Monthly Archives: May 2012

La Costa Golf – South Course

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Before its renovation, La Costa Golf – South Course used to have a view that is uniform to all other courses. But after the $10 million refurbishment, this course lead the ranks of most golf vacations in the world. Major improvements come particularly on the hole numbers 1, 9, 10 and 18, with much of the designed imparted by the historic golf architect, Dick Wilson. Consistently receiving prestigious awards since its take off, this course was ranked in the top 100 courses in the U.S. by Golf Magazine and it also became the home for the 2012 LPGA Kia Classic.

La Costa Golf – South Course layout is not significantly altered from its well-celebrated classic layout. Slight modifications about, as well as considerable changes are only evident in the fairway contours and the drainage system. A more innovative system for the drain has been installed to provide sustainability and better the water flow and irrigation throughout the golf vacation destination. More than 30 acres of turf were taken away to help assist in the water conservation effort of the course, and holding La Costa’s reputation as San Diego’s first Green Seal Certified hotel.

The La Costa Golf – South Course is known to be the more challenging and skill demanding course between it and its twin course, the North Course. Even if this golf trip spot may seem easy superficially, the five holes would dismiss the “simple and easy” tag away. For some reason, they seem to backbreaking even to players who have gone to this location for years. In fact, PGA Tour nicknamed the final 5 holes as “longest mile” because of the experience a golfer gets. Despite that, there is a room to take comfort at the 9 holes. On the 12 and 18 hole is also a confining creek that breathes through the course, much as the players does after a long arduous game.

Pelican Preserve

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Guests usually go to a golf vacation destination to try the area without planning to go back, unless they are professional players who want to treat the area as a practise range, of course. Despite the habit mentioned, a place in Fort Myers, Florida has been capturing the interest of people, making them come back more than many times as they are expected to. Having 27 holes to offer a championship golf experience on, the Pelican Preserve captivates its visitors by and large using its pristine green and indigenous preserve environment. Abundant water, sand and grasses complement the spacious landing areas and smooth contours of TifEagle “Ultradwarf” greens in this one of a kind layout. Fairways strike dramatically into ones aesthetic conditions as it weave through the 1,100-acre community like the rhythm on a tribal woman’s dress -seamlessly eccentric and well-toned.

Chip Powell proved his ingenuity in Pelican Preserve not only for outstanding design wise but also for the deceiving approaches and unique tale-tell of each holes. The dynamic golf vacation experience one gets here means a range of different features for both pros and amateurs alike. New players won’t jump into this laborious layout without getting a chance to practice at the aqua range. Shot games and generous putting greens are also accessible for warm ups. And if a player is confident enough to dive into the challenge, there lies the expanse, at plain sight, anticipating anyone who is ready to outmatch it.

After the game, players can go into the impressive clubhouse where full-service amenities await. The bar is also an option to dive into post game recreational activities, aside from the many golf vacation packages abound at the Pelican Preserve Plaza del Sol.

Copperhead Golf Club

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If one were to put “Florida High End Golfing” in a picture book, the Copperhead Golf Club would have been the image right next to its definition. The favored golf vacation destination in Lehigh Acres area near Ft. Myers is indeed one golf course that pretty much showcases everything that Florida golf offers best.

From yardage to obstacles to scenery, the Copperhead Golf Club has pretty much bagged the requisites that define ‘great’ in playing golf in the Sunshine State. From the longest tees, the course measures an eye-popping 6,680 yards of golf, par 72. That’s all 6,680 yards of old-growth pines, island tees, pristine lakes and ponds, elevated greens, and a hefty helping of native wildlife. The high-end homes surrounding this golf vacation community are largely visible, but rest assured golfers will not feel the distraction. Where a nice home blocks the supposed nice view, the shot difficulty will make up for it. And this is no generic, off-the-shelf type of difficult. The challenge this course poses is enough to daunt even the best pros in the sport.

As a matter of fact, this course is more than just some destination for golf trips. The Copperhead Golf Club is a regular PGA Tour Stop – the Transitions Championship. Golfers from around the world compete here every year only to discover that even the best of them could not very much take this course all too easily. Thank God for multiple tees, the higher handicapped golfers could find a place for themselves amidst all this high end golfing glory. That being said, a photo of this course might just as well be found next to the definition of “fun, unforgettable golfing”, and perhaps in family photo albums for the same reason.

Naples Grande Golf Club

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What makes an unforgettable golf vacation? There is hardly any golfer anywhere who would disagree to an answer a basic as this: beautiful scenery, challenging layout, and excellent amenities and services. Unfortunately, finding one course that has these in just the right amounts is not all that easy. This combination is rarely perfected even in top golf destinations like Florida. But that is not saying there is none at all. Courses the likes of Naples Grande Golf Club are a most fitting example.

