America's 75 Toughest Golf Courses

What is it about the difficult course that holds so much appeal for many golfers? Is it simply, to borrow George Mallory's overused line about Everest, "because it's there"? Or is there something deeper, maybe even a little darker at work? Do you want to suffer for some reason? Do you "deserve" to be punished?

These are questions probably better answered in the company of a professional therapist. But if it's a challenge you're looking for, you've come to the right place.

Presenting Golf Digest's list of America's 75 Toughest Golf Courses. Spend some time with our list. Read it, debate it, make plans to play some of these courses if you dare. Just don't come crying to us if they make you feel like quitting the game.

1. The Ocean Course, Kiawah Island, S.C.
2. Pine Valley (N.J.) G.C.
3. Oakmont (Pa.) C.C.
4. Spyglass Hill G. Cse., Pebble Beach
5. Bethpage State Park (Black), Farmingdale, N.Y. 
6. Whistling Straits (Straits), Haven, Wis.
7. TPC Sawgrass (Players Stadium), Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
8. PGA West (TPC Stadium), La Quinta, Calif.
9. Winged Foot G.C. (West), Mamaroneck, N.Y.
10. Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort (No. 2)
11. Butler National G.C., Oak Brook, Ill.
12. Shinnecock Hills G.C., Southampton, N.Y.
13. The Olympic Club (Lake), San Francisco
14. Pebble Beach G. Links
15. Oakland Hills C.C. (South), Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
16 Medinah (Ill.) C.C. (No. 3)
17. Torrey Pines G. Cse. (South), La Jolla, Calif.
18. Pacific Dunes, Bandon, Ore.
19. Desert Mtn. Club (Renegade), Scottsdale
20. Merion G.C. (East), Ardmore, Pa.
21. Bayonet and Black Horse (Bayonet), Seaside, Calif.
22. Cog Hill G. & C.C. (No. 4), Lemont, Ill.
23. Oak Hill C.C. (East), Rochester, N.Y.
24. Congressional C.C. (Blue), Bethesda, Md.
25. Ko'olau G.C., Kaneohe, Oahu, Hawaii
26. Hazeltine National G.C., Chaska, Minn.
27. Wolf Creek G.C., Mesquite, Nev.
28. Victoria National G.C., Newburgh, Ind.
29 Baltusrol G.C. (Lower), Springfield, N.J.
30. Harbour Town G. Links, Hilton Head Island
31. Augusta (Ga.) National G.C.
32. Blackwolf Run (River), Kohler, Wis.
T33. Bandon Dunes, Bandon, Ore.
T33. Castle Pines G.C., Castle Rock, Colo.
35. Los Angeles C.C. (North)
36. Muirfield Village G.C., Dublin, Ohio
37. Prairie Dunes C.C., Hutchinson, Kan.
38. Winged Foot G.C. (East), Mamaroneck, N.Y.
T39. Atlanta Athletic Club (Highlands), Johns Creek, Ga.
T39. The Honors Course, Ooltewah, Tenn.
41. Wolf Run G.C., Zionsville, Ind.
42. Crystal Downs C.C., Frankfort, Mich.
43. Firestone C.C. (South), Akron, Ohio
T44 Aronimink G.C., Newtown Square, Pa.
T44 Medalist G.C., Hobe Sound, Fla.
T46 Cypress Point Club, Pebble Beach
T46. The Prince Course, Princeville, Kauai, Hawaii
48. East Lake G.C., Atlanta
49. Arcadia (Mich.) Bluffs G.C.
50. Doral Golf Resort & Spa (McLean Course), Miami
51. Oak Tree National, Edmond, Okla.
52. Seminole G.C., Juno Beach, Fla.
53. Riviera C.C., Pacific Palisades, Calif.
54. Southern Hills C.C., Tulsa, Okla. 
55. The Stanwich Club, Greenwich, Conn.
56. Erin (Wis.) Hills
57. The Pete Dye Course at French Lick (Ind.) Resort
58 Pete Dye G.C., Bridgeport, W.Va.
59. Inverness Club, Toledo, Ohio
60. Jupiter Hills Club (Hills), Tequesta, Fla.
61. Karsten Creek G.C., Stillwater, Okla.
62. The Country Club (Clyde/Squirrel), Brookline, Mass.
T63. Sahalee C.C. (South/North), Sammamish, Wash.
T63. Sebonack G.C., Southampton, N.Y.
T65. The Concession G.C., Bradenton, Fla.
T65. The Cse. at Yale, New Haven, Conn.
T67. Olympia Fields (Ill.) C.C. (North)
T67. Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, Capitol Hill (The Judge), Prattville, Ala.
T67. Tobacco Road G.C., Sanford, N.C.
T70. Bulle Rock, Havre de Grace, Md.
T70. Dallas National G.C.
T72. Crooked Stick G.C., Carmel, Ind.
T72. National G. Links of America, Southampton, N.Y.
T72. Old Marsh G.C., Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
75. Rich Harvest Links, Sugar Grove, Ill.

Read more »

St Andrews Links achieves prestigious GEO Certified™ ecolabel

St Andrews Links has become the first Open Championship venue to achieve the prestigious GEO Certified ecolabel in recognition of its sustainability commitment and achievements.

St Andrews Links Trust, which manages the seven courses at the Home of Golf including the Old Course and The Castle Course, has operated a sustainability programme for many years and this approach was described by Mike Wood, the accredited verifier, as being “close to defining an ideal model for sustainable management.”

A special plaque was presented to Euan Loudon, Chief Executive of St Andrews Links Trust, by Jonathan Smith, Chief Executive of the Golf Environment Organisation, with George O’Grady, the Chief Executive of The European Tour, and Peter Dawson, the Chief Executive of The R&A, in attendance.

The Golf Environment Organisation (GEO) is an international non-profit organisation, supported by stakeholders across the golf community to help build awareness and understanding, provide practical programmes and reward achievements with the GEO Certified ecolabel.

In the GEO verification report the assessor praised the Trust’s commitment to social responsibility and community engagement as well as the eco-friendly manner in which the clubhouses, retail outlets and other facilities are operated. They said that not only was the Trust nurturing a 600 year heritage as the birthplace of the game, it was a “standard bearer for 21st Century good practice in golf management.”

A number of sustainability measures at the Links were highlighted by the assessor, including:

• The high quality of the golf courses’ playing surfaces which are maintained with minimal fertiliser, chemical and irrigation inputs.

• The restoration of the distinctive dune landscape between the New and Jubilee courses, recreating a natural habitat area.

• Managing the courses in such a way as to contribute to the management of the neighbouring SSSI at the Eden Estuary.

• The comprehensive range of energy efficiency measures in operation in the clubhouses and facilities.

• The re-use of organic materials and other recycling activities. 

• Working in close partnership and co-operation with the local community. 

The transformation of intensively managed mixed farmland, into a new golf course (The Castle Course) with an extensive matrix of grassland habitats.

Euan Loudon said, “We take our duty to manage St Andrews Links sustainably as a golfing resource for future generations extremely seriously. 

Over the years we have won awards for the measures we have implemented and developed but this is certainly the most rigorous certification process we have gone through. We are delighted to achieve the GEO Certified ecolabel and we are focused on continuing to introduce new sustainable methods and practices across the breadth of operations at the Links in the years ahead.”

George O’Grady said, “We congratulate St Andrews Links Trust on their commitment and achievement. This is the kind of leadership that The European Tour are encouraging across all our venues as part of our own commitment to sustainability in golf, which was further reinforced by last year’s comprehensive Ryder Cup Green Drive. As founding partners of GEO, we are delighted to see their customised guidance, programmes and ecolabel gaining this kind of momentum.”

