Destination Golfer 2019

2019 EDITION

RTJ GOLF TRAIL AT ROSS BRIDGE BIRMINGHAM • AL

TPC STADIUM COURSE LA QUINTA • CA

G O LF A ND G A MIN G B AYO U A ND B EER T R A ILS HE A RT L A ND ’ S B EST G O LF S O U T H W EST SUR PR ISES PLUS : T EX A S , M AUI , PA CIFIC N O RT H W EST A ND M O R E

CONTENTS 6 8

26

DESTINATION:SE Birdies, bayous and beer

30

DESTINATION:MW Missouri’s top destinations

10 SPOTLIGHT 12 TOP SHELF

Dallas goes all-in on pro sports

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DESTINATION:SW Palm Springs beckons winter golfers

Pacific Northwest’s must-play spots

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TRAVEL BAG

16 PRODUCT WATCH 18 THE 19TH HOLE 20 IN FOCUS

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RESORT REPORT

TEEING OFF INDUSTRY INSIDER Hilton Head’s Greg Norman Golf Academy

Leupold’s top new lasers

Say aloha to Maui

Discovering Shangri-La

Bloody Marys go green

Native tribes growing the game

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Built by the Potawatomie tribe, Kansas’ top-ranked Firekeeper Golf Course is one of many examples of Native tribes injecting much-needed cash, enthusiasm and environmentally conscious design into the game of golf.

STORY ON PAGE 22

ON THE COVER Ross Bridge is one of dozens of courses along Alabama’s incredible Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.

STORY ON PAGE 26

TEEING OFF

BY KIRK TOURTILLOTTE VOLUME 11 • ISSUE 1 • 2019 Destination Golfer is published and owned by Varsity Communications, Inc.

VARSITY COMMUNICATIONS 4114 198th St. SW, Suite 5 Lynnwood, WA 98036 P: (425) 412-7070 F: (425) 412-7082 varsitycommunications.com

EDITORIAL STAFF P U B LI S H E R Kirk Tourtillotte P R E S I D E NT Dick Stephens E D I TO R Brian Beaky ART DIRECTION Robert Becker GR APHIC DESIGNERS Robert Becker, Katie Erickson

FOR EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS AND INQUIRIES: Brian Beaky • (425) 412-7070 ext. 103 editor@cascadegolfer.com

ADVERTISING & MARKETING STAFF

V I C E P R E S I D E NT / D I R E C TO R O F S A L E S Kirk Tourtillotte S ALE S R E P R E S E NTAT IV E S Simon Dubiel, Ian Civey, Elijah Prokopenko FOR ADVERTISING INQUIRIES, CONTACT: Kirk Tourtillotte • (425) 412-7070 ext. 114 kirk@varsitycommunications.com

ACCOUNTING STAFF DIRECTOR OF FINANCE Bobbi Kramer ACCOUNTS PAYABLE/ ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Pam Titland

PRINTING

Consolidated Press • Seattle, WA COPYRIGHT 2019 Destination Golfer. PRINTED IN THE USA. All rights reserved. Articles, photos, advertising and /or graphics may not be reprinted without the written permission of the publisher. Advertising and editorial contained herein does not constitute endorsement of Destination Golfer or Varsity Communications, Inc. Publisher reserves the right to edit letters, photos and copy submitted and publish only excerpts. The publisher has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all material contained in this issue. However, as unpredictable changes and errors do occur, the publisher can assume no liability for errors, omissions or changes.

All photos are courtesy of the course or individual unless otherwise noted.

PROUD CHARTER MEMBER

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t’s that time of year again — time to start making plans for your next golf adventure.

As I travel to consumer golf shows across the country throughout the winter months, I feel the excitement building for the golf season ahead — only to go home and have to wait out the remainder of winter, while my clubs sit in the garage, car trunk or closet. That’s why, 11 years ago, we began publishing Destination Golfer, not only to get us fired up for the season ahead, but also to provide leads on locales where the golf season rolls on right through winter — places where you don’t have to drag the clubs out of the garage, because you never had to put them away in the first place. Just as Mike Hynson and Robert August traveled the world chasing waves in Bruce Brown’s Endless Summer (1966), you, too, can make golf a year-round sport.

I’m fortunate to have spent the past nine years in Phoenix over Super Bowl weekend, golfing with friends. As I write this, my trip is just a few weeks away, and I can’t wait! A vacation, for me, isn’t complete without playing the area’s top tracks — if that’s true for you, too, then you’ll certainly want to browse through the many incredible destinations we’ve covered this year to plan your next trip.

This edition takes us from Gulf Coast of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana to the Lake of the

Ozarks Golf Trail; from the incredible courses and resorts of the Pacific Northwest to the sand-andsnow climes of Palm Springs; from the pine-scented hills of Minnesota, to the palm-lined fairways of Maui. We also go to Las Vegas, British Columbia, Illinois and Oklahoma — I am fortunate to have played in each of these locales in the past few years, and all of them are a total blast.

Finally, we look at the explosion of golf in and around Dallas — soon to be home to the PGA, along with courses themed after the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers — take a trip to see golf’s next generation in training at the Greg Norman Champions Golf Academy, and more.

Whatever your golf vacation plans for 2019, it’s our hope that Destination Golfer gives you a glimpse of some of the best places to play in our beautiful country and gets you fired up to go play them in the near future.

Here’s to a great year of golf ahead!

INDUSTRY INSIDER

Ready To Take the Next Step In Your Golf Career? Check Out Myrtle Beach’s Greg Norman Champions Golf Academy

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f you want to be the best, you need to train with the best. That’s why the Greg Norman Champions Golf Academy, in Myrtle Beach, S.C., was created — to meet the needs of top golfers at every stage of their amateur and professional development.

GNCGA is built on the professional playing career and instructional know-how of Greg Norman to provide a comprehensive development platform for golfers seeking to dramatically improve their ability to compete effectively and win.

GNCGA provides expert coaching and instruction based on a proprietary teaching methodology that effectively develops and reinforces proper fundamentals while integrating the individuality of each player’s body and swing with the state-of-the-art equipment.

Their aim is to provide golfers in the U.S. and abroad with an instructional program and training environment in which the ability to play collegiate and professional golf can be fully developed. By opening their doors to these young players, they can provide them with consistent, effective training based on direct experience of what it takes to compete and win at every level of the game.

So, what it is like for students attending Greg Norman Champions Golf Academy? The answer to this question is simple on the surface, yet complex in detail.

Most of the students at GNCGA spend the best four years of their high school career on the course with the academy’s amazing staff. Those instructors watch them grow in height and character. They watch them improve their game, taking it stroke by stroke. They watch them fail, only to get back up again and flourish.

They also teach them valuable lessons off the course, knowing that whether you play once a month or every day, the lessons you learn through golf help shape the person you have been, are now, and will be in the future.

“Thank you for all the support you gave me and for all the things you taught me that are now essentials in my daily life,” wrote Gonzalo P., a student in 2015 who traveled from Spain to take advantage of GNCGA programming. “In terms of golf, you couldn’t have been more right when you said that the most important thing was to play as much golf as possible and to learn from your mistakes on the golf course, Also, all the little things that I thought were not important, I realize now how much they help ... like making my bed every day or making my divots. I couldn’t be more thankful that you taught me all those essentials.”

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That said, not every young adult is a perfect fit for the Greg Norman Champions Golf Academy.

Like any other specialized school in America, the GNCGA looks for individuals with special and unique attributes that help them grow and thrive in the golf industry.

So, how do you know if you’re the right fit?

You must have passion for the game — just because you have a certain skill that you have mastered doesn’t mean that skill should dictate your life. Someone can be skilled in mathematics; however, that doesn’t mean that they love it.

You should enjoy what you are doing every day.

Especially when you will be doing it for 39-plus hours of the week.

You need to be able to push yourself. Life is changing, just like the game of golf. Rules change, training intensifies, and competition gets tough. You need to have the inner strength to push yourself past obstacles that most people would think they can’t do. You need to give 100 percent every day to see the results you want to see. If that means hitting the gym twice a day, putting in an extra hour of practice at home, or an extra hour of study time to ace an exam, then you must be willing to push through it until you are out on the other side.

You need to want it, every second of it. If you

want to be the next Tiger Woods, you must believe you will be the next Tiger Woods. In most situations, this means not taking “no” for an answer, and instead trying different actions until you get a “yes.” This means going out of your comfort zone to do what you have never done before. If you do not want it, you are not going to do it well.

You are dedicated. Only practice makes perfect and only practice makes great players. Anyone can get lucky in golf, but eventually, the luck runs out. Whether you are a student just looking to have golf push you in your college career, or want to be the next PGA TOUR winner, dedication is a top priority. Earning your spot on a team, or with a sponsorship, will build you into the better person that you want to become more than buying it.

It’s understandable that not every person will always exemplify these traits. Just having one, though, will open many doors in your life, including the doors to the Greg Norman Champions Golf Academy.

“What I appreciate the most about last year is the family environment that GNCGA offers, because college is just like that,” adds Gonzalo.

“Your team is your family and you have to respect everyone like if they were your brothers.”

To learn more, visit www.gncga.com or call 843-399-1551.

SPOTLIGHT: DALLAS, TEXAS From the PGA, to the NFL, to MLB, the nation’s largest sports organizations are going all-in on golf in Dallas

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t’s commonly said that everything’s a little bigger in Texas. When it comes to golf, that’s certainly true.

The PGA of America announced in December that it’s going big — in the form of a $520 million investment in Frisco, just north of Dallas, to build a new corporate headquarters at the center of what will become one of the most ambitious golf developments ever built. Two championship courses, a short course and practice areas totaling 45 holes; a clubhouse; Class AA office space; a 500-room Omni resort and 127,000-square-foot conference center; a technologically advanced retail village; parks and open space; plus several miles of trails will complement this unique, signature development.

And, as part of the deal, the PGA has committed to bring two PGA Championships, two KPMG Women’s PGA Championships, and potentially even a Ryder Cup to the new facility, once it opens sometime after the summer of 2022.

“Today is both historic and transformational for the City of Frisco,” said Mayor Jeff Cheney.

“Not only will this signature development change the future of Frisco’s northern landscape, it will transform the sport, growing a new generation of pros, fans and golf enthusiasts. As Sports City, USA, we’re thrilled to partner with another world-class brand like the PGA of America.”

Of course, the investment of world-class brands into the Dallas-area golf scene is nothing new.

Since 2001, golfers have walked among the blue-and-silver stylings of Grapevine’s Cowboys Golf Club, the world’s only NFL-themed golf destination. Owned and operated by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones himself, it’s a

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Cowboys Golf Club • Grapevine, Texas 7,000-yard tribute to America’s Team, from the memorabilia in the clubhouse to the historical markers throughout the course that celebrate the franchise’s greatest players and most memorable moments. It’s also pretty darn good, ranked regularly among the state’s top public tracks and a must-play for any NFL aficionado.

So, it’s probably not all that surprising then that, like a Texas Hold ‘Em player holding a high pair, the city’s Major League Baseball team, the Texas Rangers, has opted to push its chips into the middle as well.

In partnership with local management company Arlington Golf, the Texas Rangers will open the world’s only Major League Baseball-branded golf course — Texas Rangers Golf Club — in early 2019.

The $24 million project includes a total renova-

tion and updated routing of the existing Chester W. Ditto Golf Course, with improved turf grasses and additional water features. A new, 33,871-squarefoot clubhouse, set to open in late 2019, will feature a full-service restaurant and bar, covered patio overlooking the golf course, pro shop, locker rooms, and multiple rental and event spaces.

The course renovation, under the direction of course architect and Arlington native John Colligan, commenced in mid-December 2016. The new layout will stretch to 7,010 yards for lowhandicap golfers and potential collegiate events, and will feature four sets of tees to ensure a great playing experience for golfers of all ability levels. An expanded driving range and practice facility will also allow for additional private instruction and group lessons for both adults and junior golfers.

