Every Famous Golf Course Name and Identity Explained In 11 Minutes

Every Famous Golf Course Name and Identity Explained In 11 Minutes

Ever wonder why the most prestigious golf course in America is named after a fruit? Or why the home of golf is called Saint Andrews? When there’s no actual saint named Andrew? The names of the world’s greatest golf courses aren’t just random labels. They’re windows into history, geography, and sometimes the eccentric personalities who created them. In this video, I’ll break down the origins behind golf’s most iconic venues. From Augusta National’s surprising agricultural past to Pebble Beach’s humble beginnings as a failed real estate development, these aren’t just places where championships are won. They’re pieces of living history with stories that most golfers, even those who’ve played them, have never heard. And trust me, knowing these stories will completely change how you watch the next major championship. Augusta National Golf Club. Augusta National, home of the Masters tournament, wasn’t always the pristine cathedral of golf we know today. Before Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts purchased the property in 1931, it was Fruitland Nurseries, a 365 acre plant nursery that had fallen into disrepair during the Great Depression. The course’s famous holes are named after the plants that were cultivated there. Tea olive, pink dogwood, flowering peach, and the most famous Aelia for the 13th hole. The name Augusta simply comes from the city of Augusta, Georgia, where the course is located. The city itself was named after Princess Augusta of Saxs Gotha, the mother of King George III. Yes, the same King George from the American Revolution. So, ironically, America’s most prestigious golf tournament is played on a course named after British royalty. When the course opened in 1933, annual membership dues were just $60, about $1,200 in today’s money. Now, the initiation fee is rumored to be between $250,000 and $500,000, though the club never confirms financial details. Despite its prestige, Augusta National closes from late May to October due to Georgia’s extreme summer heat, making it perhaps the only world famous golf course that’s closed for nearly half the year. St. Andrews Links, Old Course. St. Andrews, known as the home of golf, has a name with religious origins. The town of St. Andrews in Scotland was named after the Apostle Andrew, whose relics were supposedly brought to the area in the 8th century. The University of St. Andrews, founded in 1413, is the third oldest university in the English-speaking world, predating the formal establishment of golf at St. Andrews by centuries. Golf has been played on the same strip of land since at least the 1400s, making it the oldest golf course in the world. The term old course only became necessary in 1895 when the new course was built to accommodate growing demand. The old course originally had 22 holes, not 18. In 1764, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club decided that some holes were too short and combined them, creating the standard 18hole round we know today. The most famous features of the old course have colorful names with practical origins. The Road Hole, 17th, is named for the road that runs behind the green. The massive hell bunker on the 14th hole has ruined countless rounds, including Jack Nicholas’s in the 1995 Open Championship. The Valley of Sin, the famous depression in front of the 18th green, has been the site of both triumphant putts and heartbreaking misses throughout Open Championship history. Pebble Beach Golf Links. Pebble Beach wasn’t created to be a championship golf course. It was originally designed as an amenity to sell real estate. Developer Samuel FB Morse, a distant cousin of the Morse code inventor, acquired the property in 1919 and hired two relatively unknown designers, Jack Neville and Douglas Grant, to create the course. Their design philosophy was simple. The simplest thing to do was to let nature lay out the course. We just followed nature. The name Pebble Beach comes from the small rounded stones found on its beaches, particularly at Still Water Cove along the 18th hole. What’s ironic is that most of Pebble Beach’s coastline features dramatic rocky cliffs rather than actual pebble beaches. Pebble Beach has hosted six US Opens, but it wasn’t until 1972 that the USGAA brought its championship there. Concerned that the small greens and unpredictable weather might not provide a fair test, Jack Nicholas won that first US Open at Pebble, hitting the famous one iron shot off the 17th TE that struck the flag stick. Today, Pebble Beach is owned by a group that includes Clint Eastwood, Arnold Palmer’s Estate, and former MLB Commissioner Peter Yubber. The green fee is now over $575, making it one of the most expensive public courses in the world, a far cry from the $2 fee when it opened in 1919. Pinehurst Resort number two. Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina was founded in 1895 by Boston philanthropist James Walker Tus as a health retreat. Tus purchased 5,800 acres of ravaged pine forest land for about $1 per acre. The name simply reflects the environment. A hurst or Hurst is an old English word for a wooded hill. So pinehurst literally means a hill covered with pine trees. Pinehurst number two, the resort’s most famous course, was designed by Donald Ross, who was born in Dornick, Scotland, but made Pinehurst his home. Ross designed or redesigned over 400 courses in his career, but number two was his masterpiece, and he continued to refine it until his death in 1948. The course’s most distinctive features are its turtle back greens, convex putting surfaces that repel shots that aren’t precisely struck. Ben Hogan famously said that a shot landing on a Pinehurst number two green was like a ball landing on the back of a VW Beetle. In 2010, the course underwent a controversial restoration by Ben Krenshaw and Bill Core, removing rough and reintroducing native waste areas with wire grass and sand. The project actually reduced the amount of irrigated turf from 90 acres to 50 acres, returning the course to its original appearance and making it more environmentally sustainable. TPC Sawrass Stadium Course. TPC Sawrass in Ponte Vidra Beach, Florida, home of the Players Championship, was literally built from a swamp. In 1978, then PGA Tour Commissioner Dean Bean purchased $415 acres of swamp land for $1. Yes, $1. The property owners, who were losing money on the land, received a tax write off for the rest of the property’s value. The name Sawrass comes from the Saw Palmetto plants that covered the property. These plants have