Golf News & Reviews

It’s hard to find many silver linings in the economy these days, but if you are a glass-half-full kind of person, now might be one of the best times to take a golf vacation, especially if you’ve had your eye on a top golf venue that’s usually booked solid. Here is my experience from two weekends ago. Following the old motto, “when the going gets tough, the tough go play golf,” I spent the Columbus Day weekend in Pinehurst, North Carolina. I wasn’t planning on visiting the venerable Pinehurst Golf Resort, mind you, but my friends were interested in playing Pinehurst No. 2, so we thought we’d give it a shot. (continued at www.GolfVacationInsider.com)

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Have you seen the email going around claiming that the Old Course at St. Andrews is in danger of “crumbling into the sea?” Well, don’t call off your Scotland golf vacation plans just yet.The rumors are based on a recent speech made by the head of a St. Andrews environmental group. Specifically, the part about how the most famous St. Andrews golf course and “the Home of Golf” could be completely destroyed by 2050 if the effects of climate change continue or intensify. From the UK’s Daily Telegraph, about University of St. Andrews’ Jan Bebbington, professor of accounting and director of the St. Andrews Sustainability Institute: (continued at www.GolfVacationInsider.com)

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If you’ve been reading our golf vacation advisories for awhile, you may recall us tipping you off about the Dominican Republic’s Punta Cana region and how it is poised to become the next great Caribbean golf vacation destination. Well, we recently came across a golf vacation package offering two-for-one green fees at Punta Espada, a Jack Nicklaus Signature design that can currently lay claim to being the best Punta Cana golf course (there are several more under contract and construction). (continued at www.GolfVacationInsider.com)

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Wow, judging by the number of comments it received, many of you were quite interested in our tip on “How to Get on Bethpage Black Golf Course, site of the 2009 US Open.”While this definitive guide clarifies and provides insider advice on how to play Long Island, New York’s Bethpage Black Golf Course as a walk-on or by using the tee time reservation system, the two questions many of you still want to know are: (continued at www.GolfVacationInsider.com)

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Can you think of a newly constructed, public-access US golf course that has generated more buzz and endeared itself to the USGA prior to opening than Erin Hills Golf Course in Wisconsin? Chambers Bay Golf Course in Washington is certainly a contender, but it was awarded the 2010 U.S. Amateur and 2015 U.S. Open seven months after opening. (continued at www.GolfVacationInsider.com)

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Troon North Golf Club, one of the 36-hole facilities that has become a staple of Scottsdale golf vacations, has been touting its “two new golf courses” lately. Intrigued as to why the golf club would monkey with its acclaimed Monument Course, a Jay Moorish/Tom Weiskopf creation, and its Pinnacle Course (1996), a solo Weiskopf effort, we made one of our usual anonymous site inspections to find out. Specifically, the Troon North Golf Club website declares that Tom Weiskopf recently returned to create, “two new layouts” and a “completely new playing experience.” The truth is, while Weiskopf modified some bunkers, re-worked a few holes, and added a superior strain of bentgrass to the putting surfaces, his main change was transferring nines between the courses to create more cohesive routings. (continued at www.GolfVacationInsider.com)

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Any time I hear of a resort offering “unlimited golf” packages, my ears perk up. When it’s the Pinehurst Golf Resort, they stand at full attention.Such was the case when I came across Pinehurst’s Golf Resort’s three-day “Buddy Trip of a Lifetime,” where, for $2,300 per person (based on groups of four or more), you can play as much golf as your body will allow on seven of the resort’s golf courses, and one round on its famous, No. 2 course, which has hosted the US Open in 1999 and 2005. (continued at www.GolfVacationInsider.com)

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