It’s back!
Twenty years later Tatra Press has kindly allowed me to bring back Grounds For Golf now that golf architecture is of more interest to the masses. A new Introduction looks at what’s driven the interest growth and two new chapters I had a blast adding (plus a few edits to keep things up-to-date).
The Amazon purchase page for the book arriving June 15, 2026.
Nice note from Bob Harig this week on a forgotten 59 by Sam Snead at, you guessed it, the Greenbrier in 1959.
It doesn't count in the PGA Tour record book because the event was not a tour-sanctioned tournament. But it got plenty of attention nonetheless.
According to West Virginia's Register-Herald, Snead shot 59 on May 16, 1959 at the Greenbrier Open, a pro-am event staged at the annual Spring Festival at the Greenbrier.
Snead played alongside three amateurs and Robert Harris, the director of golf and recreation at the Greenbrier. Harris noted that at the time that Snead "did what no one thought was possible. He shot a 59 in a competitive event on a championship golf course during the Greenbrier's annual Spring Festival pro-am.
"Although the PGA Tour does not recognize the feat in their record books, the world recognizes that Sam was the first golfer, either professional or amateur, to achieve that goal."
Sports Illustrated called Snead's 59 "the greatest competitive round in the history of the game."
Snead did shoot 60 in an official PGA Tour event, one of 24 recorded overall. He became the seventh player to do so, accomplishing the feat at the 1957 Dallas Open at Glen Lakes Country Club.
Steve Elling on his exchange with Tiger Woods today over the possibility of going as a captain's pick.
Later, ESPN.com’s Bob Harig asked Woods whether a meeting with Pavin was unnecessary, a roundabout attempt to get Woods to verbally commit to playing regardless of how he made the 12-man U.S. team.
No luck with the knuckleball offering, either.
“I think if I do well this week, I should sew up my spot,” he said.
Woods drew laughs with his stubbornness, but with a simple answer, he could have cleared up the discussion and ended the questions. Let the speculation continue. This time, he rekindled the speculative bonfire himself.
Perhaps pride forbids him from even contemplating the need to be a captain's pick, or maybe he's just that confident he'll make it on points. Or both.
Stick a tube up her nose and...ah, to be known for such poetic lines. And commercials:
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
