There were moments during my recent Thailand golf trip that I had to remind myself that it’s the United States that is supposed to be the developed, happy, first world nation. This was especially true flying from Bangkok to Los Angeles. Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport, like most of Asia’s airports (you don’t know how bad you have it in 90% of America’s airports until you fly around Asia) is a marvel both architecturally and logistically. It should be, considering it took 50 years to build. Then our flight landed in LAX, half under construction, inoperable escalators, confusing signs and their arcane, ...

The International Association of Golf Tour Operators are in Malaga, Spain for their tourism conference, and last night they voted Orlando as the Top North American Golf Destination for 2010. Get beyond Disney World, Wet ‘n Wild and those funky upside down Ripley’s buildings on I-Drive, and you’ll find there are 177 golf courses in greater Orlando, a staggering number for any metropolitan area. Variety is a big factor in Orlando’s success as a golf destination, since you can find anything from multi-course golf resorts to scores of 18-hole golf clubs of varying standard. It seems like everyone at some ...

Canadians love Myrtle Beach golf. I can’t tell you how many I’ve played with when I’m down there. During January and February I’d always get a kick out of the snowbirds, many of whom were Canadian, waiting out a frost delay on the putting green at 9 a.m. in shorts and a tee shirt, while I’m in the clubhouse clutching a hot chocolate and tap dancing to stay warm. Canadians also have no problem with driving to the beach, even if it’s 10, 12, 14 hours to get there. Well, Torontonians can still make the drive, but now you ...

This golf travel blog is always a friend to those who can help save money on green fees, and I’ve been made abreast of a new online, last-minute tee times program that could do just that for Myrtle Beach golfers. TeeUpTomorrow.com. Those who live around Myrtle Beach or will be visiting the area for golf should look into joining the new program that will help you save cash on tee times, that is if you’ll be forgoing the popular Myrtle Beach golf package in favor a last-minute approach. This website can save some serious coin as long as you can ...

A new golf blog catering to those of us wanderlusting travel golfers is up and running a couple months now, and it’s a good one, so bookmark it: Click here to check out PerryGolf’s new travel blog. PerryGolf is one of the world’s largest golf packagers with many years of experience checking out the best golf courses, especially over in Scotland and Ireland, two countries I try and make it to often for links golf. The blog isn’t just talking about their own golf package deals, anything but actually. They offer a wealth of unbiased advice that any traveling golfer ...

The scrutiny can stop, if just for this week at least. Michelle Wie is an LPGA winner, winning the Ochoa Invitational in Mexico Sunday by two shots over Paula Creamer. Wie closed in style, going up-and-down from a bunker for birdie on the 18th hole. Wie showed at the Solheim Cup that she’s easily the most talented European or American golfer and it was only a matter of time before she shed the mighty winner’s goose egg. That happened this weekend at Guadalajara Country Club. No, it’s not a major or an event that carries a lot of cache, but ...

I’ve played about 20-plus golf courses in Ireland over two trips since 2006, and it’s pretty evident the two best pockets of links golf courses are Northern Ireland and southwest Ireland’s counties Kerry and Clare. Yes, I’m slighting the northwest and Dublin-area links, which are both worthy of a tour of their own, but I think they’re better complimentary regions compared to these two heavyweights. But what I’ve noticed after my most recent trip to Ireland in early October is that the southwest and north are two very different travel experiences. Click here for my column on the pros and ...

HUA HIN, THAILAND – After a busy week of golf in Thailand, it’s time to make the journey back home to Texas. Our group visited three very different cities while here that all offer varying speeds of life and golf styles, one of which would probably suit your golf group the best. Bangkok, of course, is massive. It reminds me of Houston in a way, because the city just keeps going on and on and on with tall buildings scattered all over with no rhyme or reason, and the traffic is brutal. The golf is more of a compliment to ...

BANGKOK, THAILAND – Muang Kaew Golf Club is the closest golf course to sprawling Bangkok, a city that feels like there’s no center and no end. It’s a pretty urban-feeling environment in most spots, which includes a walk under a freeway and teeing off on a par 5 over a net and house - how Thailand golf does the Road hole in St. Andrews, perhaps. It’s an older club, but received a facelift from Schmidt-Curley in 1998 and today is a good test of golf. Golf packager GolfAsian.com says it’s often the first course of an itinerary in Thailand given ...

PATTAYA, Thailand - Two days into our Thailand golf trip, and I’m already nervous about returning back home to the United States and the land of western prices. I can see it now: “Six bucks for lunch? Are you kidding me?” “Caddies are $60 plus $30 tip? C’mon!” In a lot of areas, from transportation to accommodation to services, Thailand is almost laughably inexpensive. I’m of the belief that those who take a vacation are going to end up spending a finite amount of money. It’s just that here, that allocated vacation budget is going to leave you spoiled. Daily ...

To get myself in the Halloween spirit for the weekend I was just reading William K. Wolfrum’s feature on haunted golf courses, from Willbrook Plantation in Myrtle Beach for its old plantation ruins to Trilogy at Vistancia. I’d like to add a couple more golf courses across the pond to the list, one of which I just played a couple weeks ago: Ballybunion’s Old Course in Ireland. Those who have played Ballybunion know exactly why: the cemetery to the right of the first hole. It’s a little eerie and quite a fitting way to kick off a round on a ...

It may be golf’s off-season to some, but there’s a pretty strong field in tow this week on the European Tour. Pros like Anthony Kim, Sergio Garcia and Retief Goosen are competing at one of the most impressive new resorts I’ve seen in my golf travels this year: Finca Cortesin Golf Resort in Spain’s Costa Del Sol for the Volvo World Match Play Championship. The resort is set up into the hills a couple miles from the Mediterranean coast and just minutes from such prestigious older courses as Valderrama and Sotogrande Real Golf Club. Finca’s golf course is a Cabell ...

Lets all give a special thanks to Parker McLachlin, the “groundbreaking” professional golfer who is the first to have tweeted during an actual PGA Tour competition round Sunday at the Frys.com Open at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, thus setting the “Is golf a sport?” debate back to the time golfers were known for their beer bellies and being unable to climb out of a bunker without hyperventilating. McLachlin’s Twitter feed blessed us all with this wonderful insider knowledge of what goes through a professional athlete’s head in the heat of competition: “Just made birdie on 4. Waiting on 5th ...

Here’s a bit of news I came across this week that seems to represent a growing shift in the world of private golf and country clubs: The Detroit Athletic Club and Forest Lake Country Club have entered a merger agreement which would combine the downtown amenities of the Detroit Athletic Club and golf amenities of Forest Lake north of the city in Bloomfield HIlls. Private clubs all over, not just in Michigan are struggling to stay afloat. I think one of the main reasons is that the younger generation moves around a lot, so we’re not going to pay a ...

