How Charles Blair Macdonald changed the design behind golf

Examining golf's problems with race

In 1961, the PGA removed the "Caucasian-only" membership clause, marking the last major professional sports organization to desegregate. But unlike other sports, golf didn't see an influx of Black players following the change. This article from The Ringer's Lex Pryor examines golf's complicated history with race and gender, showing both the progress made and the challenges that remain.

How László Moholy-Nagy's Bauhaus work changed design

The artist established a foundational course that would later become standard for many Western art schools. A few years later, he'd spearhead a publishing wing of the school, establish a template for modern graphic design, and toy with developing technologies. This profile from the Guggenheim digs into the massive contributions Moholy-Nagy made to the art world.

Take a virtual tour of St. Andrews

The Old Course at St. Andrews is one of the oldest in the world and became the gold standard for modern golf course design. Using drone footage, this Golf Digest video gives an aerial view and detailed description of every hole. Learn how the links course features common fairways and greens for some holes. And learn the bunker names at the courses' most notorious holes.

'Sometimes the biggest problem is in your head. You’ve got to believe you can play a shot instead of wondering where your next bad shot is coming from.'

- Golf great Jack Nicklaus (1940-present)

Frank Lloyd Wright's landscape design relied on abstractions

Wright was interested in finding abstract patterns in nature and attempted to match those patterns through the landscaping on his properties. He also often introduced foreign plants into his gardens, a choice that some experts say was a commentary on American identity and aesthetics.

How the inventor of Mario designs games

Shigeru Miyamoto has created some of the most iconic video games in history, from Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong to The Legend of Zelda. The game producer boils down his creative philosophy to three basic principles: story, simplicity, and...

How a lawn gnome became the hottest item at the Masters

The kitschy piece of memorabilia debuted in 2016 and has since become a highly sought-after collectible for Master attendees. This ESPN deep dive explores how it happened and what makes the strange little item so attractive for golf fans.

Walter Camp revolutionized American Football

When Walter Camp was introduced to the game of football in the late 1800s, the rules weren’t set, the field wasn’t uniform, and the game was brutal. Camp joined early rules committees and was instrumental in shaping the modern game. Read this deep dive into Camp’s early life and influences, and find out how he established the line of scrimmage and the series of downs.

John Madden influenced generations of NFL players, coaches, and fans

John Madden coached the Oakland Raiders from 1969 through 1978, never had a losing record, and won Super Bowl XI. But his post-coaching career as a broadcaster and video game brand solidified his stardom.

The man who championed the ‘case method’ for higher ed later found it insensitive

The "case method" style of education is core to most MBA programs across the country. Recent research posits that Wallace Donham’s (who is credited with establishing the method as a force at Harvard Business School in the 1920s) views on the method changed in later years.

How a 19th-century aristocrat scammed the rich to buy fake Caribbean land

Nearly 200 years ago, Gregor MacGregor pulled off one of the most brazen real estate scams in history. A disgraced military leader, MacGregor sold plots of land in what is today Honduras, touting the country of Poyais as a new major region in South America. But no building was taking place, and instead of investing the proceeds of bond sales in construction, MacGregor was lining his pockets. Read the unbelievable story of MacGregor's exploits here.

Modern tennis was formalized in 1874

In the late 1800s England, a growing middle class could afford homes with lawns. With more lawns in England, Major Walter C. Wingfield saw an opportunity to bring lawn tennis to the masses. Modern tennis was formalized in 1874, when Queen Victoria granted a patent for Major Walter C. Wingfield's lawn tennis box set. The game was an instant hit, and by 1877, the new All England Club in Wimbledon began hosting a tournament.

Ray Dalio started his career as a golf caddy in Long Island

When Dalio was 12 years old, he worked as a golf caddy at the Links Golf Club. That's where he heard about the stock market for the first time and decided to invest in Northeast Airlines—the only stock he knew that was selling for less than $5 a share. Dalio ended up tripling his profit and became fascinated with the stock market—ultimately laying the foundation for his legendary career as a hedge fund manager.

