MyGolfLeaderboard iPhone app is a must-have app for every lover of golf. The app provides real time tracking of action and play for golf players. The Leaderboard Live feature delivers scoring updates to the user. With this app you can get real time tracking of golf play and player performance. With amazing accuracy the app reports on the results of play while enabling users to watch the Leaderboard of the golf match they are involved in. This means that players can access a game leader board from the convenience of their Apple devices, iPhone, iPod or iPad.

For golfers that do want to have their precious play time taken up by sophisticated technologies the Leaderboard app interface renders a seamless user experience that resembles that of a television.

Main features of MyGolfLeaderboard app are;

• Course database with 15 000 entries to choose from,
• Real time scoring tracking,
• My Group Feature which enables users to create matches with regular groups,
• The Match Cards feature which enables users to create matches within matches,
• Statistics recording feature that enables users to upload stats to web pages,
• The Leader board can be accessed from anywhere in the course

For both golfing experts and novices setting up a match in this app is as easy as creating an event and naming it. Golfers can also choose to create matches by simply using the regular Play shortcut to set up a match. If you have a regular group that you play with the My Group feature comes in handy for setting up group play. The app can help serious golfers to keep track of their performance and to improve their game. The app tracks your driving accuracy as well as Greens in Regulation, Sandies, Scrambles, Putts and Score. Users can make use of this app to identify their weaknesses as well as to track their progress over time.

The interface of this MyGolfLeaderboard is optimized for simple and fast usability. The app is compatible with iPhone 3GS and can run in iPhone 4, iPhone 4S as well as iPhone 5. The app can also run in other apple devices including the third and fourth iPod touch generations and iPad. The application requires iOS 6.1 or later. This sporting iPhone gem goes for a paltry $3.99.

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Newport Dunes Golf Club, an Arnold Palmer design is on the Gulf of Mexico coast just east of Corpus Christi. The course opened just after the Great Recession started in 2008, and is part of an overall resort, real estate development. Fortunately, even though the real estate side of the market has languished, they’ve been able to maintain the golf course-a testament to the quality of the layout and setting.

It’s one of the more authentic “links” courses you will play in the US outside of Bandon Dunes. The routing is full of water, sand traps, and rolling sandhills with the fairways providing  a nice contrast to the natural brush areas bordering. The course more challenging than the ratings suggest from the blue tees at 6,435 yards, 71.0/113, especially when the wind is up. 

Truly worth your time when in the Corpus Christi area, about 30 minutes east on the coast, and likely the best public golf in the area!

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Augusta National Golf Club: Home of the Masters

It’s time for the Masters Tournament. Though you might not be able to play on the private Augusta National Golf Club Course, it’s still a place that golf fans everywhere should try to visit at least once.  Even if it’s just to look around. 

The Masters Tournament has been held at Augusta National since 1934 and it’s the only one of the Major Tournaments consistently held at the same golf course. The longstanding traditions of the Masters, including the green jacket for champions and lifetime invitations for winners to compete, make the Masters a distinct and beloved competition. In addition to hosting the Masters Tournament, the Augusta National Golf Course is known for another tradition – the famed Masters Champions dinner that kicks off the competition and gives the previous year’s winner the honor of picking the menu. This year, Bubba Watson chose a simple dinner of grilled chicken, green beans, corn, mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. Augusta National has served up everything from hamburgers to blood sausage. You can see the past Champions dinner menus here.

Augusta National is a private course situated in Augusta, GA, along the Savannah River. The course runs of a total of 7,435 yards with a par of 72, a course rating of 78.1 and a slope rating of 137. Each hole is named after a different type of tree or shrub, a nod to the former plant nursery that was once on that land.  It’s been ranked in the top 10 for Golfweek Magazine’s best classic courses in the United States. Augusta National also ranked as Golf’s Digest’s #1 greatest course in America.  As far as private courses go, Augusta National has some of the most exclusive course membership policies. The club only admitted its first two female members, Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore, in August of 2012. 

