Bermuda Partners with Premier Golf to Offer Centralized Tee Time

The Bermuda Department of Tourism is making it easier for golfers to play some of its courses by partnering with Bermuda Premier Golf to offer a new centralized tee time system.

Bermuda Premier Golf's online system at www.bermudapremiergolf.com allows the potential golfer to select the golf course, tee times, number of players and pay securely online with either Visa, Mastercard or American Express.

Each participant receives a tee time voucher by email which is encoded with a unique barcode to eliminate fraud. Each tee time voucher is presented to the golf course on the day of play.

Golfers can use the system to have their tee times booked in advance to ensure they can play the courses they want when they want. Golfers can also search the site by course name, tee times by date and review all details including course descriptions, pictures and videos.

Golfers can also place orders at any time through Premier Golf's call center locally via 441-278-1500 or toll-free at 877-450-6412. Premier Golf's Customer Care team based in Bermuda provides an extra level of customer support during business hours.

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Princeville’s Prince Golf Course in Hawaii Reopens

Princeville’s Prince Golf Course, will reopen on March 1, 2012 — an adjustment from the previously announced December date — after the completion of some additional refurbishments to the course and clubhouse. The Prince, ranked as one of the Top 100 courses in the United States, is located in Kauai, Hawaii and has been closed since January for this extensive facelift.

“We are excited about the refined improvements to the entire facility, which will elevate the golf experience for our guests,” says Mark Scheibach, vice president of golf development for Heritage Links.

Renovation includes installing putting greens with SeaDwarf Seashore Paspalum turf and sub-surface material to meet modern USGA specifications; remodeling of bunkers to improve drainage, playability, visibility, and strategic value; clearing of shrubs that have encroached upon the design intent of the course over the years; widening of fairways; reshaping of greens while recapturing hole locations that were lost due to green surfaces shrinking; tee leveling and addition of new tees for added shot value and variety; and improvements to ensure the course will be consistently maintained in superb condition.

The 13-acre driving range and practice facility is also undergoing a creative renovation and expansion. The entrance to the course will be updated with new features and landscaping, and the 60,000-square-foot Prince clubhouse will be refurbished, including creation of golf-specific locker rooms and a newly designed golf shop.

Heritage Links is managing the course renovation work and will manage golf and club operations when the course reopens. The award-winning firm of Robert Trent Jones II, Golf Course Architects (RTJ II) is serving as lead architect on the project under the direction of Chairman and Master Architect Robert Trent Jones, Jr., who designed the Prince Course, which was completed in 1990.

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The World’s 5 Most Unbelievable Golf Courses: 4 Locations to Add to Your Bucket List (and 1 to Avoid!)

Golf is a game steeped in tradition, rules and etiquette. The well-mannered golfer knows to be aware of his shadow, repair his ball marks and keep quiet on his playing partner’s backswing.

Even during huge tournaments the crowds are stunningly quiet, showing respect for the players and the time honored game itself.

But throughout the world there are golf courses that push the edge. They challenge the limits of skills and patience. They are so unusual that Ripley himself may not believe they exist.

Here’s our list of 5 golf courses so unusual, so odd, you may not believe they exist:

1. Nullarbor Links

There are only 1,500 golf courses in all of Australia. Go figure that one would be over 800 miles long and still be a par 72. It’s called Nullarbor Links and its 18 holes stretch along the Eyre Highway from Western Australia to Southern Australia.

Opened in 2009, it is billed as the “World’s Longest Golf Course”, with one hole at each of 18 stops along the way. The course was built to promote tourism and economic activity along the mostly desolate highway and apparently it’s working. The “course” was a 2012 finalist for the Australian Tourism Award.

2. Prison View Golf Course

If you are willing to submit to a background check to play a round of golf, Prison View Golf Course in Angola, Louisiana may be just the ticket. The 9-hole course is actually located on the grounds of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, and according to its website it offers a “spectacular view of Louisiana’s only maximum security prison.”

Spectacular views indeed!

The course features a practice range, pro-shop and restaurant. The challenging course includes 37 bunkers and water will come into play 16 times.

3. Camp Bonifas Golf Course

Located just south of the DMZ in South Korea, the United States Army has what many are calling the world’s most dangerous golf course.

Of course the “course” is only a single 192-yard par 3 hole just a few hundred yards from the DMZ that separates North and South Korea. It is also said that players must be armed – talk about shooting a bad round!

4. North Star Golf Course

The U.S.A’s most northernmost golf course is the North Star Golf Course in Alaska. One of only about 2-dozen courses in the entire state, the scorecard includes an animal checklist. You may see more than birdies and eagles up here. The checklist includes moose, muskrat, fox, hawks, and coyotes. There have even been grizzly bear sightings.

It is best to play with a golf cart… a very fast one.

5. Don Mueang Airport

Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand is the 18th busiest airport in the world. So what would be good use of that green space between landing strips?

A golf course, of course!

There are no barriers between the runways and the course itself, so red lights are used to let players know of an impending aircraft. Nice touch.

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