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Please don't wake me up.
For the last 10 years, I have had what I would consider a dream job, and I cant wait to see what the next decade brings.
In March 2014, in the space of 24 hours, I received two career-changing emails. They came from Bradley Klein and Tom Dunne, two golf writers I had gotten to know in the years since I'd joined Golf Club Atlas, the preeminent online gathering place for golf course architecture historians and enthusiasts as well as several practicing architects.
Independent of one another (as far as I know), Klein and Dunne wanted to tip me off about a job opening they thought I'd be right for: managing editor of an online golf travel publication that was part of a larger golf-media startup called Revolution Golf. Long story short, I got the job, starting the week after the 2014 Masters.
Expanding my horizons in golf was a dream opportunity after cutting my teeth in my first post-college job in an advertising agency with decades-long ties to the Myrtle Beach golf industry. Having grown up visiting that area, I cherished playing a tiny role in promoting a destination I have always loved.
Relationships and connections are crucial in professional life - especially in golf. I'll always be grateful to Brad and Tom and look forward to paying their guidance forward in time.
In the decade I've been on the golf-travel beat, I've gone from being part of a 30-person startup to an employee with one of America's biggest companies: Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, which owns GolfPass through its NBC Sports Next division. That's because in 2017, NBC Sports bought the company I was working for. I became part of what was then Golf Advisor, now GolfPass.
Through the changes around me, my professional mission has remained the same: to try and help people fall ever deeper in love with golf, with a particular focus on golf courses as the catalyst. Occasional forays into topics around golf equipment, apparel, products and instruction have been interesting, but the places where we play golf continue to be dearest to me. The novelty of a driver or golf shirt fades quickly, but the memory of playing a golf in an interesting place with beloved people can linger one's entire life. Years of my own memories stretching back to childhood tell me this is true, and valuable. Golf has given me a great deal of joy in life; I consider it an honor and a responsibility to spread that joy to others worthwhile.
I have learned a great deal wandering the world of golf. Here's some of it.
My 10 favorite articles I've written
This dream-job has afforded me the opportunity to study all sorts of topics within golf, as well as the opportunity to document aspects of my own relationship with the game. You'll see that reflected in this list of my all-time favorite articles I've written.
12 insanely private golf courses you will never get to play (originally published 2015; updated 2023)
There are private golf courses, and then there are golf courses so exclusive that they're seen only by a handful of people. It's human nature to want what we'll never have, and golfers are no different.
The Mike Strantz courses you had no idea existed (2017)
One of the most creative architects of the modern era left us too soon, with barely half a dozen original designs to his name. Playing two of them - Caledonia and True Blue in South Carolina - as an impressionable kid helped make me into a golf course junkie. But Strantz left his mark on several other courses, too.
In the midst of golf's 'Munaissance' (2019)
Municipal golf is the heartbeat of the game in America. These locally beloved courses don't get anywhere near the publicity they deserve, which is a shame. I try and make a point of seeing these often humble but typically vibrant golf courses wherever I travel, and I'm thrilled that towns, cities and counties are investing heavily in these tremendous community assets. [2024 Munaissance update here]
The days I fell in love with golf (2019)
I started my "Cool Golf Things" column as an exercise in brevity, trying to say something interesting about something in golf in 300 words or less. In 2019, I broke that barrier, but for good reason to talk about two moments some 20 years earlier that sealed my fate as a lifelong golfer.
Benton Harbor's comeback appeal (2020)
What could be better than visiting somewhere, playing a bunch of golf courses and writing about it? How about when the place you've visited counts a long-defunct cult as part of its history?
Other favorite travel features I've written
It takes a village to build – and celebrate – a great golf course (2021)
The opportunity to play a golf course right after it hosts a PGA Tour event is fun, but playing it in the company of the people who worked on it, as well as a good friend, is truly special.
Legendary golf photographer David Cannon has elevated the game for more than 35 years (2022)
Sometimes words fail. When that happens, people like legendary golf photographer David Cannon are standing by to capture the game's inspiring images.
Hold my Biarritz and salute your Shorts (2023)
In the years I've been studying it, golf course architecture has gone from a nerdiest-of-the-nerdy subtopic to something more and more golfers - recreational and professional - have begun to appreciate. I'm as proud of the title of this article as I am the article itself.
RBC Heritage: a hole-by-hole guide to Harbour Town Golf Links (2023)
Inspired by the great hole-by-hole golf course reviews Brad Klein wrote for years for Golfweek, I have enjoyed trying my own hand at them when big-time golf tournaments come around. My favorite so far is the one I wrote about Harbour Town, in large part because I absolutely adore the golf course.
Why club-throwing needs to be banned from golf (2024)
Gentility and decorum have always been part of golf, but not everyone is always on board, with occasionally disastrous consequences. My thanks to Guy Donatiello for the opportunity to share his story.
The best golf courses I've played
I reached a milestone of 600 lifetime courses played in December 2023; as of this writing, I'm up to 614. The recent crop of new-to-me golf courses has been good, but I still stand by my top 60.
TPC SAWGRASS (PLAYERS STADIUM)
— Tim Gavrich (@TimGavrich) December 5, 2023
Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Pete Dye, 1981
$650+
Course #600!
Although the birthplace of stadium golf traded away its original rustic aesthetic for TV-friendly lush green conditions long ago, it nevertheless remains beautiful, fun, fair and iconic. pic.twitter.com/vAgCOC1n3Y
5 golf destinations I hope to see in the next 10 years
Australia
After GolfPass managing editor Jason Deegan's incredible trip Down Under in 2023 (from which he wrote several must-read stories), I might need to wait a little while for my own look at the Melbourne Sandbelt and Tasmania. I'm especially curious to see Tazzie's new 7 Mile Beach Golf Links, which opens later in 2024.
Bandon
The one glaring gap in my stateside golf resume is the place that established the contemporary destination golf model. I'm curious whether the comparisons to Ireland and Scotland are really apt, or whether it's its own animal.
The Netherlands
The heathland courses of England are some of my favorites I've ever played, and the Netherlands has several excellent heathland/linksy courses as well, from Royal Hague to De Pan to Kennemer and more.
New Zealand
It's a long way, but I'll gladly travel the long hours to play golf in what looks to be otherworldly scenery at places like Cape Kidnappers and Te Arai, not to mention an eye-popping number of less-expensive but fascinating-looking inland courses.
Scottish Highlands
I've been to St. Andrews and East Lothian (and yearn to return), but I haven't been to Ayrshire or the Highlands. Because Royal Dornoch is in the Highlands, I'm giving it the slightest edge.
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