Archive for the ‘Golf Courses’ Category
Friday, July 11th, 2008 |
Ten years ago this summer, a billboard went up on U.S. Route 1 south of Sanford, N.C., proclaiming the arrival of something totally different. “Tobacco Road: A Whole New Playing Field,” blared the ad. For those of us used to turning right just beyond the sign to go to Pinehurst, word of architect Mike Strantz’s latest creation was reason enough to have a peek.
Tobacco Road Golf Clubs is described as “Pine Valley on steroids” and “golf’s rock and roll thrill ride”. Mike Strantz created one of the most celebrated and talked about courses in the world. Consistently rated amongst the nation’s best, Tobacco Road is the one course that leaves you and your golfing friends begging for more. The scene is so breath-taking you will want to bring along your camera to forever capture the greatness of “The Road”. Playing at a length of 6500 yards from the Ripper tees, Tobacco Road was rated as high as second in slope in the Carolinas to the famed Ocean Course at Kiawah Island.
The look and feel of the place would prove unlike anything ever seen in golf. If the asphalt plant at the entrance wasn’t enough, there was the rustic cabin behind a green to the right and an overblown shed that looked like a halfway house until you realized it was, in fact, the clubhouse.
But that’s nothing compared to the view from the first tee. Here, the player looks out upon a 558-yard par 5 that weaves and bobs through massive dunes that narrowly pinch the fairway landing area. Most courses shun blind shots entirely. By the looks of things, Tobacco Road had three on the first hole. It’s a good indication of the ensuing walk on the wild side.
The overall effect is stunning and also hysterically funny. You can toss the book out on all sorts of routing rules – you know, the ones that preach an easy opening tee shot or visible landing areas or well-defined options. In military parlance, the opening tee shot passes through a narrow “defile,” or choke point. When you break through to the other side, you have entered a netherworld of distracting beauty, psychological distortion and cruel teasing. We always knew golf could be hard or demanding, but who knew that a single round could be such an emotional roller-coaster of imagery, texture and sensuality? It’s the golf course you love and hate on alternating shots. And the golf course that made you think everything else in its generation was two-dimensional and black and white.
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Friday, June 20th, 2008 |
The game of golf was born on rugged, wind-swept land like this. Where every hole, every hazard, and every shot is defined by nature’s infinite presence. True links courses are rare, with only about 160 on the entire planet.
At Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, you’ll find three distinctly different courses built on a beautiful stretch of sand dunes perched 100 feet above the Pacific Ocean. Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes feature a dozen holes that run along the bluff overlooking 23 miles of sweeping, undisturbed shoreline. Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes — and our newest addition, Bandon Trails — weren’t built as much as discovered. Among the coastal forest, dunes and gorse lie 54 golf holes that yield fresh rewards each time they’re played.
Accommodations provide a refuge of relative seclusion. Chrome Lake Rooms offer double king and two-room lofts. Lily Pond Rooms offer two queen beds, while the Lodge offers single rooms and three suites, many with dramatic golf course views. Our Grove Cottages are designed specifically for a foursome of golfers, with four private rooms and a shared parlor and patio. And our new The Inn at Bandon Dunes provides single king and double queen beds just a short walk from the Lodge. Located on the property are three full service restaurants, lounges, golf shops, hot tub, sauna, exercise room and locker rooms. A 32-acre practice center allows you to hone every shot required at Bandon Dunes and features a one-acre practice putting green and bunker practice area.
Bandon Dunes is 5 minutes from the seaside town of Bandon, just off Highway 101, and just 25 minutes from the North Bend Airport, served daily by flights from Portland.
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Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 |
Donald Trump has made no bones about his desire to bring a U.S. Open to his imposing Tom Fazio course in Bedminster, New Jersey (conveniently located a half-mile from the sanctum where such decisions are made, USGA headquarters in Far Hills). The Bedminster project is Trump’s third private club, after Trump International in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Trump National in Westchester County, New York.
Opened in 2004, this golf course designed by Tom Fazio. The par 73, 7,565 yard golf course is truly a course for all skill levels. The course is walkable, hence, appreciating nature at its best is another added plus of this course.
Ranked 54th by Golf Magazine’s 100 Best Modern Courses and 49th on Golf Week’s Best Modern Courses, this Trump golf course has huge greens, wide fairways, immense tee boxes, and sprawling bunkers and still the course is very playable and easy to walk.
A second, 18-hole course will be designed and built by Tom Fazio II, who has worked closely with Donald Trump as his in-house golf course designer and builder for almost a decade. Tom is the son of acclaimed architect Jim Fazio and the nephew of fellow golf course design luminary Tom Fazio. The course is scheduled to open this year and will be the perfect complement to the existing golf course.
Please do note that this is a private course, and initiation fee is at $350,000 with a annual dues reaching $18,000.
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Monday, June 16th, 2008 |
Wasatch mountain state golf, Utah
Midway, Utah is the site of one of the state’s most popular public golf courses. Voted one of the “Best Places to Play” by Golf Digest, the spectacular Wasatch Mountain State Park boasts a 36-hole facility, complete with a comfortable, full-service clubhouse, beautiful practice green and driving range and an on-site restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.
The park’s challenging 18-hole Mountain Course (cart required) is carved from natural mountain contours, and is known for occasional sightings of roaming deer, elk, wild turkeys, moose and other wildlife. You’ll reach vantage points overlooking the beautiful Heber Valley below. Named a Golf Digest “Best Place to Play” in 2004. Golf Carts are required on this course.