GEO has been dedicated to supporting and promoting sustainability in golf since 2006. In the space of two years, more than 250 golf clubs in 34 countries have started the GEO OnCourse programme to achieve the GEO Certified ecolabel. St Andrews Links becomes the 50th golf facility to achieve the distinction.

Jonathan Smith said, “For centuries the Home of Golf has been synonymous with low input, community integrated and ecologically rich golf. This stewardship of the historic Links of St Andrews, and more recently The Castle Course, has occurred through good decision-making that blends financial, golfing and common good interests relating to local people and the environment. We are delighted that our OnCourse programme has helped the staff of such an iconic golfing destination to broaden and deepen their actions enabling them to combine traditional values with a clear appreciation of modern day corporate and environmental responsibility.”

Dr Christian Deuringer, Head of Global Brand Management, Allianz SE, the global partner of St Andrews Links, said, “We congratulate St Andrews Links Trust on having achieved the GEO Certified ecolabel. As a leading global Insurance and Asset Management company, sustainability is part of the Allianz DNA and we have therefore decided together with the Trust, that a significant part of our partnership contribution goes to maintaining the courses and preserving the historic coastline. We are therefore especially pleased that St Andrews Links Trust’s superior efforts are rewarded and highlighted as examples for other venues around the world.”

Working closely with local advisors, consultants and the Scottish Golf Environment Group, the Links Trust has received widespread recognition for its environmental work in recent years. In 2003, it won the Scottish final of the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association’s environmental competition. The following year it received the Scottish Golf Environment Group’s Environmental Excellence Award. In 2009, the Trust received the Golf Course Environment Award from the Sports Turf Research Institute for protecting the ecology of the Links landscape. The Castle Course Clubhouse was also recognised by St Andrews Preservation Trust for its outstanding design which complements the clifftop landscape.

Read more »

Changes to the Old Course Spark Huge Debate

You probably heard about the changes underway at the Old Course at St. Andrews.

What you may not have heard is just how big a flap this has created.

Outraged at the idea of tinkering (or is it tampering?) with one of golf's most important shrines, Old Course advocates have mobilized.

Someone started a "Stop the Changes to the Home of Golf" petition on Change.org.

Likewise, there's now a popular, #SavetheOldCourse thread on Twitter.

I don't know if anyone has started an "Occupy St. Andrews" movement, but it can't be far away.

Here's the debate in a nutshell, and I'd love to get your thoughts on it:

With their eyes on the 2015 Open Championship, the R&A and St. Andrews Links Trust want to, "ensure [the Old Course] remains as challenging as ever to the professionals."

So, they hired architect Martin Hawtree to make changes to about half the holes on the course -- mainly moving, adding, removing, and resizing bunkers (including widening the Road Hole bunker); replacing a depression with a mound; and re-contouring greens.

On one side, you've got people like architect Tom Doak, who wrote to golf's international architectural community saying he was "horrified" to learn of the changes to this "sacred ground" and that this "international treasure" should largely remain "untouched."

On the other side, you've got people like Golf Digest architecture editor Ron Whitten who say the Old Course is not above being tweaked.

"Sacred ground? The Old Course was built on sand, not carved in stone. It's a golf course to be played, not a monument to be worshiped," Whitten wrote in reaction to Doak's, and he cites some old and newer modifications to support his claim that the Old Course, "like Augusta National, has been changing all the time."

Read more »

2013 CENTRAL OREGON GOLF TRAIL PLAYER’S CARD

Bend, OR - Now available for purchase at the Central Oregon Visitors Association, the 2013 Central Oregon Golf Trail Players Card is back at an even more amazing value with four additional courses. Due to expected high demand and limited supply, customers are urged to act quickly. 

Player’s Card holders get one (1) 50% green fee discount at each of the 19 participating courses. The discount is based on the published green fee at the time of play. Use of the Player’s Card is permitted seven (7) days a week including holidays, but limited to tee times after 12:00 p.m. The card provides potential savings of over $600.

A portion of the proceeds from the 2013 Player’s Card benefits the Central Oregon Junior Golf Association (COJGA), enabling Central Oregon Golf Trail to sponsor a COJGA scholarship worth $1,000.

CARD DETAILS:

Price: $159 ($139 if purchased by March 31, 2013)

Purchase at: Central Oregon Visitors Association

705 SW Bonnett Way, Suite 1000

Bend, OR 97702

800.800.8334

Or online at: CentralOregonGolfTrail.com

Offer: 50% green fee discount at 19 participating courses. One round per card holder.

Valid: Seven days a week after 12:00 p.m.

Expires: December 31, 2013

Central Oregon is 23rd among Golf Digest’s “Greatest Golf Destinations in the World”. The Central Oregon Golf Trail is a collection of 23 spectacular golf courses surrounded by 10,000 foot peaks and drenched in High Desert sun. Located on the sunny, eastern side of the majestic Cascade mountain range, the Central Oregon Golf Trail showcases the regions amazing array of golf’s finest courses. The Central Oregon Golf Trail offers a unique complimentary concierge service to help simplify the planning process while creating custom vacation packages for groups or individuals. In addition to the world class Golf Trail experience, Central Oregon features excellent accommodations, a lively restaurant scene, unique craft brewery culture, tax free shopping and year round outdoor activities.

Read more »

Gulf Shores Golf Association Launches New Tee Time Reservation System

(GULF SHORES, Ala.) – Gulf Shores Golf Association – a collection of nine popular, acclaimed courses located within 45 minutes of each other on Alabama’s Gulf Coast – has introduced a new Facebook tee time booking app.

The app can be found at the Golf Gulf Shores Facebook page and allows golfers to select tee dates, times and price range. Tee times can also be made on the Golf Gulf Shores website, which features an updated, easily accessible interface, and on the mobile website version at m.golf.gulfshores.com, which features clickable sections for Play, Stay, Dine, Maps, Custom Quote and E-newsletter Signup.

In addition, the nine destination partner courses now offer a mobile-enabled booking system from their individual websites.

“With spring season less than a month away, we’re excited to make it easier for guests to book tee times,” said Gulf Shores Golf Association Executive Director Duncan Millar. “Our user-friendly website (www.golfgulfshores.com) also quickly produces customized quotes based on a group’s preference in accommodations, rounds and access to the many after-golf events and activities in the area.”

Below is a sampling of "starting-at" spring season, stay-and-play rates, good through May 19, 2013. Prices include taxes and fees and are based on four nights and three rounds of golf at three pre-determined courses. An Unlimited Golf option is available with any package for a fee:

Golf Gulf Shores is the moniker for the Gulf Shores Golf Association, the partnership that promotes the destination and its custom golf packages built by its partners, for golf groups, families and corporate outings. The destination features nine golf courses, countless lodging options and a wealth of outdoor activity on its 32-mile waterfront destination.

Course highlights:

Cotton Creek at Craft Farms – Arnold Palmer Signature Design with generous fairways lined by Southern Hardwoods, undulating greens and a championship test from 7,028 yards, and owned and operated by Honours Golf.

Cypress Bend at Craft Farms – The sister Honours Golf property to Cotton Creek, the Arnold Palmer Signature Design meanders through cord-grass accented lakes which come into play on nearly every hole.

Glenlakes Golf Club – Scottish-style links course designed by Von Hagge and known for its extensive bunkering and postage-stamp greens.

Kiva Dunes – A “Top 100 Course in America” by Golf Digest, the Jerry Pate design is the only beachfront resort course in Gulf Shores. Golfweek ranked Kiva Dunes the No. 1 public-access course in Alabama in 2012.