“As the world’s only MLB-themed golf course, this course is sure to be a ‘bucket list’ item for baseball fans across the globe, especially our Rangers fans right here in Arlington,” said Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams.

“We feel this presents a great cross-promotional opportunity for the club, and we look forward to working with the City to make Texas Rangers Golf Club a first-class destination,” added Rob Matwick, Texas Rangers Executive Vice President for Business Operations.

If it seems like all of the sports world’s biggest names are investing in golf in Dallas ... well, they are. So, when you’re planning your next golf vacation, keep Dallas in mind — you certainly won’t be the only gunslinger riding into town.

TOP SHELF PLANNING A TRIP TO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST THIS YEAR? HERE ARE THE CAN’T-MISS COURSES THROUGHOUT THE REGION.

WASHINGTON

GAMBLE SANDS BREWSTER • WASH.

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f you’re not from Washington, then its likely that your knowledge of golf courses in the Evergreen State begins and ends with Chambers Bay, the links-style track about 45 minutes south of Seattle that hosted the U.S. Open in 2015.

While Chambers Bay may be Washington’s most celebrated public course, however, it might not be its best.

In 2017, readers of Cascade Golfer magazine, Washington’s largest golf publication, bumped Chambers Bay out of the top spot for the first time in the course’s history, instead crowning Gamble Sands (gamblesands.com) — David McLay Kidd’s new course in Central Washington — as the state’s best course you can play, echoing the “America’s Best New Course” honor it received from Golf Digest in 2014, and a top-100 national ranking.

So, what exactly is it that has golfers willing to drive three-plus hours into Central Washington wine country, and pay greens fees that range from $60-$150?

The fact is, it’s just that good.

Gamble Sands’ scenic setting on a ridge above the Columbia River and its ingenious design that rewards creative shotmaking make for a thrilling

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golf experience that is sure to leave you smiling. The shifting wind conditions and creative contours on the fairways, greens and collars mean a hole almost never plays exactly the same way twice, making repeat play not just possible, but essential to appreciating Kidd’s unique design.

Putts from well short of the green run up over firm slopes; bump-andrun approaches roll to pin-high; wedges drop over front bunkers to welltucked pins; approaches struck intentionally off-target funnel towards the hole; tee shots fly forever from elevated tees. From the 6,200-yard green tees ― the middle of the course’s five tee boxes ― no fewer than five holes, and potentially as many as seven, represent fantastic risk-reward opportunities.

In other words, it’s just pure fun.

It’s proven so popular, in fact, that Gamble Sands expanded its footprint in 2017 to include a new, 37-room lodge — The Inn at Gamble Sands — a new golf shop, and a two-acre, 18-hole putting course reminiscent of Tom Doak’s famed “Punchbowl” at Bandon Dunes.

Everyone who comes to Washington plays Chambers Bay. But, for the golfer willing to take on some adventure, Gamble Sands awaits.

TOP SHELF IDAHO

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COEUR D’ALENE RESORT COEUR D’ALENE • IDAHO

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anked No. 1 in the province and among the country’s top-50 courses by multiple magazines, Big Sky Golf Course (BigSkyGolf.ca) — located roughly 30 minutes north of Whistler, in Pemberton, B.C. — is one of the most unique courses you’ll ever play.

The entire course is surrounded by mountains, in every direction — none more impressive than the towering Mount Currie, which dominates the northern skyline. Sunset on the face of Mount Currie is one of the prettiest sights you’ll ever see.

Unlike most mountain courses, Big Sky has few elevation changes and plays more like a links or wetlands course — the property is routed across land that was once a vast marsh, used for growing Pemberton’s ubiquitous potatoes (which once fed hungry Canucks, and are now, happily, turned into vodka and other spirits by the folks at Pemberton Distillery, downtown). That makes the course unique among Whistler-area tracks — and also puts an emphasis on shot-making. Shots that miss the fairways may well wind up wet, and even finding the oversized greens isn’t a guarantee of success.

The par-4 14th features one of the course’s few elevated tee boxes. Crush a drive and watch it hang forever against the backdrop of those snowcovered peaks; it’s a sight, and a feeling, you won’t soon forget.

efore you die, you’ll want to golf in Scotland. You’ll also, no doubt, want to walk the shores of the Irish Sea, hit a drive on the seventh at Pebble Beach, and go for the green on the 18th at Kapalua. And, you have to play the Floating Green.

While Coeur d’Alene’s (www.cdaresort.com) famous par-3 may not be as internationally renowned as other locales, it’s every bit as unique.

Resting atop a massive float of polystyrene and concrete, the 15,000 square-foot green — which celebrated its 25th year in 2016 — can be moved, via underwater cables, anywhere from 95 to 230 yards from the tee. After hitting their knock-kneed tee shots, golfers are ferried to the green by boat to putt out before having their photos taken.

Regardless of whether you make a two or a six, it’s one of America’s most iconic holes, and one of just a handful in the world that can truly make the claim to be one-of-a-kind. The crown jewel of a course once called “America’s Most Beautiful Resort Course” by Golf Digest, it’s just one of many excellent holes on a course where guests are treated to forecaddies, wood-paneled carts, engraved bag tags and additional luxurious amenities.

Stay-and-play packages include lodging and rounds for two for as little as $149 per person … more than 60 percent off the rate you’d pay booking separately. So, tee it high and let it fly ... and, if you miss, come back and try again.

BRITISH COLUMBIA

BIG SKY GOLF CLUB PEMBERTON • B.C.

D ES T I N AT I O N GO LFER 13

TOP SHELF OREGON PEBBLE BEACH GOLF LINKS PEBBLE BEACH • CALIFORNIA

Plan Your Golf Vacation

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nspired to get away to one of these great locations — or, perhaps, Pebble Beach, St. Andrews, or even Augusta National? Consider working with a travel advisor.

Unlike the internet, which creates “one-sizefits-all” experiences, a travel advisor can help customize an itinerary that includes experiences most likely to match your budget, priorities and personal preferences. Not only are travel advisors knowledgeable about the areas you’ll be visiting, but their relationships with suppliers (hotels, tours, etc.) and local experts can often lead to savings you wouldn’t have been able to find on your own, while giving you peace of mind in knowing that the suppliers you’ll be dealing with have been professionally vetted.

Your experience starts before you leave, when your travel advisor will get to know you and your interests, and can make recommendations for destinations or experiences that are the best fit for you personally. Travel advisors can also take care of all the logistical aspects of booking your trip, from airfare, to hotel accommodations, to tours, rounds of golf and more, saving you time and stress.

They can also share tips and insights learned from years of experience to reduce any surprises that might occur on your trip; and, should something go wrong, a travel advisor becomes an advocate in your corner, working to set things right while you enjoy the rest of your vacation.

Furthermore, travel advisors’ relationships with local experts in destinations across the world can help you discover off-the-beaten-path experiences you may not have found on your own, while steering you away from those that, while perhaps popular with tourists, are overrated or not the best fit for your personal interests.

For the cheapest possible trip, visit the internet; but remember, you generally get what you pay for. To get the most bang for your buck, give a travel advisor a call — you won’t regret your choice.

To start planning your next great golf adventure, contact travel advisor Michelle Wicks Cypher at travelthereandback.com.

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CROSSWATER GOLF CLUB SUNRIVER • OREGON

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hen famed golf course architect Bunny Mason first suggested building golf courses in Central Oregon in the 1960s, nearly everyone laughed. Everyone except developers John Grey and Donald McCullum, who instead made plans for an all-new destination resort just south of Bend, at the time a sleepy country town with just 12,000 permanent residents.

Their resort — Sunriver — became the first to open in the region in 1968, and has remained one of the Pacific Northwest’s premier vacation destinations ever since. Golfers come from across the continent to play Bob Cupp’s Crosswater course, which ranked 51st in Golf Digest’s most recent list of America’s top public courses, while Robert Trent Jones, Jr.’s Woodlands Course, the John Fought-redesigned Meadows Course, and the executive-length Caldera Links each rank among the state’s best.

Since opening in 1995, Crosswater has been a mainstay of national “Best Of” lists. This heathland-style course incorporates scenic woodlands and artfully preserved wetlands into its stunning design, with the Deschutes River coming into play several times. Indeed, it’s even good enough for the big boys — Crosswater was chosen as the site of the PGA TOUR Champions Tour’s final major of 2007, the JELD-WEN Tradition, and was home to the 2013 PGA National Championship.

Crosswater is only open to guests of the Sunriver resort, but if your Oregon golf vacation doesn’t include a stay at Sunriver, you’re not completely out of options. Both the Woodlands and Meadows courses are open to the general public and are just as scenic, well-groomed and challenging as their more heralded sister course.

RTJII’s Woodlands, as one would expect, is tighter and more challenging, with more water

and trees than its resort sibling. The drama builds throughout the back nine to the terrific 18th, a 372-yard par-4 that can play 100 yards shorter if a golfer wants to risk carrying the course’s largest pond to the green beyond.

The Meadows, meanwhile — recently restored to its original glory by acclaimed designer John Fought — begins in the open grassland near the river and winds back into the trees. Mount Bachelor provides a stunning backdrop to the tee shot at the par-3 16th, while the many deer that call Sunriver home lend the foreground its own bit of natural eye candy.

But, golf is just part of the allure of Sunriver — there’s also the spa, horseback riding, river rafting, hiking and biking, multiple pools and waterslides, numerous shops and restaurants, and a state-of-the-art observatory featuring one of the largest telescopes in the continental U.S. In addition, the resort recently completed a $50 million property revitalization project that included the opening of three new restaurants, including a tavern loaded with legendary Central Oregon microbrews (including Sunriver Brewing Company’s own Rippin’ Northwest Ale), a lobby bar with wine, beer and small bites, and a family-friendly, casual-dining restaurant named after one of the first explorers of the Oregon Trail, Kit Carson, who reportedly camped on the Sunriver Meadow.

Of course, the lodging has improved a bit since Carson’s time. Sunriver offers accommodations to match any size party or budget, from one-bedroom lodge rooms to expansive luxury homes. Packages combine lodging with unlimited golf at the two resort courses, plus one round per day at Crosswater, at per-person rates starting under $100 per night.

Check sunriver-resort.com to see what packages are available before you book your trip.

D ES T I N AT I O N GO LFER 15

PRODUCT WATCH: LEUPOLD GOLF RANGEFINDERS

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Leupold Sets Sights on Success With New Laser Rangefinders

t seems that every couple of years, we come back to rangefinders. That’s partly because, like anyone who has ever tried to buy a television, computer or videogame system will understand, the technology keeps on changing.

The cutting-edge GPS rangefinders of just two years ago are now already 2-3 generations behind their present-day progeny, while laser rangefinders have become even more precise, long-ranging and easy to use.

But, truthfully, that’s only part of the reason that we continue to cover the exploding rangefinder market. The other is … you. We receive more questions about rangefinders than all other golf accessories combined, an indicator of consumer interest reflected by the large number of rangefinders ranked among the leaders in U.S. golf accessory sales figures.

Despite all of the added features and technological advancements, there remain two basic kinds of rangefinders – GPS and laser. GPS rangefinders typically have a slightly lower price point, but are often limited in the number of points that can be targeted on each hole (frequently just hazards and greens), and can only be used on courses that have been pre-mapped by the service provider, which hit most of the big boys but often overlook those tucked-away munis where so many of us make our hay in between destination rounds. Furthermore, many require monthly or annual subscription fees that can nearly wipe out the difference in up-front cost, and suffer from suspect performance in cloudy weather.

For those reasons, we’ve always been willing to pay a little more up front for a high-quality laser rangefinder. Not only is a laser rangefinder guaranteed to work wherever you are, and whatever the weather, it also allows you to target any location on the course with a simple point and click, while many models will factor in slope (a feature that can be turned off for tournament play) to give you a “plays like” yardage for your shot (as opposed to just the real point-to-point

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BY BRIAN BEAKY DG EDITOR yardage), while others will vibrate when locked on to a flag, to give you confidence in the distance before your shot.

