Patrick's Blog

The first week in France has been everything we’ve hoped for.  Flew into Nice from London; saw many golf courses from the air, none of which I recognized (future assignments?)  We stayed in a villa overlooking the harbor at Cannes., and from that base we explored the area.  First was the little town of Eze, just 10 miles from Monaco.  Great food – what would you expect? – and friendly people, especially when I try speaking French.  You’d think I’m a comedian on stage.  Raucous laughter.  Every time.

Getting around the French Riviera is easy… trains and inexpensive bus shuttles can take you almost anywhere you want to go.  And weather?  San Diego perfect, as my son would say.  One of the many reasons the beaches at St. Tropez are world-famous.  Nice scenery, too.

Dinner at Villefranche-sur-Mer was right on the water, and the catch of the day was grilled to perfection.  Excellent wine served by the pitcher, fresh croissant for breakfast.  A villa in Villefranche is on our wish list for the next trip to France.

World Cup soccer on big screen TVs in every club and restaurant, it seems.  Fans everywhere, of course.

This week:  Italy.

About three weeks ago I arrived in Philadelphia to photograph the famous Aronimink Golf Club, site of this year’s AT&T National Tournament hosted by Tiger Woods.  Tiger had been there only a week before to check out final arrangements, so I was able to experience the course at close to its playing level for the pros. Let me tell you, this is one heck of a Donald Ross design.

No history of golf in the Philadelphia area can be told without mentioning Aronimink. It was incorporated as a club in 1900, although its true genesis stretched back several years to the Belmont Golf Association (reorganized as Aronimink) and its role in founding the Golf Association of Philadelphia in 1897.

Golf was catching on in the U.S. around the turn of the century, and the citizens of Philadelphia were determined not to miss out on the game’s rising tide of popularity.  The demand for professionally-designed, 18-hole tracks was growing. So much, in fact, that Aronimink actually outgrew and moved its facilities four times before finally acquiring its present site in 1926.

The club had the foresight to hire Donald Ross to design the layout, which today retains much of the character for which his courses are so well-known.  At first glance, the casual observer might think the mature trees are Aronimink’s only real scoring obstacles, but Ross never designed a course with only one defense. Aronimink’s arsenal of hills, bunkers, valleys, and doglegs present what Ross called “a supreme test” to many of the world’s best players at this year’s AT&T.

Having seen it, walked it and photographed it, all I can say to the players who are about to take on Aronimink is… Good luck fellas,  you’ll need it.

Tiger Woods. Phil Mickelson. Tom Watson. This week, golf’s top players and stories gather for the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach – one of the world’s iconic venues – to contend for the coveted championship of the United States.

We’ll all have to wait until Sunday to see who hoists the winner’s trophy, but in the meantime fans around the world will able to enjoy the unmatched beauty and windswept challenges of Pebble Beach.

Big Sur’s most famous golf course holds a special place in the history of the Stonehouse Golf Collection.  Pebble was the first course shot by Patrick; the first venue captured in his trademark panoramic format.  And it should come as no surprise that his image of hole number 7 continues to be the most requested in the Stonehouse Collection.

This week the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach holds center stage in the world of golf… and in the hearts of all of us at Stonehouse.