Lost Key – The stunning course, redesigned by the Arnold Palmer Design Group in 2006, rewards accuracy off the tee and with approaches as it winds through woods and wetlands. It also boasts a new state-of-the-art clubhouse.

Peninsula Golf and Racquet Club – Owned and operated by Honours Golf, the 27-hole facility offers chilled apples on the tee. The 830-acre park includes 30 lakes and fairways surrounded by Bon Secour Wildlife Preserve.

Rock Creek Golf Club – Also owned by Honours Golf and boasting rolling terrain and fairways lined by pines, the Earl Stone design overlooks freshwater wetlands and the Rock Creek basin.

TimberCreek Golf Club – This 27-hole design was crafted by Earl Stone and feels like an inland Carolina course with fairways lined by loblolly pines, dogwoods and magnolias.

Gulf Shores Golf Club – Formerly known as The Golf Club of the Wharf, this was the Gulf Shores’ first course. Opened it 1960, it was redesigned by Jay and Carter Morrish in 2005.

Read more »

Legacy Golf Club

The 18-hole Legacy course plays 7,233 yards from the longest tees for a par of 72. The course rating is 74.9 and it has a slope rating of 136. Designed by Arthur Hills, the Legacy golf course opened in 1990. Read the full review of the Legacy Golf Club Las Vegas.

Read more »

Badlands Golf Club

The Badlands Golf Club course was designed by Johnny Miller, with some help from PGA golf legend, Chi Chi Rodriguez. It’s a beautiful golf course set among some of Nevada’s most amazing desert scenery. It offers an exciting day out for everyone from the novice golfer to the low handicap player. The Badlands Golf Club is also home to one of David Leadbetter’s Golf Academies. Read the full review of the Badlands Golf Club.

Read more »

Arroyo Golf Club

The Arroyo Golf Club is nestled between the spectacular landscapes of Red Rock Canyon, one of Las Vegas' most famous natural landmarks, and panoramic views of the Las Vegas cityscape. The Arroyo Golf Club course is a blend of innovative design, great natural beauty, stratigic bunkering, dramatic water features and the stark contrast of lush emerald greens against the blinding desert terrain and mountain backdrop. Read the full review of the Arroyo Golf Course.

Read more »

Aliante Golf Club Course, Las Vegas

The Aliante Golf Club Course plays a testy 7,022 yards from the back tees, and is highlighted by often tortuous bunkering, and trees not considered indigenous to the desert, including pear and purple locust. The bunkers have been strategically placed bunkers to compliment the rocky arroyo that comes into play on 14 of the 18 holes. Read the full review of the Aliente Golf Club Course, Las Vegas.

Read more »

Sea Island is nirvana

It’s one of the top golf resorts in the world yet many have not heard of it, Vic Robbie explores the luxurious American hideaway that is Sea Island

FINGERS of gold spread out across the 10th fairway at sunset and a piper in full Highland dress silhouetted by the ocean piped out the remains of the day while children gambolled around him. 

Inside The Lodge in the convivial ambience of the Oak Room guests recounted their day’s exploits in a buzz of conversation fuelled by bartenders pouring generous measures from an extensive Scotch whisky menu. 

As soon as we entered the grounds of the old cotton plantation with its impressive Avenue of Oaks, it was like stepping back in time helped by The Lodge’s exposed beams, hardwood floors and old-style southern hospitality. If Scarlett O’Hara herself had flounced down the grand staircase for dinner it would not have been a surprise. 

First and foremost The Sea Island Resort is a premier golfing destination as proved by the accolades over the years pronouncing it to be the No.1 Golf Resort and the Top Golfing Community in North America. 

Situated on Georgia’s Atlantic coast, it is as much an example of excellence as the state’s other attraction, Augusta. The only difference is you can actually play its courses. While reasonably well known to Americans, it is something of an unknown to the European market which often tends to head for the Carolinas, and Myrtle Beach in particular, or farther south to Florida. Right in the middle is Georgia’s Golden Isles with the resort straddling two neighbouring islands, Sea Island and St Simons, which is the size of Manhattan. 

But all similarities end there. The nearest international airports are almost two hours away at Savannah and Jacksonville in Florida and once you turn off the I-95 the sense of isolation is compounded by miles and miles of great salt marshes with the high grasses resembling a lush prairie. So thick are they that at low tide it is almost impossible to define the various islands, and in winter they die and turn a golden brown hence the name the ‘Golden Isles’. 

There is an appealing history to the area. Exploring Spaniards first sighted these islands in the sixteenth century but they left the building of golf courses to Howard Coffinand Bill Jones. The cousins bought the land in 1926 and hired Walter Travis, Harry S Colt and Charles Alison to lay down holes that were graced by Bobby Jones in 1930. The great man was between the third and fourth legs of his Grand Slam and said it was “one of the best nine holes I have ever seen.” 

The founders planned to set up ‘a friendly little inn’ and imagined a ‘seaside nirvana’. Almost 80 years on it is much grander with three championship courses – Plantation, Seaside and Retreat - surrounding The Lodge on St Simons Island while just down the road on Sea Island there’s The Cloister which caters for the holidaymaker’s every whim. 

Whatever your reasons for visiting Sea Island, golf should be a major one. This is most definitely a one-stop shop for golfers. If your game is more akin to guerrilla gardening and you dream of going somewhere to concentrate on improving your game without distraction then this is it. Sea Island’s Golf Learning Centre is a state-of-the-art facility comprising an indoor studio, 300 yards of teeing area, target greens with practice fairways and chipping and putting greens – and it’s open from 7am to 7pm every day. 

The most impressive point about it is the excellence of its personnel, having accumulated a dream team of professionals who can advise on every aspect of the game. If the mental approach gets you all hot and bothered, sports psychologist Dr. Morris Pickens will put you right. If it’s fitness that’s your problem, Randy Myers will create an individual fitness programme. 

Even the best ball strikers can have difficulties with putting. Mike Shannon’s lasers and cameras will put you on line. If it’s the swing that needs attention, Director of Instruction Todd Anderson, coach to a host of US Tour players, Jack Lumpkin and Gale Peterson will sort you out. 

There’s also a club-fitting section, and at the end of the day you can have a sports massage to ease those aches and pains. 

Now that that’s all sorted, let’s play golf. Sea Island’s courses offer three very different experiences and with a choice of six tees on every hole no one is disappointed. The Plantation is a par-72 resort course of 6,687 yards with relatively wide fairways but there are lakes and tidal creeks to trap the unwary. It’s a good relaxing start to the Sea Island adventure unfolding in a forest of ancient live oaks, draped in Spanish Moss, cedars and long-life pines with azaleas, magnolia bushes and natural gardens. 

Out here the only thing likely to disturb you is a racoon scampering up a tree to get a better view of your swing or the drone of a light aircraft flying in low over the 10th to land at the adjoining McKinnon Airport. 

Ten years ago Rees Jones reshaped the original nine-hole Plantation course and the former Retreat Course into one 18-hole configuration and as you would expect has a plethora of his trademark white sand bunkers. Jones called it the ‘parkland by the sea’ and said of it: “It includes short finesse holes like the second and 17th and risk and reward holes the 8th and 18th, and strong par-4s like the 9th and 10th.” 

And there are some pretty par-3s like the 136-yard seventh to an almost Sawgrass-like island green, and the 205-yard 11th and the 140-yard 15th also across water. 