Machrihanish Dunes is one of Scotland’s most talked about new golf courses this year. Over on our sister site ScotlandGolf.com, we’ve got the most thorough review of the new course to date from Special Contributor Larry Olmsted. For those who have yet to make the trip down to out-of-the-way Campbeltown, this is a great primer on what to expect. Click here for the full review of Machrihanish Dunes. A few months ago, we posted a story here on WorldGolf.com on the reader feedback about Machrihanish Dunes. To summarize, the reviews weren’t all that great. In fact, it had strikingly ...

Reports from the European Tour this week reveal two tournaments are being added to their 2010 Race to Dubai schedule, while three existing events will be dropped. But one of the new events that caught my eye is by no means a new tournament: The King Hassan II Trophy in Morocco’s capital city of Rabat. Morocco’s largest sporting event, it was founded by the late King Hassan II along with the assistance American golf legend Billy Casper 35 years ago in order to help spread golf to new places. Since then, it’s been a tournament that’s slid somewhat under ...

For the first time since 1900, the Road Hole on the Old Course in St. Andrews will be lengthened. In preparation for the 2010 Open Championship, a new tee will be built about 35 yards behind the current tee box on the famous 17th, which requires a drive over the storage shed of the Old Course Hotel. Now pros will have to pick out a new target line on the shed from the new tee and will face a more dangerous approach shot into the green. Said R & A Chief Executive Peter Dawson of the switch: “Over the years, ...

Another 72-hole, stroke play golf event. Forgive me if I’m not giddy with excitement for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janiero, when golf will be on the menu for the first time in over a century. True, it’s no FedEx Cup format that requires M.I.T. math skills to track, but I don’t understand why the committee resorted to such a pedestrian format. Was is lack of creativity or pure laziness? This is going to leave a lot of golf fans with an about face. Most of whom will agree that omitting any kind of match play event is ...

I’ve yet to play all of Eire’s links courses, but I’ve played a good amount of the best in two trips in the last few years. And after a round at Ballybunion last week, I’m convinced I’ve seen the isle’s top links hole: The long, tumbling, seaside 11th. Most links courses tend to have a dynamite par 3, like Doonbeg’s 14th and nearby Lahinch’s wacky “Dell.” Ballybunion has several great one-shotters, including two back-to-back on the home nine. But I’m more impressed with a long, snaking par 4 that tumbles through dunes, and Ballybunion’s 11th has it all. The tee ...

COUNTY CLARE, IRELAND – After my first day back in Ireland since the spring of 2007, I’m already convinced that early October is a much better time to take a golf trip than the first half of March. For starters, I actually see golfers out and about here at Doonbeg, taking advantage of an un-Irish-like calm, sunny day where I was in short sleeves a full 18 holes. In March, the tee sheets are open and the green fees are cheap, but the pubs are dead and you can get turned away for dinner if you come after 7:30 ...

For what seems like the first time since Annika Sorenstam was dominating the tour, ESPN cares about the LPGA for reasons other than what Michelle Wie is up to. This event comes thanks to 14-year-old Alexis Thompson’s opening round 65 at the the Navistar Classic (which is being replayed on Golf Channel tonight). She was the leader in the clubhouse for awhile before Janice Moodie carded a 64. Wie, by the way, shot a 66, which was hardly even mentioned by the anchors. I’m speechless. Getting the LPGA more respect starts with getting a hold of the fair weather sports fan, ...

The final push for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games is on. The Olympic committee will vote on the host city October 2nd in Copenhagen, and also vote to determine if golf should make its re-entry into the games. President Obama and the First Lady are both in Copenhagen this week pushing for their hometown of Chicago. The three other finalist cities are Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janiero. Madrid and Chicago would make the most sense for golf’s entry in to the Olympics, with Cog Hill in Chicago available and numerous good courses surrounding Madrid. Tokyo and Rio have golf, ...

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem foreshadowed a little gloom last week regarding the future of some PGA Tour title sponsors, and we’ve already got our first casualty: The Verizon Heritage Classic on Hilton Head Island, staged on Harbour Town Golf Links will not renew its contract after it ends in 2010. It doesn’t surprise me that the first stop to lose its sponsor is a one that Tiger Woods doesn’t compete in. The Heritage traditionally plays the week after the Masters, so many big names take the week off. It’s not Tiger’s doing the sponsorship is gone. Prize money has ...

Golf World magazine released their new golf course Readers Choice Awards this week, and while I’m always pretty skeptical of course rankings, I’m really liking the Golf World user-feedback ranking system. It produces a more honest list for the everyday golfer compared to Golf Magazine’s panel that is more old guard. I especially like how Golf World created three stand-alone categories: Public, Resort and Private, because each serves a completely different purpose for their patrons. Also, there are ten categories, from conditioning to off-course amenities, so this rates a club on the overall experience, which is closer to what the ...

Summer may be over in Michigan, but there’s still golf amongst the changing of the fall colors to be played in October. So we’re not adverse to rolling out more articles in the next couple weeks from my recent northern Michigan golf trip, where I played nine courses in five days and could count every cloud I saw in the sky during the week on one hand. Here’s a few things we’ve posted from the jam-packed trip thus far, with plenty more on the way: I was a guest on the Michigan Talk Network with Michael Patrick Shiels in ...

Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday has a special going at the moment: Buy 40 golf trips, get one free. Okay, I jest. But for a foursome from Pennsylvania, they celebrated their 40th Myrtle Beach golf trip in a row in with a complimentary golf vacation courtesy of Golf Holiday. Local TV news caught up to them on their trip at the Grande Dunes Members Club, quite a step up, considering these guys booked their first trip for $25 a day 40 years ago. Click here to watch, and click here for my review of Grande Dunes from earlier this spring, a ...

If you’ve been considering a Costa Del Sol golf vacation to Spain, here’s as good of an excuse as any to take the plunge: The Costa Del Sol Golf Challenge, held March 9th-14th on four area golf courses around Marbella: Los Flamingos, Gran Flamingos, San Roque New Course and La Quinta. The format will be a four-man,l best ball 3/4 Stableford. One golf package for the event that’s popped up on my radar from Simply Golf Holidays includes five nights accommodations at Hotel Andalucia Plaza, gala dinner, welcome reception, golf transfers and more for €680 (about $950). And the good ...

The paspalum turf domino effect is continuing along the world’s island and warm weather golf courses. Following next door Kiahuna Golf Club and the Princeville Makai’s lead, Poipu Bay Golf Course on the Hawaiian island of Kauai will close in April of 2010 for approximately eight months to reseed their bermuda greens with salt tolerant, water-efficient paspalum. When I played Poipu Bay a few years ago, it was as scenic of a coastal course as there is in this world, but the greens were a bit more grainy compared to Princeville and next door Kiahuna (which already uses paspalum form ...

