Are we agreed that playing golf in America is, on the whole, overpriced, overcrowded and overrated? Let me describe an experience at a course called Rustic Canyon just north of Los Angeles that conclusively demonstrates it doesn't have to be this way.

Here was a revelatory little gem where there was no clubhouse the size of a mansion, and no bag drop for people too lazy to walk from the car park.

There were no water hazards, no fairways lined with unimaginative swathes of rough, and no greens surrounded by bunkers, thus allowing you to play the ball along the ground, should you choose, rather than being forced to play target golf.

In short, all the principles that makes links golf the biggest thrill in the game have been applied by designer Geoff Shackelford, including greens next to tees which meant - shock, horror! - you could even walk rather than take a buggy.

Best of all, it cost £20 to play, and was in magnificent condition.

Golf as it should be.

At the 2008 Pepperdine Men's Golf Fundraiser Geoff moderated a discussion between Ryder Cup asst. Captain's Olin Browne and Dave Stockton. 

(Photo courtesy of Paul Lester.)

More information is available here. 

Hope to see you at the Show!

"The finest writers are modern day alchemists magically transforming the sensory static of a blank page to allow us to experience the immediacy of sport from a world away--to smell the sweet azaleas and fragrant pine, feel the sponginess of the grass on a walk up the final fairway and hear the buzz of the crowd crescendo to an ear-splitting toar as the winning putt drops from our view." 

And here's the list:

Michael Bamberger
James Dodson
John Feinstein
James Finegan
Mark Frost
Dan Jenkins
David Owen
Lorne Rubenstein
Geoff Shackelford
John Updike