A Guardian writer turned midlife chess slump into an obsession

Journalist Stephen Moss embarked on a chess self-improvement journey described in "The Guardian." Not a how-to, but a reflection on loss, drive, and whether mastering chess can mean mastering oneself.

Steve Jobs designed the original Mac calculator in 10 minutes

Unsatisfied with the designs provided by Chris Espinosa—Apple's youngest employee when he was hired at 14 in 1976—the engineer designed a program that gave Jobs access to every visual parameter, which he used to build the calculator's user interface.

What McDonald's looks like in 55 countries

From the oldest operating McDonald's in the world to the farthest north, a photographer visited hundreds of the world's most popular restaurant chains over several years. He watched to see what the locals would order, bought food, took pictures of the food, and then ate it. He calls the work social anthropology, and compiled his images in a book titled the "McAtlas." See the photos here.

Alfred Hitchcock's work continues to influence movie directors today

Hitchcock’s importance and influence are exemplified in the specific tropes (such as the MacGuffin and the killing of innocents) and techniques (like the dolly zoom) that the director pioneered and popularized, demonstrating just how far-reaching his influence remains.

The 1902 McMillan Plan reimagined the National Mall as a formal, open civic space

Drafted by the Senate Park Commission, the McMillan Plan called for the removal of railroads, markets, and industrial uses from the Mall; revived key elements of Pierre L'Enfant's original layout; and established the framework for the Mall's long lawns, museum placement, and monumental core.

10 ways David Letterman changed late-night TV

Late-night TV is an American institution with its own tropes and traditions. While Johnny Carson is often noted as the model for late-night hosts, the modern notion of the format owes just as much (if not more) to David Letterman, who redefined the model in the early 1980s. This list from ABC News ranks the 10 ways Letterman accomplished that, using one of Letterman's classic bits to honor the man's legacy.

With no textbooks or antibiotics, this WWI surgeon pioneered facial reconstruction

New Zealand surgeon Dr. Harold Gillies made extraordinary advances in the field of reconstructive surgery during World War I and after. This 36-minute NPR podcast interviews historian Lindsey Fitzharris, author of Gillie's biography, The Facemaker, charting how the good doctor reconstructed the faces of numerous soldiers in an age before antibiotics and plastic surgery as we know it today.

Famed historian David McCullough on five things to know about the Wrights

The bestselling author of popular, beloved histories on US presidents, engineering feats and disasters published a study of the Wrights in 2015. Here. he highlights five key facts to know about the brothers, including that their efforts were bootstrapped—meaning they paid for their work themselves with no outside investors.

Clue, the murder-mystery board game, was designed during World War II air raids.

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

Thomas Cook invented modern tourism

In the mid-1800s, Cook took wealthy Britons on tours of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the US, often packaging together transportation, lodging, and food, effectively creating the modern travel agent. He also pioneered travel writing, with “Travellers Handbooks” offering tourists tips for visiting various countries.

How Monet’s paintings changed the way we see London

Between 1899 and 1901, legendary French Impressionist painter Claude Monet produced over 100 paintings of London consistently shrouded in fog. Art historians claim this series left a permanent mark on how we perceive the capital city, inevitably layered in obscuring and dramatic mist. See some of the paintings and read more here.

Nike cofounder Phil Knight once taught accounting classes at Portland State University

Before Nike took off, Phil Knight taught accounting classes at Portland State. He met two very important people there: his wife Penelope and Carolyn Davidson, who designed Nike’s logo.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

American short story writer Flannery O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became potent symbols for her fiction's elegant violence

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

Watch how algorithms can be designed to train themselves and self-improve without human input, to the point where the optimized code is too complex for programmers to understand.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

Some Pokémon have been named after real and fictional organisms, while some real-world species have been named after Pokémon, such as Chilicola charizard and Binburrum zapdos.

Brandi Chastain, the star of the 1999 US victory over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, was a last-second choice to take the penalty kick that sealed the victory.

An investigation suggests a Scottish island became awash in forever chemicals via seafoam and seaspray—raising questions about what that means for the safety of other coastal areas.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.