On gentler terrain, where surrounding mountains slope away to the valley floor, lies the 18-hole Lake Course. Built in 1972, its season-long pastoral beauty, with tree lined fairways and eight lakes and ponds, offers just the right setting to make the Lake Course a favourite for high, low and “no” handicappers. Although golf carts are not required on certain times on this course, it is highly recommended that you rent one. With it’s steep valleys and challenging terrain, walkability on this course is fairly not good.
Wasatch Mountain State Park
1281 Warm Springs Dr.
Midway, UT 84049
435-654-0532
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Monday, June 16th, 2008 |
Situated in Myrtle Beach, Barefoot Resort and Golf is rated as one of Golf Digest’s Best Places to Play.
The course is reasonably playable if you rein in your ego and choose the right tees, but who does that anymore?
Seven holes along the Intracoastal Waterway highlight Greg Norman’s newest design at Barefoot Resort. Combined with open green complexes and fairways running up to the sand, the Norman course presents a stunning challenge for any golfer.
Tees and Fairway consist of GN-1, which is a hybrid turf developed by Greg Norman Turf.
The Love Course at Barefoot Resort is a traditional course with a Lowcountry character and incorporates Davis Love, III’s Carolina golfing experiences in the design. This visually striking course features course generous landing areas and greens complexes similar to those found at the 1999 U.S. Open.
The Love Course is a Par 72 and plays over 7,000 yards.
The approach areas consist of Tif-sport Bermuda grass.
Like many European courses, the course does not return to the clubhouse after nine holes. It is not a British linksland course, but rather a classic Lowcountry course, filled with live oaks, pines, sand, natural areas and native grasses.
Oh yeah, the club-twisting rough and the slick greens don’t make life any easier.
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Saturday, June 14th, 2008 |
Challenge is the operative word.
Nestled along the shores of Lake Thurmond is the Hickory Knob State Resort Park Golf Course. This huge reservoir lake serves as a defining feature of this challenging course, as the waters of Lake Thurmond are visible or come into play on every hole. In order to score at Hickory Knob, be prepared to hit a variety of shots. There is a tremendous assortment of slopes, contours, fairway widths, and bunkering, so bring your A game to this great golf tract.
Made by the famous architect Tom Jackson, this championship 18 hole, Bermuda grassed golf course for all skill levels is located in South Carolina’s only resort state park.
The surrounding park and amenities is a tremendous asset to this golf course. Not only will you find a comfortable clubhouse with a snack bar and full-service pro shop, but the park also has lodge rooms, cabins, a campground and a full-service restaurant. The staff at the park will assist you in arranging your golf package for the weekend or in planning golf outings and tournaments large and small.
Rated a Great Value by Golf Digest for its unique combination of bargain rates, challenging golf and picturesque scenery, Hickory Knob has everything you want in a golf course and more. Bring a foursome and stay a while.
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Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 |
The home of the first 2008 LPGA Lorena Ochoa Invitational, The Guadalajara Country Club is situated in Jalisco, Mexico. This 6,900 yard, 18 hole golf course became the golf course were Lorena Ochoa played her first round. Designed by Joe Finger, this championship golf course is quoted with one of the local sayings “Hardly a day goes by when one cannot play golf in Guadalajara”. This private golf club is also noted to be one of the oldest in Mexico. Players who will be playing here is required to be accompanied by a member of the club at least. Guadalajara Country Club is a very competitive course for novice and professional golfers alike. Accuracy is generously rewarded in this course as this course is abundant with tight straights. Weather is no problem in this course though as fair yet humid weather appears to be all-year round. One word of advise in this course: Be careful with your long game.
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Saturday, April 26th, 2008 |
Not only known for its lovely wines, Cape Town is also known for a lovely golf course that hosted the South African open numerous times. The Royal Cape Golf Club, with the scenic view of the table mountain, is abundant with water hazards and narrow fairways therefore demanding extreme accuracy and nerves of steel for most of the shots. With its red soil, flat fairways and Victorian architecture structures nearby at sight, the course might give you a slice of South Africa’s rich history. 
Photo Credit: mandj98
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Friday, April 25th, 2008 |
Finished in 1997, Circolo Golf Bogogno, is considered one of Europe’s finest golf courses. Designed by the American Robert Von Hagge, the course, a par 72, 18-hole, extending 6,200 meters, is surrounded with 220 hectares of natural and unpolluted surroundings. With the streams, woods, lakes, a vantage point of Monte Rosa, this course is truly blessed with a mild climate. The Clubhouse is positioned strategically in the centre of the course. Its exteriors are in line with the local country houses in the vicinity. Some holes are isolated in cases where the green is flat. Accuracy is really rewarded well in this course as this course requires conviction in shots and a skill in measuring range. There are also residential units across the course with villas and some semi-detached villas measuring approximately 100 square metres all with their own gardens, garages, and private panoramic views of the course and the countryside.
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Thursday, April 24th, 2008 |
Located facing the Gulf of Tropez in France, Golf de Sainte-Maxime or simply put Sainte Maxime Golf Course stretches 65 hectares or 150 acres of French Countryside. With the breeze coming from the Gulf of Tropez, expect wind speed to be an additional challenge in this course. This par 71, 18-hole golf course is abundant with aerial shots and water hazards for the first 9 holes and the rest is what to be described as a plateau for the rest of the course. Designed by English architects Peter and Don Harradine, this course is described to be very challenging and sensational. Green Fees starts at 90 Euros up.
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