The back nine is definitely better and the 18th is a classic risk and reward hole as it heads out towards the ocean. A short par-5 at 492 yards it entices the player to go for the green in two but it is a long carry over water. Anything just short will run back into the wet stuff and if over-hit there’s a cavernous bunker at the back. 

The Seaside course on the southern tip of St Simons Island reminds you what this game is all about with sweeping dunes, native grasses, tiny greens and devilish swales. Fifteen of the holes are flanked by the tall swaying grasses of the marsh which it is advisable to keep out of otherwise you could sink up to your knees in the mud.

It was originally fashioned by Colt and Alison in 1929 but seventy years later Tom Fazio extended it to a challenging par-70 of 6,557 yards from the back tees. It has been named amongst the top 100 courses in the United States and is the best of the Sea Island collection. 

A swirling wind plays havoc with club selection and each of Seaside’s short holes plays to a separate point of the compass adding to the degree of difficulty. As early as the fourth there is a taste of what to expect. A par-4 at 421 yards it is the course’s hardest hole and the caddie advised to play it as a three-shotter because even after a good drive the approach faces a long carry over the marsh to a green dominated by a huge bunker. 

The 409-yard 13th is the signature hole and offers a daunting tee shot into the wind. The marsh and the water cut in from the left in front of the tee and it tends to force a drive to the right where an army of bunkers awaits. Find them and it is almost impossible to reach in two an elevated green with steep run-offs. 

The finishing hole is a teaser and the longest par-4 at 439 yards. The landing area for the drive is relatively wide but from there on everything narrows. There’s water cutting in from the left and bunkers right and left of an undulating green. 

Golfing superstar Davis Love III lives on the island and learned his golf here as a boy. Therefore it was natural that as the Sea Island touring pro he along with brother Mark should have been asked in 2001 to redesign the Retreat course, which is a five-minute car ride away and with its own comfortable clubhouse feels like an independent golf club. 

Again this 6,715-yard, par-72 layout is different from the others in that its fairways funnel through avenues of tall pine trees. The greens are bigger but undulating and there’s water on nine holes. The 328-yard sixth simply begs the big hitters to chance their arm by attempting to drive the green 269 yards across the lake. For the more faint-hearted it’s play down the fairway on the left but there’s still a tricky second across water to a roller-coaster green. 

On the back nine there are a couple of short holes where you have to flirt with the water and the 18th curves left alongside a lake. It’s only 368 yards but the farther you go the narrower the fairway becomes and the approach is to a long narrow green with pines on the right and water on the left. 

While there take the opportunity to visit the Davis Love III Grill. I can recommend the Jumbo Dog Chilli with fries washed down with a cold beer. 

Back at The Lodge the perfect way to unwind after a round of golf is to have your own 24-hour personal butler draw a Cedar Soak bath before heading down for dinner at the Colt & Alison restaurant. 

While The Lodge has 40 rooms and has a clubby feel which is ideal for golfing groups or couples, many of Sea Island’s guests don’t come for the golf and just down the road at The Cloister can have the full resort experience. 

The Cloister renovated at a cost of $500 million and the venue for the 2004 G8 Summit has 149 luxurious rooms and suites overlooking the ocean and the Black Banks River. With amazingly equipped fitness rooms and one of the leading spas in the country, beachside pools and seven dining options it is perfect for all the family. 

A five-star resort lives or dies by its attention to detail. One example speaks volumes for this resort which commissioned 120 villages in Turkey to make by hand more than 670 Turkish rugs for The Cloister. 

Sea Island points to its enduring attraction by claiming that children who once played on the shore have returned with their children and even their grandchildren to play on that same beach, and couples who honeymooned here often return to celebrate their golden anniversaries. 

If I were to be cast away on this particular island for the rest of my days I’d be quite happy to say: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” 

ACCOMMODATION 

Prices start from $450 per room per night at The Cloister at Sea Island or The Lodge at Sea Island Golf Club. 

TRAVEL 

Flights to Jacksonville (Florida) and Savannah (Georgia) available with a number of US carriers including Continental and Delta from many international US airports. 

GOLF 

A round of golf starts from $200 at the Retreat and Plantation courses and $250 at Seaside. Every round includes a cart and forecaddie. Junior guests (18 and under) play free, Sea Island’s peak seasons are March 1 to May 31 and Sept 1 to Nov 30 Plantation Championship: 7,058 yards, par 72 Back tees: 6,687 yards Ladies: 5,194 yards Seaside Championship: 7,005 yards, par 70 Back tees: 6,557 yards Ladies: 5,048 yards Retreat Championship: 7,106 yards, par 72 Back tees: 6,715 yards Ladies: 5,142 yards

Read more »

Ireland's top ten must-play courses

Ireland always has been a leading golfing destination but following the exploits of major winners, Harrington, McDowell, McIlroy and Clarke, it's attracting even more attention. Vic Robbie selects ten of the best

SCOTLAND may be the Home of Golf but now Ireland is very much the Home of Champions.

It is remarkable that Northern Ireland with a population of only 1.5 million has produced three different winners in the last six majors - Graeme McDowell (2010 US Open), Rory McIlroy (2011 US Open), and this year the 'old man' of the triumvirate at 42, Darren Clarke, adding The Open Championship to the haul. And don't forget, the Republic's Padraig Harrington won a treble of majors (the 2007 and 2008 Open titles and the 2008 US PGA Championship).

What's the secret, everyone wants to know. Is it in the water, certainly it rains quite a bit in Ireland? Or the impressive array of courses?

Open winner Darren Clarke has no doubt. He has moved back to live in Ulster and when at home can often be seen playing the magnificent links of Royal Portrush, which is also McDowell's hometown. It's the only course outside of Scotland and England to have hosted the Open and that was back in 1951.

Clarke donated his gold medal for winning the recent championship at Royal St George's to the club and it is now on show for all visitors to enjoy, and he feels that it's time Ireland had another chance to host golf's oldest major.

The Royal & Ancient are not oblivious to the sentiment and have promised to take another look at the course and environs later this year although The Open rota is fixed until 2014.

With more than 450 courses from the most humble that delight the weekend golfer to the most challenging that demand the highest skills, Ireland claims to be the most popular golfing destination in Europe.

There can be few more dramatic settings. All the ingredients are here - beautiful undulating countryside, brooding mountain peaks, cascading rivers, deep lakes and romantic castles - and you can choose from the old traditional links or the outstanding parkland courses.

Here in no particular order are ten must play courses in Ireland that will give you a taste of the exceptional experience the country has to offer.

Perhaps the only reason that The Open never returned to Portrush is the lack of infrastructure and hotels needed to stage such a massive tournament; certainly it's not the quality of the course that's in doubt. Established in 1888, the club's Dunluce Links can be a spectacular monster, winding along narrow fairways between dunes and severe rough and heather and demanding the most accurate of drives.

When there are holes with names such as 'Calamity Corner', 'Purgatory', 'Himalayas' and 'Giant's Grave' it gives the golfer some indication as to the severe interrogation of their golfing ability that awaits them. This is a glorious location for a golf course, set in a particularly beautiful part of Ireland with the Giant's Causeway, magnificent white sand beaches and lush countryside nearby.

And Royal County Down is equally breathtaking. Set along Dundrum Bay in the town of Newcastle where the Mountains of Mourne really do sweep down to the sea, the 3,000-foot high Slieve Donard towers above the course.

This is a classic links that hosted the 2007 Walker Cup. At 7,181 yards and with nine of the par-4s exceeding 400 yards and with imposing sand dunes covered in gorse and heather, narrow fairways, small undulating greens, and a unwelcome number of blind shots, this is not for the faint-hearted.

