top of page

Make Every Golf Hole as Strategic as Possible
Search


Pebble Beach: An Open for the Ages
Twenty word tease: Let’s focus not on what the professional gleans from this event. Instead, let’s look toward the average golfer’s...
Richard Mandell
Jul 5, 2010


Sunday at the Masters: Part Two
Twenty word tease: Phil Mickelson apparently decided to wait for Tiger’s return to make a statement – the best way to stoke a rivalry....
Richard Mandell
Apr 13, 2010


Sunday at the Masters: Part One
Twenty word tease: There are perks to being a golf architect. One of those landed on my desk just weeks before the Masters. I’ve eaten...
Richard Mandell
Apr 12, 2010


Tiger Returns at Augusta: What the Fuss?
I hear they got this thing that is round – it’s called a wheel. I’ve also been privy to this little known fact – red means stop; green...
Richard Mandell
Mar 15, 2010


State of the Industry
I’ve just returned from another one of my planes, trains, and automobiles trips (see past Golf Course Design Today Blogs) to San Diego...
Richard Mandell
Feb 15, 2010


Has The Game of Golf Peaked in America?
Recently I noticed a golf channel advertisement touting their broadcast of the SBS Championship at Kapalua Plantation (what most of us...
Richard Mandell
Jan 11, 2010


An Interview with Natalie Gulbis
I had the pleasure of interviewing LPGA Tour star Natalie Gulbis when she was recently in Pinehurst for the 2009 RSM McGladrey Team...
Richard Mandell
Dec 21, 2009


Tiger Woods: Private Life – Public Image
Athletes should not be role models, but unfortunately by default our society has made them out to be because of our obsession with fame....
Richard Mandell
Dec 7, 2009


Augusta National: More Influential Than Nature?
I recently had the pleasure of playing The Ocean Course on Kiawah Island. You remember The Ocean Course, don’t you? An incredible setting...
Richard Mandell
Nov 23, 2009


Selena Roberts Burning Out?
Are you kidding me? Selena, do you even play golf? Could you not have passed that back page SI assignment on to Chris Ballard or Phil...
Richard Mandell
Nov 2, 2009


You Can’t Force A Rivalry
I won’t deny that I am an unabashed Tiger Woods fan. He is my generation’s Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Ben Hogan. Although my...
Richard Mandell
Oct 5, 2009


The Two Tree Conundrum
So, when does a golf course architect keep a tree as part of a golf hole design and when does he not? In new construction the options are...
Richard Mandell
Sep 14, 2009


The State of the Game in China
It has been over a month since my return from Beijing and my battle with the Chinese CDC over me going over the fence early at the...
Richard Mandell
Sep 7, 2009


China: Golf, Noodles, and Quarantine
I’ve been told that my blog is a little too, “essayist”, maybe a little too measured with the preaching of what I think golf course...
Richard Mandell
Jun 29, 2009


Bethpage Black: From Asphalt Bunkers to the U. S. Open
My favorite golf tournament each year has always been the U. S. Open. For me growing up as a budding golf course architect, the U. S....
Richard Mandell
Jun 8, 2009


Grow The Game From The Ground Up, Not From The Top Down
At some point in the late eighties/early nineties, the National Golf Foundation declared that to keep up with the demand for the game of...
Richard Mandell
May 25, 2009


Eliminate the Bells & Whistles
Suggestion number four to help balance the game and the business of golf is to eliminate the bells and whistles! Four different...
Richard Mandell
May 4, 2009


Focus on the Golf Experience First
In discussing an economic stimulus for the golf industry, I pointed out five specifics that would help balance the game and the business...
Richard Mandell
Apr 27, 2009


Stop Building Golf Courses Solely To Sell Back Yards
For years now I have always wondered what will happen to all the old houses people are leaving to go to the hundreds of thousands of...
Richard Mandell
Apr 6, 2009


Ensure Golf Is Not a Secondary Proposition
In my previous blog, I declared that I did not think the golf industry deserved an economic bailout from our new government. Instead, I...
Richard Mandell
Mar 23, 2009
bottom of page