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 ...

MARBELLA, SPAIN – About four days into my visit in Spain’s Costa Del Sol, I find myself noticing endless similarities between it and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina as a golf mecca. Don’t get me wrong, there are stark differences too (in Costa Del Sol you curse motorists zipping by you 40 km over the limit, while in Myrtle Beach you curse tourists going 40 km under). But as golf destinations, Costa Del Sol is the Grand Strand’s European equivalent. Geographically, the Costa Del Sol stretches about 140 kilometers along the Mediterranean Sea and contains most of Andalucia’s 130 golf clubs. ...

MARBELLA, SPAIN – About 16 hours into my journey in Andalucia on Spain’s southern coast, I’d see nothing but constant rain. And as we showed up to our first golf course of the trip, the Gran Flamingo Golf Club, there seemed to be no sign of a break. I was minutes away from proclaiming the “Costa del Sol” false advertising. But alas, the clouds finally moved away and by about noon the sun made it’s first appearance. I was at a proper vantage point when it happened: the Flamingo New Course’s 18th tee box, which overlooks the Mediterranean and you ...

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – You’ve got to wrap up a great six-day golf trip on a high note. On my Myrtle Beach golf trip this past week, I ended mine not only on a fine one, but a rather upscale, classy one to boot. The day started with 18 holes at the Barefoot Resort’s Fazio Course. This is a course I’ve always wanted to play when I was living in the area but for some reason never got around to it. Probably more than any designer, I look forward to Fazio courses, which is probably why just about every ...