In comparison the Nick Faldo championship course on the Lough Erne Resort is a relative newcomer. It also happens to be McIlroy's home course and the 7,167-yard track matches the excellence of golf's newest superstar. Enjoying a spectacular setting on a private 600-acre peninsula between two lochs, the fairways are rock hard, almost links like and it has already picked up a host of accolades.

South of the border and just north of Dublin, Portmarnock's links has hosted many major championships, including the British Amateur Championship, the Walker Cup, the Canada Cup and the Irish Open. Established in 1894 on dune land, Bernard Darwin wrote of it: "I know of no greater finish in the world than that of the last five holes at Portmarnock."

Golf was played here as early as 1858 by a Scottish family, the Jamesons, who had founded a distillery in Dublin in 1780 and used the land as their private golf course.

Many of its holes deserve to be labelled 'classic' but it's probably the 189-yard 15th with the beach and out-of-bounds on the right, which is regarded as the signature hole. Arnold Palmer, who in partnership with Sam Snead won the Canada Cup here, is reputed to have said it is the best par-3 in the world.

Located on a small peninsula, Portmarnock, now 7,645 yards off the championship tees, is bounded by water on three sides and in its early days could only be reached by a boat, or at low tide by horse-drawn carriage.

There's plenty of water too at The K Club with 14 man-made lakes and the River Liffey to contend with. The Kildare Hotel & Country Club carved its name in the history of the game successfully hosting the 2006 Ryder Cup.

With its two championship courses and exclusive 5-star hotel, it is regarded by many as Ireland's premier golfing establishment but it is the sweeping 7,212-yard Palmer Course that is the jewel in the crown. Opened in 1991, it is a blend of challenging parkland, which embodies all the beliefs of the great Arnold Palmer's 'go for broke' attitude to the game.

The 570-yard par-5 seventh, which was the 16th for the Ryder Cup, is the perfect example. It's a mighty double-dogleg, right then left. A good drive gives you the chance to cut the corner across the flowing waters of the River Liffey and make the green in two if you dare. If you lay up, it can be just as hazardous because the green on an island between two arms of the River Liffey is also protected by bunkers and mature trees.

Down In Wicklow Druids Glen has often been called the 'Augusta of Europe', nestling between the Irish Sea and the Wicklow Mountains in the Garden of Ireland. It was named after the Druids Altar - a stone religious altar dating back before Christianity - which overlooks the amphitheatre-like par-3 12th hole. But my favourite hole is the 450-yard 18th, which has water cascading down through three ponds towards you as you climb to the green and the clubhouse, a 1770 manor house.

Druids is a thinking men's course where power alone won't get you round. Drives demand technique, approach shots have to employ careful thought and the greens are fast. It's got the lot. It finishes as it starts, testing the golfer to the limits.

Where would golf be without its humour? When owner Pat Ruddy designed his European links he believed that you can't have too much of a good thing, so he made it a 20-hole course, adding holes 7a and 12a because "we like the game enough to play a little extra". And he also made the green on the 12th 127 yards long "to see the great three-putt restored to the game".

But traditionalists can still play only the 18 holes if they insist.

Further south in Cork is one of the most spectacular courses in the world. Old Head of Kinsale can match the rugged beauty of Pebble Beach and if the price of the green fees doesn't take your breath away then the location on a promontory jutting two miles out into the Atlantic certainly will. It's not for those with vertigo with sheer drops from the tees 200 feet to the breakers below.

So exposed is it to the elements that it has to be closed during the winter, and reportedly once a buggy was blown off the cliffs. It has more than its fair share of dramatic holes running along the coastline, especially the par-3s, which are daunting challenges for players of any ability. Off the championship tees it's 7,215 yards but there are a variety of tees to make it manageable and there are plenty of birdies around - cormorants, peregrine falcons, and guillemots.

You are never far from an outstanding links in Ireland. And Waterville on the Kerry coast is exactly that. As the locals says: "It's so far south and so far west that you can see Boston on a clear day."

Waterville is quite simply the 'beautiful monster' - so called by its designer Eddie Hackett - without a weak hole. The fairways undulate gently as they wind through valleys between elevated tees and massive sand dunes. But there is a saying that "Whoever can conquer Waterville can play on any golf course in the world"

Ask any American golfers to name an Irish golf course and it's odds-on they will mention the Old Course links of Ballybunion, set amidst towering sand hills, alongside the Atlantic Ocean in beautiful County Kerry. For many years Ballybunion has enjoyed the patronage of Americans, who can fly directly into Shannon airport only an hour's drive away.

Tom Watson has done more than anyone to promote the course. He made a habit of warming up for the Open - and he won five of them and almost a sixth at Turnberry - at Ballybunion and was the club captain in the millennium year.

He says: "There is a wild look to the place; the long grass covering the dunes that pitch and roll, make it very intimidating. But the contours on the fairways and the greens are what make it a great course. You must play accurate approach shots, usually to a small target with not a lot of room to miss. It is the best in the world."

Doonbeg on the beautifully rugged Atlantic coast of County Clare is one of the new breed of links having opened in 2002, but so at one is it with its environment that it feels as if it has been there forever. Greg Norman has built a giant of a course set along the golden sands of Doughmore Bay. It's not long - 6,870 yards off the blue tees - yet it is a consummate test of even the best's golfing skills, with massive dunes, deep pot bunkers, tall marram grasses, blind shots, brooks, burns and great sweeping greens and always a capricious wind.

With Doonbeg most holes are memorable and a great many spectacular. None more so than the signature hole (our cover picture), the par-3 14th which clings so precariously to the side of a cliff that it gives the impression of being in danger of sliding into the ocean.

So there's ten must play courses but there are so many others worthy of a mention that if you asked me tomorrow to name them I'd probably give you a very different answer.

Read more »

Golf’s Grand on the Strand

Myrtle Beach is a paradise for golfers where their every whim is catered for. Vic Robbie checks out why this area of South Carolina is often called the seaside capital of golf

AS we rode into town there were signs everywhere ‘Welcome, all you shaggers’ which might have been disconcerting for those unacquainted with the American dance that is almost as addictive as golf itself. We had arrived in the middle of the Shagging Festival that attracts more than 70,000 shaggers to the South Carolina town of Myrtle Beach.

But shag is not the main four-letter word here – golf rules in this town. You can’t get away from it. If ever there was a destination that caters to a golfer’s every whim it’s the Grand Strand, which stretches 70 miles from South Carolina into North Carolina with Myrtle Beach at its centre.

Drive anywhere and if you don’t pass a handful of golf courses you will certainly see giant billboards advertising them. There’s also fiendishly difficult crazy-golf parks and golf outlets on every block with perhaps the most impressive being America’s largest golf-shoe-only store with more than 30,000 pairs in stock.

You can eat in Greg Norman’s Australian Grille and many of the clubs we visited offered a tipple from the Greg Norman Estates.

Several gentlemen’s clubs offer free entry to any golfer handing over his scorecard, although some might be too embarrassed to share their exploits on the fairways with strangers. And one enterprising escort agency even advertises golfing companions to share your buggy for $150 a hour.

But although Myrtle Beach attracts many groups of golfers, it’s also a major holiday resort for all the family with more than 13 million people visiting annually.

With miles of white sand beaches, there’s no such thing as a golf widow in Myrtle Beach. Apart from shopping, you can visit amusement parks, racetracks, haunted houses, Ripley’s, the award-winning aquarium, an alligator park, oceanfront state parks and in the evenings take in Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede and the Carolina Opry.

