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 […]
West Virginia: Golf at The Greenbrier
“Taking the waters.” It’s a notion that harkens to another time, when the rich and famous went to the country for the restorative effects of the mineral springs found there. The spirit of modern spas and resorts owes much to these springs, one of the first of which was the one at White Sulphur […]
Confidential Guide to Playing Golf in Australia
It takes a long time to get to Australia—more than 14 hours by air from Los Angeles—but today’s trip is hardly as taxing as the six weeks’ ocean voyage that Dr. Alister MacKenzie had to endure to make his landmark consulting visit to Royal Melbourne Golf Club in 1926. Because he went, so do […]
The Good Life: Golf in Provence
When dining in the clubhouse at Pont Royal, one is obliged to meet the head chef, Thierry Candaele, a barrel-chested Frenchman with curly gray hair and abundant bonhomie. In the Gallic fashion he glides from table to table, doling out multilingual pleasantries, accepting well-erned compliments and making sure that all is just so. But […]
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 […]
French Lick’s Third Century
New owners of the French Lick Springs Resort & Spa recently announced plans to renovate the Donald Ross-designed Hill Course there. It was hard to hear the news and not feel anxiety. Followed by trepidation. Angst, even. The Hill is an 85-year-old heirloom, one of the last virtually untouched Ross designs anywhere. To play […]
The Links at Fancourt, South Africa
Gary Player may be the greatest ambassador South Africa has ever known, and for golfers, there may be no better reason to visit Player’s native country than his 2000 design, The Links at Fancourt. Part of a 72-hole resort and residential community, the par-73, 7,748-yard layout sits on a former airfield, in view of the […]
Golf in Montego Bay, Jamaica: Round Up
On the 11th hole at Tryall Golf Club on the northwest coast of Jamaica, my ball lands beneath a tree with large round orbs popping out from the leaves. “Papaya?” I query my caddie, Howell. “Coconut,” he answers. “Not yet ripe.” Later, Howell points out breadfruit and mango trees. Then Cecil, another caddie, walks […]
Golf Travel: Brainerd Lakes, Minnesota
Summers are short in Minnesota, but the days are long, and golf-mad locals make the most of them. With daylight lingering until 9:30 in peak season, locals find it easy to get a round in after work or play 36 on a day off. In fact, Minnesotans are more passionate about golf than everything […]
Royal Porthcawl Golf Club, Wales
A prospective guest at Royal Porthcawl appears before the club’s secretary. A round at Porthcawl, arguably the finest layout in Wales, is no small feather in a golfer’s cap, and its guest policy is somewhat more stringent than at most courses in the British Isles. Thus, the interview with the all-powerful secretary is neither […]