Getting tickets to the Masters

 This year’s Masters Tournament will be over on Sunday, but golf fans can already put in applications for both Practice Round and Daily Tournament tickets for the 2014 Masters Tournament. All tickets are sold in advance and given out by random selection. Those who want to attend must fill out an online application at Masters.com before the end of June for Daily Tournament tickets and the end of July for Practice Round Tickets.

If you ever get the chance to visit Augusta National and attend the Masters, consider yourself lucky. Very few tickets are available for each year’s tournament. Take in every moment and enjoy your time at Augusta National Golf Club. Though you may not be golfing yourself, the opportunity to see all of golf’s greatest compete is not one to be missed!

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If you find yourself planning a trip this summer that would include that desolate stretch of I-80 between Cheyenne and Salt Lake City, then this post is for you. At 2 hours west of Cheyenne, and 4 hours east of Salt Lake, you will find Rawlins, Wyoming, known about as much for the hanging of the outlaw Big Nose George by a lynch mob in 1881, as it is for anything else. 

The golf here, though is special. Rochelle Ranch is routed over typical Wyoming ranchland, carved through the prairie grasses, designed by Ken Kavanaugh in 2004, and is the longest course in the state at 7,294 yards from the tips. Some also rank it up there with the toughest in the state and nation as well, especially true when the wind’s up, which is often.  The land was donated to the city by Curt and Marian Rochelle, local ranchers, and the town fathers thought a golf course would be a good use. 

The greens fees are cheaper than the gas it costs you to get to Salt Lake, it’s never crowded, so you can get around it less than 4 hours if you wish, but it’s a setting that causes one to linger, so don’t rush the round here.

Surprisingly, there’s a good amount of water in play, it’s very well bunkered, and if you’re off the fairways in the native, natural grasses,  just count the ball lost. You won’t find pristine conditioning at Rochelle Ranch, the clubhouse is very basic, and there’s a driving range to warm up on after your long drive. If you decide to stay in Rawlins, it has its share of chain hotels, a couple of good locals’ restaurants like the Aspen House and Buck’s Sports Grill.

As you’re traveling this summer and looking for golf to play along the interstate, use our guide and maps to the best golf courses in America to find the courses closest to your route. 

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all! In honor of Ireland’s most notable day, here’s the Best Golf Courses in Ireland in no particular order since it’s impossible to pick the best out of this lot:

1. Royal Portrush located 1.5 hours north of Belfast on the Antrim Coast and is the site of the only British Open played in Ireland won by Max Faulkner in 1951. The terrain, when compared to other classic links courses is somewhat sedate, moderate with the unique character of each hole, add to the challenge and the magnificence of the course, and it’s beautiful setting just away from the Giant’s Causeway

2. Royal County Down is one hour south of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The club was founded in 1899 and the Board commissioned Old Tom Morris to design the course for a fee “not to exceed £4, about $8 in today’s valuation. The members got a bargain. The setting of the course is stunning, below the Mourne Mountains and the tallest peak in Northern Ireland, the Slieve Donard. It’s a picture postcard setting for a golf course, maybe one of the best in the world. 

3. The European Club is set on a series of dunes, fashioned from time on the Irish Sea, 40 miles south of Dublin. It has has slender fairways, a few blind shots and a collection of superb par 4′s. It also has 20 holes, and why not, Pat Ruddy, architect and owner, said “we had enough land, and we’re here to play golf aren’t we?”

4. Waterville Golf Club originally opened in 1973 and designed by Eddie Hackett, with later revisions to mostly the front nine of more character and contouring by Tom Fazio. It’s at the bottom of the Ring of Kerry about an hour from Killarney, and takes a bit to get there but the drive and the course are well worth it. The course has an American syle to it but features some dune play characteristic of many SW Ireland courses. 

5. Ballybunion Golf Club is located southwest of Shannon and Limerick on the County Kerry coast, has two 18 hole courses, the Old and Cashen, where golf has been played since 1893. It’s ground is classic linksland, rolling and tumbling sandhills at the intersection of where River Shannon enters the Atlantic Ocean. The Old Course ia routed through the sand hills on the shoreline, some holes actually feel like the fairways are tunneled through the dunes, there’s only 64 bunkers, mostly small, and only a few blind shots, Tom Watson’s, and most other’s golfers most favorite golf course in the world.