There’s a reason that professional caddies all use laser when mapping the course during their practice rounds — quite simply, it’s the most accurate, the most flexible, and the easiest to use.

And when it comes to laser, it’s tough to beat the latest models from Leupold. The GX-5i3, released in February 2017, is the most accurate rangefinder that the award-winning manufacturer has ever released, with accuracy to one-tenth of a yard. It can also be programmed to memorize your typical distances with each club, and give club recommendations based on the distance, slope and — get this — environmental conditions.

That’s right — play on a damp, cold, early-March morning, and the 5i3 will give you a different distance and club recommendation than it would on a warm August afternoon, when your limbs are loose and the fairways are rolling firm and fast.

Try to get your GPS rangefinder to do that.

In 2018, Leupold added updated versions of it’s 3i and 4i families to the fold as well, with the GX-3i3 and GX-4i3 offering similar features

to the top-of-the-line 5i3, at a slightly lower price point. The 4i3 packs Leupold’s patented highperformance DNA (Digitally eNhanced Accuracy) and advanced infrared laser into a sleek package that matches the 5i3’s one-tenth of a yard accuracy, and ability to factor hitting strength, slope and environmental factors when making its recommendations (again, features which can be turned off for tournament play). The main difference? The 4i3 can “only” range targets up to 700 yards away, as opposed to the 800-yard range of the 5i3. If you’re planning to hit your half-mile club, those extra 100 yards will come in handy; otherwise, the 4i3 should suit you just fine.

The 3i3, meanwhile, matches the two superior models in range and accuracy, while also incorporating the Prism Lock and PinHunter 3 technologies that ensure you’re locked onto the flagstick every time you range the green. It doesn’t have TGR and Club Selector, so it won’t tell you what club to hit or factor slope into its readings, but if you’re looking for the best of the basic features at a reasonable price point, you won’t find a better option on the market.

Lastly, there’s the GX-1i3 and GX-2i3, each offering similar features to those above, with slightly shorter ranges, and available at rates that are great for someone looking to dip their toe into the wonderful world of laser.

We’re so happy with our Leupold rangefinders, in fact, that we’ve teamed up with the manufacturer to give one away at our golf shows this year — and to a lucky Destination Golfer reader as well. To enter, simply click the “Enter to Win” banner at the top of the page at CascadeGolfer.com. One lucky winner will be notified this spring!

Whether you win one from us, or buy one yourself, you can’t go wrong with laser. And if you’re shopping for laser, there’s no name to know besides Leupold. Visit their website at www.leupold.com to learn more.

THE 19TH HOLE

Green Is The New Red In Bloody Mary Mix

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elcome to the new taste in Bloody Mary mix, first introduced to the Midwest in 2015 and the Southeast in 2017, and, now, the entire country in 2019.

“Golfers love a good Bloody Mary, and the story behind our Salty Iguana Green Bloody Mary Mix is so unique, that we thought rolling it out to the readers of Destination Golfer and the attendees at golf shows throughout the country would be a great way to introduce more than 40,000 people throughout the U.S. to our all-new product.”

The creation of Salty Iguana, in Denver, goes back as early as 2014, when Stuart Chandler and Brad Lob began thinking about an alternative to the red Bloody Mary mix. Stuart has always enjoyed a good Bloody Mary, but the tomato juice base always gave him an upset stomach.

He began months of kitchen experimentation with a single, delicious ingredient – the tomatillo, a small, green member of the nightshade family that tends to be juicier than tomatoes, with a more unique flavor. With Brad’s support, they moved forward with creating both the ‘Original” and “Habanero” flavors of this unique new Bloody Mary mix — the first green Bloody Mary mix ever produced for sale. They have also kept the product all-natural, ensuring that it had no GMOs and was gluten-free.

Since the roll-out of Salty Iguana’s Green Bloody Mary Mix, the company has heard from many customers wanting to call the mix (and/or its recipes) “The Irish” (for St. Patty’s Day consumption) or the “Cinco De Mayo.”

Of course, Chandler and Lob don’t plan to stop there — later in 2019, Salty Iguana will introduce Salty Iguana salsa, marinade and hot sauce.

Delicious, spicy, and filled with great craftsmanship, Salty Iguana mix flips the classic cocktail on its head. You can’t go wrong with either flavor (Original or Habanero), which can also be mixed with vodka, tequila, or even stout beer.

For delicious drink recipes, food recipes or to place your own order, visit www.SaltyIguana.com.

MARY JANE INGREDIENTS • 4 oz Salty Iguana Mix (Original or Habanero) • 1 oz vodka • Chile Habanero Hot Sauce (Optional) • Garnishes (Optional) • Rim Salt (Optional)

DIRECTIONS Combine vodka and Bloody Mary Mix. For a hotter Bloody Mary, add 3 drops of hot sauce). Then pour over ice, garnish and serve!

SUGGESTED RIM SALT Use a lime or lemon to moisten the rim of your glass, and then combine salt, celery salt, lemon pepper, pepper, and paprika.

Next, evenly dip the rim into the salt/spice mixture before adding ice and liquid ingredients.

18 D ESTI N ATI ON G OL FE R

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D ES T I N AT I O N GO LFER 19

IN FOCUS

AGOODBET America’s Native American tribes are spurring the golf economy — and creating new stay-and-play destinations from coast to coast

BY BRIAN BEAKY AND TONY DEAR

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ou could be forgiven for perhaps thinking that the game of golf has been going through a tough time economically over the last 10 years. That is, after all, what’s being reported in newspapers and golf magazines nationwide — local courses having to shutter their doors, beloved regional retailers struggling to compete with the online marketplace. No doubt you’ve witnessed this in your own community.

Less widely reported, however, is the massive investment coming into the game from a particular group of investors — a group motivated not only to build, remodel and elevate some of the finest golf courses in America, in sustainable ways that complement their environment, but, most importantly, to keep these incredible tracks open to the public, at rates that a working-class golfer can afford to pay.

If you haven’t yet guessed, we are talking, of course, about our nation’s Native American tribes, who may single-handedly be saving the game of golf in the United States.

According to a 2014 report at the website IndianGaming.com, the number of tribal-owned golf courses more than doubled from 2009-14, with 67 tribes then owning 100 courses nationwide. That’s right — while the U.S. was mired in a devastating recession during which consid-

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erably more golf courses closed than opened, Native tribes continued developing their own facilities, or purchased existing courses (of the 100 courses, 62 were built and 38 purchased), thus providing a much-needed boost to the economy, at least in their immediate area.

The reason why tribes and other casino-resort owners have been able to continue expanding their amenities to include golf (90 of the 100 courses Robinson counted for his 2014 report laid adjacent to an affiliated hotel) is an advantageous alignment of planets that makes course development and acquisition perfect business sense. Far more often than not, the golf course is regarded as a loss-leader, a tool the resort owner uses to attract hotel guests and casino-goers.

“The ability to offer golf can increase the stay of overnight guests by at least one day,” Robinson said.

That’s another night’s accommodation, another day’s food and beverage, an extra hour or two of gaming, plus greens fees. If the golf course itself loses money, so be it — the tribes know they will make it back on other amenities.

But, the benefits do not go to the owners alone.

Tribal golf is definitely a win-win for both the tribe and the visiting golfer, as the courses (those built on tribal-owned land, anyway) are often cre-

ated on huge acreages far away from cities, towns and other residential areas, and are therefore not affected by encircling development. Unlike so many courses in destinations such as Phoenix, Las Vegas or Palm Springs, squeezed through narrow corridors between condos and houses, tribal courses do not rely on residential sales for their maintenance or, indeed, their very existence.

They also make for the perfect golf vacation, packaging terrific courses at attractive rates with high-end lodging, restaurants that cater to various palates and desired levels of dining, plus concerts, shows and, of course, casinos packed with enough gaming fun to keep you and your companions busy all night long. Plenty of golfers plan to use a casino resort as a home base to explore the greater area they’re staying in, and then find they never want to leave.

Since this magazine will be read by golfers attending consumer golf expos nationwide, we wanted to highlight some of our favorite casino resorts in various parts of the country — specifically, the Northwest, Midwest, Gulf Coast and Great Plains regions, where tribal investment has been at its highest. Any of these resorts would make a great place to take your favorite golf companions this year — just pack your clubs, your suitcase, and a little bit of luck.

Fallen Oak Golf Club • Saucier, Miss.

From 2009-14, the number of tribal-owned golf courses more than doubled nationwide, even amidst a global recession. Most of these courses, like Western Washington’s Salish Cliffs, above, were built as amenities of the tribes’ casino resorts.

Northwest Salish Cliffs Golf Club Shelton, Wash.

(800) 667-7711 little-creek.com

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hen Western Washington’s Squaxin Island Tribe was looking for a designer to turn a promising piece of land behind their Little Creek Casino into a golf course nearly a decade ago, they didn’t have to look far. A few years prior, Gene Bates had worked on a similar project for Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene Tribe, converting a 600-acre patch of land bisected by a railroad into one of the country’s top-100 public courses, Circling Raven.

The response has been similar for the Squaxin Island Tribe’s Salish Cliffs Golf Club, which has everything a golfer could want in a top-tier course — holes that reward aggressive play and others where caution is more prudent, fun par-3s and par-5s, fabulous conditioning and perhaps the most beautiful bunkers in the state.

The course opens with one of the most enjoyable 1-2-3 sequences we can remember — a short par-5 from an elevated tee, followed by a short par-4 (250 and 276 yards from the most commonly played “Players” and “Tournament”

tees), giving golfers two chances to put an early circle (or better) on the scorecard. The par-3 third, though, threatens to take that stroke right back — at 233 yards from the Tournament tees, and routed directly into the wind, it plays nearly as long as the par-4 before it. Indeed, it’s quite common for golfers to hit the same club off the tee at the par-3 third that they used at the par-4 second; it’s also quite common for golfers to post identical scores.

There are plenty of other places on the course to make birdie, including the risk-reward par-5 18th, where a drive that catches the downhill chute can leave you less than 200 yards to the pin. All in all, it’s one of Washington’s most enjoyable rounds of golf, and a regular on best-of lists among Washington courses, tribal courses and U.S. resort courses.

It’s also centrally located on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, voted by readers of Seattle’s Cascade Golfer magazine as the No. 1 golf region in the state. Home to four of the top-10

courses in Cascade Golfer’s 2017 ranking of the state’s public tracks (a list on which Salish Cliffs ranked fifth), and fewer than 45 minutes from two others (including 2015 U.S. Open host Chambers Bay), it’s the ideal jumping-off point for exploring the best of Washington golf.

The modern, comfortable rooms at the Little Creek Casino Resort itself rival anything to be found at a similar price point in downtown Seattle, while the casino — including poker, slots, table games, craps and more — is a perfect afterhours complement to a day on the course.

Golfers can also enjoy no fewer than eight on-site restaurants, from the casual Creekside Buffet to the upscale Island Grille, famous for its hand-cut steaks and mouth-melting oysters. The Skookum Spirit Cigar and Wine Lounge features one of the Northwest’s most diverse humidors, while the breakfast sandwiches at the Salish Cliffs Grille are a delicious option for a golfer hurrying to that morning tee time.

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AGOODBET Midwest

Patricia Island Golf Club Grove, Okla.

Firekeeper Golf Course • Mayetta, Kans.

Great Plains Firekeeper Golf Course Mayetta, Kans.

(785) 966-7777 pbpgaming.com

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s recently as the 1950s, the Prairie Band of the Potawatomi Tribe were on the brink of elimination. Fragmented by centuries of government intervention and internal dissension that had seen the tribe relocated from Michigan, to Missouri, to Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma, the tribe was slated to lose its federal recognition, before a determined group of Potawatomi negotiated successfully to preserve the tribe’s status.