And you’ll never go hungry as there are more than 1,650 restaurants with succulent seafood, shrimp, crab, fish, oysters and scallops on offer. Nightlife is abundant and Broadway At The Beach offers a choice of every bar and taste imaginable.

As for the golf, it is sensational. In this relatively flat landscape, adorned with sturdy oaks, huge pines and lush waterways, there are more than a hundred golf courses, and you would find it difficult to find a course that disappointed. Yet, surprisingly, it’s the intra-coastal waterway, which runs all the way from New York to Miami, that features in most of the courses rather than the Atlantic as the courses tend not to be built on the coast.

Myrtle Beach’s first course, now known as Pine Lakes, was laid down in 1927 and its grand old clubhouse is worth visiting even if you don’t play the tight tree-lined course. Tipping its hat to the game’s origins, the starters are all dressed in kilts and one starter was actually called Robert Bruce.

Golf’s biggest names, including Greg Norman, Jack Nicklaus, Pete Dye, Davis Love III, Arnold Palmer, Tom Fazio and Gary Player, have all designed courses on the Grand Strand.

Up at Ocean Ridge Plantation, just over the border in North Carolina, they added a new super course, the 7,500-yard Leopard’s Chase, to their collection of the splendid Tiger’s Eye, Panther’s Run and Lion’s Paw courses. Built at a cost of $15million, Leopard’s Chase provides a considerable challenge with its last four holes – 479, 248, 564 and 462 yards respectively – into the prevailing wind providing a monumental test. It was named as one of the ten best new public courses in America in 2007. And they also now have Jaguar’s Lair, which was formerly known as Angel’s Trace.

As with most American courses, they know how to care for their customers. Driving up to the clubhouse, your golf bag is taken away and placed in a buggy and when you leave you pick them up from the same spot with the clubs and shoes having been cleaned and polished.

The game in America wouldn’t be golf if there wasn’t an abundance of sand and water. Lakes, rivers, creeks and ponds are de riguer on most courses and bunkers here are not merely holes in the ground but vast Saharan stretches.

Whatever, the cost of golf is relatively inexpensive and accessible with 105 of the courses open to the public. It’s also possible to play some private courses and, again, you don’t need a second mortgage to tee off. Such is the case with one of the area’s relative newcomers, The Members Club at Grande Dunes, which was designed by former Open champion Nick Price. Grande Dunes also has the Resort Course, which is an enjoyable challenge, but the Members Club is what it says it is. You cannot play unless you are introduced by a member but if you are staying at the Marriott at Grande Dunes, Myrtlewood Villas, or the Marina Inn they can arrange a tee time for you.

This is exclusive with a capital E from its Mediterranean-style clubhouse with its Italian leather armchairs and cashew nut and M&M dispensers (nice touch!) in the locker rooms to the putting green and practice ground with illuminated clocks because no one would be so vulgar as to remind you of your tee time.

Not that you are likely to be rushed, it’s probably one of the least played members’ courses in the world. At present the club has just 185 members which means only 35 rounds on average are played daily and 75 at the weekends, and on Mondays the course is given a rest day.

As they explained: “We don’t want our members and guests to be hassled around the golf course like cattle.”

With a club like this, attention to detail is very important. Even the practice tees are measured to the inch every morning so you can gauge your exact yardage.

Nick is known as the good guy of golf and the course somehow reflects that image. He has put the emphasis on the members’ enjoyment, wanting it to be fair and not artificially difficult. Yet the bent grass greens are fast, being ramped up to 12.5 for the club championship, and the run-off areas can be exasperating.

Wherever you play the standard of the courses is outstanding. A golfer could keep returning to Myrtle Beach for many years and play a different set of courses each visit without finding an inferior track.

Perhaps the most surprising thing is that so many courses coexist in such a relatively small area. But they do and it is good for golfers because courses are not overcrowded – even though more than four million rounds of golf are played annually on the Strand – and green fees are reasonable by European standards.

Spring tends to be the time for groups of men and women on golfing trips, with the summer being more for families who want to play when on vacation, while the autumn again attracts golfing groups. And the winter, well, that’s for anyone escaping the cold for a pleasant all-round 65 degrees.

Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday, the company promoting golf on the Grand Strand, chose four courses for us to play. It must have been difficult for them to select just four to represent their product and it was impossible for us to pick a favourite because each was a delight with different challenges.

Tiger’s Eye had the toughest greens of all – large and undulating – and it was down to the short stick to rescue the round. Tidewater, close to the intra-coastal with wetlands to be negotiated, demanded a thoughtful approach. The Resort Course at Grande Dunes was wide open and immaculate. We’d never seen so many greenkeepers at work on the course since we visited Valderrama in Spain. Thistle, with its Scottish affiliations, was the closest to a links course and its three nines boasted hard and fast greens.

Somehow we never quite made it to the beach, although our accommodation overlooked the Atlantic, but we certainly didn’t miss out on the sand and the water.

And, remember, bring plenty of balls.

ACCOMMODATION

There’s every type of accommodation with approximately 460 hotels and 60,000 rooms in the Myrtle Beach area.

We stayed at the Avista Resort, a condominium complex on the Atlantic Ocean. There are many accommodations like these and they provide good value for money. Basically, apartments with hotel services, even a one-bedroom is spacious with its own lounge, kitchen and balcony.

The friendly Avista with its indoor and outdoor pools and location on the beach in North Myrtle Beach is perfect for families or groups and was ideally placed for the golf courses we visited. (telephone

+1 843 249 2521; email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it '>info@avistaresort.com; or visit www.avistaresort.com

FLIGHTS

Myrtle Beach International Airport, which is designated an alternative landing site for the space shuttle should Cape Canaveral be affected by bad weather.

For travellers from the UK there are no direct scheduled flights. We flew US Airways into Charlotte in North Carolina, where you are processed through immigration and customs, and the connecting flight is less than an hour to Myrtle Beach. Most major airlines fly into Charlotte, or you can fly to Atlanta and pick up a connecting flight.

CAR HIRE

Our hire car was provided by Hertz, the world’s largest car rental organisation. Operating from more than 7,400 locations, Hertz has a selection of vehicles to suit every need, including a range of luxury cars through its prestige collection. To make a reservation, log onto www.hertz.com or call +44 (0)8708 448844.

CLIMATE

Myrtle Beach’s climate is ideal for year-round golf. The spring and autumn are the two busiest golf seasons with the temperature ranging from 68 to 85 degrees.

Read more »

Alabama's hidden gem

Doug Hollandsworth tastes the delights of the Gulf Shores.

I HOPE your summer is going great and you have been able to get out and enjoy a family vacation or have gotten to go play a new golf course or stayed at a wonderful new resort. I have been to many great places as part of my wonderful job, but I had never been to the Gulf Coast of Alabama. I recently visited for a few days and found a hidden gem, which is a wonderful vacation spot. 

I will be going back again and again now. Alabama's Gulf Coast is the perfect destination for beach, golf and fishing holidays, combining nine signature Gulf Shores golf courses with a broad array of some of the best golf vacation lodging options including everything from resortstyle and national-chain hotels to well appointed on-site golf condominiums, to luxury beachfront homes and condos. I got to visit their nine famous signature golf courses, anchored by the Honours Golf Courses which are world class on their own. 

Designed by greats such as Arnold Palmer, Bruce Devlin, Jerry Pate, Earl Stone and Robert Von Hagge, they are all conveniently located within easy driving range of the accommodations. Whatever the reason for the visit, there are a variety of stay-and-play golf packages to suit all pockets. In addition to the golf courses, there are 32 miles of white sand beaches, making Gulf Shores/Orange Beach an ideal vacation destination for all the family. 