Is there anything more anti-climactic than when you’re watching a football game on TV and there’s a huge, 80-yard run to win the game, the crowd goes wild, and the camera cuts to a cluster of fans and 90% of them are, you guessed it, TEXTING!! It drives me nuts that so many fans twiddle on their phones all game. And in sports like baseball or hockey, it’s damned dangerous. Fans should have their eye on the ball/puck at all times because it could be flying at their skull any second. At baseball stadiums, I’m convinced that at any given ...

This week, Myrtle Beach will celebrate the ground breaking of a new $6 million beachfront boardwalk that will extend from 14th Ave North to 2nd Ave North. Click here for info and artists renditions of the project. Apparently this boardwalk has been a long time in the making, though I’d assume any project that takes place on the coast has a good deal of hoops to jump through: The $6 million boardwalk project was conceived in 1999 as a development that would enhance the Myrtle Beach visitor experience and revitalize Myrtle Beach’s downtown sector. Traversing through the sand ...

Fresh up on TravelGolf.com is a feature on San Francisco Bay-area golf leading up to the Presidents Cup next month. I visited the Bay Area for the first time in August for four days, checking out municipal Harding Park Golf Course and Olympic Club’s par-3 Cliffs Course (where hang gliders are flying over you at all times) and the Links at Bodega Harbour over the Golden Gate Bridge north in Sonoma. The feature includes both golf and off-course things to do, timely for those who will be at the event but serves as a starter guide should you be headed ...

I travel a lot to play golf, but I’ve never teed it up in Arizona, New Mexico or California’s desert. According to Golf Magazine’s latest Top 100 Golf Courses in America rankings, I’m not missing much. I’ve been perusing their new list a bit since they were released recently, just as I’ve done since I was about ten years old and discovered there were better courses in the world compared to my ol’ munis in Ann Arbor. Even the folks at Golf will tell you their rankings aren’t perfect. I don’t think anyone’s asking for “perfect,” we just don’t want ...

Serena Williams’ meltdown at a defenseless (and what looks like correct) line judge at the U.S. Open this weekend was difficult to watch. Brandt Snedeker’s Sunday four-putt on the 18th hole at the BMW Championship was gut-wrenching TV of a different variety. Sports fans last remember the bashful Snedeker from the 2008 Masters, when he entered the back nine on Sunday as the best shot to catch eventual champion Trevor Immelman. He faltered at Amen Corner and broke down into tears afterwards. A lot of us out there became fans of Snedeker after his raw showing of emotion. It makes ...

A noteworthy free golf giveaway just came across my desk: a five-night, six-round giveaway, including rental car and accommodations for two in Alberta’s Canadian Rockies good for the summer of 2010. I visited the six clubs in July, and they offer a wonderful mix of courses that all share one similar element: mountain golf in the heart of the Canadian wilderness. Few, if any destinations make you feel such a part of nature as here. This golf destination isn’t new. The 1920s brought two Stanley Thompson courses, Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and Fairmont Banff Springs. For fans of classical golf ...

One of the Rocky Mountain West’s most prolific modern golf course architects, Jim Engh, serves up two northern Michigan golf designs, and both are welcomed additions in the past decade to the state’s already rich golf scene here: Tullymore Golf Club and True North Golf Club. Both are very visually pleasing to the eye (and the camera if you’ve got it with you), but have their share of differences too. Tullymore is set on 800 acres of wetlands in Stanwood. The terrain is mostly flat, relying on a lot of shaping and mounding to keep things interesting, plus a lot more ...

CHARLEVOIX, MI – Twice in my golf travel lifetime have I played more than 36 holes in one day, and both are courtesy of the courses of Northern Michigan. A few years back, my friend and I took on 54 holes at the Garland Resort, thanks to long summer days and four first tee boxes of championship courses located within a couple hundred yards of each other at one facility. This past week, it was a bit more complicated: We started by teeing off at the crack of dawn at Dunmaglas near Charlevoix, followed by an hour drive to Treetops ...

One of the United Kingdom’s most comprehensive golf course rankings is giving a little more love to the Duke’s Course in St. Andrews. Top100GolfCourses.co.uk placed them at 37th in crowded Scotland, up from 44th in its last rating. I’ve played the Duke’s twice now, and it’s really quite a good heathland course that is getting better. It has some phenomenal views of St. Andrews, most notably from the back tee box of the 500-plus yard par-4 7th hole and the clubhouse. Herb Kohler of Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run fame bought the Old Course Hotel and Duke’s Course back in ...

My buddy and I were at the store yesterday looking for some casual Sunday six packs, and we left the beer aisle with two Oregon brews: Deschutes Mirror Pond and Widmer Hefeweizen. It got me thinking later that night, about a week removed from my second trip to Oregon for golf, that it’s probably the best golf state in the union for a lot of reasons. And I say that as a devout supporter of Michigan’s golf scene - where I’ll be headed on Friday for a week of golf, mostly in northern Michigan. Oregon simply has land diversity and ...

Before looking forward after a fantastic Solheim Cup, one that had me glued to the TV from practically start to finish and was more involved than any other women’s golf event I can remember (except for those I’ve covered on the ground), lets give credit where credit is due: Undefeated Michelle Wie was the tournament MVP, and this appears to be a galvanizing moment for her moving forward. When she lost her 3-up lead to Helen Alfredsson on the back nine today and her putter was wavering, I thought we were looking at the same ol’ Wie. But she finished ...

I know the Europeans are the socialists and all, but American Beth Daniel is the captain who has been spreading the wealth around in the first two days of Solheim Cup competition. Eurpean Captain Alison Nicholas was quite lopsided with her pairings Day 1 and 2, apparently banking on Suzann Petterson to carry the team by playing each match thus far. But that’s backfired. Petterson is probably going to have to be carried around the back nine in singles tomorrow the way her body has given out. She’s 1-3-0 and looks gassed. While Laura Davies’ sidelining was justified after she was ...

I feel a little bit guilty writing this, considering on the back nine of the Solheim Cup fourballs this morning, Michelle Wie seemed to be carrying her partner Morgan Pressel. But the fact is, Wie still couldn’t come through on the last two holes of her match and let half a point get away. On the 17th, Pressel cold topped her approach shot from the fairway into the water, but Wie had a chance for a routine up-and-down to win the match. She couldn’t convert. Their European opponents, Catriona Matthew and Maria Hjorth were let off the hook and had ...

Not every city can have a municipal gem worthy of professional tournaments like Harding Park in San Francisco or Chambers Bay in Seattle-Tacoma, two munis I just played on a Pacific Northwest trip I’m still unpacking from. I was just talking with a buddy of mine who is back home in Ann Arbor, Michigan and he said he went out and played our old stomping grounds, city-owned Leslie Park Golf Course, and was plesantly surprised at how good of shape it’s in. It was a bit shocking to me, because I’d heard a few years ago that in the midst ...