Flash forward sixty years, and the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation are flourishing, with a casino resort that draws visitors from across Kansas and the surrounding states, and one of the top tribal golf courses in America.

The Firekeeper Golf Course at Prairie Band Casino & Resort, which opened officially in 2011, was named Kansas’ top public track by Golfweek, and for good reason — 18 holes sprawl across 7,500 yards of beautiful, rolling plains, with fescue rough and firm, fast greens. There’s little doubt that course designers appreciate the land they were given, as they pay homage to it at every turn, with one of the most scenic layouts on the Great Plains.

The signature architect on the venture was Notah Begay III, himself a Native American. But, it was his co-designer, industry veteran Jeff Brauer, who did much of the preliminary work and day-to-day observation and execution. Brauer and Begay allowed the site to speak for itself.

“I found a little notch of tree clearing, which they told me had been done in 1947 and which, actually, they still regretted,” he says. “I proposed a short par-4 using that notch as a hazard, in an effort to show them I would use every natural feature available. We moved very little earth and used the surrounding land forms as guides in our shaping, trying to match the rolling hills of Kansas.”

The Director of Golf at Firekeeper is Randy Towner, who moved to Firekeeper after 23 years at Alvamar Golf Club in Lawrence, about 50 miles southeast of Mayetta. Towner says the course records about 17,000 rounds a year, and that, though most visitors come from Topeka (20 miles south), and Kansas City (85 miles east), the course draws golfers from Omaha, St. Louis and even more distant locales.

“Golfweek named us the best public course in the state, so the course has nationwide appeal,” says Towner. “I’m always surprised at the great lengths some people will travel to play great golf. It’s nice to be one of those places.

It’s been a great addition to the hotel and casino.”

Most out-of-town visitors take advantage of stay-and-play packages through the Casino & Resort, which include golf for two and a room in the comfortable, lodge-style hotel for as little as $199 a night — with the golf itself valued at up to $80, that means it’s just a few dollars extra to spend the night and enjoy the 1,100 slots and more than 30 table games in the Prairie Band Casino, while dining in your choice of three award-winning restaurants.

Before you drive away, look back across the hills at the grass waving gently in the breeze and spare a thought for the Prairie Band of Potawatomi ancestors who first settled this land. It may have taken more than 500 years of hard work and perseverance, but they’ve finally find found a home.

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(800) 495-5253

patriciaisland.com

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t’s a rite of spring in the upper parts of the Midwest — when the ground has finally thawed enough such that the blades of grass don’t crunch beneath your feet, and the ice particles that have gripped the trees start to give way to the first green buds of the year — to pull the clubs out of the garage, head out to the range and find out how much of that swing that you finally had humming last September has made it through the long winter.

The problem is, predicting when that “spring” will arrive isn’t exactly a science. Some years, golfers are taking the clubs out on a 65-degree February afternoon; others, it can be May before the temperatures warm up enough to make five hours outdoors seem like a pleasant way to spend the day.

It’s that reason, speculates Andy Stewart, why so many upper Midwest golfers annually make the drive down to Grove, Okla.’s Patricia Island Golf Club and the nearby Indigo Sky Casino & Hotel in April and May, eager to kick off their season under clear skies, with the warm sun on their arms — and a bevy of recreational activities to enjoy.

Situated on a peninsula jutting out into Oklahoma’s famed Grand Lake O’ The Cherokees, Patricia Island is the region’s most acclaimed course, ranked eighth in the state in 2016 by Golf Advisor. With more trees than many Midwest tracks, Patricia Island puts a premium on shot placement — particularly on the back, where the fairways narrow and water hazards threaten to collect any mis-hit balls. What truly sets the course apart, however, is its conditioning — fairways and greens are in fantastic shape 12 months of the year, whether it’s 36 degrees or 96 degrees — and its staff, who go out of their way to give every guest a five-star experience. Best of all, that five-star experience doesn’t extend to the rates, which top out at just $65 on peak summer weekends, and drop significantly lower at off-peak times, or when combined with lodging or casino packages.

Most visitors do choose to take advantage of those packages, and why not? The Indigo Sky Casino & Hotel offers overnight packages starting at just $139 per person, including golf, cart, free shuttle service to the course, a $30 dining credit and a night’s stay at the luxurious casino resort, where players can enjoy slots, blackjack, poker, roulette and other table games well into the night. What’s more, every Patricia Island package also includes $50-$100 in gaming credits to get you started at the tables, making it quite possible that this is one golf vacation that will actually put money into your wallet.

“The combination of golf and gaming is really what sets us apart from any other course or resort in the region,” Stewart says. “I mean, if someone gambles, it’s a no-brainer.”

Other packages combine golf at Patricia Island with golf at nearby tracks like Peoria Ridge, Eagle Creek or Shangri-La, all with free shuttle service as well. Drive down, drop your clubs, and let Patricia Island take care of the rest.

Patricia Island Golf Club • Grove, Okla.

AGOODBET Gulf Coast Dancing Rabbit Golf Club Philadelphia, Miss.

(601) 663-0011 dancingrabbitgolf.com

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ew states in the country have married golf and gaming like Mississippi, which features more than 20 casino resorts statewide — making it the nation’s third-largest gaming destination — and a nearly equal number of highly regarded golf courses.

The two courses at Dancing Rabbit Golf Course — each designed by Tom Fazio and Jerry Pate — are among the most acclaimed, with the Azalea course ranking 26th on GOLF magazine’s list of America’s top public courses in 2012, and both (including the Oaks course) included in Golf Digest’s most recent ranking of America’s top casino courses. The Azalea is the tougher of the two, longer and tighter than the Oaks, requiring strong iron play and the humility to know which tees are right for you. The Oaks has broader fairways and a handful of casino-worthy rolls of the dice on short par-4s and reachable par-5s, but golfers shouldn’t take it lightly — while the Azalea is rated tougher, the Oaks actually has the higher slope.

“The two courses at Dancing Rabbit Golf Club offer the highest level of guest service possible,” says Director of Golf Mark Powell. “And, they’re operated very professionally, with special care taken to train, tutor and empower the tribal members who work here. We are very proud that well over half of our associates are members of the local band of Choctaw Indians.

Dancing Rabbit is a tremendous source of pride for the tribe.”

Powell adds that, despite the lingering effects of the recession, most tribally operated courses have remained committed to not only providing excellent career opportunities for tribal members, but also ensuring superior playing conditions and outstanding guest service. It’s a potent combination that more or less guarantees tribal courses’ continued popularity.

“It was built by the tribe to attract guests to central Mississippi from all over the world,” Powell continues. “The courses have been a very valuable asset to the area, with other local businesses benefitting enormously from their association with, or proximity to, the club.”

Indeed, many of the other casino resorts throughout Mississippi — tribal-owned or otherwise — have taken notice, and added golfing amenities of their own. Tom Fazio’s Fallen Oak is perhaps the pick of them all, and hosts the PGA TOUR Champions Tour’s Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic in March. The course, which stretches to 7,487 yards and possesses firm and fast TifEagle greens, is an amenity of the equally highly regarded Beau

Beau Rivage Casino • Biloxi, Miss.

Dancing Rabbit Golf Club • Azalea Course

Rivage Casino in nearby Biloxi.

Davis Love’s Shell Landing in Gautier is linked with the IP Casino Resort & Spa, located on the Back Bay in Biloxi, and may be the quintessential Mississippi Gulf Coast layout, with views across desolate marshes and beautifully manicured playing surfaces. The Hollywood Casino & Resort in Bay St. Louis has The Bridges, an interesting Arnold Palmer design; another superb casino layout is Jack Nicklaus’ Grand Bear, belonging to the Grand Biloxi and located on the edge of the DeSoto National Forest near the town of Saucier, 10 miles north of Biloxi. The course cuts through cypress wetlands and majestic pine trees alongside the Little Biloxi River.

Then there’s The Preserve, a wonderful Jerry Pate design that is part of the Palace Casino Resort in Vancleave, just outside Biloxi. Every one of these courses has popped onto Golf Digest’s list of America’s top-50 casino courses in the last few years, while the “Vegas of the South” — Tunica, in the northwest corner of the Magnolia State, with its nine casino resorts and three golf courses — draws golf and gaming connoisseurs from Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio and other surrounding states.

T

he truth is, nearly every corner of the country has a great casino resort — and, in the cases of Mississippi and Washington in particular, many of them. The next time you visit one, take a minute to consider the legacies they’re helping to foster — the preservation of the land, the Native American community programs their revenues help support, and the long-term health and growth of the game we love.

Dancing Rabbit Golf Club • Oaks Course

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DESTINATION

Southern

Hospitality From ‘Bama to the bayou, there’s no shortage of memories to be made on

America’s “Golf” Coast

Peninsula Golf Club • Gulf Shores, Ala.

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ou’ve survived Las Vegas. You’ve battled the crowds in Palm Springs. You’ve endured the heat in Scottsdale. You’ve played every course on Hilton Head, trod every fairway in Orlando — heck, maybe you’ve even made those dream destination trips to Hawaii, Scotland or Ireland.

What’s left to do?

If you’re lucky enough to recognize yourself in the description above, then hoo boy — you’ve played some incredible golf. But, you haven’t yet experienced America’s fastest-growing golf destination, the region drawing architects like Tom Fazio, Jack Nicklaus and Robert Trent Jones, the most casinos per golf course outside of Vegas itself, and the one with enough outside entertainment — in the form of incredible beaches, amusement parks, jazz and blues clubs, and American historical monuments — to keep the whole family busy.

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BY BRIAN BEAKY AND KIRK TOURTILLOTTE

And, we haven’t even mentioned the food. Oh, Lord, that food.

We’re talking about the Gulf Coast, or as the country’s major golf magazines (and, naturally, the local tourism boards) have taken to calling it, the “Golf” Coast, stretching from New Orleans in the west all the way to the Florida Panhandle. Ravaged

by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Gulf Coast has rebuilt its tourism industry largely on the twin pillars of golf and gaming, with some of the nation’s top-ranked courses and most-lauded golf trails, including the Robert Trent Jones Trail in Alabama, and Louisiana’s Audubon Golf Trail.

While the golf magazines and professional tours have caught on, though, ranking numerous Gulf Coast courses among the nation’s best and adding several new PGA TOUR, Champions Tour, Web.com Tour and LPGA Tour events throughout the region, amateur golfers haven’t been as quick

to follow, continuing to flock like the snowbirds they are to the old favorites mentioned in the first paragraph above.

No matter. Low traffic is music to a golfer’s ears, because it means faster rounds and lower greens fees — indeed, most courses on the Robert Trent Jones Trail can be played for just $50-$85 (less than half of rates in Palm Springs, and onethird of those in Vegas), with the region’s other tracks in a similar range. Add in the casinos, beaches, antebellum history and thriving cultural scene — again, all at rates lower than what you’d find in other more well-traveled regions — and it’s only a matter of time before the “Golf” Coast earns the attention it deserves.

Our advice? Get there first, ahead of the crowds.

Flip one page back for an overview of Mississippi’s casino resorts in the “Good Bet” feature; we’ll focus on Alabama and Louisiana here.

The white-sand beaches of the Gulf of Mexico provide after-golf recreation (left); TPC Louisiana is New Orleans’ top track (center); the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion in Mobile, Ala., dates back to 1855 (right).

Sweet Home

Alabama

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hile it might be tempting to think of Alabama as one golf trip, in reality, it’s at least three, if not more.

The first and most obvious Alabama golf getaway is to cruise the RTJ Golf Trail, a network of 26 courses built and managed by Alabama’s state public pension fund. In the late 1980s, the fund’s CEO, David Bronner, sought a way to ensure the fund’s solvency for decades to come, and with the stock market unreliable at the time, he settled on a more creative idea — bring America’s pre-eminent golf architect to Alabama to design world-class courses in all corners of the state, essentially creating a golf destination from scratch.

