Brandon Tucker

IAGTO names Orlando Top North American Golf Destination for 2010

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 point passes through Orlando, whether it’s for business or with the family, so keep your golf clubs in tow when you do.

The IAGTO is also probably eager to book Orlando’s newest ultra-upscale resort in 2010 as well: The Waldorf Astoria Orlando and Waldorf Astoria Golf Club, home to a Rees Jones championship course in Bonnet Creek near Disney that should draw plenty of ink in the coming months.

Here’s what it takes to be named the Top North American Golf Destination, according to the IAGTO:

The selection for winning destinations is made through votes cast by over 300 golf tour operators from 50 countries who consider customer satisfaction; quality of golf courses and accommodation; value for money; support from suppliers, tourist boards and airlines; professional conduct of suppliers; and accessibility to tee times. North American finalist destinations nominated for the award included Hawaii, Miami, Fla. and Palm Beach Fla.

Already thinking about an Orlando golf trip? Click here for five must-play Orlando golf courses.

You can follow Brandon Tucker’s golf blog and more on Twitter: http://twitter.com/brandontucker or follow WorldGolf.com at Twitter.com/worldgolf . Have a golf travel question for Brandon? Email him by clicking here

Canadian golfers don't have to drive to Myrtle Beach with new non-stop flight from Toronto

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 can fly direct if you’d like, too.

Starting February 28th, Porter Airlines will begin non-stop service twice weekly to Myrtle Beach from Toronto (airport code YTZ).

Americans might not be familiar with Porter Airlines (I wasn’t). Their routes tend to stick to the northeast, covering destinations like Halifax, Quebec City, Boston, New York and out to Thunder Bay. Myrtle Beach is as south as they go.

I don’t see their flights listed on Orbitz or Priceline or any of those low-fare databases, so if you want to fly direct to Myrtle Beach, go to their website: www.FlyPorter.com. An initial flight search shows fares to be $179 each way.

The new non-stop service makes sense for both cities. Toronto is a large market with a tremendous golf base, many of which will surely be itching to kick off the golf season a little earlier than late April or May up in Canada.

Last-minute Myrtle Beach golfers can save money with new TeeUpTomorrow.com membership

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 have a little flexibility with which course you are willing to book.

Here’s the skinny: members who join TeeUpTomorrow.com by paying a $39 yearly membership fee will have access to last-minute tee times at a discount to be decided by each golf course, but can only book 48 hours in advance or less. Just about every worthy Myrtle Beach golf course is participating in some way, though some properties offer bigger discounts than others.

One $39 yearlong membership to the network is good enough to book a foursome of golf at a time for that listed rate. So at $39, you’d make your money back instantly by booking one round of golf for four at a course offering $10 off the public rack rate to TeeUpTomorrow.com members. Have 16 golfers in your group? Then you need four memberships to cover everyone, and so on.

How much discount you score on a golf course depends on the availability of each course’s tee sheet and fluctuates.

A glimpse at the network today shows almost %50 off TPC Myrtle Beach, one of my personal Top 5 courses in the Grand Strand. Willbrook Plantation (a Top 10 course personally) is $30 off per person. Each of the Barefoot Resort courses are $34 off the rack rate of $126 as well.

Other courses only offer a members rate of a few bucks less. We can assume these courses have a full tee sheet and don’t need to unload any times, but the average savings appear to be about $20 a golfer.

You can sign up at TeeUpTomorrow.com or if you’re in Myrtle Beach, visit a PGA Tour Superstore location.

Golf packager PerryGolf's new blog a must-read for any international travel golfers

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 could use. A lot of companies are realizing a good way to drive traffic to their website and product is by posting a daily blog, and when PerryGolf’s Gordon and Colin Dalgleish post some thoughts on golf travel, it’s a good idea to listen up. They offer insights on everything from scoring coveted airport lounge access to how to combine Scotland and Ireland in one golf trip (something I wrote about a few years ago and makes perfect sense if you can’t decide between the two and have at least eight vacation days to use).