PHOENIX, AZ – I should be home by now, cuddling up in my own bed after 11 days in the Pacific Northwest from San Francisco up to Tacoma, checking out such prolific golf courses managed by Kemper Sports as presidents Cup host Harding Park, Bandon Dunes and Chambers Bay (along with some lesser-known courses along the way). But I just couldn’t get off the dang golf course this afternoon. You probably wouldn’t either if you were in the middle of a round on Chambers Bay in mid-70s heat, hardly a breath of wind and nary a cloud above. I thought ...

BANDON, OR – The Man Upstairs must be an avid reader of WorldGolf.com, because the howling winds finally showed up at Bandon Dunes a night after my bickering about two days of uncharacteristic calm on the coast. In the stiff breeze Friday afternoon, I had the chance to preview Bandon Dunes Resort’s 4th course set to open in the summer of 2010, Old MacDonald, and it was a hoot. My preview wasn’t some exclusive, golf media deal either. The resort has been allowing preview play on the course’s 10-hole loop to anyone willing to pay the $100 plus mandatory $50 ...

BANDON, OR – It doesn’t matter what links golf course you’re on, no matter how bad the weather is, a local will tell you, “Oh, this is nothing. Not like this one time…” In Scotland, I’ve played in wind so bad my face went numb and I was hitting drives about 200 yards, and have been told in the clubhouse it’s actually kind of calm out, perfect scoring conditions, really. Though Bandon Dunes has a couple hundred years of catching up to do, those who have been here since the first golf course opened in 1999 already have their tall tales. ...

BANDON, Ore. - I was last at the Bandon Dunes Resort last April, visiting for the first time. This year, I’m here on a pretty similar itinerary, but America’s quintessential links golf resort is a little different for a lot of reasons. The facilities have expanded. The new 39-room Inn has opened next to the original Bandon Dunes Lodge and Pacific Dunes has a proper new clubhouse to replace their little one-story shack. I’ve also been hinted that everyone’s favorite hole they love to hate, the tricky little par-4 14th on Bandon Trails, has since been slightly remodeled to receive ...

No, San Antonio isn’t as boring as a Tim Duncan post-game news conference - and the Riverwalk is certainly more than a “muddy-watered thing,” as rival Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban infamously said a few postseasons ago. I learned that earlier this summer when I made the short drive down to San Antonio from Austin for a few days of golf. Click here for the GolfTexas.com feature story. Far more than the famous Alamo, San Antonio is rife with historical attractions, restaurants and bars along the Riverwalk. Here, you learn just how multicultural the city is, from Mexican to German ...

Maybe it’s Tom Watson’s display at the Open Championship at Turnberry, or maybe it’s just been word of mouth from the droves of golfers who trek over to Great Britain and Ireland for an old world links experience and return with their gushing tales. But more and more golf courses have realized it’s okay to let mother nature do the talking rather than a steam shovel and a seven-figure beautification budget. Natural, rugged links golf courses are as hot as ever. At Half Moon Bay Golf Links near San Francisco on the California coast, they’ve embarked on an initiative ...

Garrison Keillor has a great travel column in the New York Times today. Click here to read it. It’s a great read start-to-finish, but maybe that’s because he talks about Scotland and San Francisco, destinations of which I just returned and are headed to next week, respectively. He offers his dry insight on golfers, and why it’s necessary for us to ensure the game’s well-being: The socially redeeming aspect of golf lies in the vast number of lawyers and bankers and managers who play it, and when you think of the damage they would do if they were at the ...

We published our weekly TravelGolf.com newsletter this morning, and today’s topic is a sore one for me, and apparently lots of you out there too who have left comments: Slow play. It’s golf’s inconvenient truth, because the longer rounds get, the more of a dinosaur the game becomes to newer generations who simply can’t justify five hours away from Facebook. After reading some of your (angry) comments and knocking some putts around in my living room this morning, while also putting around solutions in my head, I thought of one that might be effective… Remember how at the local swimming pool, ...

TORONTO, CANADA – A few months back, I was feeling ambitious enough to try and make pad thai myself. Aside from forgetting to put in the sprouts, I thought my effort was acceptable. Having eaten at one of Toronto’s great thai joints on my last night, Mengrai, I now realize what I’d cooked was little more than a pathetic excuse of sloppily-concocted calories. Mengrai’s chef Sasi offers a full thai menu, including numerous pad thai options. I opted for the “Street Pad Thai” which was a perfect texture and amount of spice. On many of these dishes, you can ...

On the heels of the announcement that Pinehurst No. 2 will host both the 2014 U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open on back-to-back weeks, the Pinehurst Resort is offering their first ever golf package that provides two rounds on No. 2. I haven’t played No. 2 personally, I’ve only seen the viciously crowned Donald Ross greens on TV. But I would assume this is a golf course that few people are going to have career rounds on the first time out. The package is valid from Sept 9th-November 7th and includes two nights accommodations (with some meals), two rounds on No. ...

I played with hickory shafted golf clubs at Musselburgh’s Old Links in Scotland a few months ago, and I loved it. There’s nothing quite like playing an old golf course with hickories. Your entire body tingles when you hit the sweet spot. And in a couple weeks, the historic Fairmont Banff Springs in the Canadian Rockies course will offer the opportunity to play their Stanley Thompson design from the 1920s in its original routing - and with hickories if you so wish. When we arrived at Banff Springs a few weeks ago to play, the Director of Golf Steve Young ...

TORONTO, CANADA – The restaurant we ate at tonight for our welcome dinner in Toronto is so chic, there is no sign in the front window. You’ve gotta find it the old fashioned way: by address. Even our cab driver wasn’t really sure where this place was. “Everyone else has a sign, so we don’t,” they said at Kultura when someone asked if the sign just hadn’t been put up yet. Vaild point I suppose. It is more subtle than the orange “Hooters” marquee down the street. Kultura was somewhat busy this Wednesday night, so their speakeasy approach seems to have merit. ...

KANANASKIS, ALBERTA - Our last round of the trip in Alberta’s Canadian Rockies and we’d all seen plenty of elk, deer, coyote cubs, mountain sheep, ambitious squirrels running off with our Twix… But alas, no bear sighting. Lo and behold, on the 4th hole of our final round at Kananaskis Country’s Mt. Kidd Course, we stumbled upon the mother load: a grizzly and cub creeping its way onto the golf course. Kananaskis is known for its full tee sheets, thanks to its value price point of $90 and just an hour from Calgary. That said, no one really seemed to be ...

Reflecting back on such an eventful Open Championship at Turnberry, I’m most thankful for Tom Watson reintroducing himself to a younger generation golf and sports fans. This was important, because a lot of us are too young to remember Watson in his prime aside from the odd, non-HD highlight here and there. I was born in 1982, so before I really started following golf, Watson had passed on the torch. I was lucky to see Jack Nicklaus in all his glory at the 1998 Masters, when he made a remarkable Sunday charge that eventually fell just short. But that day ...

I don’t think there is a soul alive aware of the Open Championship not pulling for Tom Watson tomorrow at Turnberry. And looking at the leaderboard, the good news for Watson is that it’s hard to believe anyone is capable of really blowing the field away by a few shots and stealing the title from him. With the Sunday weather shaping up to be rainy and windy, it sets up well for Watson, who is all too capable of shooting a 71 or 72 and walking off with the Claret Jug. I’d be more worried for Watson if we were ...

BANFF, ALBERTA - Quite a special/competition is happening way up here in the Canadian Rockies at two of the finest classic mountain valley golf courses you’re bound to see in your golf travels. This summer, the two Fairmont Hotels here in the Canadian Rockies, at Jasper Park Lodge and Banff Springs, both home to their own Stanley Thompson design built in the 1920s. Canadians will tell you Thompson, who built 144 courses here, was as good as any other Golden Era architect like Donald Ross or A.W. Tillinghast. Here’s how the Stanley Thompson Cup works (they’re naming it that because ...

I was at the Old Course Hotel in St. Andrews for two nights back in April, where I enjoyed a Road Hole view from my guest room and soaked in the views from the Road Hole Bar and Grill with their recently-added floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the course and town. But I also got a sneak peak of a new deck they were planning on opening this summer. When I saw it, it was little more than a little deck to maybe store some patio furniture or for employees to take a smoke/cell phone break. But any hotel manager is going ...

Now that 14-year-old Alexis Thompson has not only made the cut in a U.S. Women’s Open, but finds herself in the Top 10, and Michelle Wie is noticeably absent this week, it’s time to start the media discussion about when Thompson starts competing on the PGA Tour. From Reuters today: “The 5-foot-9 Floridian with a fluid, power swing, was having no trouble dealing with the 6,740-yard layout.” Clearly, even the most difficult golf courses on the women’s circuit are no match for Thompson, who at last check was voted the 23rd greatest golfer in women’s history. I’m not at the event ...

The U.S. Women’s Open is usually the LPGA’s biggest week of the season. Not only is it our nation’s tournament, it’s slotted against the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic, who aside from Zach Johnson, no one really cares about as we all start looking towards Turnberry. But this year, the gals are going to be a bit short-changed, and in this year of all years, that is not good. For starters, the most mainstream female player, Michelle Wie, is not here, and for once, I can safely say she got a raw deal. Wie is 12th on the 2009 money ...

I hadn’t heard about paspalum turf, a newer, bermuda substitute that is heat tolerant and easily watered until less than two years ago. Now, it seems like I can’t go on one dang golf trip in a warmer climate without playing on it - or hearing that a golf course will soon be switching to it. Many warm-weather golf courses, especially those near salt water, are eating paspalum up at a rapid pace. They like it because it can handle lower quality of water, like desalinized, brackish or even sea water that blows onto the golf course. Aesthetically, it also ...

When I lived in Myrtle Beach, my favorite weekend was probably July 4th weekend. Friends were in town, the bars were packed, and on the night of the 4th, going out to the beach at night was a pretty wild scene. With all the explosions lighting up the sky for miles both up and down the beach, I felt like I was in the last scene of Glory when the Union troops were storming the Confederate Fort under intense cannon fire. If you’re in Myrtle Beach for the 4th of July weekend, for golf or just hanging on the ...

Just about anyone who has toured the links of Scotland has a soft spot for Turnberry. I have my own little soft spot, as it was the first ever U.K. links I ever played, back in the fall of 2006. I especially enjoyed the little pitch ‘n putt course outside the hotel, which also has an 18-hole putting course on the front lawn. Surely there’s some wagering going on after dinner nightly here… Part of Turnberry’s appeal is in the links land itself, including seaside holes around the lighthouse, like the tee shot on the 10th. I’m also a big fan ...

It feels a little bit like off-season as we’re touring France’s Rhones-Alpes region this week. This is skiing country for the most part, but in the summertime, it’s still a very scenic and leisurely place to enjoy France, whether you’re on the hike and bike trails or teeing it up on an area golf course. It also seems somewhat void of tourist crowds, which I often associate France with, at least in the south of France and Paris. We’ve been in St. Etienne, Grenoble and now Correncon, and there hasn’t been much of a commercial tourist feel at all, though ...

If you’re a golfer who’s always dreamed of playing for Pebble Beach Golf Links but didn’t want to pony up the dough, you might want to listen up. If you’ve always had a soft spot for animals as well, you may as well get your credit card out. That’s because a special has just been released at Pebble Beach that doesn’t come around very often. In celebration of the 80th anniversary of the San Francisco Zoo up the road, a generous benefactor has bought rooms in the Pebble Beach Lodge and blocks of tee times on Pebble Beach and Spyglass ...

It seemed like right when Hunter Mahan’s approach to the 16th green of Bethpage Black struck the flagstick and catapulted about 60 feet off the green, it began an anticlimactic backslide at the U.S. Open, going from a classic finish to one that won’t be remembered for much else besides bad weather that practically rendered half the field out contention by Friday afternoon. Instead of a finish that had crowd favorites Phil Mickelson and David Duval, plus a surging Mahan and the lead group fighting to keep their ships afloat, we saw a remarkably stable two-shot win from relative unknown ...

Every single year leading up to the U.S. Open, we hear the same prediction from a variety of golf pundits: “This is going to be a long-hitter’s golf course.” We heard it last year at Torrey Pines South, when the longest golf course in U.S. Open history was presented. And in the playoff was a long-hitting Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate, playing “old man golf” with the reliable, relatively short draw. And heading into this week, Bethpage Black was going to play long, thanks to A.W. Tillinghast’s many raised greens and an as usual U.S. Open caliber setup. Then, heavy rains ...

Tiger Woods or Bethpage Black’s rowdy fan base? Both stand to be equally formidable opponents for my U.S. Open pick (and my pick to win every single major championship until he finally gets one): Sergio Garcia. In 2002, Garcia was the main antagonist of the New York galleries (who’s etiquette was so bad it may have been considered off-color at an after-hours cock fight in Hoboken). It all helped aid the global sentiment of Americans at the time as being classless, vulgar imbeciles. So not only does Garcia enter the U.S. Open with a golf game not in form and ...

In a somewhat startling announcement made by the USGA Monday, the 2014 Men’s and Women’s U.S. Opens will be staged back-to-back weeks at the Pinehurst Resort that June. The advantages to hosting both opens at the same venue in consecutive weeks are numerous. For starters, the USGA team won’t have to go anywhere for two weeks, so the infrastructure and manpower required to stage such an event can get extra cozy in their accommodations before packing up shop for the next event. And the Pinehurst Resort of course, will surely be giddy at the thought of two straight weeks of ...

Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist showed poise well beyond her years on Sunday at the LPGA Championship, shooting a practically flawless round en route to a four-shot win for her first LPGA tournament win - and a major championship to boot. Despite a world ranking of 214 heading into the week, her swing and poise drew comparisons to her hero, Annika Sorenstam. One of the secrets in her bag may very well be her positive swing thoughts. Captured by Scott Serio at Eclipse Sportswire, here’s a sneak peak at one of the ingredients in her level-headed arsenal, a page in her notebook ...

Over at ESPN this afternoon, PTI found time in their rundown to debate the LPGA without mentioning which tournament was even being staged this week. Instead, it was regarding the Twitter fiasco that won’t go away. Both Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser agreed Twitter was not good for in-round updates. But Kornheiser’s proposed solution to make TV coverage better was interesting; player interviews between shots and holes once in awhile, like the NHL does on the bench, and the NBA does at halftime (plus coaches interviews at the quarter breaks). That’s a very constructive and possible solution to boost in-round ...

Home to the Golden Bear himself, of course Columbus, Ohio is going to serve up some of America’s best golf courses. Most of them, however, are private, including prestigious Muirfield Village Golf Club. I’m told it’s a great course, perhaps the Augusta National of the Midwest, but good luck scoring a tee time. Other nationally-recognized area privates include the Alister Mackenzie Scarlet Course at Ohio State University and Scioto Golf Club. At this golf blog, however, we could care less about those. We’re interested in the ones that welcome anyone willing to plunk down a green fee, and just outside ...

The Barefoot Resort’s Love Course is back open ahead of schedule after closing due to the area’s spring wild fires at the end of April that spread through the North Myrtle Beach forests. 70 homes in the Barefoot Resort were reportedly lost due to the fires, and some of the wooden bridges on the course were damaged. The golf course is reported to be in fine shape however, and the fires did little damage to the highly-rated Davis Love III design. Originally slated to open June 1st, the course opened this past Friday. The next door Fazio course suffered ...

I stumbled across this great find from Geoff Shackelford’s golf blog, who was alerted to it by a reader of his… The Masters dunce/patron who disrupted play on No. 17 Sunday during the Tiger-Phil showdown has spoken out - at length - about his antics. It’s good he has, too, because Area 51-err–Masters officials won’t even acknowledge the occurrence. Deseret News reporter Brad Rock, who deserves kudos for landing this exclusive interview, did an in depth interview with Salt Lake City’s Steven Davis, a 5-handicap. Click here for the whole interview. According to Davis, the snobbery of the Masters had gotten ...

When it became apparent many of the greatest athletes in the world were going to use Twitter to fill us in on their glamorous daily lives, sports fans everywhere became giddy about it. Maybe Terrell Owens would instantly TwitPic an image from a Las Vegas hot tub filled with showgirls - or John Daly posts new song lyrics from a late night jam session with Kenny Chesney. Or Dwight Howard posts “just watched A.I. take 12 shots of Jager in an hour at the club!” But for every time an athlete actually says something on Twitter of any substance, there ...

Golf Digest Ireland has released its Top 100 golf courses in Ireland ranking, and there is a very noticeable upset at the top. Portmarnock Golf Club near Dublin has been given the top spot for 2009, now rated higher than Royal County Down, a mainstay near the top. According to the magazine it was for “key improvements, especially run-off areas on several greens”. Look, I’m all for praising courses for renovations and improvements, especially when its to centuries old links that need a good deal of upkeep every so often. That said, unless these improved green runoffs at Portmarnock now feature ...

As if we didn’t need anymore evidence that Caddyshack is the bible for all things golf. According to the report posted by TheSmokingGun.com, the judge ruling over the Andrew Giuliani vs. Duke University case found he could best explain his ruling in favor of the university by using Carl Spackler analogies from Caddyshack. From the NY Daily News: Dixon wasted little time teeing up Giuliani and backing Duke, even employing references to classic golf movie “Caddyshack” to make his point, according to a copy of the decision posted Wednesday on TheSmokingGun.com. Dixon quips that Giuliani’s attempt to use a particular legal ...

We’ve all taken our shots at Michelle Wie over the last two years as she went from a teen phenom with limitless potential, to a cautionary tale of young, misguided talent. But if the LPGA is going to stop the bleeding of sponsorships and events and emerge as a stronger, more relevant tour, we all need to put on our Wie Warrior hats. I was just thumbing through a piece in the New York Times about the state of the LPGA, and it’s easy to see the writing on the wall: The tour is losing money, sponsorships and tournaments at ...

Does anyone else hate the idea of a computer waking them up in the morning when they’re staying at a hotel? I for one, can’t stand when I’m asked to type in my wake-up time using military time in the evening, or when a radio station or computer voice wakes me up in the morning. Humans instinctively don’t trust technology, which is best reflected in movies like Terminator and 2001: A Space Odyssey. This is because a human knows if they screw up, they get fired. When a computer screws up, they get defragmented. Personally, I want that fear instilled ...

Recently named Ryder Cup Captain for the American team Corey Pavin is already trying to push his weight around a little - all 110 pounds or so of it. He’s calling on his two top-ranked American players to participate in next month’s Wales Open on the European Tour at Ryder Cup host Celtic Manor. From BBC Sport: “Anybody who is going to be on the team, I would love them to get over to Wales to check out the Celtic Manor course,” said Pavin. “I expect both Phil and Tiger will be on the team so I’d be more than happy ...

I got my first look at an A.W. Tillinghast design yesterday in San Antonio at Brackenridge Park Golf Course. I’m surprised I haven’t played a Tillinghast before (I’ve played a Tillinghast-inspired course, Shaftesbury Glen near Myrtle Beach), but I think that’s because I’m a Midwestern native and lived in South Carolina for awhile, and he didn’t have an imprint in those parts region like he did in the northeast. The designs he did do in Ohio and Michigan, like PGA Championship host Inverness, are mostly private. Click here for Wikipedia’s full list of Tillinghast designs. San Antonio, where I was ...

It’s amazing how easy golf can be when you hit fairways off the tee. We see it every weekend playing our own ball (I hit four fairways this morning at the Quarry in San Antonio - and my iffy score reflected it). In the Players Championship, it was the difference between Tiger’s final round plus-1 (not all that bad considering the field) and Henrik Stenson’s blistering, bogey-free 66. It was the cool and collected Swede who “drove for dough", hitting almost every fairway over the weekend. Thanks to his tee ball (and a 3-wood that goes as far as ...

I was just perusing through Golf Digest’s list of the “50 Best 19th Holes” between watching action of the Players Championship, and it inspired me to crack open a Bud - and go down memory lane, thinking about my own favorite 19th holes. Surveying their list, what bugs me most is that many of their picks are private clubs like the Country Club at Brookline and Oakmont. Now, you would hope a couple hundred thousand dollars in initiation fees would warrant a decent clubhouse bar. But I’m more concerned about the 19th holes we can all have a drink in ...

One of WorldGolf.com’s more passionate readers and writers of links golf in the U.K. and especially Scotland has written in asking for my opinion. From Shanks: BTuck, I’d love to read your comparison of golf in northern Scotland to the East Lothian and St. Andrews area. I’ve thought it over as I’ve been replacing my suitcase’s waterproofs and wool hats with shorts and sunscreen for San Antonio this weekend, and the differences are plenty: What’s great about East Lothian is, despite it’s close proximity to Edinburgh, the towns all feel very rural and old fashioned. There are no North American chains, ...

Having just been in East Lothian for a week at the end of April, the rumblings around the area were that Muirfield was a lock for the 2013 Open Championship. That was confirmed this week, as it was just announced that Muirfield will in fact be the venue in 2013. The Open was last staged here in 2002, when Ernie Els won in a playoff (Thomas Levet, anyone?). The course is always considered by many of the pros as one of the most-respected tests of all the Open Championship rotation courses. And as the home course of the Honourable Company ...

ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND – It’s come to my attention on my second trip, more than once, that the old school Scots aren’t very keen on the USGA’s handicap system. A local Gullane legend, Archie Baird (who is in his 80s and still plays quite often on Gullane’s courses), went as far as telling me it’s hurting the game in America. Those sentiments have been echoed by other Scots in the last eight days here. From what I can gather, the main difference between the R & A handicap system and the USGA system is that over in the U.K., only ...

ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND – There are those out there (and you knucklehead golf writers know who you are), who don’t think there’s anything to the Old Course at St. Andrews. They call it overrated and a glorified pasture. Moderately organized chaos, more or less. Sure, it’s not the prettiest links course in the world aside from the town skyline (for incredibly scenic, championship golf, head to knockouts like Royal County Down or Royal Dornoch). But the Old Course’s real beauty is the bunkering and massive green complexes, and how they come to life based on what the heavens decide to ...

GULLANE, SCOTLAND – Of all the recent golf course projects in Scotland, from the St. Andrews Castle Course to Machrihanish Dunes, Castle Stuart and of course, Donald Trump’s Aberdeen resort, there is one project that’s flown a bit under the radar, but it won’t for long: The Renaissance Club outside Gullane, just down the road from Gullane Golf Club and Muirfield, with North Berwick just a few miles to the east. I did a brief Q & A with architect Tom Doak about his firm’s project before it opened on GolfEurope.com back in 2007, and ever since have been keeping ...

NORTH BERWICK, SCOTLAND – Muirfield is unquestionably the most well-known golf course in Scotland’s golf-rich East Lothian region just east of Edinburgh, thanks to its Open Championship pedigree. But for the traveling golfer, it might not be the area’s great “must play.” That title could go to it’s neighbor to the east, North Berwick Golf Club (also called the “West Links” by locals, while the nearby Glen Golf Club is the “East Links"). North Berwick is a traditional nine-out/nine-in links that boasts a collection of holes that are as exciting, unique and scenic as you’ll find in links golf over ...

MUSSELBURGH, SCOTLAND – St. Andrews and Musselburgh in East Lothian are separated, as the crow flies, by little more than about 30 miles on Scotland’s eastern side. And both have their own very legitimate claims of “firsts” in golf. St. Andrews of course, lays claim to being the birthplace of “gawf” sometime dating back to the 1400s. Musselburgh Links’ Old Course, on the other hand claims to be the world’s oldest playing course, dating back to 1672 and is recognized as such by Guinness. The rivalry, as I learned today while visiting the Musselburgh Links, became intensified back in the ...

NORTH BERWICK, SCOTLAND - When a Scottish golf club’s historian pulls a chair up to your table in the dining room, be sure to sip your pint a little slower and soak in the knowledge. That was the case today following a round at Dunbar Golf Club in East Lothian, Scotland. The course is steeped in history, like so many of the clubs around Edinburgh. In the clubhouse following my round with one of the assistant pros, I had a historical question. He noticed a few tables over the club historian, John Harris, enjoying some afternoon tea and asked him ...

NORTH BERWICK - The first time I went to Scotland in 2006, I arrived during the second half of the October shoulder season. The “shoulder season” is the two transitional months between the summer season and off-season, usually April and October for most of the clubs that recognize one. There are some benefits to a shoulder season golf vacation (click here for my full feature on it). For starters, you won’t have to book your golf so far in advance (which can mean over a year in advance to play Scotland’s most coveted links), the hotels should have more deals ...

It’s been just over two years since I was last in Scotland for a golf trip. I’ve been to the British Isles and Ireland numerous times since then, but I’m finally getting back to the good ol’ home of golf, where the spirit of the game pours out of every pub and B & B. Here’s a few particular things I’m especially looking forward to on this trip, which will put me in East Lothian for a week, followed by a couple bonus days in St. Andrews: - On my first trip, I played mostly “name” courses like the Old ...

Maybe I’m not taking my pills - or this coffee’s gone bad. I just wrote a column proclaiming Augusta National (and every other private club) should offer small blocks of daily public tee times. Click here to read it. Now, I’m announcing another long-standing belief of mine that might be considered off the deep end in the conservative golf world: Female golfers’ green fees shouldn’t be the same as men. They should get a discount. The first reason is simple and rational. How long of a golf course do they play compared to the Y-Chromosome? Men play 6,000-7,000 yards of ...

It looks like the Golf Channel was able to get to Sergio Garcia (my idiotic pick to win the Masters and every major for the rest of our lives until he wins one) following his Sunday round at exactly the right time, because they got a golden nugget of a pissy-sounding bite from him regarding his thoughts on Augusta National following his T38 finish at the 2009 Masters: “I don’t like it to tell you the truth,” he said. “I don’t think it’s fair. It’s too tricky. Even when it’s dry you still get mud balls in the middle of ...

So I think I found something more annoying than the regular season PGA Tour events with its endless stream of sexual dysfunction and prostate enlargement drugs: The same three sponsors peddling the same spots over, and over, and over, and over, and over again for four straight days. I’ll be the first to commend the Masters for their limited commercial interruption. Just four minutes out of every hour is an advert. Not only is it refreshing, it’s smart, because it becomes practically impossible to get off the couch at all. I was on the couch paralyzed all Sunday. Part of ...

I don’t think anyone is really going to have many lingering memories about Angel Cabrera’s 2009 Masters victory, other than perhaps his ridiculously lucky tree shot that found himself in the fairway (followed by a great up-and-down - we have to give him his props for that, taking advantage of a fortunate carom off bark from the golf gods). But this Masters was all about Phil Mickelson, who stole the show in his pairing with Tiger Woods. He’s not going home with his third jacket but is going to be the water cooler champion this week. For the TV viewer, ...