“I wanted to feature Alabama’s natural beauty,” he said in Mark Fagan’s 2016 book, The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail: Its History and Economic Impact. “I wanted something of which all Alabamians could be proud. I wanted something no other state had. I decided to build world-class golf courses and world-class hotels to increase tourism and create residential and commercial development.”

Bronner’s board members must all have been golfers — it’s the only way to explain this crazy idea becoming reality. Even crazier? It worked — the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail has become renowned throughout the country for its unique courses, beautiful layouts and reasonable rates.

The New York Times called it “some of the best public golf on Earth,” while The Wall Street Journal called it America’s best golf bargain.

And, it’s true — despite several top-100 tracks — including Grand National’s Links Course (home to the PGA TOUR’s Barbasol Championship), Magnolia Grove (whose Crossings course

was named one of the Top-50 Courses You Can Play by readers of Golf World magazine, and whose short course was named America’s best par-3 by Golf Digest); Capitol Hill (whose Judge course may be the state’s best, and has hosted the LPGA Tour and other prestigious events); plus Cambrian Ridge, Ross Bridge, The Shoals and other RTJ tracks that annually highlight lists of Alabama’s best — most RTJ Trail courses top out at no more than $85, with some playable for as little as $50.

The second way to tour the Yellowhammer State is to stick close to those white-sand, Gulf Coast beaches, and enjoy the award-winning tracks on the state’s southern shore.

Jerry Pate’s Kiva Dunes, in Gulf Shores, gets the most acclaim, and for good reason — it’s as pretty a round of golf as you’ll find on the Gulf Coast, with perfectly manicured turf and an abundance of water hazards and shallow bunkers, all nestled onto a half-mile-wide spit of land separating Bon Secour Bay from the Gulf of Mexico.

And, at just $92, it’s a bargain well in line with those to be found throughout the state. Along the coast, you can also enjoy Craft Farms (featuring two Arnold Palmer designs), Glenlakes (Bruce Devlin/Robert von Hagge), Peninsula Golf and Racquet Club, TimberCreek, Rock Creek (all Earl Stone), and Lost Key (a Palmer redesign), giving you as solid a week’s golf as you’ll find.

The Gulf Shores courses have joined forces with a number of the area’s excellent lodging options to make booking a golf package a cinch.

And, with a number of highly-acclaimed places to dine, 32 miles of sugar-white beaches, and amazing fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Shores could be your next great golf trip.

Lastly, there’s Alabama’s all-new craft beer industry, which has exploded onto the scene over the last few years as changes in state law have allowed for increased production and distribution

of many golfers’ favorite libation.

Gadsden’s Back Forty Beer Company was the first. Founder Jason Wilson and brewmaster Jamie Ray brewed their first beer together — Naked Pig Pale Ale — in 2009, and won their first award (a Silver Medal at the Great American Beer Festival) the following year. But, it wasn’t until 2012 that Back Forty opened its own production center in Gadsden, and it wasn’t until 2016 that laws allowed Back Forty (and other breweries) to sell beer for off-site consumption.

From that one brewery, Back Forty, in 2009, there are now dozens of craft breweries statewide, many co-located with the state’s most popular golf courses. Planning to play RTJ’s Magnolia Grove, outside Mobile? Stop in at nearby Haint Blue Brewing and Serda Brewing Company — both of which opened their doors in 2017 — before visiting the historic Bragg-Mitchell Mansion, or the U.S.S. Alabama.

Likewise, Montgomery — home to RTJ’s Capitol Hill — is also home to a handful of excellent craft breweries (including Railyard Brewing Co. and Common Bond Brewers), while Grand National, tucked between Auburn and Opelika, pairs well with the latter’s Red Clay Brewing Co. There are a half a dozen more in Birmingham (with Good People, Cahaba and Avondale leading the way), and a dozen in Huntsville, including the well-known Yellowhammer, who recently completed a $1.2 million expansion, all of which make good stops en route to the state’s excellent northern courses, including both the aforementioned Ross Bridge and The Shoals.

The website alabama.travel is a good resource to start planning your trip, while rtjgolf.com/trail showcases golf-and-lodging packages that will let you put together your own trail experience, whether you prefer to stay close to the coast, or explore the many outstanding rewards to be found in Alabama’s interior. — B.B. D ES T I N AT I O N GO LFER 27

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A CAJUN GOOD TIME

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on’t tell Louisiana that they don’t know a good thing when they see one. Inspired in part by the success of Alabama’s RTJ Golf Trail, Indiana’s Pete Dye Golf Trail, Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks Golf Trail and others, the state of Louisiana began marketing six of its courses as the Audubon Golf Trail in 2001, invoking the name of the famous naturalist who did most of his work in the Bayou State.

Today, the Trail includes 15 courses, each of which must meet the ecological standards of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary to be considered part of the Trail.

Start your trip in New Orleans with a delicious meal (I’m partial to the shrimp and grits) at Dickie Brennan’s Tableau in the world-famous French Quarter, before spending the night at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel, appropriately at the corner of Bourbon and Orleans Streets. A breakfast buffet on a balcony overlooking Bourbon Street allows you to soak up some culture before heading to the course.

Just 15 minutes from downtown New Orleans is Pete Dye’s TPC Louisiana, home to the PGA TOUR Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Indeed, workers were removing the scaffolding from the 18th hole during our most recent visit; a reminder that we were about to play the same holes that had hosted the world’s best golfers just weeks before.

Built in 2004 and playing 7,400 yards from the tips, it’s as challenging as you’d expect of a Tourquality course, with over 100 bunkers and water hazards on many holes.

The 478-yard sixth may be the toughest, with a dogleg left around water that makes par a real challenge. The 16th is a good, risk-reward par-4, where you can blast away at the green, or play it safe to avoid the water and sand and go for an easy par, or birdie. The 18th, meanwhile, is the course’s signature hole, a 585-yard, cape-style par-5 with water down the entire right side.

Atchafalaya Golf Course • Patterson, La.

If you plan to stay close to the Gulf Coast beaches on your Louisiana adventure, then head west out of New Orleans on I-10 towards Lake Charles and Lafayette, home to several of the state’s top courses, one of the state’s top casino resorts, and plenty of other after-hours recreation.

About three hours west of New Orleans is the town of Lacassine, La., home to Bayou Rum Distillery, where you can sample their rums (and cocktails!) and pet their friendly alligator mascots.

Good luck finding that in Palm Springs.

Lake Charles’ nearby L’auberge Casino Resort features an upscale hotel, the full range of casino games and an over-the-top dinner experience at the Jack Daniel’s Bar & Grill, prepared by their all-star Executive Chef, Lyle Broussard. Endless plates of barbeque brisket and ribs are presented with baconwrapped shrimp, fried oysters and roasted potatoes, and finished off with chocolate fudge cake.

If you’re able to roll out of bed the next morning, head to Gray Plantation Golf Club (a Golf Digest top-100 course for six years running) in St. Charles. A Rocky Roquemore design with lakes impacting your play on 11 holes, including two semi-island par-3s, it’s a fun and challenging test of your shotmaking abilities. The 168-yard sixth is regarded as the signature hole, playing across the Calcasieu River to a tight green guarded by a pot bunker, while the 18th is a tough finishing hole — a 468-yard par-4 with bunkers strewn throughout.

Making your way back east, the Mouton Plan-

Gray Plantation Golf Club • St. Charles, La.

28 D ESTI N ATI ON G OL FE R

tation Bed & Breakfast is a charming place to rest your head before or between rounds of golf in the Lafayette area. Built in the early 1800s by the son of Lafayette founder, Jean Mouton, it’s rich with bayou history, while providing all the modern amenities like free internet and (even more important in the Gulf Coast) air conditioning. The nearby Blue Dog Café, a Cajun-style restaurant and art gallery founded by owner/artist George Rodrigue (creator of the Blue Dog series of paintings), is a must for anyone in the area, offering roasted chicken, cast-iron corn bread, Boudin balls (pork and rice sausage, breaded and — of course — deep-fried), deviled eggs and other Cajun staples.

The Wetlands Golf Course, designed by Frank Burandt (a Jack Nicklaus Design graduate), is generally considered one of the region’s best, with wide-open fairways and subtle, rolling terrain evocative of a links-style track. The course is filled with with well-bunkered greens and water hazards that affect 11 of the 18 holes. Stands of wild grasses line many of the fairways, making good shots paramount to shooting a low score.

Likewise, you have to play The Atchafalya at Idlewood, designed by Robert von Hagge and surrounded by a cypress forest. It’s a tough round, including long par-4s to well-protected greens, and two long par-5s — the 635-yard sixth and 594-yard 16th — that are supreme tests if played from the tips. In perhaps a tip of the hat to Mr. Audubon himself, each tee box marker references an animal native to the area (bears, gators, eagles, turtles).

Before heading back to New Orleans, visit the world-famous Tabasco Factory on Avery Island, and learn how this spicy condiment has been made for the past 150 years. And, if you’re planning to head upstate to tour the other Audubon properties, be sure to visit www.audubongolftravel.com or www.louisianatravel.com for tips, maps, lodging recommendations and savings.

Cruising on a houseboat through scenic Lake Palourde in Morgan City, enjoying jambalaya, fried catfish and cold beer as the sun set over the Cypress trees, it wasn’t too hard to figure out why golfers have been coming to Louisiana in increasing numbers. The only question, in fact, was how soon we could come back. — K.T.

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DESTINATION

America’s Golfing Gateway

The Cove Course at The Lodge of Four Seasons • Lake Ozark, Mo.

Just as it has for nearly two centuries, America’s path to recreational delight starts in Missouri

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BY BRIAN BEAKY DG EDITOR

or more than 150 years, travelers in search of adventure have started their journey in Missouri.

In the 19th century, tens of thousands of pioneers came to Missouri to launch their journeys west along the Santa Fe, Oregon and California trails, arriving in the Show-Me State with dreams of fertile lands, flowing rivers, and abundant gold and riches.

These days, Missouri is still the destination of choice for millions of adventurers each year, though for much more leisurely purposes. Instead of locomotives, they arrive by plane, or by car from Chicago, Dallas, Omaha, Indianapolis, Louisville, Memphis, Nashville, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Tulsa, Des Moines or any of the dozens of major U.S. cities within a short drive of the nation’s 24th state. Instead of pointing their wagon trains west for arduous journeys to strange lands, they instead spread out to Missouri’s various recreational hubs, including the dueling metropolises of Kansas City and St.

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Louis to the west and east, and the entertainment hub of Branson in the south, with the recreational paradise at Lake of the Ozarks the central draw for tourists from all corners.

And, while the old pioneers packed all the essentials for a new life in the West, modern travelers pack, shall we say, a lighter fare — swim trunks, cameras, flip-flops, sunblock ... and, of course, their golf clubs.

Whatever corner of the state you visit, an abundance of outstanding golf courses await. What’s more, none are isolated from the other recreational joys of the region, including professional sports (football and baseball in particular), water sports, wineries (Missouri is home to more than 125), casino resorts, theaters, nightlife and more.

When planning your next golf vacation in 2019, let the spirit of the pioneers stir within you, and make plans to visit Missouri. You never know just what adventure awaits.

Escape To The Ozarks

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herever you start your Missouri golf getaway, its likely that you’ll eventually find yourself at Missouri’s famed Lake of the Ozarks.

With over 1,000 miles of coastline, the 175-squaremile lake (actually, a reservoir created by construction of the Bagnell Dam in 1931) is one of the Heartland’s largest outdoor recreation attractions, drawing water sports enthusiasts, boaters, hikers, bikers, kayakers, Netflix television producers — and, of course, golfers.