They also point out a few good articles about golf from news services worth reading. Click here for a great article from the TimesOnline.co.uk on Machrihanish Dunes and the sheep they use to cut the grass, much like the courses were mowed 100 years ago. Pretty neat stuff.

The blogs might even help you save a little cash or time on your own golf trip, whether you use PerryGolf or not for booking the trip, so be sure to check in from time to time.

Congrats are in order for first-time LPGA winner Michelle Wie at Ochoa Invitational

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 the field was strong (as is any LPGA field considering they have so few tournaments) and Wie had to shoot a final round 69 to achieve the win.

The majority of the sports media, myself most certainly included, have been pretty tough on Wie and her entourage over the last few years, and I’m willing to bet it will continue until she’s won about 20 major championships and the LPGA is out of the red and on network TV 40 weekends a year.

But this week, it’s time to say “congrats” Michelle, it’s been a good year with her Solheim Cup domination, a few close calls and many top tens. After her win Sunday, Morgan Pressel and Creamer doused her with celebratory cervezas,

I’ll toast my evening nightcap to you as well for all the golfers here in Texas, Michelle. Well done!

Northern Ireland golf versus southwest Ireland: What's the better links tour?

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 cons of southwest Ireland and Northern Ireland on TravelGolf.com and see the reasons why, and feel free to chime into the debate.

The new wrinkle in the comparison is that while southwest Ireland has historically been one of the most expensive pockets of courses, they’ve scaled back their prices in the last year and 2010 will stay low. Northern Ireland hasn’t reset their prices for a variety of reasons, so it’s actually the more expensive of the two (though the difference fluctuates because Northern Ireland uses the pound sterling).

Personally, I’d have to opt for the courses of Northern Ireland over the southwest by a nose, not only because of Royal County Down and Royal Portrush, but also the wonderful A2 Coastal Route, one of the great scenic drives in the world with such sights as Giants Causeway and the Dunluce Castle ruins among others.

It’s become a comparatively pricey tour, so if you want to save some dough, include some northwest Ireland links like Ballyliffin and Enniscrone.

Cities Hua Hin, Bangkok and Pattaya present three very different Thailand golf vacations

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 the many cultural and city attractions, but there are the most golf courses here of any Thai city, over 60. Thai Country Club, with its countless palm trees, scores of water hazards and manmade humps lining the fairway resemble something you might find in south Florida.

Pattaya is a smaller beachside city known for its nightlife and famous Walking Street, which is the wildest street scene I’ve ever seen, and that includes Bangkok’s Soi Cowboy red light district. The golf outside of town offers a slower pace on rolling hillsides void of much development. There’s a lot of golf here too, about 30 of high standard including Siam Country Club’s Old and Plantation courses.

Seaside Hua Hin to the south of Bangkok is a little mountainous as well, somewhat similar to Pattaya but it’s a sleepier beach town without the many “attractions” of Pattaya (after all, the King’s palace is here). It’s been one of the most popular golf spots for years and some new clubs have come online in the last three years that have made it even better. The new Banyan Golf Club wins my personal award for best course of the trip. It was built by a local Thai firm (no big-name architects) and is the most natural and exotic-looking of what we played.

The constants of the trip no matter which course or city we were at: Each golf club’s clubhouse facilities are first class and will in all likelihood put your home country club’s facilities to shame. Each course was beautifully conditioned as well. Fast TifEagle bermuda greens around 9-10 on the stimp and wonderful fairway lies (usually paspalum). The caddies are vigilant at filling in divots, even in the rough.

Another constant is the food. I can’t say I had a bad or even mediocre meal in Thailand (which couldn’t be said for my Malaysia golf trip, which was more hit-and-miss). Our meals ranged from dinner cruises to clubhouse lunches to informal, roadside fishing parks and street food, and nothing disappointed. Breakfast buffets are as good as I’ve seen anywhere, especially at the Marriott Bangkok on the King’s River which is the most elaborate spread I can recall in my many travels.

