John M. Clarke Jr.

The Wall Street Journal • 23rd September 2025

Are These Fish Sending a Message With Their Mysterious Spots?

Andrew Brown had spent most of his life chasing redfish, a piscatorial prize notable for its fight and unique tail markings. The 45-year-old angler in Pensacola, Fla., started catching them by flicking live shrimp, sand fleas and finger mullet on a spin rod before he moved on to fly fishing. About eight years ago, Brown began noticing odd spot patterns on their tails.

Golf Digest • 9th February 2025

The case for beer kegs in golf and how they can help reduce waste

The Beer Snake—that magnificent slinky plastic stretch of hundreds of emptied beer cups stacked up by golf fans at the 16th party hole at the WM Phoenix Open—might be viewed as the poster child for celebratory waste. That could be especially true considering that the PGA Tour event is ironically sponsored by Waste Management.

The Wall Street Journal • 5th December 2024

Fishing in New England Now Comes With a Catch: You Might Reel in a Prehistoric Beast

First, flamingos flocked to Cape Cod. Now tarpon—nicknamed the Silver King after its majestic size and shimmering silver color—are surfacing in New England waters. The warm water trophy fish, which can grow to eight feet, weigh 280 pounds and live for 50 years, are prized by anglers who primarily fish for them in Florida.

Golf Digest • 11th October 2024

Why nobody will mow the fairways at this week’s PGA Tour event

This week’s inaugural Black Desert Championship in Utah won't feature a small army of pre-dawn turf tenders cutting fairways, or lawn jockeys perfecting cross stripes, skip rows, circle cuts, 50-50 or push-and-pull patterns. In fact, nobody will be doing any fairway mowing—it will be the first time fully automated electric machines will mow a PGA Tour course.

The Wall Street Journal • 29th February 2024

Your Bike Just Got Stolen. These Vigilantes Will Get It Back. ‘I hate thieves.’

Mike Pavlik is part of an unusual army: amateur sleuths who find stolen bikes and return them to their owners. As bike theft becomes more profitable, grassroot efforts to thwart thieves are springing up nationwide. Part wannabe detective, part vigilantes, the volunteers say recovering bikes can be strangely fun and addictive.

The Wall Street Journal • 17th November 2023

Hunting In Hot Pink May Be Safer, But Men Aren’t Having It

Kevin Clements, an upland game hunter who lives outside Seattle, plans to start wearing blaze pink instead of orange when he’s out stalking chukar partridges on the high desert of the Pacific Northwest. “I might get a little razzing for wearing pink,” says Clements, a construction contractor. “My friends will absolutely give me a lot of crap. But they give me a lot of crap anyway.”

The Wall Street Journal • 27th August 2023

‘Look, Muffy, a Book for Us.’ The 1980s Preppy Handbook Is Again a Must-Read.

G. Daniel Brown, a retired teacher in Saginaw, Mich., paid about $100 for a paperback not long ago. That is jaw-dropping considering that the volume, “The Official Preppy Handbook,” was published in 1980, retailed for $3.95 and is now out of print.

The New York Times • 31st March 2023

PGA Tour-LIV Golf Rivalry Could Make for a Tense Masters Dinner

This might get awkward. Forget the menu of cheeseburgers, firecracker shrimp, rib-eyes and redfish. This year’s Masters Champions Dinner on Tuesday night will have PGA Tour players meeting face-to-face with six former colleagues who have defected to LIV Golf, the Saudi-financed league.

The New York Times • 23rd December 2022

At the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, a Female Crew of Two

Kathy Veel has come a long way since 1989, when she first sailed in the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race with an all-female crew on the Belles Long Ranger. “It started off with four of us women — we figured, let’s give it a shot,” said Veel, 70, a retired teacher who lives in Bullaburra, about 60 miles west of Sydney, Australia. “We didn’t have a boat. We didn’t have any money. It was a real start from scratch. No one took us seriously.”

The Wall Street Journal • 2nd December 2022

Want a Free Yeti Cooler? Hundreds Are Washing Up on Alaska’s Coast

Kathy Peavey runs a whale-watching tour business and knows the local seas as well as anybody in her coastal city of Craig, Alaska. When Ms. Peavey heard last fall about a freighter losing shipping containers in rough waters off the coast of British Columbia, the longtime beachcomber knew by experience that cargo would likely drift her way. “Your radar goes up, and you wonder, ‘Oh, my God,’ ” said Ms. Peavey, 59 years old. “What’s coming to our beaches?”

