I got this book to review over the summer, and have been waiting for it to show up at Amazon so my US readers could get it if they wanted ... but its already the holiday season, and its still not showing up ... so I’ll review it anyway and leave you to your own devices to find a copy ...

The Top 100 Golf Courses is a gorgeous little book that offers reviews and commentary on the best courses of Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. While its unlikely that I’ll ever get a chance to play any of those courses (hard to do international travel on a teacher’s salary), the pictures are gorgeous, and I’ve spent more than a few moments browsing and dreaming.

It’s a small book, so it doesn’t quite qualify as a coffee table display piece, yet it has found a place on one of ours. People who visit like to pick it up and browse.

If you are going on a golf holiday to tbe British Isles (or if you live there), I’d say that this is a book that you must get a copy of.  Each course is rated using a 1 - 6 golf balls scale. And reading the commentaries will let you know if the course that you’re planning to play really fits your style.

(I find that I often don’t really enjoy the highly ranked courses. But if the guidebook offers a commentary on the play and feel of a course, I have a better feel for whether I would like it.)

All in all, its a great little book.

You also should visit the website: Top 100 Golf Courses of the British Isles

The Desert Sun has an article on the recent trend toward public courses hosting big name events. The US Open at Bethpage Black and this weekend’s tournament at Harding park are two examples.

Its kind of a random thought, but if you’re in Michigan, and are looking for a top flight municipal course to play, you should check out Jackson’s Cascades course. It’s a terrific challenge, well kept, and reasonably priced. 18 holes is just $20.

You can’t go wrong.

The Laserlink is a handheld device that you aim at a flagstick to get an accurate reading of the distance to the hole. No more searching for sprinkler heads. I had a posting on it earlier.

According to the Twin Cities Pioneer Press, its going to be approved for use in tournaments later this month. It’s already ok for use in handicap rounds.

(Still, I can’t see Tiger using it).

The idea is that it’s going to speed up rounds because players will spend less time wandering about for sprinkler heads.

I never understood the fascination of amateur golfers with distance, though. I can always tell which club I need to use just by eyeballing it. I’m rarely off by too much. But even if I knew that it was 151 to the pin, instead of 145, that really wouldn’t make much difference to me. I can’t hit it exactly 151, and anything in that range is a 7 iron. Some will be a little short of the hole, some a little long, some left, and some right.

Another thing that I think courses could do is to put up a stake on alternating sides of the fairway every 25 yards out to 200 yards. They stakes could be tagged with the yardage, instead of a color.

Well, sort of.

One of the best things about golf is that the average golfer/fan can play at many of the venues used by the tour players. You can be a big baseball fan, but just try playing at Yankee Stadium. Not going to happen.

But you can play Pebble Beach. And Pinehurst. And Bethpage Black. And many other great courses used for the major championships.

But not Augusta. For that, you need to know someone.

USA Today has a report on major golf venues that you can play.

Angola, Louisiana boasts the nation’s only golf course inside the grounds of a prison. Designed by the facility’s dentist, the nine holer (18 if you count both sets of tees) was built with prison labor. The prisoners don’t get to play ther—the course is for the employees—but 18 of them have earned the right to work as caretakers.