I’m leaving out the golf courses of the northern highlands as well as Phuket. Phuket is considered one of Thailand’s most popular spots, but it’s a little too far a drive down south from the area we were. I’m told it’s more mountainous there than anything we’ve seen here, and a little pricier to boot.

Thailand is a very developed golf destination where any budget can be treated like a king and one worth traveling across oceans to visit. I’ve got lots to say, from the towns to the golf courses to proper caddie etiquette, so stay tuned in the next couple weeks for plenty more once I shake the inevitable jetlag.

Hua Hin’s new Banyan Golf Club is just over a year old and is quickly becoming one of Thailand’s must-play golf courses.

A couple of cheerful caddies at Thai Country Club near Bangkok.

Tee box massages: One reason slow play is okay on Thailand golf courses

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 its proximity to Bangkok, it’s first-impression-worthy hospitality and a course design that’s championship-caliber but not back-breaking.

On weekends, the membership is out in full force and can make for a pretty busy scene, as was the case Saturday. I’m never an advocate for slow play, and despite finishing in less than five hours, we still had our share of tee box waits.

In Thailand, with the country’s famously hospitable caddies, a little break on the tee is hardly a bad thing.

A few times during the round, our caddies would come up to us and give us quickie back massages, while another caddie fanned us. Really, all you have to do at Muang Kaew is a little acting job: grimace and show some back or shoulder distress, and she gets the hint quick and runs over with their hands in ready position. They work your shoulders, arms, lower back and my personal favorite, using the forearms on the top of the shoulders and around the neck.

I’m convinced every woman in Thailand is a Ph.D-level masseuse. Or maybe its just in their genes.

Thailand’s caddies put the country over the top as a golf destination. They speak spotty English, their green reads are hit-and-miss, and the yardage they give you is more of a ballpark figure. But does the mid-handicap, traveling golfer want precise yardage - or a smiling face with hands of gold?

In Bangkok, Muang Kaew’s caddies will take the opportunity to give their golfers a quick rubdown if there’s a tee box wait.

Thailand golf vacations leave you suffering from reverse sticker shock

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 massages, nice dinners, and five-star accommodations can be had on two-star budgets back in America. Heck, some people do two massages a day: Thai in the morning, foot before dinner.

One person in our group took a taxi from Bangkok airport to Pattaya, about 140 kilometers southeast, for $40. I took a $20 cab about five miles to the airport in Austin. Maybe when I get home I’ll try my bartering skills with the Texas cabbies.

Goods that are bottled, like soft drinks and beer aren’t noticeably cheaper, especially if you find yourself in a Go-Go bar. But the caddies are a steal. You’ll get their smiling services for under $20 a round - and that includes a very healthy tip.

We’re spending two days here in Pattaya before heading up to Bangkok for a few days. Pattaya is smaller and a bit less hectic I’m told, but take a stroll around Walking Street and it’s hard to believe this is tame Thailand.

Caddies cost 300 bat, plus a usual 300-500 bat tip at golf clubs in Thailand like Siam Country Club’s Old Course.

Ballybunion in Ireland, Aberdovey in Wales: two spooky Halloween golf courses

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 19th century links course. President Bill Clinton played the course and in front of about 10,000 onlookers and on the first hole hit his drive right and over the cemetery. That makes me feel better, Mr. President, I did the same damn thing, trying to play it safe with a 3-wood.

Aberdovey Golf Club, a charming links course in mid-Wales, has an old cemetery on a hillside that overlooks the course most of the way. There’s also old military lookouts along the coast as well between the beach and golf course. It’s all a little surreal, especially when we played it in the waning twilight on a gloomy day.

If you’ve got any more picks that make a great Halloween golf course we’d love to hear them.

Ballybunion’s first hole is lined by a cemetery on the right hand side of the fairway.

