both events produced a first-time winner with Kyle Berkshire and Chloe Garner donning the respective …
Tales from the Back Nine, Part X – Red River Region
With Texas and Oklahoma seemingly headed for an epic college football showdown this month, it seemed the perfect time to explore wild golf in the Red River region. Remote courses, state parks and fishing spots flourish on both sides of the border, making the Red River a golf adventure waiting to happen. The trusty old F-150 and I had been …
Cover Story – College Days Revisited
To become a PGA TOUR player, you need talent, determination and self-minded focus to do nothing but eat, drink and sleep golf. Except in the fall, of course. That’s when the Tour players passion for the game they play for a living, takes a back seat – or at least an equal seat – to their passion for college football, …
Feature – Magic in Maricopa
It’s hard to believe that in the land of triple-figure golf courses and lots of triple-figure heat this time of year, that there might be a course so good it would be worth wearing out your travel GPS to find a desert hidden gem. In fact, it would be a grave golfing error to not play one of the true …