The Royal Birkdale GC dates back to 1889, and has been an Open rota course since hosting its first Open Championship in 1954. It's obvious this storied links has some pedigree; Jordan Spieth’s adventure from holes 13 to 18 in the 2017 Open anyone?? But Birkdale is also the site of “The Concession”, where a ferociously contested 1969 Ryder Cup ended in a tie after Jack Nicklaus conceded a short putt to Great Britain’s Tony Jacklin. The concession is widely regarded as one of

Kingsbarns Golf Links is generally considered one of the top modern links courses, and for good reason. It's a relatively new course, but looks as if it's been here for many decades. As one of the courses that hosts the Alfred Dunhill Links, Europe's equivalent of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, many great players have walked these grounds. So when fellow IAGTO member David Redmond of Epic Golf Travel (love the name, David!) asked us to document the round for their clients who

Teeing it up on an Alister MacKenzie course is a treat every golfer deserves at some point. Us mortals are probably not getting on to Augusta National or Cypress Point anytime soon, but Royal Melbourne (West) is a stunning, bucket list destination in its own right. Opening for play in 1931, this perennial Top 20 course in the world had several other caretakers such as Michael Morcom and Claude Crockford, who subsequently provided tweaks while maintaining MacKenzie’s fabulous

Less than 7 miles along the coast in a southeasterly direction from the Old Course at St Andrews is Kingsbarns Golf Links, opened in 2000. In terms of age, compared to the Old Course, Kingsbarns is just a baby. To put it in perspective, if the Old Course was a 100 year old person, Kingsbarns would be a 15 week old infant. BUT... in terms of design and raw majesty, its easily on par with its older peers and commands respect like a wise centenarian. Golf Away Tours (Toronto) se

If you're going to travel to Scotland on a golf trip then you have to try to get a round in at one of the most historic golf courses in the world: The Old Course at St Andrews. Officially established in 1552, the game was first played here in the early 15th century, which is why many refer to this ancient place as the "Home of Golf." For those who love the game of golf, The Old Course is without a doubt the most revered and beloved playground in the world. Demand to play is s

10 years ago, 3 high school friends from St. Anthony's in Huntington, NY, began taking bi-annual golf trips to epic golf courses, starting with Pebble Beach. Since then, they’ve gone to Pinehurst, Kohler, Copperhead, and The Broadmoor. For the 10th anniversary trip, they rounded out their foursome with another friend and reconvened where it all started at Pebble Beach Resorts. (pictured left to right: John Fink, Mike Wilhelm, Stephen Athan and John Kelly) An epic golf course

For the group who played in the rain at Carne 4 days ago, hopes were high for sunny weather at Old Head Golf Links today. Alas, the golf gods were still busy watering the lawns on the 2-mile long, 350 million year old sandstone peninsula jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean in southern Ireland. Still undeterred, these warriors zipped up their slickers, tightened up the velcro on their rain gloves, and sauntered out to the first tee box. As grey and wet as it was, with spirits

With Day 1 already in the books, the Cheesebaggers continued the competition in upstate NY, first at Northern Pines Golf Club of Cicero and then at Rogue's Roost Golf Club in Bridgeport. By the way, if you have no idea what Cheesebag is, then you haven't read Cheesebag 2016, Day 1 yet! The group chose not to have an Epic Golf Memories photographer for these two days, so the quality and amount of photos from these days was lacking. However, a few snapshots from camera phones a

Around the time our co-founder Robert Payne was testing out our services at PGA West, we partnered with our first golf travel company. In April of 2016, Toronto-based Golf Away Tours, led by co-founders T.J. Rule and Matthew Palermo, put our services to the test in Scotland. First stop, historic Carnoustie Golf Links. It has been recorded that golf was played at Carnoustie in the early 16th century! And 500 years later, in 2018, Carnoustie will once again play host to the Ope

You can't sell a service with full confidence and enthusiasm unless you've tried it yourself. So, Robert Payne, a co-founder of Epic Golf Memories (EGM), made sure he was the first to give it a go. He and his dad took EGM photographer Tara Howard with them to the Stadium Course at PGA West in La Quinta, California in March of 2016. They couldn't have picked a more perfect day for a father/son round of golf. They didn't even get stuck with anyone else! As they made their way f