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 […]
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 […]
Eagle Ridge Resort and Spa, Illinois
In the collective American mind, a principal characteristic of the Midwest is flatness. Regions of Michigan and Minnesota to the north or the Ozarks to the south form exceptions, but most of the Midwest is strictly on the level. For golfers, this conjures up Midwestern resort courses dependent on water hazards for definition and bulldozers […]
Sunningdale Golf Club Old Course, England
The original course at this venerated 36-hole club offers heathland golf at its most bewitching
Great Seaside Golf on Prince Edward Island, Canada
Prince Edward Island (PEI) is connected to the New Brunswick mainland by an eight-mile bridge. For about six months of every year, the maritime lifestyle and pastoral setting draw legions of visitors, many of whom have been coming here for generations to stay at the colorful inns and bed-and-breakfasts near the beaches—and to play the […]