The Wall Street Journal • 28th November 2022

Feeling Superior Because the Heat is Still Off? You Might be a New Englander

Brian Chevalier was in bed at his Rhode Island home, worried his pipes might freeze and burst. He had on two pairs of socks, two hats, underwear, pajamas, jeans, two shirts, two vests, two hoodies and fingerless gloves so he could use his iPhone. It was Dec. 19 of last year. The outside temperature was expected to drop to 19 degrees. Finally, at 9 p.m., he caved: He turned on the heat.

The New York Times • 16th November 2022

Matt Fitzpatrick Tries for No. 3

Matt Fitzpatrick, 28, of England returns to the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, after winning his first major in June, taking the United States Open. He also returns to Dubai, having won the tournament twice, a tie for the most wins with three other players. “I always look forward to this week,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s a tournament I play well, and I enjoy going to it.”

The Wall Street Journal • 1st November 2022

Professional Cornhole Has a Cheating Scandal Called BagGate

Perhaps the greatest controversy in the history of the sport of cornhole unfolded in August at the 2022 American Cornhole League World Championships, in Rock Hill, S.C. Was the No. 1 ranked doubles team using illegal beanbags?

The New York Times • 7th October 2022

These Formula 1 Drivers Are Still Racing Fast, Just on Water

On a recent sunny September day in Saint-Tropez, where the French SailGP race was taking place, Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez climbed aboard a speedy high-tech $4 million sailboat. The drivers for the Red Bull Formula 1 team had little idea what to expect when they took turns settling into the cockpit of the United States SailGP F50 foiling catamaran, one of the nine team boats that race in the global sailing series, now in its third year. Neither man had ever sailed.

The New York Times • 30th August 2022

Wendy Schmidt Is No Longer a Rookie at the Maxi Cup

Last year, the American sailor Wendy Schmidt helmed Deep Blue, the new Botin 85 sailboat she owns, on its inaugural run at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. One of very few women skippers in maxi racing, Schmidt stood out from the fleet, winning the start and placing fifth in her class. This year, Schmidt returns to Porto Cervo, Sardinia, with her mind on racing and spreading the word on ocean restoration.

WSJ

The Wall Street Journal • 31st July 2022

Key Lime Pie Fans Whipped Up Over Dessert Snub

Earlier this year in Plant City, Fla., at a press conference, Gov. Ron DeSantis tried a spoonful of strawberry shortcake, gave a thumbs-up, and signed a new law making it the state’s official dessert. Strawberry shortcake. Not Key lime pie—the citrusy culinary delight and the state’s most celebrated dessert—but strawberry shortcake, which most agree is a British confection.

The New York Times • 6th July 2022

For the Scottish Open, the Renaissance Club Toughens Up

There has been a certain amount of grumbling — justified or not — about how some European Tour courses play too easy, most notably in 2019 when Rory McIlroy criticized the playability at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland, which has hosted the Scottish Open since 2019. “I don’t think the courses are set up hard enough,” McIlroy told reporters at the time after the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, also played in Scotland. “There are no penalties for bad shots.

The New York Times • 18th May 2022

This P.G.A. Champion Lost the Wanamaker Trophy. Oops.

It’s nearly impossible to talk about the P.G.A. Championship‘s Wanamaker Trophy without mentioning how the five-time champion Walter Hagen lost it in Chicago after winning the event in 1925. As the story goes, while out in Chicago celebrating the win, Hagen gave his taxi driver $5 and asked him to take the cumbersome trophy to his hotel. It not only never arrived, but Hagen never admitted the loss to the P.G.A. until he lost the championship in 1928 and had to turn the trophy over to the winner.

The New York Times • 15th April 2022

The (Really) Big Boats Have Arrived

It has taken a few years, delayed by the pandemic, but formal Maxi yacht racing is coming to the Caribbean, considerably increasing the competitive opportunities sailors have to race their sleek monohull behemoths that can reach 100 feet long.

The New York Times • 24th December 2021

Michael Spies Has Become Sailing’s Guru of Speed

Before Sunday’s race, Michael Spies of Australia had sailed the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 43 times. In 1999, he won after breaking the race record by half a day. In 2003, Spies won again. He also has helped fellow sailors find the right boats and refit them into superior racing yachts. His latest effort is the Maritimo, a 54-foot racing yacht he found in the United States for Bill Barry-Cotter, a former motorboat racing champion who also races sailboats.