Every accommodation partner will customise a golf package to the specific needs and requests for your package group ensuring unlimited golf options for the most enthusiastic golfer. When I was done playing golf there were other adventures and activities to satisfy my thirst. 

If fishing is your bag you can fight a trophy fish on a chartered adventure from Orange Beach, which has one of the country's largest charter boat fleets. Explore historic Fort Morgan or just enjoy the tranquility of nature found in their state parks and wildlife refuges. 

My time in Gulf Shores was topped off by staying at one of the area's nicest hotels, The Island House Hotel, right near Orange Beach. All rooms face the ocean, the rooms are big and comfortable and the food wonderful. 

There are some great restaurants in the area. With the world's best fishing hole as a playground, succulent, fresh-off-the-boat seafood is the order of the day. Sample a different delicacy every day. You can choose from seaside family hangouts where sandy feet are welcome, white-linen candlelit romantic dining for two, or downright dives that serve up some of the finest food and fun to be found. 

Of course, you don't have to have seafood. You'll find plenty of restaurants serving steak, barbecue, Italian, Mexican, pizza, or whatever takes your fancy. For more information visit www.gulfshores. com or www.golfgulfshores.com and tell them you read about their great destination in Golf & Travel magazine. Until next time, safe travels and hit em' straight! Let me hear from you, email me at dhworth@bellsouth.net

Read more »

Scotland on a budget

Scotland is one of golf's leading destinations but it need not be expensive to experience a slice of golfing history.

PLAY golf in Scotland and it's an experience that will stay with you all your golfing life. The Home of Golf offers more than 550 courses from prestigious links to surprising gems and traditional island golf. But you don't have to be out of pocket because there are many good value offers available to make the game accessible to all budgets and skills.

Here are some great deals and surprising golfing treats to be found the length and breadth of the country.

SHETLAND

Thanks to its northerly location, Shetland enjoys extensive daylight during the summer months from 5am in the morning until 10pm at night. During the summer golfing hours can extend until midnight making it the perfect destination for golfers who want to tee off into the wee small hours.

Play Britain's most northerly golf course, Whalsay, the wildlife strewn nine-hole Asta Golf Club with some of the best views found on any course, and the 18-hole Dale golf course just outside Lerwick and at the head of the sea loch of Dales Voe.

Green fees range from £10 - £20 for a day ticket

THE NORTH EAST

In addition to boasting some wonderful golf courses such as Royal Aberdeen, one of the oldest courses in the world and home to the Walker Cup this September, and Cruden Bay with its links to Slains Castle the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula, this area is also rich in history, culture and cuisine. There are more castles per acre than anywhere else in the UK, the world's only malt whisky trail, and more than 50 golf courses to choose from so there's something to tempt the taste buds on and off the course.

Stay and play offers are available at Meldrum House for two nights' dinner, bed and breakfast and a round of golf on Murcar, Cruden Bay and Meldrum for £345pp available until 2012.

FIFE

St Andrews is where it all started so what better way to immerse yourself in golfing history than following in the footsteps of golfing greats and playing the famous Old Course. It is now even easier to play with the new ballot system now extended to 48 hours, giving golfers who have been unable to book in advance a greater chance to make their own piece of golfing history.

In addition to the many courses in St Andrews, there are other golfing gems throughout Fife including Balcomie Links, Elie and Lundin Links as well as Crail Gofling Society, one of the oldest golf clubs in the world. For something a little different try the game of a bygone era - hickory golf. The Kingarrock Hickory Club will provide all the equipment you need. The cost of the round, including a nip, hire of clubs and refreshments on completion is £25.

BORDERS

What most will find surprising about the Borders, other than the championship courses and hidden gems, is the region's proximity to Edinburgh with many courses within an hour of the city centre.

To play golf in the Borders needn't break the bank, Championship courses such as The Roxburghe and the course known as 'the Gleneagles of the South', Cardrona, are included in the Freedom of the Fairways golf pass along with another 19 courses. The pass operates from April until the end of October with a three-day passport, valid for up to six rounds on consecutive weekdays, for just £95 or a five-day passport (valid for up to ten rounds) for £130.

SOUTH WEST

With a mild climate due to the proximity to the Gulf Stream, the south west not only has some of Scotland's most historical golf courses and insights into Scottish history, it is also the ideal place to play golf all year round.

To experience some of Scotland's history while playing golf try Lochmaben Golf Course, which lies close to the site of Robert the Bruce's castle, and as well as the golfing challenge there is a huge defensive motte to contend with.

Dumfries & Galloway offers fantastic value and quality for golfers. The Tiger Trail and the Gateway to Golf Pass offer a range of great deals starting at £80 for a three-round pass or £120 for a six-round pass.

PERTHSHIRE

Perthshire is renowned as having some of the finest courses in the country - Gleneagles has three championship courses: the King's Course and Queen's Course, and the more recent PGA Centenary Course, the setting for the 2014 Ryder Cup.

Away from the championship courses there's a wealth of James Braid and Tom Morris designed courses providing stunning scenery and an insight into the history of the area. The Perthshire Green Card provides the ideal way to play courses such as Blairgowrie, Alyth, Taymouth Castle and Pitlochry; available at £99 for five rounds and £65 for three rounds.

HIGHLANDS

Playing in the shadows of the Cairngorm mountain range is sure to surprise even the most travelled of golfers. The Boat of Garten golf course does exactly that with stunning views of the mountains and the occasional passing steam train all adding to a special golf experience.

At Royal Dornoch, in the Sutherland area of the Highlands, there's a chance you might share a fairway with a celebrity. Over the years the legendary links course, the third oldest course in the world, has built a dedicated following of well-known personalities, many of whom are honorary members. Take advantage of the Dornoch Firth golf pass and receive 30 percent discount a round at Royal Dornoch, Brora, Golspie, and Tain. The pass cost £30 and is valid for 12 months.

Read more »

Dubai’s Desert Golf

Dubai has become a major golf destination and Minty Clinch road tests its collection of high calibre courses

‘LET there be Golf’. So said the rulers of Dubai when they decided to reinvent their Emirate, one of seven in the U.A.E, as the centre of the modern universe in the late 1980s. On the face of it, the omens were unpromising. Sand stretched to far horizons, empty camelcoloured sand. Water? You must be joking.

Fairways are thirsty beasts, but the sheiks didn’t allow a trifle like that to stand in their way.

Instead their minds focused on the gain beyond the pain. Tycoons would bond more seamlessly in shared golfing adversity. High achieving foreign nationals, among them the architects and project managers required to create a new world order, would welcome an alternative use for the cash they’d spend in the pub in a more booze-friendly society. Celebrities with shedloads of money would fly in for golf tournaments with imposing titles – Desert Classic probably came into the mix, though The Race to Dubai was still some way down the line.

Even the sun-baked tourists might welcome occasional relief from grilling and buying gold. From the tour operator’s point of view, the perceived wisdom is that three decent courses make a destination. Play each twice and you’ve got enough for a week.

Say that in Dubai and they’ll think you’re crazy. At the moment, there are seven 18-hole layouts within 40 kilometres of the city centre. In less than three years, there’ll be 12, with more in the pipeline.

When the sheiks build, they build in bulk – and they build now. When you remember that every blade of grass struggles to survive, its only lifeline expensively desalinated or recycled water, this is truly the stuff that dreams are made of.

THE EMIRATES

Desert golf is, by definition, fairly flat and wholly artificial but Dubai’s courses offer surprising architectural and conceptual variety. The gold standard is the Emirates Club, famous for its much-photographed clubhouse inspired by a group of Bedouin tents.

