Golf Pass

Is a gap in etiquette awareness causing golf's social contract to come apart at the seams? Tim Gavrich/GolfPass Imagine striding into your local golf course’s pro shop to check in for your next round and being asked to show your license. Not your driver’s license, but your golf license. What probably sounds like an abomination to many rugged American individualists is actually the norm for millions of golfers in other countries. It goes by various names. In France, it’s a Brevet d’aptitude.

Folks, we might be trending in the right direction. I’m not going to lie – in the couple of months since I pressed SUBMIT on my application for the 2026 U.S. Mid-Amateur application, I have had a lot of ambition and plans, and not quite as much follow-through as I hoped for. In other words, I am like 99% of all golfers. We set targets for practice time and handicap-improvement and are lucky if we achieve a quarter of them.

Happy 250th, America. Did you know that golf was first played in what is now the United States more than 30 years before the Revolutionary War? A ship manifest as far back as 1743 reports the presence of 96 golf clubs and 432 golf balls on board, transported from Leith, Scotland to the port of Charleston, South Carolina.

A new 18-hole layout by TGR Design will join an existing course, Cutalong, at the expanding boutique resort near Virginia's Lake Anna 100 miles south of Washington, D.C. Central Virginia's Tributer Resort, already home to one 18-hole golf course by architect Tom Clark, will build a new 18 designed by Tiger Woods' TGR design firm in the coming years.

It has become a ritual for me, every time I am driving south towards Florida from the Myrtle Beach area, to stop by Charleston Municipal Golf Course and hit about 15 minutes' worth of putts at the friendly, bustling place I have taken to calling "American golf's front porch." I have only played the course once, and while I look forward to my next 18-hole loop there, I have enjoyed these intermittent, impromptu stops to simply soak in the atmosphere of one of my favorite golf places in this...

I am not shocked by much these days, but I was genuinely floored when I read a few weeks ago that by some measures, the hottest real estate in America in 2026 is greater Hartford, Connecticut, where I grew up. A Wall Street Journal article from April 2026 reports that while home prices nationwide have surged by 54% since 2019, suburban Hartford home prices have jumped 70%, per Zillow.

Mike Whan, USGA CEO, speaks to the media during a press conference prior to the 126th U.S. OPEN at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on June 17, 2026 in Southampton, New York. Mike Mulholland/Getty Images On Wednesday, ahead of its annual pre-U.S. Open press conference, the USGA announced an update to its plans to enact new regulations around golf equipment, in concert with not just fellow governing body in the R&A, but also the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.

More often than not, when I hear of a "drivable par 4," I come away thinking, Drivable for whom? The vast majority of holes described this way are typically reachable for less than 5% of golfers. Power is and will always be an advantage in golf - and it should be - but the hype around many drivable par 4s amounts to false advertising in the end.

The Southside cocktail brings gin, citrus (lemon or lime) simple syrup and lime together for a popular apres-golf drink. Washington Post/Getty Images A Gallup survey conducted in 2025 reported that alcohol consumption among adults in the United States had dropped to 54%, a new low in the 90 years the poll has been running. Don't tell that to golf courses, though, which continue to serve - and occasionally over-serve - golfers at a healthy rate.

"Cathedrals of the game." That is how the United States Golf Association has come to refer to the venues selected for its flagship event, the U.S. Open Championship. The phrase invokes history and reverence, bringing together stirring visuals with golf courses of the highest design quality and fitness to test the greatest golfers in the world over decades and even centuries.