From golf courses coast to coast, Father's Day specials make golfing with Dad a wise gift idea

By Brandon Tucker,
Senior Writer

View large image | More photos

Perennial U.S. Open host Pinehurst Resort is offering one of the country's more elaborate Father's Day weekends for golfing dads. (Courtesy of Pinehurst Resort)

Have a Father's Day gift yet? Not to worry. Golf courses across the country, from Pinehurst No. 2 to Bali Hai Golf Club in Las Vegas, are offering great gift deals for Dad.

You and Dad may never agree on music or fashion tastes, but surely you and Pop can find some common ground on the golf course this upcoming Father's Day.

Golf resorts and courses from coast to coast are offering some incentives for some father-son golf battles. We've scanned the United States for the best specials catering to Father's Day weekend, and you've got options.

Pinehurst's golf weekend dedicated to Dad

Payne Stewart's dramatic U.S. Open win in 1999 on Father's Day put another wrinkle in the Pinehurst Resort's storied history. Fittingly, Pinehurst is offering a weekend special tailored to dads.

The event runs all weekend and includes golf with a caddie on Pinehurst No. 2 (plus another round on another resort course), three nights accommodations, dinners and breakfasts, plus an opening night reception with author James Dodson, who wrote "A Son of the Game."

"That day in June marked our indelible connection between the holiday, our championship tradition and family celebrations," said Tom Pashley, executive vice president of marketing at Pinehurst. "It was only natural and fitting that we would create this event. We're getting great response."

Free golf for Dad in Las Vegas

If you want to do Father's Day in Las Vegas, the three Walters Golf courses in Las Vegas are all offering free rounds for dad on any of its three courses - Bali Hai Golf Club, Royal Links Golf Club or Desert Pines Golf Club - when you book and prepay for the accompanying round (June 21 only).

"We can't think of a better way to spend Father's Day than on one of Las Vegas' best golf courses," said Joshua Hill, director of marketing for Walters Golf. "So we figured why not offer a great gift for that day that will also let families get tremendous value?"

Special twosome rates on golf in Myrtle Beach

For Father's Day weekend (June 18-22), Myrtle Beach National is offering special twosome rates on each of its nine golf courses, from $45 on Aberdeen Country Club and others, to $70 at Willbrook Plantation Golf Club and River Club, to $100 on its top-ranked King's North at Myrtle Beach National.

Or, you can take advantage of M.B.N.'s family-friendly "kids play free" program, which runs all year long, where kids tee it up free with any paying adult on any course.

Free golf for Dad at Texas' Horseshoe Bay

Those who live in the Texas Triangle can make the short getaway to the Horseshoe Bay Resort in the Hill Country just outside of Austin.

It's an especially good resort for family trips, with a plethora of water sports on Lake LBJ, tennis and a wonderful grass putting course, the Whitewater Course, that puts any mini-golf course to shame.

On Father's Day, Dad plays for free (with a paying guest) on any of its three excellent Robert Trent Jones Sr. courses. Guest room rates for that Sunday night are also half off ($99) regular rates.

Dad's swing in bad shape? Free golf lesson at Tullymore in northern Michigan

Depending on how dad's game is over Father's Day weekend, at Tullymore Golf Club in northern Michigan, you can give dad either a free shirt and hat or a golf lesson, when you buy a $219-$249 package that includes two rounds and a night's stay at the St. Ives Resort.

Free Pro-V1s for Dad at Circling Raven, Idaho

At Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort's Circling Raven Golf Club in Idaho, Dad receives a free sleeve of Pro-V1 resort logo balls on top of also teeing it up on one of the West's top values for golf all times of year. Two person packages, which include a night's stay, run $220-$268.

Win the trip of a lifetime with dad from the Golf Channel

Father-son duos who think they have an especially remarkable story to tell should enter Golf Channel's "Father's Day Dream Trip" contest, which asks for a 100-word essay recounting life lessons learned from fathers (or mentors) through the game of golf.

If you win, you'll receive an all-expenses-paid trip for two to the 2010 U.S. Open, plus $2,000 in spending money. Entries must be submitted by June 5 at www.GolfChannel.com.

More photos

June 1, 2009

Brandon Tucker is a Senior Writer and Special Projects Editor for the WorldGolf.com Network, where he contributes not only golf and travel articles, but photo essays, videos and more. His golf travels have taken him across the U.S., including more than 50 Myrtle Beach-area golf courses, and to such destinations as Scotland, Wales, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany and Malaysia.