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A look inside the new issue, and a note of thanks to those who keep dreaming up the greatest stories in golf
Words by Tom Coyne
Light / Dark
It was must-watch television for a golf dreamer, and I remember tuning in from a condo in Florida where I never missed an episode of 10 hopefuls breaking windows and flopping shots over barricades, chasing a spot on the Tour. I was pursuing my own pro dreams at the time and envied their good fortune—sure, I could smash that glass if the chance ever came my way.
When we set out to create an issue of The Golfer’s Journal, there are few set rules other than best story and best photograph always win. We hope to surprise you with things that might feel familiar and things that certainly won’t, but the inspiration for the pieces that comprise our table of contents can come from anywhere. And when our editorial team suggested we write an oral history of Golf Channel’s Big Break, I remembered just how much I loved this job.
What a gift we’ve been given by you, the Broken Tee Society, who allow us to dream up golf ideas that make us giddy, and pursue them with such gifted writers and photographers. And that’s what The Golfer’s Journal No. 32 feels like to me: a golf dream that wanders from the set of a reality TV show to the fairways of Scotland to an island off New York to a collection of museum-piece golf carts.
In No. 32, you’ll meet a young couple who made the choice we’ve all dreamed of making (and might yet make), taking their shot on a season spent living and caddieing in St. Andrews. You’ll go to one of the South’s greatest courses at Old Town Club, and view it through the lens of the fine art that resides next door. In “Level Up” you’ll visit unseen corners of Caves Valley Golf Club, and in “Titanic” you’ll hear how a golf hustler’s story turned into its own Hollywood hustle. This issue goes to a California golf brawl and plays across a secret cemetery in San Francisco, and in a golf dream I could hardly believe even as I was living it, we’ll hop the ferry for a weekend at Fishers Island, where charm and character extend well beyond its golf course.
We hope we can say it with every installment of The Golfer’s Journal, but in No. 32, there is little doubt that the best stories and best photographs have won out. From stunning images of Seve and Faldo by renowned photographer David Cannon, to life on and after Big Break, this is a book for those who don’t just appreciate golf storytelling, but who like stories that sound almost too good to be true. We promise that these are, and we endeavor to keep bringing more of them to our community of golf dreamers.
Thank you, as always, for your membership and support.
A season in St. Andrews and an unknown leap into a familiar place. No. 32 begins where golf began…And continues with a ferry ride to Fishers Island, where golf, time and reality seem to drift into the surreal.Where fairways cover forgotten graves and muni golf meets San Francisco myth. In No. 32, Lincoln Park Golf Club tells a story only this city could write.No. 32 takes you beyond one of the PGA Tour’s biggest events—inside the corners and characters that make Caves Valley Golf Club an elite host.