Thirteen different courses — including some of Missouri’s highest-rated tracks — sit within 30 miles of each other around the lake’s perimeter along the Lake of the Ozarks Golf Trail, making it easy to bed down in one spot and play a different course every day for a week or more. While the bulk of vacationers arrive in the summer to take full advantage of the lake amenities, the “Goldilocks” season for golfers is the spring, when rates are lower, resorts (and tee boxes) are less crowded, and the flowers that line many of the lake’s prettiest tracks are in full bloom.

For full-service resorts, it’s tough to beat Tan-Tar-A Resort (tan-tar-a.com), which boasts not only 27 fantastic holes with treelined fairways, elevation changes and more bunkers and water hazards than are typical of a Midwest track, but also a luxurious hotel, fullservice marina, bowling alley and the region’s largest waterpark. Featuring more than 600 feet of water slides, plus a lazy river, whirlpool and three-story treehouse with a 600-gallon tipping bucket, it’s the perfect place to stash the kids while you’re out knocking ‘em stiff on the 18-hole Oaks Course, ranked among the region’s top-five every year by users at TripAdvisor.com. This spring, Tan-Tar-A will put the finishing touches on two years of renovations following the resort’s purchase by Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville Resorts franchise; amenities will include new restaurants, a tiki-hut themed bar, and a complete remodeling of the resort’s hundreds of guest rooms, replacing older, hunting-lodge decor with a beach theme and modern amenities.

The Lodge of Four Seasons (4seasonsresort. com) is unique among area resorts in that many of its 54 holes — designed by Jack Nicklaus, Robert Trent Jones, Sr., and Ken Kavanaugh — extend out into the lake, on tiny peninsulas of land that immerse golfers in their surroundings. The Robert Trent Jones, Sr., designed Cove Course is the most popular with resort guests, a par-71 course with RTJ’s large, rolling greens and numerous bunkers, and a signature fourth hole that extends out into the lake. The Ridge Course, meanwhile — ranked fifth in the state by Golf Digest in 2016 — is a little

more “player-friendly,” with large fairways, elevated tees and a tipped-out length of just 6,447 yards.

(Nicklaus’ Club at Porto Cima, the third course at the Lodge, is open only to club members.)

Just a half hour to the south, practically on the lake’s southern shore, is Tom Weiskopf’s Old Kinderhook Golf Club (oldkinderhook.com), an equally outstanding course which draws its own share of stay-and-play visitors. The state’s second-ranked public track according to Golf Digest, Old Kinderhook plays to 6,855 yards from the tips, with water on almost every hole and well-bunkered greens. Inseason rates peak at $110, but are just $59-$89 in springtime, when the flowers are at their peak and the traffic that will come in summer has yet to ar-

Two of the Lake of the Ozarks’ top tracks are Tan-Tar-A (top), featuring golf, a marina and indoor waterpark; and Old Kinderhook (bottom) named Missouri’s No. 2 public track in 2016.

rive. The recently rebuilt Lodge at Old Kinderhook provides guests with a home-away-from-home featuring modern rooms overlooking the golf course, a conference center, ice skating rink, indoor and outdoor pools, and more.

Golfers coming down to Lake of the Ozarks from I-70, meanwhile, often choose to stop at Lake Ozark’s Osage National (osagenational.com), a 27hole facility located just a few miles downstream from Bagnell Dam on the lake’s northeastern shore.

What sets Osage National apart aren’t just its 27 holes — 18 designed by Arnold Palmer himself, the only Palmer-designed course in the state — but its large pool complex, where the non-golfers in your family can enjoy the afternoon at no additional cost while you tee it up on the course four times named “best at the lake” by local golfers. Condo rentals are available for golfers who wish to stay on-site, with group rates and custom-designed golf packages to meet your group’s specific needs.

“For the amount of courses of such good quality, in such a concise area, it really is hard to beat for the price point,” says Kyle Stewart, whose website GolfingMissouri.com helps golfers browse courses and hotels throughout the Lake of the Ozarks Golf Trail, with special package rates that are often better than those you could find booking on your own.

Kansas City, Here I Come

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on-Missourians out there are probably asking, “Kansas City? Didn’t you say this was a story about Missouri?” It’s a common mistake.

In fact, the city that you almost certainly associate with most things you know about Kansas City — the Chiefs, the Royals, the Power & Light District, the jazz clubs, the airport, etc.

— is Kansas City, Mo., which was founded on the western Missouri border in 1853 and named after a local Native American tribe.

(Kansas would not exist even as a territory until 1854, and would not achieve statehood until 1861.) It wasn’t until 1872 that a group of smaller towns on the opposite side of what is now the Kansas-Missouri border decided that they had the rights to the Kansas City name, and incorporated themselves as Kansas City, Kans. The two cities have operated independently — though separated by nothing more than a stretch of asphalt called State Line Rd. — ever since.

Of course, a state line hardly keeps travelers from flowing from one side of the border to the other, and while separate in government, the two cities function as one of America’s largest and most thriving metropolises.

The hub of activity in Kansas City is the Power & Light District, an old industrial neighborhood revitalized to include many of the city’s most popular bars, restaurants, coffee shops and night clubs. Kansas City Live! — yes, the exclamation point is part of the name — serves as the beating heart of Power & Light, featuring two stories of bars, restaurants, live music venues and more spread out over a full city block. The 21C Museum Hotel (21cmuseumhotels.com/kansascity/, 844-577-5542) centrally located between Power & Light and the city’s most famous museums — including the National World War I History Museum and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art — is a great home base for exploring the city, combining modern art with contemporary decor in a boutique setting.

And, of course, the city is overflowing with excellent golf courses. Shoal Creek, in the Kansas City’s northeast quadrant, is the one most golfers put atop their list. Ranked No. 2 among all public tracks in the state, its length (over 7,000 yards from the tips) and parkland setting (there are no homes D ES T I N AT I O N GO LFER 31

Crown Pointe Golf Club • Farmington, Mo.

Swope Memorial Golf Course • Kansas City, Mo.

on the course) make it stand out among most city tracks. Excellent course conditioning and carts with GPS give a country-club feel, while the terrific $69 peak summer greens fee most certainly does not.

Ironhorse Golf Club, just across the border in Leawood, Kans., is another great track, as is Greg Norman’s Stone Canyon Golf Club. Located in Blue Springs, just outside the city, it’s more challenging than many Midwest layouts, requiring precise shot-making and good club selection to score well. Swope Memorial, designed by A.W. Tillinghast, is another K.C. favorite, and the only course in the city to have hosted a PGA TOUR event. All of the above courses regularly show up on lists of the top tracks in Kansas and Missouri, and each make for a terrific day out.

Of course, not all of Kansas City’s golf recreation is limited to outdoor activities. Given that snow and cold keep K.C. golfers indoors for much of the winter and spring, the city boasts a significant number of indoor options to keep golfers’ swings in shape through those challenging winter months.

Topgolf, in Overland Park, Kans., is the nation’s fastest-growing golf facility, drawing millions of golfers each year to its ranges nationwide. At the Overland Park location, golfers can hit GPS-embedded balls from elevated tees to light-up targets on the range, competing with friends and family to achieve the highest scores while enjoying surprisingly good food-and-beverage options in a modern, living-room style hitting bay.

Just west of Power & Light’s downtown hub is the all-new WISE Power Lounge (wisepowerlounge.com), an upscale hangout offering not only the latest in golf simulators, but also basketball, football, soccer, carnival and target games, and even something called “zombie dodgeball.” In just a few months since opening, it’s become a favorite recreational destination for locals and tourists alike, whether to enjoy the simulators, take a golf lesson, or kick back with a drink from the self-serve beer and wine bar.

Not everyone stays downtown, of course. For golfers staying to the north of Kansas City proper, Imperial Golf (imperialgolfkc.com) in Parkville is a fullservice indoor golf center offering high-tech instruction, hands-on lessons and more to golfers of all ages and ability levels. Out-of-town players like to take advantage of the facility’s E6 golf simulators, which allow golfers to play the world’s top courses — using their own clubs (or rentals) and real balls — for just $35 a round. A full beer and wine bar, plus big-screen TVs, make it a popular destination on weeknights and weekends alike, as golfers gather to watch the game, play a round, or both.

After your round at Imperial, head five minutes south to cap your day at SD Strong Distilling (sdstrongdistilling.com), the world’s only known distillery to be located in a cave, 65 feet below Park University. That controlled environment makes for smooth, consistent flavors in their award-winning bourbon, vodka, whiskey and gin — especially the Big Boom Bourbon, so named for the occasional dynamiting that still goes on in other areas of the cave.

Eagles, Birdies And... Tigers? Oh My!

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here are certain things one expects to encounter on a Missouri golf vacation — golf courses that sprawl across gently rolling plains dotted by oak and cottonwood trees; rivers and streams that flow lazily past fairways, evoking images of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn; dazzling entertainment plazas featuring the latest nightlife and live performances, and a whole heck of a lot of delicious barbeque.

Then you turn a corner and confront a 450-pound Siberian tiger, and all of those expectations are instantly shattered.

“The tiger sanctuary is a big draw,” says Mandi Jones, the Retail, Lodging and Marketing Manager at Missouri’s Crown Valley Winery, yet another amenity of the Crown Pointe Lodge (crownpointelodge.com) in Farmington, about an hour south of St. Louis on I-55.

With a tiger sanctuary, winery, distillery, craft brewery, pools, tennis courts and — oh, right — the area’s highest-rated golf course, it’s little wonder that Crown Pointe has become one of the top getaways for savvy vacationers (not just golfers) from St. Louis and beyond. Many of those golfers come in groups — either for family vacations, couples’ retreats, or just a guys’ or gals’ weekend away — both to take advantage of the excellent group rates on amenities at and around the resort, and for the sheer range of activities that make it easy for anyone in a group to find something to enjoy, whether a golfer or not.

You’re in “Crown Country” now.

We’ll start, of course, with the Crown Pointe Golf Club (crownpointegolfclub.com) designed both to challenge low-handicappers while making it not too difficult for the rest of us to walk off the 18th with a smile on our faces.

The challenge comes from rough that can grow long in the spring, plus greens well-protected by bunkers and hazards. The greens, too, are among the largest in the state, putting a true premium on iron play and putting; plenty of golfers will be able to hit the greens, but only the most skilled will get themselves

Meanwhile, Just Across The Border...

O Oak Terrace Resort & Spa • Pana, Ill. 32 D ESTI N ATI ON G OL FE R

f course, Missouri isn’t home to all of the Midwest’s top resorts. In fact, just a short hop across the border to Pana, Ill., will take you to Oak Terrace Resort and Spa, a favorite weekend getaway for golfers throughout the surrounding states. That’s primarily due to its rates, which peak at just $55 in mid-summer, and can be brought even lower through group purchases, stay-and-play packages and other deals. Most visitors plan to spend the night at modern-style Inn and take advantage of Mulligan’s Grill and the full-service spa, with massages for golfers, and facials and skin treatments for those who find more solace in a relaxing day at the spa than an afternoon hunting for golf balls in bushes and trees (imagine that!). To learn more, visit oakterraceresort.com, or call 800-577-7598.

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The State of Golf

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n the wintertime, golfers in the Midwest head south. In the summer, those same golfers turn their cars north and head to the Land of 10,000 Lakes — and nearly as many incredible golf courses.

Minnesota is the only state to have hosted all 13 USGA championships, plus the Walker Cup, Curtis Cup, Solheim Cup, PGA of America Superior National G.C. • Lutsen, Minn. and others. Minnesota also hosted the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National, with another already scheduled for 2028.

Next year, it’ll be the women’s turn to tackle Hazeltine, at the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. And, when golfers come to watch the best golfers in the world compete on this grand stage, they’ll want to be sure to bring their golf clubs along. Minnesota boasts some of the nation’s most celebrated public tracks, including The Quarry at Giants Ridge (No. 30 on Golf Digest’s 2017-18 list of America’s Top Public Courses), The Wilderness at Fortune Bay (No. 57) and The Classic at Madden’s Resort (No. 58). Minnesota’s golf season hits full swing in the summer — just in time for the KPMG — and courses will be in prime condition for play.

