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The Blue Ridge Parkway is about 500 miles long and that takes in a huge part of the Smoky Mountains. (Courtesy of blueridgeparkway.org)

Leaf peepers and golfers on the same page for these colorful fall road trips

By Tim McDonald,
Contributor

With the coming of fall, you can enjoy the vibrant, changing colors of fall and some great golf courses in New England, Michigan, the Carolinas and Arizona.

So, the high sizzle of summer has finally given way to the low cool of fall, at least in many parts of the country.

You know what that means, you leaf-peepers: a riotous explosion of color. The wife loves her fall foliage and the changing colors. You love your golf. Don't get a divorce over it - you can both enjoy a fall golf/leaf peeper trip.

Be aware, though, that some experts are saying this will be a down year for the normally vibrant colors that fall brings. Warm, early weather in some southern parts of the country, like Georgia and the Carolinas, and late summery weather up north may drain some color out of those leaves.

Still, it's an excuse to hit the road with the windows down and the golf clubs in the trunk. Remember that in warmer climates and those areas near sea level, fall colors can last well into November, even down into North Florida.

Here are some of our recommendations:

Green Mountains, Vermont

New England is the undisputed champ of colorful fall foliage, typically peaking in late September and early October.

Vermont is classic New England, doing what it does best: showing off its seasonal scenery. Vermont is considered the creme de la creme by leaf peepers, partly because the state is so small that they're never more than two hours away from prime, leaf-viewing territory.

Route 100 is roughly 140 miles long, from Stowe in the north to Wilmington in the south. A bonus is the pastoral New England countryside, with its covered bridges and weathered, rustic barns.

Vermont's golf courses:

• Ekwanok Country Club, Manchester: It opened in 1900, is one of the top courses in the state and a great example of one of the first American golf courses where architecture was taken seriously. It's 6,566 yards with bentgrass greens.

• Green Mountain National Golf Course, Sherburne: Located in the heart of central Vermont. Though the semi-private course is in the mountains, its fairways are gently sloped with large landing areas. You can see ancient rock formations carved from glaciers.

• Others: The Highland at Quechee Club, Quechee; Okemo Valley Golf Club in Ludlow.

White Mountains, New Hampshire

Take the Kancamagus Scenic Byway, also known as the White Mountain Trail. It takes about three hours to drive the route, and it takes you through the "Old Man in the Mountains" in Franconia Notch.

This is a terrific place to see the changing ways of maple, beech and birch trees. Beware, this is a very popular route and can get crowded.

New Hampshire's golf courses:

• Lake Winnipesaukee Golf Club in New Durham (www.lwgcnh.com): This is a private golf course, so you'll need to know someone or have a reciprocal arrangement with your own club. It's situated on 700 mountain acres and more than 7,000 yards long.

• Baker Hill Golf Club in Newbury (www.bakerhill.org): This course is a Rees Jones design with bentgrass greens. It is on 260 acres of farmland, overlooking Lake Sunapee with excellent views of Mount Sunapee.

• Others: Lake Sunapee Golf Club, New London; Montcalm Golf Club, Enfield.

Michigan, Upper Peninsula

Take the Black River Harbor Scenic Byway, and you can end up in Wisconsin, or head west along Lake Superior or take M119, the "tunnel of trees."

The Lake of the Clouds scenic area is at the end of Michigan Highway 107. A better bet might be the Porcupine Mountains State Park, the state's largest park. It contains what many consider the biggest and best stand of virgin Northern hardwoods and hemlock in North America.

Michigan's golf courses:

The UP has around 50 golf courses. Wild Bluff Golf Course overlooks the St. Mary's River and Canada and is the Upper Peninsula's best golf course, according to Golf Digest.

Timberstone Golf Course is located at the Pine Mountain Resort, with terrific views and abundant wildlife. It, too, has been ranked as one of the state's best courses.

• Others: Chocolay Golf Course and Red Fox Run Golf Course.

Southern Utah/Northern Arizona

Take Lake Mary Road out of Flagstaff and continue down through the forest and the little towns of Pine, Strawberry and Payson.

