For whom the (golf) bell tolls

The bell has been an important means of communication for centuries.

Church bells ring in celebration of a special day or as a call to worship. Ancient villages or castles would ring bells to warn that an enemy was approaching. Guests of old country inns would ring bells for service. In early hospitals, patients would ring them to beckon nurses for assistance.

In golf, ringing a bell delivers the most welcome sound in the game: time to hit!

Golf bells are a special surprise found on some of the coolest holes of the most interesting golf courses. The golf bell is meant to keep golfers safe on blind holes where the group behind might not know when it's okay to swing away. Most golf bells reside on classic links courses overseas, but they also pop up from time to time on hilly stateside courses where a ridge or mound might block the view of the fairway or green.

Every time I find a golf bell on a course I'm playing for the first time, I feel compelled to: 1, Record someone ringing the bell for social media and, 2, Take a picture to document what I consider a magical moment.

Discovering a golf bell is like finding golf gold, a treasure to be celebrated. So when I found one next to the 10th green at Elie Golf House outside of St. Andrews, Scotland, last summer, I just had to take a selfie at such a special spot along the Firth of Forth.

Ringing a golf bell is a time-honored tradition at so many unique and special courses. There's something nostalgic about them. Some golfers and courses don't love them as much as I do. An ill-timed ringing of the bell can cause a mishit. Some groups forget to ring the bell, or ignore it completely, leaving the group behind guessing about when to play.

Some courses have taken out their bells, replacing them with more modern contraptions like a stoplight (at Cruden Bay and Enniscrone) or lever system (Shiskine Golf & Tennis Club). While they're cool too, I still favor the bell.

I've rounded up the best golf bells I've found in the my travels spanning 26 years and more than 1,100 courses. I'd love to ring them all one more time before I golf those greener pastures in the sky.

If you've got a great photo or story of a golf bell, please share it in the comments below.

North Berwick Golf Club's hole 14 requires golfers to ring a bell after existing the green. Jason Scott Deegan/GolfPass

The 14th hole of the North Berwick West Links is called "perfection". Jason Scott Deegan/GolfPass

There's a reason the 14th hole at North Berwick Golf Club is called "Perfection". Jason Scott Deegan/GolfPass

This first photo does no justice to the hole called "Perfection" on what I believe to be the most fun golf course on the planet, North Berwick Golf Club in East Lothian on Scotland's east coast. For some perspective, scroll to the next two pictures in the gallery taken a decade apart on a gloomy day in 2024 and a sunny day in 2014. That's the view golfers see when cresting the ridge that guards the hidden green. The target post is the only clue golfers have from the fairway that there's a green over there somewhere. What a hole. What a place.

No golf course does dramatic blind holes quite like Prestwick Golf Club in Ayrshire on Scotland's west coast. The birthplace of The Open Championship hosted the first 12 editions and 24 total between 1860 and 1925. Who wouldn't love to see the pros squirm playing "Himalayas", the blind 231-yard fifth, and "Alps" at no. 17? The 394-yard 17th hole is particularly cruel with a blind green tucked behind a dune and beyond the gigantic "Sahara" bunker.

Of all the blind tee shots at Royal County Down - and there are many - the famous ninth hole is the only one with a bell. From the tee, golfers aim at the spire of the Slieve Donard, a Marine & Lawn hotel, and blast away over a massive dune fronting the fairway. Cresting the hill delivers one of the best reveals in the game. The views stretch beyond the green to the hotel with the Mountains of Mourne as the backdrop.

It was heartbreaking to see the news that the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge nearly burned down in last summer's tragic Canadian wildfires. Jasper Park Lodge's Stanley Thompson design is one of my favorites, endlessly playable and beautiful. I'm glad to report that its bell on the par-4 third hole is alive and well. The resort reopened last fall and will once again welcome golfers to the Canadian Rockies this summer.

It's been too long since I've played Greywalls, the rugged Mike DeVries design that rides the rocky terrain of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Even as a native Michigander, it was hard to get all the way "up" there. The effort is rewarded with a wild cart ride of golf. A bell was necessary for communication on the par-4 seventh, where players attempt a drive over a rocky cliff guarding the best line to the fairway. Above, GolfPass Senior Writer Tim Gavrich shares on Instagram how he rang the bell.

My trip to Wales in 2003 to play Royal St. David's introduced so many firsts in my golf writing career - my first group press trip, my introduction to links golf, my first castle, my first golf bell near the 14th green of Royal St. David's. Twenty five years later, I could write a book about the shenanigans of that trip and others I've taken with all sorts of golf writers and influencers. Would you read it?

The bell on the blind 17th hole on the West Cliffs Golf Course an hour north of Lisbon was one of many surprises during my first trip to Portugal. It's a compelling dogleg par 4 that not only broke the stereotype that golf bells are only found on classic links but, more importantly, shattered the glass ceiling on women designing golf courses. This is a gorgeous modern layout by Cynthia Dye McGarey, a member of the Dye family who spearheads Dye Designs Group.

What I found fascinating about the bell system at Machrihanish Golf Club on Scotland's Mull of Kintyre were both of these blind par 4s used a bell – near the fairway on the 373-yard third called “Islay” and near the green on the 476-yard seventh hole called “Bruach More.” So why doesn't the course use other bells for the blind tee shots over marker posts at no. 6 and no. 9? Maybe club members and staff think four competing bells is too many? Not according to two famous courses I haven't played yet.

Golf bells on my wish list

Maybe some day I'll ring all of golf's greatest bells. For now, I'm missing a few from my bucket list.

* England's Silloth on Solway Golf Club is home to four different bells to keep things moving on its blind holes: Three of them are located as golfers walk off the green of holes 1, 10 and 14, and one halfway down the fourth fairway.
* It seems obvious that North Carolina's Tobacco Road, given its penchant for blind shots and wild holes, would hold the world record for most golf bells on a single course. There's five (!!) on holes 1, 7, 13, 15 and 18.

* There were three bells at Connecticut's Yale Golf Course, but that was before it was closed for a complete restoration by Gil Hanse that started in 2023. How many will he keep?
* A bell tower guides golfers to the green on the famous 426-yard third hole called "Alps" at National Golf Links of America on New York's Long Island.

Old Mac used to be my least favorite course at Bandon Dunes until a round in the rain last year during the resort's 25th anniversary celebration gave me a better appreciation of its nuances. I would absolutely love the 455-yard 16th hole if it were about 30 yards shorter. In its current form, the "Alps" template hole is the hardest par 4 on property, requiring a monster second shot over a massive dune hiding a difficult green. When the group ahead rings the bell, it feels like golf's grim reaper has signaled your next double bogey.

I've never been to the BMW PGA Championship - the season-ending championship of the DP World Tour held annually at the prestigious Wentworth Club outside London - but something tells me the players don't bother ringing the bell on the par-5 fourth hole of the West Course that sweeps blindly to the left from the tee. It's reserved for members to ring for the group behind.

Which golf bell do you dream of ringing most? Let us know in the comments below.