The Volvo World Match Play Championship visits Spain's newest posh resort: Finca Cortesin in the Costa Del Sol

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 B. Robinson design that is an entirely different style compared to the tight, cork forest confines of Valderrama. Finca is a penal, mountain course where sight lines are difficult in many points, and missing the fairways can result in watching your ball sail down into a canyon.

That’s opposed to Valderrama, where you hit your ball into the cork forest and spend about eight shots trying to get it out.

The golf course is very good in its infant years, but the Andalucian-themed hotel which is only about a year old, is absolutely world class, and should even blow these well-traveled tour pros away as they check it out for the first time.

One great touch is that every guest is offered a welcome drink and an assortment of olives and cheeses in the bar area. I don’t understand why every five-star joint that charges such high nightly premiums doesn’t do the same. It’s a wonderful touch and couldn’t possibly do much damage to the bottom line.

Click here for the full resort review and here are some photos of the course and resort.

Paul Casey tees off at Finca Cortesin during the Volvo World Match Play Championships in Spain’s Costa Del Sol (Getty Images).

Is golf a sport? Parker McLachlin's mid-round tweet at Frys.com Open sets debate back an era

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 tee. First tweet during a tourney round. Don’t want to get too used to this!”

I’ve always had a saying about the “Is ___ a sport?” argument: If you can smoke or eat a hot dog while doing it, it’s probably not a sport. I think it’s finally time to add “Tweeting” to that list as well.

While I find about 99% of the Tweets I read to be utterly worthless, I will admit it does give both fans and journalists unprecedented access into celebrity’s thoughts and even once in awhile, news is broken on Twitter. It’s made the whole news gathering process more democratic.

But mid-round of a competitive event, it’s an absolute disgrace to be on your phone for any reason other than your wife is telling you a baby’s on the way. We all talk about getting “in the zone” in any given sport. I play goalie in beer league ice hockey and have semi-friendly matches as an 8-handicap golfer, and even I can find my own relative “zone” once in awhile.

There’s nothing more satisfying in sports as when you find the zone, and I can tell you no one ever tweets or checks football scores when they’re in it. We watch pro sports on TV in hopes of seeing these top athletes get in the zone, and deliver us greatness.

McLachlin bogeyed the 5th hole, by the way, but didn’t tweet that.

Tiger Woods and the new generation of fit golfers who I’d put up in a sports decathlon against other top athletes in basketball, hockey and football should all be ashamed of McLachlin and his tech addiction on the 5th tee, along with his playing partners Brad Faxon and and Glen Day who were apparently checking NFL scores. Gallery members were around but they wouldn’t small talk with them (so much for the debate about golfers not talking with fans enough because it will distract them from the job at hand) - or talk to each other it seems. Instead, they all fiddled on their smart phones like a teenager waiting for their friend outside the dressing room of Forever 21.

Don’t ever let a middle-aged man gripe about “these A.D.D. kid’s today and their gadgets.” They’re all hooked too.

Country Club mergers: the future of private golf facilities

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 $10,000-40,000 initiation fee to a place that we might move away from a few years later. I also don’t think it makes sense to pay such a high price to play the same golf course over and over again. Then again, my day job has me playing close to 100 different golf courses each year, so I suppose I’m a bit spoiled.

But mergers with two or more clubs makes a lot of sense. Private clubs are continuing to go public in a lot of places, which makes sense for average golf courses but not always for outstanding or historic ones. I’m a great advocate for semi-private clubs, but I also understand that being a member of a club should mean there are times you can go and have the joint to yourself and your golf buddies. Once a golf club starts allowing the riff raff it makes the club less appealing to those willing to pay high premium for that “sanctuary.”

During a recent visit to the Renaissance Club in Scotland, I was asking some of the staff and investors there why they don’t allow public play while membership grows. Their response was that they wouldn’t get the initiation fees they’re asking if they allowed regular public play. But with so many clubs around the corner like Gullane, North Berwick, Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, Kilspindie and more, I have a hard time believing their “American-style” model can make it, which is especially dependent on wealthy overseas members, even with a dynamite Tom Doak design and exceptional amenities.