More than any year I can remember in recent memory, the 2009 Masters has a slew of story lines to watch for as they tee it up tomorrow morning at Augusta National. Why it feels like a bigger deal than normal to this year, and why I’m going to be on the couch all weekend watching the action: Phil Mickelson is coming off a big win at the World Golf Championships at Doral, giving him two wins already this season. I have a gut feeling like he’ll either win or miss the cut. We all know Lefty has no middle ...

The Masters does online coverage at Masters.org better than anyone, thanks to their online streams of Amen Corner and No. 15 and 16. But this is the year that “Tweeting” of the Masters on Twitter will be in seriously high gear - from a wide variety of angles. For starters, The Masters has it’s official feed. Click here to follow. Also, Golf Channel will be tweeting live coverage from it’s panel of onsite experts at The Masters. Click here for their feed. Here’s what the Golf Channel is promising with their new Twitter coverage for 2009: Golf Channel will feature ...

Golf season is almost painfully around the corner in northern Michigan (my favorite golf destination in the entire world when looking for the unbeatable mix of quantity, scenery and value), and this summer golf package that just came across my desk should get a lot of golfers’ motors running to Michigan. The Boyne resorts in northern Michigan, owners of several resorts and 162 holes of golf at several locations throughout the north, have put a great package together for those who love unlimited golf during Michigan’s long, summer days that extend well past 9 p.m. I’ve played 54 holes in ...

To some, seeing the Old Course in St. Andrews covered in a blanket of snow could feel like something out of the surreal. To others, it would be a worst nightmare if you actually had a tee time on this particular February day. But thanks to Andy Brown and the Home of Golf TV, you can get a sneak peak of what St. Andrews looks like under a few inches of snow. Click here for the video. “I’ve never seen it snowing like this,” said Andy, standing on a nearly covered Swilcan Bridge. And for those of you who actually ...

AUSTIN, Texas - Admittedly, I’ve eaten more BBQ and been to more happy hours than I’ve actually golfed around Austin since I moved here in the fall. But this city, as you’d expect with anywhere in Texas, does BBQ right. What’s great for golfers here is the best meals aren’t at expensive, fancy-schmancy restaurants, they’re at casual BBQ and Tex Mex joints where you eat like a king for $10-20. And after a round of golf, nothing hits the spot like a cold Fireman’s 4 Blonde Ale and some delicious baby back ribs or brisket. I don’t think I’ve eaten ...

Not to brag or anything, but I’m pretty sure if you got my friends and I together, I’d know way more than them about the art of cured ham in Spain. I ate tons of it over there during my golf trip earlier this month, and learned a little over every thin, little slice. For instance, if you walk into a cured meat shop, with all the legs hanging around everywhere, these seemingly indifferent hunks or ham all have different prices. That’s based on what kind of pig it is. The most prestigious pig is a black, Iberian pig that ...

Another electrifying, 72nd hole win by Tiger Woods at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Invitational, and suddenly this Orlando jewel is on that many more golfers’ bucket lists. Hosting a PGA Tour event is big business. Clubs must not only renovate and lengthen their layouts constantly to adapt to the changing pro game, but also ensure the infrastructure is in place to host 40,000 spectators, hundreds of media - not to mention pamper the players and their families. But if you do host a tournament, the exposure that is priceless (especially if You Know Who is in the field). Look at ...

WorldGolf.com reader Carl has written to us asking for help planning his Myrtle Beach golf trip. Here’s what he’s looking for: My wife and I would like to play about four rounds while in MB the last week of May. Where would you recommend playing without breaking the bank or your ego? My wife is a 12 handicap, so please don’t recommend a course that will not be challenging. First off Carl, you’ll be coming in late May, the beginning of the low season for golf rates, so you’ll be able to find some good value and the weather ...

My old english teacher and I were gabbin’ golf when I was having lunch with him last year during my visit in Eugene. He’s a huge golf nut and recalled a golf tournament he attended years ago, where Arnold Palmer and Ken Venturi were headlining and playing in the same group. While on one of the greens, Venturi missed a short little putt and proceeded to scold an elderly lady in the front row for moving a little - distracting him. Venturi stormed on to the next tee and the lady was in tears, humiliated. Enter Palmer. He walks over ...

The Copperhead Course at the Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club in metro Tampa is considered to be one of the PGA Tour’s finest venues, now host to the Transitions Championship. Unfortunately, the game’s top players don’t really care, as nine of the world’s top-ranked players decided to pass on the tournament despite being just down the road in Miami the weekend before, while several others including Tiger Woods and Ernie Els competed in the Tavistock Cup exhibition March 16-17th. Consider it an unfortunate placement on the schedule between a World Golf Championship and Arnold Palmer’s prestigious Bay Hill Invitational on ...

Just in time for Myrtle Beach’s annual peak spring season, Pine Lakes Country Club is back online and ready to play in the heart of Myrtle Beach. Pine Lakes is Myrtle Beach’s oldest golf course, established in 1927. Since then, it’s carried a reputation as one of the Grand Strand’s friendliest clubs, where they serve up clam chowder in the mornings and Scottish bagpipers wail away at the clubhouse I was given a tour of the club last August, led by designer Craig Schreiner, and this was no simple facelift. The course was totally resodded, greens were restored to their original ...

A year or so ago my aunt and uncle asked me about a possible golf and gaming destination for their anniversary. Something affordable, but they wanted top notch golf, casinos and eats. No settling. With little hesitation, I directed them towards Biloxi, Miss. Golfweek’s new rankings have listed five Mississippi golf courses among the nation’s best, four of them located around the Biloxi area on the coast. One signature of Mississippi golf is the sheer acreage of natural forest and wetlands these courses are set on. It’s normal to find a course here on 400, 600, even 800 acres. The ...

We just posted a new Planet Putter column of mine over at TravelGolf.com: International travel tips for you next golf vacation. I actually filed the column before my trip to Spain I just returned from (in fact, I wrote the majority of it on a flight between Chicago and Austin). I suppose one tip that I gathered over there is that you don’t want to make your tee time too early in the morning for two reasons: 1. Breakfast isn’t even served until 8 a.m. - Apparently everyone is still digesting their midnight dinners in Spain. 2. The sun rises ...

SOTOGRANDE, SPAIN – As stated in my previous blog entry, there is a Costa Del Sol golf trip for every budget in Spain. The following is not an itinerary for every budget: As my guide for the majority of the trip, tour operator Jonathan Snell (who has lived in Marbella going on seven years specializing in Costa Del Sol golf packages and partners with the gentlemen over at London Golf Tours) explained to me upon arrival, the golf courses get more and more posh as you head west from Malaga along the Costa Del Sol, and once you get to ...