The Majlis, the first grass layout in the Middle East when it opened in 1987, is now home to the Dubai Desert Classic, a prestigious winter fixture on the European Tour. It has a genuine desert feel, with open horizons and stretches of scrubby sand in addition to the full quota of more traditional bunkers. The greens are subtly infuriating, large, contoured and unreadable. Unimaginably, you may sometimes be grateful to three putt here.

Contrastingly, the Wadi, the second Emirates course, is the ultimate in urban golf, so close to the tower blocks at some points that you could catch a glimpse of CNN on the huge plasma screens as you drive past. The wadi – or valley – that gave it its name runs through it, adding character and unforeseen hazards for first timers.

Nick Faldo, who redesigned the course in 2006, makes good use of it and also of the water he’s incorporated into all but two of the holes. As early Faldo designs like Chart Hills suggest, the maestro has a liking for bunkering on a grand scale, a taste he indulges in this dramatic money-no-object layout. With a few genuine desert trees factored into the mix, this is a course that rewards strategy so take the time to pause for thought.

THE MONTGOMERIE

Just down the road, Colin’s creation was an oasis surrounded by sand when it opened in 2002. Now its fairways are lined with 12-bedroom palaces and its skyline is filled with Emirate Hills tower blocks. Four years ago, there were four. Now there are 90. And the cranes are still in there, cranking up building materials around the clock.

The fairway homes have also shot up, but in value with fourfold increases over the same period.

Nowadays when he stays, its in the new 20-room hotel in the Montgomerie suite, its decor dominated by vibrant red, not his best colour, but one he wears frequently.

Real estate led though it is, it’s impossible not to love the Monty for its combination of sybaritic luxury and informality. The new clubhouse incorporates the hotel and the Angsana Spa, staffed by masseurs trained at the Banyan Tree in Phuket, but the family-friendly Bunkers Spike bar serves reasonably priced fish and chips and shepherds pie on the terrace overlooking the 18th green.

Nineteen specialises in upscale Pacific Rim cooking from an open kitchen, but there is respect for tradition in the smoking arrangements. While handsome men in Arab robes huddle over their shisha hubble bubbles on a secluded terrace, the western-minded gather in the Monte Cristo Cigar Bar for cocktails, malt whiskies and billiards.

Oh yes, and there’s a course as well, immaculately run by Arizona’s Troon Golf and very playable given sensible tee selection - Black Pearl is the toughest, Ruby the ladies’ choice.

I don’t know what Monty was thinking of when he designed the 13th, a weird par-3 with an island green shaped like the United Arab Emirates and predictably credited with being the largest in the world. A 1.2km cart path runs round the perimeter of the lake that encloses it, giving access to the different tees. Even in an environment as artificial as this one, it’s in a class apart – or is it an embarrassing mistake?

The jury’s still out on that one.

ARABIAN RANCHES

Finding the Monty’s sister course takes needles in haystacks to new levels. On the map, it looks simple. Turn inland at Ski Dubai, drive until you hit the autodrome and it’s on your left. In practice, it’s lost in the middle of 5,000 alarmingly lookalike villas and the signposting is minimal. No matter.

Keep asking for directions from the guardians of these closed communities and you’ll get there in the end.

Surprisingly, it’s worth it. Overall, Dubai golf is pretty high end, but Arabian Ranches has a touch of grass roots that guarantees a large expat membership. People carry clubs or pull trolleys, for God’s sake, an unthinkable arrangement at the other clubs, which include the price of a buggy, often compulsory, in the green fee. The downside is the members play shotgun competitions all weekend - Friday and Saturday in the UAE – which prevent visitors from getting a game. So choose your day, but don’t give up because this is a course with lots of character.

Designed by Ian Baker Finch, the likeable Australian whose Open triumph at Royal Birkdale in 1991 was followed by a legendary slide into oblivion, it has no water and no defined bunkers, just large stretches of sand and scrub rough crowding the fairways. At times, the villas are a bit close for comfort, but hey, nothing’s perfect. The Spanish colonial clubhouse has 11 guestrooms – not recommended unless you prefer to be way out of the mainstream – and the Ranches Restaurant and bar, modelled on a London gents’ club with grub to match.

A very civilised spot for a pint or five.

DUBAI CREEK

Although the Emirates tents run it close, the clubhouse design prize goes to Dubai Creek for its white sails simulating an Arab dhow. Peace ruled when I first visited it, but boomtime has arrived in the shape of a villa city and the Park Hyatt Hotel. Freeing up waterfront space for these developments meant relocating the front nine – courtesy of Thomas Bjorn – in 2005, but the course retains its creekside finishing stretch, the narrow 17th and the deadly 18th.

Water, water everywhere is the cry here, with more balls drowned than saved, but all is forgiven on the final green, framed by those iconic sails reflected in the tranquil waters of the Creek. Provided you reach it, of course.

The Lake View terrace bar and restaurant live up to the name at any time of day and much of the night, while the Aquarium in the Yacht Club – inevitably boat-shaped – offers tables set around a circular glass pillar full of – yes, you guessed it – tropical fish.

No danger of running out of conversation when you can ‘ooh’ and ‘ah’ your way through the menu in such glittering circumstances.

The Dubai Creek visitors’ green fee includes all day use of a handsome swimming pool, a bonus reserved for members at other clubs.

FOUR SEASONS GOLF CLUB AT AL BADIA

The course, by Robert Trent Jones Jnr, aims to please all golfers most of the time and it fulfils its brief to perfection.

It’s spacious and immaculate, with white flamingos on the fairways and little waterfalls in some of the many lakes. The clubhouse is less successful, a bulky shiny carbuncle that few would associate with golf. In its grandiose way, it is as distinctive as the downtown Burj Arab, seen in the background wherever you hit the ball. The Burj is the world’s tallest and arguably one of its ugliest buildings. Instead of being streamlined in the usual tower block manner, it is a narrow stack of non-aligned chunks, a technical miracle that allows for further upward mobility if it’s ever in danger of being overtaken by rival high rises, but one that does no service to aesthetics.

The Al Badia clubhouse is fatter and lower, but it posts its intentions just as clearly, a message underlined by the Four Seasons management. The top end chain is normally associated with hotels and although Al Badia has no bedrooms, it has everything else you’d need for conferences and fine corporate dining. The interiors are cool and soothing, with a choice of three restaurants, Blades for multi-cultural, Quattro for posh Italian and the Tea Lounge for tea and whisky. And I was impressed by the Jacuzzis in the locker rooms, ladies as well as gents.

Dubai’s golfing future is fast tracking furiously to meet pressing deadlines. The Ernie Els Dunes course at Victory Heights has opened and will soon be joined by the Tiger Woods inaugural layout nearby.

The hottest news is the Race for Dubai, the name to be assumed by the European Tour for a minimum of five years from 2009. The final tournament, previously held in Valderrama, will take place on the Jumeriah Golf Estates in November for a purse of £10 million, with added bonuses for front runners in the European Order of Merit. Compare that with purses of £3.5 million for the Masters and £4 million for The Open at Carnoustie in 2007 and it’s easy to imagine how fierce competition will be to be in the 60-strong field.

The tournament can be played on any of the four Jumeriah courses, Fire, Earth, Water and Wind, currently under construction. Fire and Earth are by Greg Norman, Water by Vijay Singh and Wind by Sergio Garcia, his first design.

Allegedly his plan is to express his ebullient personality as wind power. We’ll have to wait and see what that means in terms of turf and sand, but when it comes to opulent golf, it’s clear we ain’t seen nothing yet.

Read more »