The natural splendor of Naples took care of the scenery. Native pine hammocks, oaks, cypresses, and natural waterways grace the area both as visual accents and as hazards to the game. Meanwhile, renowned course designer Rees Jones Jr supplied the requisite for a challenging layout. It measures 7,210 yards from the longest tees, par 72. And a superb designer he is, he put to use everything that nature offered him and made it part of the course. The result is a golf trip haven that is an explosive combination of tight and wide fairways, sand bunkers, mounds on greens, and native vegetation. And as for the amenities and services? Being a part of the Hilton Hotels group covers that for Naples Grande Golf Club.

The course is made exclusive for the guests of Edgewater Beach Hotel and the Naples Grand Beach Resort. Thus, apart from the usual golf vacation destination implements, the Naples Grande Golf Club serves up a more exciting golf experience. And with an offer as good as that, there is hardly any golfer who could (or would) resist it, nor forget it.

CrossCreek Golf Club

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Coming together in CrossCreek Golf Club is the legendary design of Arthur Hills and the wonderful beauty of Temecula Valley. The result is a pristine looking Southern California style golf vacation spot nestled on a diffident natural environment. Timeless old oak and sycamore trees are displayed along with rippling creeks that provide a challenging scenery complimenting the demands provided by the layout as it positions near the ‘Hills’. Here, there are no homes, no freeways, and not even unnecessary noise to take away golfers from focus on their game.

Obvious in the CrossCreek Golf Club are traces of its inspiration taken from the golden age of golf course architecture. That means that a mixture of the philosophies that the Donald Ross, Alister MacKenzie, George Thomas, and C.B. Macdonald re apparent in this contemporary golf trip masterpiece. Arthur Hills truly crafted a masterpiece in San Diego with this one effortlessly highlighting as one of America’s most celebrated destinations, consistent with the honors its architect has been getting for years.

The putting green also forms as a large driving range providing for impressive practice facilities to every type of golfer. Aside from that, other golf vacation packages are up for grabs in CrossCreek Golf Club. One of the most famous is the clubhouse grille where sumptuous food are served and thirst quenching drinks are offered which makes a visceral decision out of a guest to dive into the luxury. Moreover, like periodic films shot in the highlands, this course is blessed with the sound of birds as musical score, instead of the noisy traffic, especially because it is minutes away from the I-15. Great golf is played in this glorious natural location where a pristine world removes it from the brouhaha of the city, leaving only the comfortable conditions to freely create the best atmosphere. There may be a myriad of emotions fired from an experience here, but of all of them would surely express the positive.

La Costa Golf – Champions Course

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If there is one thing that La Costa Golf – Champions Course is ultimately known for, it’s that it is purely challenge and technique, making it appear indifferent to gimmicks. This golf vacation spot does not necessarily abhor theatrics, but it is more faithful to a layout that would bring out the best of a player’s ability. In this course, the classic landscape wins. Native grasses, tee boxes, landscaping bridges, fairways and greens, wetlands, rerouted paths, and contour and gradation raise the experience and enhance the technical side of the game.

But La Costa Golf – Champions Course was slightly less awesome before its facelift in 2011. After the $10 million renovation, this place easily became a famous golf vacation destination spot featuring a more robust looking course where tees are at length, turf are reduced and holes are reshaped and contoured. Aside from the design, the course also experienced an improvement in its drainage irrigation and conditioning system. The course can already take a bit of rain without diminishing productivity.

Newly installed accommodation golf vacation packages also abound in La Costa Golf – Champions Course with expanded gyms and better looking events center. That only compliments to the new set of 4,200 yards “Family Tees”, where kids and adults can have the best golf experience. Clinics are also present for parents and children to learn together, while camps await summer to offer lessons for ages 6-14 years olds and other interested guests. In effect, this course has turned into a family friendly location causing golf resort reviewers to declare it as the “course of the future!”

Tiburon Golf Club – Gold Course

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Tiburon Golf Club is known throughout the Florida golfing scene as amongst those that give the best quality golf experiences in the state. This gem of a golf vacation destination in Naples isn’t simply “just one of the many”. Its pair of 18-hole championship courses, not to mention best caliber services and amenities, make it a standout no matter how stiff the competition. One of its courses, the Gold Course, could very well tell its own story.

Both courses on the Tiburon are Greg Norman designs, the Gold Course being the longer one at 7,217 yards, par 72, in comparison with its sibling Black Course. Both the courses are not located beach front, but Norman created them links style in a rather convincing fashion that it feels as if the ocean is but a stone’s throw away. The Gold Course features a lot of water – on thirteen holes to be exact, with more than 50 well placed coquina shell-lined bunkers to compliment them. While it shares this same feature with the Black Course, the former was made with wider fairways and more generous landing areas making it the easier, more player-friendly course of the two. This makes golf vacations here more appealing for more golfers, a more open prospect for the lower-skilled players.

