With the Ryder Cup this past week at Whistling Straits, the golfing public got a great look at one of the very best public courses in the country. But it begs the question, is it the best. For years there’s been a constant debate among golfers and the various golf publications about which course is the best public golf course in the country, and it always comes back to a battle between three stalwarts: Whistling Straits Pebble Beach Pacific Dunes What I love about this, is the fact that these three courses are about as different from one another as can be.…
Author: Sean Ogle
Sean Ogle
As the Founder of Breaking Eighty Sean has spent the last 10+ years reviewing the best golf products and golf courses in the world. He prides himself on only writing about products and courses he's experienced first hand, and helping others find exactly what they need to enhance their enjoyment of the game we all love so much.
I was nervous during my 20 minute drive to Whistling Straits. It was easily my most heavily anticipated round of golf, on my very first big golf trip – not to mention the most expensive of my life. “What if it rains? Or if I make a fool of myself in front of my caddie? What if we can’t play due to bad weather? Or worse, what happens if we can play and the round is miserable?” When you’re paying $360 greens fees ($410 now in 2021), plus $65 caddie fee, plus $50 gratuity, it’s hard not to feel like…
If you’re someone who typically rides in a cart when you golf, the Bushnell Phantom 2 is one of the most no-brainer purchases you can make. The Phantom 2 is a magnetized GPS device that sticks to the cart, and gives you immediate distances to various spots on the course and green. With the click of a button you can change from green distances to hazard distances, and you can also update the day’s pin location for even more accurate results. But does it work as well as advertised, and is it worth the $129 price tag? What if you…
For years I’ve been driving up and down Highway 26 outside of Portland, Oregon. I’ll drive it when I go up to Mt. Hood to ski. I’ll head out that way when I go spend a weekend in Sunriver. Same thing when I go to Eagle crest. Each time on that drive? I pass Mt. Hood Resort. And every time, I say, “man, I need to go play golf there sometime soon.” Sowhen I got an email offering to let me come up and experience the Resort for a couple days, I was beyond excited. What is Mt. Hood Resort?…
A few years ago, Golf Magazine even put together a list: the 50 toughest tee times in 50 States. In some cases I’m not sure they hit the mark. For instance, Gulph Mills seems easier to get on in general than Merion. But often it all comes down to who you know. If you have a friend at Augusta National, then even that may seem easy to you. However, one instance where I think the magazine got it right is for Idaho: Gozzer Ranch Golf and Lake Club. Being the Founder of a golf society for travelers, I talk to…
As we were finishing up our lunch with our host at North Berwick, he told us to be careful on the drive up to Dornoch – we’d be traveling on the most dangerous road in Scotland. Great. Just what I wanted to hear. In a country full of dangerous roads, we would having to drive the most dangerous. After golf. At night. Being totally clueless Americans. I swear leading up to this trip, every time I looked for a little reassurance as it relates to driving on the other side of the road, all I was met with were confirmations that, yes, I should…
The majority of casual golfers out there don’t necessarily need a pinpoint accurate golf rangefinder. They just need to know some general distances, like how far is it to the front of the green? Or how far is it to the center. And if you fall into that camp? A golf GPS watch could be the perfect middle ground, for far less than a high quality rangefinder. I recently had a chance to check out the TecTecTec Ult-G Golf GPS Watch, and after three rounds? It does pretty much everything it promises to do. Want more details? Sweet, let’s dive…
Twice a year, I go nuts on updating our “Best Golf Gifts” post, and there’s some fantastic choices there for just about any golfer. But for a holiday like Mother’s Day, we want to get a little more specific with our recommendations. If you’re a dad looking for that perfect gift for your mom, wife, daughter – whoever the lady in your life is, look no further. In today’s post we share the best Mother’s Day golf gifts out there. Let’s jump right in. Chrysmela Locking Earring Back A couple years ago I had the pleasure of teeing it up…
As someone who has been blogging for the past 12 years, I know how hard it is to turn a blog into a full-fledged media company. We all start doing this to simply share our passion with others that might enjoy it. But most people don’t have the drive (or skill), to grow a blog at all, let alone turn it into something larger than oneself. And that’s why I have so much respect for Ben Clymer. If you’re unfamiliar with Ben, he’s the founder behind the horological website Hodinkee – the most influential watch blog in the world. What…
It’s the same rhythm every year for golfers who live anywhere with an offseason. You finally find your groove. And then the leaves start falling. The grass goes dormant. And the temperatures plummet. The clubs go in the basement. You sit on the couch. Your momentum dwindles. And when spring finally arrives, it’s almost like starting from scratch – the bad kind of scratch. In these COVID times, you don’t even have to be in the north to potentially be shut out of your usual golf opportunities. But you know what? This is 2021. And the amount of golf gadgetry…