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 […]
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 […]
A Long Weekend at The Omni Homestead, Virginia
Where to Play: Cascades: Sam Snead helped build this Golden Age William Flynn course and honed his Hall-of-Fame game on it as its first head pro. The front nine is built into the hillsides, while the back features one of the most unusual and fun finishes in golf with two par 3s bookending two […]
Wentworth Club, Surrey, England
South of London, the Wentworth Club boasts two world-class layouts. The East was laid out in 1924 by Harry Colt, the father of British course architecture. Colt ran the East through a forest of fir and silver birch that afforded a natural sense of isolation. Patches of purple heather lined the fairways and large […]