Golf Travel: A Trip to Newport, Rhode Island
No American city has a better golf pedigree than Newport. The first U.S. Open and Amateur were played at Newport Country Club, one of the five founding clubs of the U.S. Golf Association. But the town is better known for sailing—it hosted the America’s Cup from 1930 to 1983—and as the summer playground of […]
New York Golf Travel: The Otesaga Resort Hotel
Mention Cooperstown and baseball invariably springs to mind. Home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, this charming village in upstate New York is a sacred spot to purists of the game. At the opposite end of town are a grand hotel and golf course that you might not be so aware of. But […]
California Golf Travel: Ojai Valley Resort
When architect Jay Morrish came to Southern California in 1988 to renovate the classic Ojai Valley Inn golf course, he was greeted with a perplexing situation: Two of the original holes had vanished. The solution to this mystery, Morrish quickly discovered, was that the holes had been bulldozed during WWII when the U.S. Army […]
California Golf Travel: Santa Barbara
Drifting north on El Camino Real, the “King’s Highway” that links California’s 21 colonial missions, I can sense Junipero Serra’s presence in the red-tile roofs and whitewashed adobe walls all around us. My wife, for some reason, cannot. “Nobody can walk that far for that long and not collapse,” she insists. But Serra, a […]
Risk Reward Holes: Casino Golf Courses
Barona Valley Ranch Resort and Casino Barona Creek Golf Club Lakeside, Calif. Best gambling hole: No. 14, par 4, 316 yards “A short tight fairway, with a mountainous natural reserve to the right. Most of the time it’s downwind, so it’s appealing. I’ve taken everything from a 2 to a 9. That’s what makes […]
California Golf Travel: Palm Springs
I just had to see Frank’s house before leaving Palm Springs. The map said it was close to O’Donnell’s nine-holer, the first course ever built in the desert, back in 1925. Armed with a self-guided star map and a handful of Rat Pack CDs, I was plotting the perfect conclusion to my retro golf […]
Fairmont Grand Del Mar Golf Resort
With its shops, restaurants and galleries, the tony oceanfront burg of Del Mar, just north of Torrey Pines, more resembles a European village than a California town. So the Fairmont Grand Del Mar, a cozy 249-room Mediterranean-style resort, is of a piece with its setting. The resort was inspired by the work of early […]
A Golf Trip to Palm Springs, California
Set against the striking San Jacinto Mountain range, this desert oasis with year-round blue skies is a mecca for first-class golf, shopping and dining. And with more than 100 courses in the area, the problem isn’t getting tee times; it’s deciding which courses to play. Golf The Bob Hope Chrysler Classic utilizes four courses. Of […]
Our Top Tips for Golf Travelers in China
Because of China’s size and its often confusing regulations, a tour with a company like Haversham & Baker, which can handle the myriad logistics, is the best bet. The company’s founder, Sam Baker, offers some tips on negotiating the Middle Kingdom: The best golf is in the south, where it is very hot and […]
The Ancient Game: The Rise of Golf in Turkey
For decades, the only intersection between golf and turkey was a club sandwich in the grillroom. But Turkey, the country that sits at the timeless crossroads between East and West and has been a cradle of civilizations, is now embracing another culture-crossing endeavor: golf. The only question is what took so long. Turkey’s Mediterranean […]
