Musings from the Jar
July 2025
Amateur Hour: The Race for the Silver Medal at Portrush
Words by Peter Handcock, the Half Par Kid While the best golfers in the world battle for the Claret Jug, there’s another prize worth paying attention to at The Open —especially in a Walker Cup year. In this blog, Half Par looks at the nine amateurs in the field and explains why the medal they’re playing for is such a big deal. Table of Contents Amateur Hour: The Race for the Silver Medal at Portrush Sure, Rory McIlroy’s bid to win the one he now wants most (bar a PGA at Frisco, of course) will grab most of the headlines this week. Scottie Scheffler’s red-hot form will also be tough to ignore as he aims to tick-off what is surely the hardest remaining leg of his career slam . But look beyond the big names, and there’s [...]
May 2025
Markers in Time
Words by Simon Skeldon Simon is a good friend of Cookie Jar, and someone with a particular penchant for the small little discs we use to mark our own balls on the green. He put pen to paper for this short but thoughtful examination with these small little hunks of metal we wander the links with in our pockets. Table of Contents "Markers in Time", by Simon Skeldon I love playing golf. Fifty years after making my first swing, I am still addicted to hitting shots that come from the ‘middle of the middle’ of the club, seeing a putt track online, or indeed that feeling of competing in a tight match or closing out a low score. I owe the game a lot. A few years ago, I set about clearing some old ‘stuff’ that was [...]
5 holes I can’t stop thinking about
Words by Peter Handcock Five Holes I Can’t Stop Thinking About It’s no secret that I live and breathe golf. As someone who works at the Jar, and a fully-fledged golf nut for over a decade prior, I spend a lot of time immersing myself in the world of courses and design. But what truly captivates me is the variety within the sport — how, at the best courses, rarely do two holes ever feel quite the same. I find myself thinking about specific holes all the time. Earlier this month, I took a short trip to Scotland to play Crail, Elie, St Andrews New, and a revisit to Royal Aberdeen — a course I hadn’t played in seven years. The front nine is often hailed as the star, and it was the sixth hole specifically that had remained at the forefront of my mind since then. I [...]
Rank of Ranks – 2025
We first ran this feature all the way back in 2020. Since then, much has happened in the world of golf, none more so than the rampant demand to play some of the finest and most storied venues across all corners. So, given the GB&I rankings have each been updated in recent months, with Top100GolfCourses.com changing theirs this week, we thought we’d see what's happened and how they all stand up against each other. As a recap for those that weren’t with us back in 2020, here’s a refresh on how this is calculated: We take the rankings from each of the four ranking panels across GB&I (Today’s Golfer, National Club Golfer, Golf Monthly, and Top100GolfCourses.com). We attribute their ranking from each of those panels. Where a course is not ranked it receives a notional 115. As there are 129 courses among all four lists, this number feels [...]
April 2025
Junior Opens you can’t miss
Words by Peter Handcock While many of us are gearing up for the season ahead, thousands of junior golfers across the country are doing so on a much more serious level. Junior Opens are the backbone of many boys' and girls' summer holidays, offering competitive golf at incredible venues for unbeatable value. Half Par—who, despite his appearance, aged out of these events a terrifying 10 years ago—reflects on why he now values them even more than national tournaments, before highlighting a range of standout Junior Opens taking place this year. If you’ve got a son or daughter and want to introduce them to great golf courses without breaking the bank, this article is a great place to start. Table of Contents The Planning Stages For many of us, the Masters marks the start of the golfing season—golf [...]
The best golf book you’ve never read
words by Peter Handcock This week, 640 school alumni make their annual pilgrimage to the Kent coast for the 101st year of the Halford Hewitt tournament. A festival of golf where 10 old boys (and girls) from a fixed list of 64 public schools across the Isles compete in a team scratch foursomes knockout at Royal Cinque Ports (and Royal St George's for the opening rounds). Some aim to survive round one, others chase another title—but for all, it’s a reunion first, where golf takes a back seat to the camaraderie and spirit of the game. Half Par has taken a delve into the history, specifically a series of Trivia books around the event, to share more about what makes this contest so unique. Table of Contents The Hewitt With its format, characters, and long history, the [...]
March 2025
A Unique Contest Ahead of Its Time
words by James Burn While The Players happens this week over in Ponte Vedra Beach, another tournament will be taking place in the leafy suburbs of London, long regarded as the curtain raiser for the season. For those wishing to keep an eye on results and the draw, please hit the link here. Friend of Jar - James Burn - took to his macbook to write a few words about the history of the event and what makes it so unique. Table of Contents A Unique Contest Ahead of Its Time March 25th, 1934: Horton Smith won the inaugural Augusta National Invitational with a score of 4 under par, earning him $1,500. Financier Clifford Roberts finally convinced his fellow Augusta National co-founder, Bobby Jones, to rename the competition The Masters in 1939. It has since grown to [...]
February 2025
1971 Walker Cup – When David beat Goliath
With just over six months until the golfing world shifts its focus from the pro game to the Walker Cup—one of the game's purest events—at the legendary Cypress Point, the countdown is well and truly on. Walker Cup expert and friend of the Jar, Darragh Garrahy, looks back on the 1971 match at St Andrews, where Michael Bonallack led a supposedly tame GB&I (or just GB, according to Golf World) to a stunning victory over a star-studded US side that hadn’t lost the cup since 1938. ''1971, when David beat Goliath'' words by Dr Darragh Garrahy Table of Contents The 1971 Walker Cup was notable insofar as the American star studded team (Kite, Wadkins et al) were expected to run roughshod over GB&I, yet the hosts pulled off their first victory since 1938, against all odds over [...]
January 2025
Rugby, Golf, and the Six Nations: A Grand Slam Tour with Clubs in Tow
There’s something poetic about the Six Nations. For me, the six nations always starts in the depths of the cold, dark winter. But as the weeks go by and the ever dwindling possibility of Wales winning the six nations fades, a new excitement arises. The dawning of the golf season. For whilst the six nations begins in February in Winter, it ends in April and the shoots of Spring emerge - indicating the beginning of grass growth, the longer days and the start of the golf season. The six nations also brings the clash of rugby titans, the pilgrimage to hallowed stadiums and the camaraderie of fans spilling out of pubs in the chill of early morning. But what if you packed your golf clubs alongside your match-day scarf? What if, between tries and tackles, you teed it up at some of the finest golf courses near each Six [...]
A penny for your thoughts, £30 for a round
In the post-Covid world, where green fees are soaring due to golf's popularity boom and an ever-growing appetite among Americans to turn once-in-a-lifetime UK golf pilgrimages into twice-a-year rituals, the era of reasonably priced rounds at Britain’s best courses is, sadly, often a thing of the past. To help combat this, Half Par Kid has compiled a list of Britain’s 20 best value green fees for the year ahead - 10 under £50 and 10 between £50-£100. From off-the-beaten-track 9-hole gems to Top 100 courses that refuse to follow their competitors into eye-watering territory, there’s plenty to explore. Plan your next trip around some of these beauties—you won’t regret it, and your wallet will thank you. Words by Peter Handcock, aka Half Par Kid A penny for your thoughts, £30 for a round Ah, green fees. Once upon a time, you could [...]