6. Carne Golf Links is located in County Mayo, western Ireland, was designed by Eddie Hackett and is routed through sand dunes overlooking Blacksod Bay and the Atlantic Ocean near Belmullet. It compares favorably to the landscapes of the great Ireland links courses, County Down, European Club, and even Ballybunion, but doesn’t possess the pedigree. The land is rolling and tumbling linksland with greens on natural plateaus or coves, untouched by the architect’s hands, in a fully natural setting….all 18 holes!! 

7. Lahinch Golf Club was originally designed by Old Tom Morris with numerous revisions by Alister Mackenzie, Charles Gibson, and John Burke. Remodels completed in the last few years have brought the course back to its original layout. There’s some quirky holes, but that’s the magic of links golf isn’t it? 

There’s 20+ more courses in Ireland which deserve to be mentioned in the same vein as those above, what’s your favorite?

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Forelinksters was launched in 2007 to provide traveling golfers with a resource to find the Best Golf Courses in America you can play by a group of web engineers and frustrated golfers in Orlando. While the web is unbeatable for finding information on any subject, we found it sorely lacking when looking for the top golf courses to play when traveling to a new area.

We set off on our journey by combing through the 16,000+ golf courses in America using the following resources:

• Golf Digest
• Golf Magazine 
• Golfweek 
• GolfClubAtlas
• GolfWRX
• ZAGAT
• Forelinksters’ members hidden gems

The research project is ongoing, but as of this date, we’ve found 4,500+ of the Best Golf Courses in America you can play. We then added a few features to keep our information up to date. 

1. We encourage our 4,500+ members and visitors to the website to provide golf course reviews and golf course ratings on the courses as they play. Our members then receive updates on courses conditions on their favorite courses

2. To keep the information up to date, we set the website up like Wikipedia so that when information on the golf course changes or the course closes, users simply submit an edit noting the change.

3.  We worked with the Golf Channel’s GolfNow to integrate their discount tee times into our directory. If the golf course doesn’t use GolfNow, our directory shows the nearest golf courses GolfNow serves with the lowest greens fees

4. We use a GoogleMaps app to map out the locations of the golf courses to help our users find the best golf courses closest to their destination

The end result, while a work in progress, is a one-stop source for the traveling golfer:

1.  First go to Forelinksters, narrow in on the area you’re traveling

2.  Compare the golf courses, and choose the best option for you

3.  Use the GolfNow app to book a tee time or find another course in the area which GolfNow serves

4.  Play golf, and when you’ve finished, provide a review and update on the course’s conditions on Forelinksters

We’re driven by the passion to provide a directory of the best golf courses, if we’ve missed your favorite golf course, and you don’t mind sharing with other traveling golfers, please contact us here.

Cheers!

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Here’s your chance to discover one young man’s journey of golf across America. Dylan, now a junior and English major at Williams College, and plays on the golf team. He devoted countless hours over the past two years to document his travels and publish this book. It’s a little bit about golf and a lot about life-growing up, life on the road, surviving, and exploring the country and its people in every far reaching corner of America. Simon and Schuster is publishing the book, the release date is May 21, but it’s now available for pre-sale at the links above and below. Here’s their byline:

An exhilarating account of one remarkable teenager’s solo trek to play golf in each of the lower forty-eight states—a compelling coming-of-age story and a surprising look at the equalizing power of the sport in America.

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The Forelinksters directory has taken the brain damage out of searching for the best golf courses to play. We’ve done the heavy lifting and sifted through the top rated and most recommended golf courses from Golf, Golf Digest, and Golfweek magazines, along with those hidden gems contributed by our members, and created an easily searchable guide to the best golf courses in Los Angeles.

The greater Los Angeles area is about the size of Connecticut, so if you’re heading to L.A. and have time for a round of golf, you need to be more specific. We’ve arranged our guide in five distinct areas of Los Angeles:

Los Angeles-central Los Angeles from Industry Hills to Palos Verdes, Trump National, Brookside, Coyote Hills are some of the more notable, but a handfull of solid munis which will test your patience on the pace of play.