Golfers planning to make the trip would be wise to start off with a visit to the Explore Minnesota Golf Alliance website, www.exploreminnesotagolf.com, featuring lists of the state’s top public and resort courses, plus maps, photos, special offers, stay-and-play recommendations and more. You can even enter to win a Minnesota golf getaway to enjoy with your family and friends!

This summer, enjoy the quality, variety and value of great golf, and play where the world’s best men and women play each year — Minnesota.

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Thor is one of the main attractions in Crown Country, about an hour south of St. Louis. close enough to have a shot at birdie. It’s off the tee, though, where most high-handicappers struggle, and that’s where Crown Pointe is at its friendliest — fairways are generally wide, and sparse tree cover means that even a wayward shot won’t leave you without a chance to recover.

Best of all, its location away from a major city or the resort regions of Lake of the Ozarks or Branson mean that greens fees are significantly lower than you’d expect for a course of similar quality in a more popular locale — just $35 on an offseason weekend, in fact, with stay-and-play packages that combine a night’s lodging with unlimited golf, lunch and range balls.

And then, there’s, well ... everything else. The Crown Valley Winery, Brewery and Distillery (crownvalleywinery.com) are each open from April to November, offering tastings and tours, hosting live music on summer evenings, and even serving as a venue for weddings and private parties. You can even head outside and sip your beverage of choice while watching Crown Country’s famous bison herd frolic in the fields beyond.

Of course, that’s not even Crown Country’s most exotic animal attraction — bison have been a staple of the plains for thousands of years; tigers, though, are a little more unique. The Crown Ridge Tiger Sanctuary (crownridgetigers.com) is a 501(c)3 non-profit that gives abused, neglected or unwanted big cats a chance to live out their years in relative comfort. Currently home to three tigers — Izzy, a two-year-old Siberian hybrid; Thor, a sixyear-old Bengal hybrid; and Thor’s sister, Gracie.

All three tigers were rescued from various pettingzoo-style attractions, and now enjoy free range of an enclosure designed with their health and happiness in mind. As with all sanctuaries, Crown Ridge isn’t concerned with breeding or profit, but instead with educating patrons about the plight of big cats in the wild, and the problem with smaller, for-profit outfits that breed cats in captivity. It’s a magical experience be so close to one of these beautiful animals, and one that no visitor — whether there for the golf, or otherwise — should miss.

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Or, at least, it doesn’t have to — not if you follow the sun out West this winter

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BY TONY DEAR

inter has come to the United States, and, for golfers anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon line, that

means three things — if your course remains open, it’s going to be wet or frozen; most of your

golf time will be spent watching others play on TV; and, at some point, you’ll be needing to flee the

drizzle and snow for a few days with your sticks.

For the first scenario, you’ll want some appropriate outerwear, ensuring warmth, comfort, and

protection from the rain/wind/cold, plus the doughty spirit of the die-hard golfer who, for several months, looks out the window wondering if the day’s conditions might be a little too extreme for golf.

For the second, you ideally want a large, HD TV and quick access to the remote, so that you can mute the com-

mentators who grow wearisome after frequently repeating the temperature on Maui or Oahu, and how many whales they’ve seen swim by.

For the third, you need to know where to go and where to play.

Swingin' Away in O Palm Springs

ne of the most popular options for snowbound golfers is the Coachella Valley, which extends 45 miles from the San Bernardino Mountains in the west to the Salton Sea in the east, and comprises nine cities including the famed destinations of Palm Springs, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, and Indian Wells.

Your first round may well be at the Classic Club (760-601-3600, classicclubgolf.com), 10 miles due east of Palm Springs and the other side of I-10 from Palm Desert. Designed by Arnold Palmer and opened in early 2006, it was financed by the Palm Desert-based Berger Foundation and earmarked as the permanent home of the Bob Hope Classic (now

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Career Builder Challenge). Unfortunately, that arrangement lasted only three years as tournament week was often affected by strong winds hurtling down the Valley, especially in 2007 when players described the final-round conditions as “brutal.”

Dean Wilson shot 84, and five others failed to break 80, including third-round co-leader Lucas Glover, who wound up in 13th place. Phil Mickelson shot 78 then gave the tournament a miss in ’08 — the first time he’d done so in seven years.

Mickelson’s absence was probably the straw that broke the camel’s back for the PGA TOUR, but there’s absolutely no reason to let Lefty’s rather exacting (precious?) standards stop you from visit-

ing the Classic Club.

The Berger Foundation is a philanthropic organization that generously supports charitable organizations involved in healthcare, social services and education. Its golf course donates thousands of rounds to charity each year, and military personnel, fire fighters and police officers pay just $25 for 18 holes, including cart.

Otherwise, the peak green fee is a very reasonable $155. Actually, that not’s reasonable at all — considering the quality of this beautiful course, and the fact that the fee includes unlimited bottled water, cart, range balls, a towel, and a $15 food voucher, it’s downright amazing. We might, in fact,

question your judgement if you chose not to include the Classic Club somewhere in your itinerary.

Superintendent Tony Spannaus is currently over-seeding the fairways’ Bermuda grass with Rye in preparation for the upcoming season, and has big hopes for the course he has worked at for just three months, having arrived here from the Westin Mission Hills Resort in August.

“My hopes are to produce the best playing conditions in the desert,” he says. “I aim to make it fast and firm, with the poa trivialis greens as good as anything in the Valley.”

Another perennial Coachella favorite you’ll be better off for playing is Desert Willow (760-346-0015, desertwillow.com) in Palm Desert, where Dr. Michael Hurdzan and former design partner Dana Fry created 36 marvelous holes — Firecliff and Mountain View — that opened in 1997 and 1998, respectively.

Firecliff was named after the supper club owned by early Palm Desert residents Leonard Firestone, an executive at his father’s tire company and later U.S. Ambassador to Belgium; and Cliff Henderson, who ran the National Air Races in the 1930s and was a decorated U.S. Air Force pilot, and who founded the city of Palm Desert in the 1940s, picturing a popular desert retreat.

Hurdzan describes Desert Willow, which is owned by the city, as “one of those clients that is constantly trying to improve their product.”

A few years ago, he was hired to complete a significant renovation of the Firecliff Course, during which he completely rebuilt the bunkers, just as he had done on the Mountain View Course five years earlier.

“In essence, we reduced the bunker sand area by about 50 percent,” he says. “We eliminated bunkers that disproportionally penalized average to weak players.”

Hurdzan also put new drainage and sand in every bunker that survived the cull. And, he replaced much of the turf along the bunker edges that was worn out or contaminated. The result, says Hurdzan, is an even more spectacularlooking course than the original, because it’s more in scale with the surroundings.

“In fact,” says Hurdzan, “unless one had before-and-after pictures, it would look as if the course hasn’t been touched. The challenge is still there for the strong player, but it is more forgiving and enjoyable for the less aggressive or recreational golfer.”

As is the case with many Valley courses, Desert Willow caters to extendedstay visitors by offering a loyalty program. Desert Willow’s Platinum Club card ($369 for non-residents) gives holders numerous benefits, including deep discounts on green fees, as well as in the pro shop and restaurant. And, you get a 21-day booking window for tee-times. If you’re headed to the Coachella Valley for the winter, Desert Willow’s Platinum Club card could well be a terrific option. Those planning a shorter stay should sign up online to become a Desert Willow Insider.

SilverRock (760-777-8884, www.silverrock.org) is another Arnold Palmer design that has hosted the Career Builder Challenge (2008-2011). Owned by the city of La Quinta, it’s technically a muni, but don’t be picturing a $20, illmaintained dog track with plastic chairs in a “restaurant” serving basic fare.

Hard up against the Santa Rosa Mountains, with enormous, white-sand bunkers and the standard Coachella Valley water features, SilverRock could well be the course you picture when daydreaming of a few days of vacation golf.

Palmer designed SilverRock shortly before Brandon Johnson, Senior Architect and VP at APDC, joined the company, but the latter has worked on it a good deal in the last few years.

“I began work there in 2012,” he remembers. “The City wanted to implement Phase 2 of the original masterplan, which involved construction of a hotel. We had to realign a canal and make several changes to the golf course to make it happen.”

The back nine saw a lot of changes, including creation of an entirely new hole – the par-3 11th that plays over water with the mountains in the background. The tee at the 12th moved, creating the first of three par-5s on the inward half, and the 18th became a driveable par-4.

“It’s reminiscent of the first at Cherry Hills, where Mr. Palmer won the U.S. Open in 1960,” says Johnson. “Our desire as architects has always been to

Classic Club • Palm Desert, Calif.

SilverRock • La Quinta, Calif.

PGA WEST Nicklaus Course • La Quinta, Calif.

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make the game fun and we wanted to give players one last heroic opportunity to go for it.”

Johnson is proud of the work at SilverRock that not only made way for the hotel (hotels, actually – the Montage and Pendry) but also reduced the amount of irrigated turf and converted several areas back into a native desert landscape.

“The changes at SilverRock have been received positively and we regard the project as a great success,” says Johnson. “I love some of the changes we made. I think the 14th hole, now a par-5, provides all kinds of interesting options and angles. The 11th is fun; you can utilize the large slope to play away from the water and sling balls towards the green. The back pin is particularly interesting as it sits in a back bowl, meaning a hole-in-one and disaster are both in play. The 17th is a great par-5, and we broke convention by making the 18th a short par-4. It has proved very popular.”

The magnificent La Quinta Resort and PGA WEST (laquintaresort.com, 760-564-4111) has been attracting vacationing golfers (as well as prospective homebuyers) since 1986. Spread out over 2,000 acres in La Quinta, with the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains a couple of miles to the west, the property possesses six golf courses – three private and three public.

Anyone can play the Nicklaus Tournament Course, Norman Resort Course, or Pete Dye’s infamous Stadium Course, which was the original home of the Skins Game and first hosted the PGA TOUR in 1987, when it rattled the pros so much that they petitioned, successfully, to have it removed from the schedule.

It didn’t return until 2016, by which time Dye had softened a few of its sharpest edges; at last year’s CareerBuilder Challenge, Jon Rahm overcame Andrew Landry in a four-hole playoff to win his second PGA TOUR title. You can play the Stadium for as little as $139 in January and February, which is a good deal for so iconic and memorable a course.

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Desert Willow • Palm Desert, Calif.

Be warned, however, Dye’s Stadium may provoke the most primitive reaction you’ve ever exhibited on a golf course. Mouths of first-timers will likely remain wide open for much of the round, you’ll shake your head more than a few times, and at some point(s), even the most serene and composed of golfers will surely be tempted to do something to a club he has never imagined doing before. Either you will come home wondering why on earth you spent your vacation budget and time on a course that made you feel small and inadequate, or it might be the most exciting, thrilling, uplifting, and unforgettable round of your life. You’ll just have to play it to find out.

Guests of the wonderful La Quinta Resort have access to PGA WEST’s public layouts as well as two of its own – the Mountain and Dunes Courses, both designed by Dye and opened in 1981. Of the two, the Mountain is the more popular and you can play it for $169 in January. The Dunes is always a fun round, but never quite as enthralling as its neighbor. You can play it for $89.

There are several more great plays in the Coachella Valley, including our favorites — Cimarron, Escena, Tahquitz Creek, Indian Wells (Celebrity and Players), Terra Lago, Shadow Hills, Shadow Ridge …needless to say, a week — or two, or three, or four — in the Valley is time well spent.

LA QUINTA RESORT DUNES COURSE

JACK NICKLAUS TOURNAMENT COURSE AT PGA WEST

LA QUINTA RESORT MOUNTAIN COURSE

THE STADIUM COURSE AT PGA WEST

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CHAM PION S H I P CO U R S E S.

