Thoughtful golf for a richer life
More Than a Game
Golf, Considered explores the game through a deeper lens —
the people, places and ideas that make it part of a richer life.
Play a more considered game.
A Different Perspective
on Golf
There is more to a round than the score. Golf, Considered follows the friendships, places, small rituals and unexpected observations that make the game worth returning to.
Our philosophy
Latest from Golf, Considered
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Tradition & belonging
The Purist
The small rituals, care and sense of belonging that still make golf feel like an occasion.
Good company
Who You Play Golf With Matters
A season of league nights, money games and quieter rounds raises a question about the company we keep.
Perspective
Golf Is Not a Performance Test
There is a particular kind of walk I have come to love in golf. It has very little to do with the number on the card.
Field NotesSmaller observations from inside the game.
Western Colorado / October 2026
Field Notes
Smaller observations
from inside the game.
From the Western SlopeWalking SeasonThe weather changes. So does the round.
Once the summer heat eases on the Western Slope, walking becomes part of the game again. I notice how much the cart had been changing the round. The distance between shots feels different on foot, and a familiar hole gives me more time to see it. There is still a ball to find and a score to keep, but I am less inclined to hurry past everything else.
Autumn also leaves more room to bring the camera. I like looking back from a green and finding a view I had missed while trying to play toward it. It is a small change in how I spend an afternoon, and one I have been looking forward to.
In the bagThe Return of the Three-WoodA little less uncertainty on the first tee.
I have been giving the three-wood more work from the tee lately, and I like the more consistent start it gives me. At Cobble Creek, there is plenty to be gained by beginning a hole in a place from which I can play the next shot. I still enjoy hitting the ball a long way, but the longest shot I can imagine is not always the one the hole needs.
The interesting part will be seeing what happens over enough rounds to trust the pattern. For now, it is pleasant to stand on a par four with a clearer idea of how I intend to get started.
On the itinerary · November 2026A Longer Look at TubacGolf, landscape and the life around a place.
I will be in Tubac in November with the camera, time to walk around and a notebook to fill. What interests me is how the golf sits within a larger place: the landscape, the people who know it and the details that make a visit feel different from another stop on a travel itinerary.
I want to leave room for conversations and things I cannot plan in advance. The photographs and notes will have somewhere to live here when I return.
JourneysCourses, clubs and landscapes worth knowing.
A sense of place
The Places
Courses, clubs and landscapes worth
understanding beyond the scorecard.
Western
ColoradoInland links. High-country light.Open the notebook
Most of these observations begin close to home, where golf sits against the landscape of Colorado’s Western Slope. Returning to the same course is a chance to see what changes with the season, the light and the way I play it.
Read the Field NotesSouthern
ArizonaDesert golf and a week in Tubac.On the itinerary
A November visit to Tubac will bring the first travel notebook to Golf, Considered. Time on the ground, conversations and photography will shape the story, with room to discover more than the itinerary can promise.
Read the trip noteThe American
ClubThe places that teach us to belong.Consider the club
Clubs pass along a culture through ordinary afternoons: an invitation into a regular game, a conversation on a walk or someone taking the time to show a newcomer around. Those moments help explain why belonging can mean more than access to a golf course.
Read The PuristAbout Golf, ConsideredOur philosophy and the editor.
Why Golf, Considered
A game to
belong to.
Golf has a way of becoming part of a life. A regular game becomes a standing appointment with friends. A course grows familiar enough that you recognize it in a different season. The rituals that once seemed incidental start to mean something, and you find yourself looking forward to an afternoon for reasons that have little to do with how you expect to score.
Golf, Considered makes room for those parts of the game. Through essays, field notes and photography, it follows the people, places and traditions that make golf worth caring about. There is still plenty of room here for trying to play better. I am working on that, too.
About the editor
Markus Van Meter
A writer, photographer, brand strategist and lifelong golfer based on Colorado’s Western Slope. My work follows the culture of the game, both as a player and through the institutions that give it a home.
Visit markusvanmeter.com (opens in a new tab)More from the journalBrowse the earlier essays.
Recently Considered
All essaysThe game
Becoming a Player
What a handicap leaves out.
Perspective
Protect the Feeling
Making room for the reasons you started playing.
The pull of the game
Why Is Golf So Addicting?
What keeps bringing us back for another round.
An honest scorecard
What Counts as a Great Round?
Recognizing a good day without changing the score.
Stay in the loop
Ideas, stories and inspiration
for a more considered game.
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Thoughtful Essays
Depth over noise.
Inside the Game
Observations worth keeping.
A Sense of Place
Courses worth the journey.
A Richer Perspective
On and off the course.