Thousand Oaks, Ventura County area, maybe some of the better and more affordable golf in the entire Los Angeles basin which features Robinson Ranch, Rustic Canyon, and Malibu Country Club

San Bernandino, the Inland Empire, a full 80 miles east of Santa Monica, with some notable and affordable golf including Moreno Valley Ranch, Empire Lakes, Oak Valley, and Eagle Glen.

Laguna Beach or basically Orange County area, San Clemente to Irvine, the posh Pelican Hill, Monarch Beach, Aliso Creek, and Tustin Ranch among others.

Temecula , essentially north San Diego to Perris, an excellent selection of upscale golf and resorts including Pala Mesa, Journey at Pechanga, Temecula Creek Inn, and the Golf Club of California.

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Cruden Bay, in northeast Scotland is a must play if you're heading to Trump Scotland

Scotland has become my second home, and I actually love the opportunity to book our own trips, seeking out the hidden links gems, finding special guest houses and restaurants, to me it’s part of the experience. My pals who travel with me prefer to have someone else handle the details, as do many golfers.

If you’re heading to Scotland for the first time, and don’t care for the planning aspect, our guide to planning a golf trip in Scotland will assist in the many area options for you to consider. If you’re looking for outside help in setting up the trip, there are many tour operators, and then run the gamut.  I started booking our own trip after I received a quote from a tour operator that was a full double of our actual cost of direct booking.  One operator I do trust though is Caddie Golf Tours, run by John Boyne, who has been an actual caddie on the Old Course for years. A young, passionate golfer who has caddied for many a golfer that had been represented by unscrupulous tour operators who had missed playing some special golf courses and/or paid way too much for their trip. Consequently, he and his wife set up their own golf tour company to provide a straightforward and reasonably priced custom golf trip for golfers making their way to Scotland.

The results on page one of a Google search for St. Andrews Golf Trip Operators is daunting, without knowing you may just be choosing an operator based on the quality of their website, rather than their capabilities, give John Boyne a shot in your process, I doubt that you’ll be disappointed.

Cheeers!

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When you have the opportunity to attend The Masters, it’s naturally a special and memorable experience, since for most of us the invitations are rare.  Combining a round of golf for your Masters Golf Trip is a prerequisite to insuring completeness to this special memory you’re planning. 

There are many options obviously, from the high end of staying at the Ritz Carlton Reynolds Plantation just east of Atlanta, or Champions Retreat right in Augusta, stopping off at Pinehurst, of Hilton Head, or Sea Island along the way. 

Our directory of the best public golf courses is comprised of the top rated and most recommended golf courses by the national golf publications with a few hidden gems by our members. Use our Google Maps feature to narrow in on the area you’ll be basing on your trip to Augusta, assuming you’re not staying in town. 

Using our Georgia directory, the Greensboro area offers the Harbor Club and Long Shadow, as less expensive alternatives to Reynolds Plantation, to the south in Eatonton is Cuscowilla, a Coore/Crenshaw design. 

To the south, Savannah offers a convenient two hour drive without the elevated hotel rates, and a great selection of golf courses from all price points. From Savannah Harbor right on the river and near downtown, to Crosswinds at I-95 and the Savannah Airport, to Hunter Golf Club on the Hunter AFB, a very affordable course where you have the privilege of passing through drill lines of the the men and women serving our country.

To the immediate east,  the golf courses in Aiken will be sky-high greens fees during Masters week, a one hour drive though to the east finds plenty of options in Columbia, from the Golf Club of South Carolina, to Cobblestone Park and Rawls Creek to mention a few.

In the hidden gem category, and relatively close to Augusta, but away from any major metro markets, the Sweetwater CC in Barnwell is worth considering, as well as Penny Branch in Furman, two hours south of Augusta, just off I-95.

Hopefully, we’ve provided you with some good options for golf on all sides of Augusta. As for lodging, well you’re on your own, but it’s a good bet you’ll experience double the normal rack rate anywhere near Augusta. What does it really matter though, it’s truly a once in a lifetime experience.

Oh, and be sure to try the Pimento Cheese sandwich!

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