Toward the end of the drive, you'll head down through cactus to Mesa and Phoenix.

Better to get your fill of golf at the start and end of this trip. There are loads of quality golf courses in Flagstaff and Phoenix.

Golf courses:

• Monument at Troon North Golf Club in Scottsdale: This is the one golf course you may want to splurge on - swallow your pride and credit score as you plunk down nearly $300 in green fees.

"This Tom Weiskopf/Jay Morrish design combines stark, desert obstacles with greens so plush you almost think it has to be some kind of artificial turf," Chris Baldwin wrote at TravelGolf.com.

• While there, you might as well play the Pinnacle course at Troon North Golf Club. On No. 18, you're actually shooting up at Pinnacle Peak.

• Others: Las Sendas Golf Club, Painted Mountain Golf Club, Longbow Golf Club.

Lake Tahoe

You women might want to consider an all-gals fall hike with Call of the Wild Adventure Travel for Women (www.callwild.com) in Lake Tahoe, combined with yoga. Men may want to hang around because there will be plenty of women.

If you want to strike out on your own, take Highway 88 over Carson Pass to the Sierra Madre Mountains; you'll drive through ghost towns and old mining camps and the 8,650-foot pass.

Golf courses:

• Coyote Moon Golf Course in Truckee: The course is located on the road heading up to Tahoe Danner. It has impresive elevation changes, large, rock outcroppings and was built for golf and not real estate, a rarity in the area.

• Edgewood-Tahoe Golf Course has great lake views on the back nine as well as Heavenly Valley.

• Others: Mountain Course at Incline Village Golf Resort; Resort at Red Hawk; Genoa Lakes Golf Club.

Amish Country, Ohio

Take the Amish Country Byway to see how the Amish live, just don't get too close and pester them with stupid golf questions; they don't play golf.

You'll also see stunning fall foliage, driving through forests of big oak and cherry trees. The views are free out here, and the green fees aren't that much more expensive.

• Berkshire Hills Golf Course in Chesterland is a public course built on the site of a former farm that specialized in breeding Guernsey cattle, with reasonable green fees.

• Rolling Green Golf Club in Huntsburg has peak season weekend green fees of $20. It's 6,641 yards from the tips with a slope rating of 120. Designed by Richard LaConte, it opened in 1967.

• Others: Chardon Lakes Golf Course and Pleasant Hill Golf Course in Chardon, Punderson Manor Resort and Conference Center in Newbury.

Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive

The Blue Ridge Parkway was built as if the builders consulted motorists first and asked: "Excuse me, how would you like us to build this parkway?"

It's about 500 miles long, from Front Royal, Va., to Cherokee, N.C., and that takes in a huge part of the Smoky Mountains, including Gatlinburg, Tenn., and Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

The Smoky Mountains, the southern area of the Appalachians, are covered with deciduous trees. The advantage here is that fall in the Smokies lingers longer, giving leaf peepers more time to enjoy.

Officials say the paving of the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Spur will be completed in time for the hordes of leaf-peeping tourists.

Golf courses:

• Gatlinburg Municipal Golf Course is actually located in Pigeon Forge, but it is owned by the city of Gatlinburg, home of Ripley's Believe It or Not and every other tourist attraction, in the shadows of the Great Smoky Mountains.

You can stand on most fairways on this public course and fall over, if you aren't careful. Most of the fairways could double as ski slopes in the winter - they bend, twist and rock and roll like Elvis on vodka.

• The Laurel Valley Country Club advertises itself as "off the beaten path," and it is true that Townsend doesn't have the gaudy tourist lures of either of the twin-tourist fortresses of nearby Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge.

Up the hill and then back down in the valley is the Laurel Valley course, a beautiful, little layout that offers ringside seats to the old, smoky mountains.

• Others: Egwani Farms Golf Course, Patriot Hills Golf Club, Clinchview Golf Club, Baneberry Golf Resort.

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September 26, 2008

Veteran golf writer Tim McDonald keeps one eye on the PGA Tour and another watching golf vacation hotspots and letting travelers in on the best place to vacation.