serrated leaf stems that can actually cut skin, making the original property nearly impassible. The TPC stands for Tournament Players Club, as it was the first course owned by the PGA Tour and designed specifically to host the Players Championship. Course architect Pete Dye, along with input from his wife Alice, designed the stadium course specifically for spectator viewing with raised mounds around greens and TE’s creating natural amphitheaters. When tour pros first played the course in 1982, they hated it so much that significant modifications had to be made before the second player’s championship could be held there. The world famous island green 17th hole wasn’t originally planned as an island. During construction, the area around the green had been excavated for filled dirt used elsewhere on the course. Alice Dy suggested they just put water all the way around the green, creating what would become golf’s most recognizable pair three. Pete Dy later admitted, “I’ve created a monster. Oakmont Country Club. Oakmont, located near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was founded in 1903 by industrialist Henry Clay Fones. The name comes from the abundant oak trees that originally covered the property. Though, ironically, thousands of those trees were removed over the years to restore the course to its original open links style design. What makes Oakmont unique is that fans who had never designed a golf course before created what many consider the most difficult championship test in America. The course was literally built on the site of a former farm and founds instructed workers to leave the drainage ditches unfilled to serve as hazards. Oakmont’s fearsome reputation comes from its lightning fast greens and approximately 175 bunkers. The most famous is the church pews bunker, a massive hazard between the third and fourth holes featuring 12 grass ridges that resemble church pews. The bunker is so distinctive that it’s featured in Oakmont’s logo. When the club hosted its first US Open in 1927, winner Tommy Armor posted a score of 13 over par. In the 2016 US Open, winner Dustin Johnson finished at four under, showing how much golf equipment has evolved since the course itself hasn’t changed much in a century. Marian Golf Club East Course. Marian Golf Club near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania takes its name from Marian, the estate owned by course designer Hugh Wilson’s neighbor. The club’s distinctive logo, a red wicker basket at top the flag sticks instead of flags, remains one of golf’s great mysteries. Theories range from the practical, the designer saw shepherds and whales using similar baskets to protect their lunch from animals to the strategic baskets don’t show wind direction, making the course more challenging. Despite its small footprint of just 126 acres, most modern championship courses cover 200 plus acres. Marian has hosted more USGA championships than any venue except for Oakmont. Its east course is where Bobby Jones completed the grand slam in 1930 and where Ben Hogan hit his famous one approach on the 72nd hole of the 1950 US Open just 16 months after a near fatal car accident. The course’s finishing stretch is particularly brutal with the 521yd par 418th being one of the toughest closing holes in championship golf. When Justin Rose won the 2013 US Open at Marion, he clinched victory with a par on 18 that he celebrated by looking skyward in tribute to his late father, creating one of golf’s most poignant recent images. Whistling Straits. Whistling Straits in Coler, Wisconsin might look like it’s been perched on the shores of Lake Michigan for centuries, but it’s actually a modern creation. Before designer Pete Dye transformed it in the 1990s, the property was a flat military anti-aircraft training facility called Camp Haven. The name Whistling Straits was created by Herbert V. Kohler Jr., the plumbing fixture magnate who developed the course. The whistling refers to the constant wind off Lake Michigan, while straits references the visual impression that the lake and course are merging together. To create the dramatic link style landscape, Dy moved over 800,000 cubic yards of Earth, creating massive dunes and nearly 1,000 bunkers. The course has hosted three PGA Championships in the 2021 RDER Cup. Despite being less than 25 years old, the most infamous moment in the course’s history came during the 2010 PGA Championship when Dustin Johnson grounded his club in what he thought was a waste area on the 18th hole, but was actually one of the courses countless bunkers. The resulting two-stroke penalty cost him a spot in the playoff. The world’s greatest golf courses aren’t just pieces of sporting real estate. They’re living museums with names and identities that reflect their unique histories. From repurposed nurseries to transformed military bases, these venues tell stories that go far beyond birdies and bogeies. Next time you watch a tournament at one of these iconic locations, you’ll see it through new eyes, understanding not just the challenge it presents to the world’s best players, but the rich history behind its name and identity. Now that you know the stories behind golf’s most famous venues, you’re probably wondering which ones are actually worth playing. Click right here to watch my breakdown of every bucket list golf course ranked from most overrated to most underrated. I’ll tell you which famous courses live up to the hype and which ones you can skip. Hit subscribe if you haven’t already and I’ll see you in the next video.

🌍 Every Famous Golf Course Name & Origin Story Explained

Ever wonder why the most iconic golf courses in the world have such strange names? From Augusta’s nursery roots to Pebble Beach’s failed real estate dreams, this video dives deep into the true stories behind golf’s most legendary venues. These names aren’t random—they’re windows into forgotten history, geography, and even a few happy accidents.

📍 What You’ll Discover:

Why Augusta National was once a fruit nursery—and what “Azalea” really means

How St. Andrews helped invent modern golf—and why it had 22 holes

The real story behind Pebble Beach (hint: it wasn’t built for golf)

How TPC Sawgrass turned a $1 swamp into golf’s most thrilling finish

The mystery behind Merion’s red wicker baskets

And why Dustin Johnson will never forget Whistling Straits

These aren’t just the homes of major championships—they’re living museums hiding incredible stories you’ve never heard.

💬 Which course has the craziest origin story? Drop your favorite in the comments and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode on the game behind the game.