Pasture Golf Returns Sport To Roots

In golf’s distant past, “courses” were laid out across pasture land, with hole routing following sheep paths. Grazing sheep clip the grass very close to the ground, sculptingnatural fairways and greens. And sheep nesting down out of the wind on the links lands formed natural sand traps.

When Sam Snead first travelled to St. Andrews by train for the Open Championship, he looked out a window and noticed what looked to him like an old golf course that had been allowed to turn fallow. When he asked what the name of the abandoned course was, he was informed that it was St. Andrews.

Of course, US-style, highly manicured, irrigated, and fertilized courses come at a steep price. And that price has kept many a would-be golfer from the game.

Enter “Pasture Golf.” A recent article by Tim Booth of the Associated Press takes a look at a growing movement where golfers forgo the niceties and play golf as it was originally conceived.

In fact, there’s an entire web site dedicated to pasture golf courses, where players can walk a round at a buck a hole or less.