GREG NORMAN COURSE AT PGA WEST

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MAS T E R DE S IG N E R S.

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ICO N IC RE S O R T.

Set at the base of the majestic Santa Rosa Mountains, PGA WEST at La Quinta Resort plays host to a truly one-of-a-kind golf experience. Masters of the game Pete Dye, Greg Norman and Jack Nicklaus have designed an iconic destination featuring five 18-hole, par 72 championship courses.

Enjoy exclusive golf benefits as a guest of La Quinta Resort, including complimentary replay round*, driving range access with complimentary range balls, bag storage and more.

To book, call 760.564.7610 or visit laquintaresort.com

*Based on same day availability after completion of first round.

Best of the Rest

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f course, there’s more to winter golf than just Palm Springs. hile Las Vegas may not be the golf town it was 20-30 years ago, it has a W handful of courses that add to the experience of a trip to Sin City. Bali Hai, Rio Secco, Bear’s Best, and Las Vegas Paiute are worthy of your “To Play” lists.

And, if you’re staying at one of MGM’s 15 Vegas properties and your budget will allow it, you can get a game at the extravagant Shadow Creek, where Tom Fazio transformed dusty, rocky, hostile desert into lush, verdant playground.

Rees Jones’ Cascata opened in 2000 and, though not quite as pricey as Shadow Creek ($295 compared with $500), is still a rather lavish experience.

The most compelling round in Vegas, though, has to be Royal Links (702444-2957, royalinksgolfclub.com), the Dye International-designed ode to the British Open, featuring copies of holes from 11 Open Championship venues.

There’s the par-4 first hole, modeled after No. 10 at Royal Lytham, which hosted the 2012 Open Championship. To reach the first tee, you first must walk across St. Andrews’ Swilcan Bridge. There’s the par-3 eighth hole, a replica of the famed “Postage Stamp” hole at Royal Troon. And, of course, there’s the epic, 466-yard, par-4 10th, familiar to all golf fans as the famous 17th at St. Andrews, known simply as the “Road Hole.” Walters even had designers Dye International include the old stone wall that runs the length of the hole’s right side, and over which golfers playing the back tees must hit their drives.

Similarly iconic holes from Royal Birkdale, Prestwick, Turnberry and other British Isles tracks complete the layout, with the pot bunkers, knee-high grass and firm, fast greens as close to their counterparts as one can make them in the desert. There’s even an authentic British pub in the castle-style clubhouse, where golfers can grab a pint of Guinness and enjoy some fish and chips.

Then, of course, there’s Arizona and, specifically, the Scottsdale/Phoenix area, which possesses the perfect combination of golf and sun for winter golf

Royal Links Golf Club • Las Vegas, Nev.

travel. Among its 200-plus courses are a number that we can’t leave here without naming – We-Ko-Pa, Sunridge Canyon, TPC Scottsdale, Ak-Chin Southern Dunes, Wickenburg Ranch, Troon North, and the City of Phoenix’s marvelous municipal Papago, which you can play for about $75.

Finally, there’s St. George in Utah, where you might need to wait until March for the temperatures to creep into the 60s, but you’ll find it was probably worth the wait. Green Spring, the Ledges, Sky Mountain, Coral Canyon, and Johnny Miller’s Entrada at Snow Canyon each provide the visual excitement and physical challenge you’re after, but the highlight of your St. George trip will be John Fought and Andy Staples’ Sand Hollow, which covers some of the most breathtaking terrain you’ll ever have the privilege to play.

PGA TOUR player Zac Blair is a Utah native and won the Sand Hollow Open in 2015 and 2016. He’s obviously pretty fond of the course.

“Yeah, it’s a cool spot,” he says. “Obviously, the setting, among the red rocks, is amazing. John Fought did a good job building big, fun greens and giving players plenty of width. The course plays differently every day.”

Though his game is clearly well-suited to the Championship Course, Blair says the resort’s nine-hole Links Course is actually his favorite.

“It’s my favorite in the State,” he says. “It has some awesome holes and great green complexes. It’s really fun.”

Fun. That’s what we’re after here. And, we’re fairly sure you’ll find it, whichever of these places you choose.

THE SOUL OF SCOTLAND, THE ADVENTURE OF LAS VEGAS

Legends have walked these same hallowed holes. Create your own Claret Jug moment and relive history at Royal Links Golf Club, an unrivaled union of fabled holes - like the “Postage Stamp” at Royal Troon and the “Road Hole” at St. Andrews - from the Open Championship’s eleven world-famous courses. This once-in-a-lifetime and, for many, life-changing golf experience can become a reality without a trip across the pond: It only requires a passion for the game and a quick, five-minute jaunt from the famed Las Vegas Strip.

5995 E. Vegas Valley Dr. | Las Vegas, NV 89142 | 702-765-0484 | www.royallinksgolfclub.com

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TRAVEL BAG

THE

SPIRITOF

For a true winter escape, nothing beats the island of

MAUI

Royal Ka’anapali Golf Course • Lahaina, Maui

BY TONY DEAR

WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY BRIAN BEAKY

hhh, Hawaii. Millions of sun-seekers visit the Aloha State each year, and while it’s not known exactly how many of them are packing golf clubs, you can bet a good number are going there to tee it up.

Oahu is the most popular island, with 4.7 million visitors each year, while Maui comes in second with 2.4 million. However, while the difference in visitor numbers between the two islands is considerable, the most popular resort in the state is actually on Maui. In fact, according to Jennifer McNally, the Director of Sales and Marketing at Wailea Resort (waileagolf.com), the resort on Maui’s southwestern shore has been Hawaii’s top-ranked destination for over 20 years.

“For starters, our three golf courses (Emerald, Gold, Blue) have won over 150 awards and accolades between them,” she says. “Wailea offers more top-notch golf than any other resort in Hawaii, and we offer a host of learning opportunities at the Wailea Golf Academy.”

All three courses — the Emerald and Gold designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. — were built on the gently undulating foothills of Mt. Haleakala, with some fairways as high as 300 feet above sea level. The views, not surprisingly, are pretty special. And, the weather’s decent, too. The southwest coast of Maui gets only 11 inches of rain a year, and 42 D ESTI N ATI ON G OL FE R

the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center recently forecast a 70-75 percent chance of below-average rainfall from December 2018 through Spring of 2019.

“Visitors can take advantage of some very attractive deals,” says McNally. “Our Seahorse Swing package is very popular. For just $465, visitors get unlimited golf on the Gold and Emerald courses for three days, and can book the first tee time of the day up to 45 days in advance.”

That means you pay $155 a day for unlimited golf each day, which — considering the Wailea Resort guest rate is $180 per round and that the general public pays $250 a round — is a pretty tasty option.

Twilight rates begin at noon, and the Triple Play allows you to play each of the resort’s three courses for $399 – a $110 saving for resort guests.

A short drive north of Wailea, in the resort Mecca of Lahaina/Ka’anapali, are the two courses at the always-fantastic Ka’anapali Beach Resort (kaanapaligolfcourses.com) – Robert Trent Jones’ Royal Ka’anapali and Arthur Snyder’s recently renovated Ka’anapali Kai. The longtime home of the Wendy’s Champions Tour Skins Game, Royal Ka’anapali is a challenging test of a golfer’s shotmaking skills, combining oceanfront holes with others that wind up into the foothills to showcase all that is beautiful of the West Maui coast. At a

King Kamehameha Golf Course • Wailuku, Maui

comparatively reasonable 6,700 yards and with multiple sets of tees, the par-71 course allows golfers to play the course to whatever difficulty they desire, ensuring a fun and memorable round for everyone in your group.

The shorter Ka’anapali Kai is the more forgiving course, with generous fairways and subtle greens surrounded by brilliant flowers, coconut trees and lava rock formations, all backdropped by ocean and mountain views at every turn.

In addition to being spectacular plays in their own right, the courses have been ahead of the game when it comes to making golf more affordable and less time-consuming, a key part of the USGA’s new, forward-thinking initiatives. The “Golf My Way” program allows golfers to play 18 holes over a seven-day stretch ― three holes here, four holes there, whatever you have time for on any given day. It’s been a boon with golfers who can’t resist the lure of the courses, but also want to maximize time spent with the family. There are also FitClub programs (an afternoon golf fitness program, perfect for snowbirds in town for a while), FootGolf (unlimited play for just $15 after 3 p.m.), GolfBoard rentals, and multi-round packages that drive prices ever lower.

And, if you combine your stay with lodging at Ka’anapali’s premier hotels — the Royal Lahaina, Hyatt Regency, Westin Maui and Sheraton Maui —

you can receive even further savings on both the golf and lodging than if you had booked separately.

There are a number of other solid options on Maui – Kapalua (golfatkapalua.com), which features the always-popular Palmer-designed Bay Course, and Bill Coore/Ben Crenshaw’s thrilling Plantation Course that has hosted the PGA TOUR’s season-opener since 1999; the excellent Kahili, King Kamehameha, and Robin Nelson’s acclaimed Dunes at Maui Lani.

Garrett Okamura is the director of golf at Maui Lani and says the course has benefitted from a ton of recent changes.

“We purchased quieter, fuel-efficient carts, and installed floodlights for the driving range — the only range on the island you can use after dark,” he says. “And we changed all the greens out to seashore paspalam. They are putting wonderfully.”

Brian Kaulupali, superintendent at Maui Lani for 20 years, performed the work on the greens, taking three years to complete the task while keeping the course open the entire time. Okamura says he has the place looking better than ever.

“With the greens complete and the other improvements in play, this is a very exciting time for the Dunes,” he says.

The truth is, it’s always an exciting time on the island of Maui — which is why so many of us dream of going back as quickly as we can.

Wailea Golf Club, Emerald Course • Wailea, Maui

Kapalua Golf Club, Plantation Course Kapalua, Maui

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RESORT REPORT

Journey to a hidden paradise...

I

n 1933, author James Hilton imagined a fictional paradise called Shangri-La, a peaceful, harmonious land isolated from the outside world, where residents remained in a permanent state of bliss. Hilton’s Shangri-La was said to be deep in a Himalayan valley – fortunately, ours isn’t nearly so remote.

Completely rebuilt since 2010, the Shangri-La Golf Club, Resort and Marina (shangrilaok.com), located on the tip of Monkey Island in Oklahoma’s forested northeast corner, has become a true paradise on earth for golf vacationers. With 27 holes routed along the shores of Oklahoma’s Grand Lake O’ The Cherokees, a full-service resort, two award-winning restaurants, and all the outdoor recreation you could want, Shangri-La has become one of the premier vacation destinations for golfers, boaters and outdoor enthusiasts throughout Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas. A 153,000-gallon pool modeled after the pool at a Turks & Caicos resort, which can comfortably accommodate up to 400 swimmers, keeps the whole family entertained, while the golf course is among Oklahoma’s finest.

Tom Clark’s redesign of Don Sechrest’s classic Old Blue Course, completed in 2013, expanded Shangri-La from 18 to 27 holes, creating a fun and playable layout that challenges players to hit almost every shot in their bag. Five sets of tees give every golfer the chance to score well, while the large, undulating greens, white-sand bunkers (the same crushed quartz used at Augusta National) and many creeks, ponds and lake views make for a thrilling and memorable round.

In between rounds, guests at the resort can enjoy casino trips, hunting and fishing excursions, horseback riding or any number of water-based activities, with the Shangri-La Marina offering boat rentals, jet-ski rentals, parasailing and more. At the end of the day, head back to the completely rebuilt resort hotel — which celebrated its grand re-opening in 2017 — to grab a steak dinner and a glass of wine on the rooftop at Doc’s, then retire to your luxurious room and enjoy the view of the sun setting behind the lake.

Hilton was right about there being a Shangri-La … he just didn’t realize it was so close to home.

SHANGRI-LA RESORT MONKEY ISLAND • OKLA.

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