Our historical first: Annika Sorenstam is the first woman to be featured on the cover of LINKS. It’s long overdue, and I can’t think of a better way to kick off the magazine’s 20th anniversary in 2008. Throughout the year, we will be celebrating two decades of the best of golf, highlighted by July/August’s “20th Anniversary” issue.

One of the biggest developments of the past 20 years has been the growth of the women’s game, and Annika has played a large role in that progress. As her career winds down, she’s poised to become the first big female name in course design, a field that men have long ruled. Senior editor Tom Cunneff profiles Sorenstam the architect and also examines why there are so few designers from society’s better half. (Only three of the 180 members of the American Society of Golf Course Architects are female.)

I’m also thrilled to welcome our new columnist, Ernie. While you’re no doubt familiar with his buttery swing and illustrious playing career, which includes three majors among his 62 international victories, you might not know as much about his high-flying life off the course, the focus of his columns.

Like his fellow South African Gary Player, Ernie is a world traveler who logs tens of thousands of miles a year playing tournaments and overseeing his design business. Ernie’s first column is about the growth of the game worldwide, especially Dubai, where he is crafting a natural-looking layout out of the desert. 

What happened to beloved Ben Wright? He has been moved to the front of the book, where he will be our 20th anniversary columnist. All year he will ponder the events, people and trends that have had the most impact on the game over the last two decades. Who better to write about how golf has evolved than Ben, who, in addition to his many years in the tower for CBS, was present for LINKS’ birth? He wrote a column in our inaugural issue in 1988.

In addition to looking to the past, we will be looking forward in this landmark year. Despite our devotion to the art of golf course architecture and great layouts since the magazine’s inception, we’ve never had a design contest. But this isn’t the same amateur contest other publications have been running for years, thanks to renowned architect Arthur Hills and Westhaven, a golf community in Franklin, Tennessee, just south of Nashville.

What makes our contest different from the others is that in addition to being featured in the July/August issue, the winner will get to work with Hills and see his or her idea come to life as the 13th hole at Westhaven Golf Club. So sharpen your pencils and your design skills, because this is a rare chance for you armchair architects to become a real one.

I hope these firsts show that we are constantly striving to improve the magazine and make it more enjoyable and informative. To us, readers always come first.