I think it makes perfect sense for more and more golf clubs to consider mergers and joint agreements. The great hurdle, it seems, is convincing membership bent on a private experience to go ahead with the merger. Members are generally very, very conservative with club rules and the thought of opening their haven up in any way can cause a great deal of outrage.

But I don’t see a whole lot that is wrong with club mergers if you find the right fit, especially when you can combine each club’s best amenities and services.

Here’s a good quick read I came across from McMahon report, a group of consultants who advise private clubs, who agree that country club mergers are probably the way to go in order to keep private clubs alive.

Get the skinny on new Machrihanish Dunes from Larry Olmsted on ScotlandGolf.com

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 similar sentiments from readers who played Kidd’s Castle Course in St. Andrews and came away scratching their heads.

Golf courses in Scotland seem to go through an initial lambasting period before getting some praise, and in recent months, the tide seems to have turned for Machrihanish Dunes, as the course is getting more positive feedback.

What I found most useful about Olmsted’s review is that he compares Machrihanish Dunes to two of Kidd’s other notable links designs: Bandon Dunes and the Castle Course at St. Andrews (those two I’ve played, not Machrihanish Dunes). It helps paint a good picture in the head of what to expect.

Machrihanish Dunes and Kidd’s Castle Course are actually entirely different in design philosophy. At the Castle, Kidd transformed flat, seaside farmland into huge faux dunes. At Machrihanish Dunes, the land is pure links land on a Site of Special Scientific Interest, which means hardly any Earth was moved during design at all.

So in a nutshell it seems the Castle is tricky by choice. Machrihanish Dunes is tricky by necessity.

Personally, I’ve played Bandon Dunes and the Castle Course and the two are hardly alike. I’d call Bandon Dunes the most player-friendly of the three, soon to be four courses at the resort. I always shot my best rounds there and could usually stay away from high numbers. The Castle on the other hand, I think I’d have to play at least a dozen times before I shot my handicap - if I ever did at all.

Whether you like Machrihanish Dunes or not, it’s all the more reason to make the trek down to Campbeltown and play historic Machrihanish, one of Scotland’s five best courses under $100.

Morocco's King Hassan II Trophy officially added to the 2010 European Tour schedule

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 the radar with a small field, usually of about two dozen golfers, plus a similar field on the women’s side, competing for the Princess Lalla Cup, which next year will move to the Mohammedia Royal Golf Club outside Casablanca and will be staged on the Ladies European Tour the same week.

I attended the event last year, which welcomed Ernie Els to Morocco for the first time. He drew a lot of the headlines and took home the trophy, while Laura Davies won the women’s competition. Next year, it will be moved to March and will be included in the Race to Dubai end-of-year cash grab, so more top names will be sure to come to the country (many of whom for the first time). The event has always been held in high esteem in Morocco, and its safe to say that with the new European Tour designation, the country will spare no expense attracting the top names in the sport to Morocco, all of whom are sure to be given the regal treatment.

The golf club, Royal Dar es Salam Golf Club, has 45 holes, and the headlining Red Course is very good. I liken it to that of the best lowcountry-style courses in Myrtle Beach, only it’s about half the cost, and caddies cost practically nothing. Rabat isn’t the first golf destination you’d think of in Morocco. For that, you want to head to Marrakech or perhaps coastal Agadir. Rabat is more traditional Muslim in most spots, and women aren’t even allowed in a lot of bars, as my party found out one night out on the town.

But the country has jumped on board into golf, to help build business and develop a growing middle class. The Moroccan National Tourist Office has launched a five-year golf initiative to the grow the game and build new golf resorts and facilities throughout the country. To date, it’s not even close in quantity to nearby Andalucia just across the Mediterranean Sea in the south of Spain, but Morocco offers an entirely different kind of golf and culture vacation, one I hope to check out a little more beyond Rabat sometime.

Here’s a photo gallery of Rabat and the action on the golf course: