Diamondhead Country Club – Cardinal Course

Some people hesitate to expect a lot from something because they are afraid of disappointments. But looking forward to the greatness of Diamondhead Country Club – Cardinal Course will never be frustrating. The place brings a lot of surprises from its environment up to its meticulously designed holes. This course will easily remove all feelings of anticipated disappointments; it is simply great, beyond anyone has ever expected. Having a golf vacation at Cardinal Course will never bring any guest down.

Diamondhead Country Club – Cardinal Course brought the standard of quality of Mississippi golf courses to new heights by combining layout excellence with great scenery. It plays 6,831 yards of golf from the back tees and features rolling terrain with no parallel fairways, and long sand bunkers. It has a course rating of 72.7 and a slope rating of 132. This semi-private golf course offers four sets of tees to make it playable for different types of golfers – not only the pro player could enjoy the place but also for someone who wants to learn or improve in golf. These attributes assure that it meets the standards of a golf trip that players seek.

As expected, Diamondhead Country Club – Cardinal Course has won the hearts not only of avid golfers but of several golf publications as well. It has been honored as the 4th “Best Public Course” in 1996. It would not be too much for anyone to expect this Earl Stone-designed golf course is to give a rather dramatic ending to Mississippi golf trips.

La Costa Resort

“Enough said” is saying the least when talking about the La Costa Resort. Adjectives would only prove insufficient. Its many achievements alone would be more than enough to tell the tales of its being accomplished, having been one of the best golf vacation destinations in the San Diego area for the past three decades.

To start with, the La Costa Resort is the home of the World Golf Championships – Accenture Match Play Championships for several years. It is also the home of 2 PGA Championship 18-hole courses; each one as celebrated as the other. Both courses are designed by Dick Wilson and feature traditional layouts. The North Course is slightly longer at 7,021 yards with a par of 72 compared to the South Course which stretches at 7,004 yards from the longest tees. North Course contains more of the lakes and has larger landing areas. The South Course, though, is deemed more difficult with its signature narrow creek that comes into play on 12 of the 18 holes. There’s no telling which course is better – the North Course allows golfers to tee off the same first tee as legends the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Tiger Woods; the South Course has PGA Tour’s “longest mile” in its closing five holes that has broken the hearts of many a PGA Tour champions. Needless to say, it offers golf vacations of superstar caliber.

To add to that stellar status, La Costa Resort is also a favorite golf hangout of Hollywood greats like Frank Sinatra among many others. If that is not enough yet, the South Course is ranked among the Top 100 Golf Courses in the US by Golf Magazine. “La Costa” in itself might as well be synonymous with “golf trips”. Enough said.

Pala Mesa Resort

San Diego is among California’s top tourist hubs. Like the rest of the state, San Diego enjoys an almost-year round sunny weather and stunning landscapes that could only be found here. One of the things that tourists go to San Diego for is golf. A truly ideal golf vacation destination, SD has plenty of choices for lovers of the sport. One of its most celebrated courses is the Pala Mesa Resort Golf Course.

The resort course, which stretches on just 6,502 yards from the longest tees, is a massive structure for its size – more for the challenge and scenery than anything else. The Pala Mesa Resort Golf Course is characterized by several huge oaks, sycamores and elms. It is also a firework of greens and floral hues as it is heavily sprinkled with flowers of different colors making it one of the most beautiful courses in San Diego. Golf vacations here are well described as “challenging, beautiful, and peaceful”, a collective testament of the countless golfers made happy by the course. It is a perfect contrast of calmness in the surroundings, and a raging war of decisions in the psyche of golfers trying to get past the all the 18-holes with a neat scorecard.

The par-72 Pala Mesa Resort Golf Course has not only been praised by tourists who have had more than they bargained for for a golf trip. Golf Digest has given it an elusive 4 and a half-star rating while the PGA Professionals named it as among the Top 10 Courses in the San Diego County. It is in establishments like these that the natural splendor of San Diego is well beyond highlighted; it makes it outstanding – a tough feat in a state laden with some of the most beautiful cities in the world.

 

 

Virginia Beach National Golf Club

Of the many golf courses of Virginia Beach, there is one that many claim to be the favorite of the locals. Any course in Virginia Beach may find it hard to stand out because all the courses here stand at par with each other. Deciding which one is the best is difficult, but to ask which is the most loved is a different story. The answer rolls off of the locals’ tongues easily: Virginia Beach National Golf Club. And they would not think twice about sharing it with golfers looking for a golf vacation destination.

The 18-hole par-72 course could not be counted out next to its more expensive neighbors. As much as the other courses are created by the industry’s greats, Virginia Beach National Golf Club is a product of the combined genius of Pete Dye and Golf Hall of Famer Curtis Strange. It features natural grasses, waste areas, rolling fairways and tour-quality greens. The course stretches to more than 7,200 yards with five sets of tees to accommodate players of any skill level. And just as much as the locals have made this their personal favorite, it has also become the golf vacation favorite for many golfers.

As the Virginia Beach National Golf Club continues to earn a following from golf trip regulars, it has long since been earning the respect of countless tour champions. It has been hosting the Virginia Open of the Nationwide Tours and undoubtedly has broken as many hearts both of the champions and the aspiring champions alike. The excellent quality of the course and the fact that it bears the name of Virginia Beach may simply be that one huge reason why it is so well loved. Or maybe it’s just too charming that even non-locals fall in love with it all too easily.

The Signature at West Neck Golf Club

When the Signature at West Neck Golf Club first opened in 2001, everyone was raving about it becoming a “timeless classic”. The golfing community expected a lot from the golf vacation destination. Not surprisingly so, the course bears the name of an Arnold Palmer as its creator, and the idyllic golf location of Virginia Beach as its home. How can anyone not expect a magnanimous result from this collaboration?

And magnanimous it was. The course stretches to a good 7,010 yards from the longest tees, all 18-holes spread on dramatically landscaped terrain. The course is a perfect collage of thirteen magnificent lakes, some stunning natural wetlands, and strategically placed beach bunkers. The greens and fairways of Tifsport Bermuda and A-grade bentgrass are conditioned to a state that could only be described as impeccable. The Signature at West Neck Golf Club displays such an air of elegance and unquestionable beauty, perfectly matched with a layout that is sure to challenge golfers playing from any of its five sets of tees. There is in fact a good reason to expect much from this golf vacation haven.

Today, a decade since the Signature at West Neck first opened for play, it is still as beautiful. The newer courses in the area and even the wear and tear of time has not fazed the course. It has become a favorite for golf trips and has a growing list of regular patrons who come back over and over to enjoy the scenery and its own brand of challenge. Undoubtedly, it has become the timeless classic it was meant to be.

Red Wing Lake Golf Club

The old and the wise will always remind us that there is a perfect time for everything. There’s a time to build, and a time to rebuild. And that time for Red Wing Lake Golf Club has come in 2005. The 60s-era golf vacation favorite in Virginia Beach had to go through two grueling years of total makeover under the watchful eye of its management and the keen hands of the Kevin Tucker Design Group. It was a long wait, but it was worth it. The George W. Coob original design is now a classic with all the amenities that only new age golfing technology could bring.

It is safe to say that Red Wing Lake Golf Club is better than ever. The fairways now feature a lush carpeting of high grade Bermuda grass and the greens of bentgrass have been restored. The golf vacation destination also has new wetland features that provide additional challenge to golfers of any skill level. The drainage system has also been improved immensely using state-of-the-art facilities for better playability on the greens and the forward tees.

The 18-hole, par-72 classic golf trip haven now stretches to 7,142 yards from the longest tees. The good name that Red Wing Lake Golf Club has earned in the last 30 years since its first opening in 1962 has just reached an all new level with all the improvements it has undergone. It has all the essentials of a classic favorite, with all the goodness of modern technology that can accommodate both the seasoned golfer and the young golf enthusiast. Now, more than ever, is the perfect time for golfers to enjoy the course.

 

 

Heron Ridge Golf Club

Great things come from small beginnings, or so they say. But none of these great things happen overnight. They take a lot of time, hardwork, and an ample amount of passion – not to mention the usual heaping of difficulty – to be achieved fully. With Heron Ridge Golf Club, it was the collaborative genius of Gene Bates and Fred Couples of the PGA Tour fame. This Virginia Beach golf trip favorite was, unbelievably, once a flat piece of cornfield bounded by oaks, Elm trees and natural wetlands.

From the looks of it today, there is not a trace of its agricultural past left. It has now become a championship 18-hole par-72 golf vacation haven that’s a good fifteen minutes away from the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. Its unusual elevation, natural hazards and the constant blow of the ocean breeze, and all come together to give every visitor at Heron Ridge Golf Club a unique experience at every hole. The water hazards that play on 14 of the holes also give the golfers something to think about during and even after the game. The course requires not only excellent shot making skills, but even better techniques and strategies to get past the tricky greens and mounds of the course.

A golf vacation destination with an attitude, Heron Ridge Golf Club has more than enough elements of challenge and fun to make for a novel story for a golf course. The 5 separate tees makes it perfect for any golfer, handicap regardless. With all its merits and growing list of patrons, Heron Ridge has indeed become so great that it could only look back to its humble beginnings with a contented smile and look towards its even better, greater future.

Riverfront Golf Club

The excellence of a golf course in layout and scenery is not the handiwork of one alone. It is the result of man’s collaboration with nature – how a golf course architect works his way towards achieving something good out of what nature already has. Such was the case of Tom Doak and the Riverfront Golf Club in Suffolk, Virginia. He was given a piece of land too beautiful to even touch lest it may ruin its natural splendor; but the genius of the designer prevailed, and the result is an award-winning golf vacation destination of world-class quality.

 The Riverfront Golf Club, as its name implies, sits at the mouth of the Nansemond River and at the mouth of the James River. It winds through riverfront acreage, tidal marshes, old gigantic oaks and vast rolling hills – a surprising attribute considering it is surrounded with mostly flatland. The old style course is an 18-hole, par 71 beauty that stretches to 6,735 yards from the longest tees. It makes optimum use of the surrounding waters as hazards, and the natural contours of the land to give the course an attitude. It makes for golf vacations that are not only beautiful, but challenging and interesting as well.

Because of its top caliber features, the Riverfront Golf Club has been awarded with accolades left and right. Only rightly so, it is the perfect reward for all the hardwork put into it. It holds 4 ½ stars from Golf Digest and ranks among the 40 Best Daily Fee Course by Golf and Travel Magazine. The golf trip haven was carved out of nature as if it were made by nature itself, and that makes it even more outstanding.

Kokopelli Golf Club

Southwestern Native American Indians have it in their legends the tale of a god named Kokopelli who is both a trickster and a lover, tricking his way into people’s hearts, and making people fall for him a la Casanova. It must be this same tricky and lovable quality of the god that it shares with its namesake of a golf vacation destination. The Kokopelli Golf Club in Apple Valley in southern Utah makes golfers fall for it over and over but only after tricking them into playing this ‘plain-looking desert course’.

At a glance, the golf course does look plain – meaning, flat. The difficult terrain would present itself right when the golfer has settled with the notion that it is going to be easy. The 18-hole spectacle stretches to over 7,600 yards from the longest tees and winds around jagged lava rock canyons and some more rugged desert terrain that makes it challenging. Kokopelli Golf Club, though, is not all tough holes. Sure there are a lot of difficult ones, especially those that play right along the canyons, and a few uphill bunkered ones. But what’s a golf vacation made of heartbreaks? The risk-reward system course has its share of fairly easy holes too, giving golfers a break from heartbreak.

The stunning picture of the surrounding desert and mountains are a perfect break for the senses too. Southern Utah is blessed with some of the best vistas in the west and Kokopelli Golf Club sits right where all the good sights are seen at every angle. It takes golfers to a golf trip filled with satisfying rounds and unparalleled views that it makes it easy for them to forgive it for tricking them – and of course, falling in love with it one round after another.

Sand Hollow Golf Resort

Show business has a lot to say about gracing a magazine cover, especially if the magazine has a prominent reputation. It is synonymous to being important and being interesting enough to risk their publication’s sales on the marketability of one person. Same holds true with golf publication. Only the best in the sport – course or player – get that cover story glam. And the Sand Hollow Golf Resort is one of those golf vacation destinations, having been the face of GolfWeek’s March 2011 issue. That, along with being named the #1 Public Golf Course in Utah for the second year in a row.

Sand Hollow Golf Resort is a 27-hole golf facility that sits in the middle of Color Country’s Pine Valley Mountains. The two courses – Championship and the Links – blends perfectly with the surrounding red rock canyons of Utah providing a most picturesque backdrop. The 18-hole Championship course, designed by John Fought, features ridgeline fairways, difficult sand traps and dramatic elevation changes. The Links Course, on the other hand, takes golfers on a time warp: it is like playing the sport in the British Isles from when it had begun, but tweaked with desert features of sand dunes and rock outcroppings. Both are different from each other, but together they make a perfect golf vacation haven for families and golfers regardless of skill levels.

The noteworthy quality of the courses of the Sand Hollow Golf Resort is perfectly complimented by its world-class facilities, particularly the clubhouse, the putting greens, and pro shop. The front page quality of this golf course makes golf trips here one for the books – they’re too beautiful to leave to memory they should be written!