But golf trips isn’t all there is to the Gold Course. This would not be a championship course without creating real champions. And it does, December of each year, at the Merrill Lynch Shootout or more fondly called the Shark Shootout. Looking at this course alone, it is easy to understand why the Tiburon Golf Club is a favorite choice when Florida presents golfers with a thousand other options.

Old Corkscrew Golf Club

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There is nothing old about the in Lee County, Florida, but this golf vacation destination has reaped more awards since it opened in 2007 than most other older golf courses built through the years. This course is indeed like a corkscrew that opens a bottle of wine that adds a different flavor to compliment whatever good this part of Sunshine State already has on its plate.

That shouldn’t be surprising. As a Jack Nicklaus Signature, the course makes it one of the most unique layout in the area. That alone is an answer suffice enough to reply to the few people who are puzzled –this was created to have both playability and challenge to make for unforgettable golf trips. The Old Corkscrew Golf Club measures 7,400 yards from the longest tees, playing for par of 72. Nicklaus created it in a way that the contemporary additions would simply flow naturally on the terrain using the indigenous features of the area as main attraction and guide for direction. The final picture is a huge golf course dotted with mature oaks, slash pines and native vegetation where the careful wins loads of chances for a neat scorecard. And just as easily as fun reveals itself , the awards and recognitions came in pours.

Now nearing its fifth year of giving happy golf vacations, the Old Corkscrew Golf Club has gathered prestigious awards surpassing those before it. Under its namer are:‘Best Course That You Can Play That You Have Never Heard Of’(Golf Magazine, 2011); ‘Southwest Florida’s # 1, ‘Best Course You Can Play’ (Golf Magazine 2010); ‘One of America’s Best New Courses in 2007’(Golf Digest) – plus a Silver Signature Certification from the Audubon International. When it is a huge breakthrough for a new course, it would not be surprising to see this become a classic in the future; like fine wine that simply gets better as it gets older.

Palm Aire Country Club – Mighty Oaks Course

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Every golf course developer knows how important it is to be praised by both professional golfers and tournament organisers. Having amateurs consider their course as a prime golf vacation destination is one thing, but when the elephant in the room says something awesome about it, the course immediately steps a level up from its previous reputation. The Palm Aire Country Club – Mighty Oaks Course at Southern Florida surely tickles the preference of all these golf enthusiasts as it contains the right ingredients to transform those people into genuine advocates.

Developed in the 1970s, the 18-hole, playing for par-71 course, shows a classical and sophisticated layout which is favored by majority of the community near Pompano Beach. Because of the magnificent landscape here, this golf vacation location stands out among the finest in Florida. The Palm Aire Country Club – Mighty Oaks Course‘ sister course, the Cypress, which is also a collaboration of architects Tom and George Fazio, complements with the Mighty Oaks in successfully forming the four-course golf facility. The multi-million dollar overhaul project in 1998 enhanced the originally wonderful design of this area where rolling greens, highlighted TifEagle Turf and marvellous bunkers abound. Towering mighty oaks and impressive water features installed here also add to the awe inspiring atmosphere.

Aside from playing golf, the Palm Aire Country Club – Mighty Oaks Course is also equipped with sumptuous food and beverage services. The restaurant offers a range of golf vacation packages including a hearty breakfasts, delightful lunch and lavish dinner that any player deserves after a heart stopping game at this most memorable golf course of Palm Aire Country Club. 

Silverado Golf Resort – North Course

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Standing as the centerpiece for the Napa Valley experience is the Silverado Golf Resort – North Course which is just among the two 18-hole championship golf courses in the resort. Designed by the legendary golf vacation destination architect, Robert Trent Jones, Jr., the courses exhibit a sight of enormous water crossings, unparalleled elevation changes, and impressive routing through oak trees that has outmatched the tests of times. Manipulation and direction of the layout exhibits challenge and a visual sensation that tickles a unique ambiance set by the place’ own standards. Here, golfers search for an authentic Napa golf experience and constantly return to the place to make the memory tangible.

Staying at one of the spacious guest rooms in Silverado Golf Resort – North Course means having the delightful treat of witnessing the Northern California’s wine country, which serves as both picturesque backdrop and lucky charm for the golf vacation location developers. Numerous recreational activities await at the area including tennis, biking and swimming. The 10,000-square-foot clubhouse also provides a place to unwind after a tiring and thrilling game. But ultimately famous among players is the largest resort spa in Napa Valley, which is the Spa at Silverado, where a wide variety of spa treatments are offered by skilled and experienced staffs.

The Silverado Golf Resort – North Course golf vacation package includes a wide range of amenities. Carts are available not only to ease a golfers transportation from one hole to another, it also brings them into the sought after cocktail lounge and clubhouse. New players would not worry about purchasing their own equipment as club rentals and free range balls are offered here. There are also lessons and practice facilities ready for those eager to develop skills before actual play. This course is undeniably unparalleled.