Teaming up to design a magical golf vacation destination is what Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw did when they created the Talking Stick – South Course. Owned by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, this location is one of two main golf courses in the area, together with the Talking Stick – North Course. Compared to the tie-in style of the North Course, the South Course displays traditional atmosphere with tree-lined fairways. Here is where players can find sides of the course defending the elevated greens that provide for a more direct playing approach.

The sophisticated golf vacation that Talking Stick – South Course provides is the primary reason why it has landed as Golfweek Magazine’ Top 100 Modern Courses from 1999 to 2002. The location’s fame ascended to another level as it became Golf Magazine’ Top 100 Best Courses You Can Play and Best Public Course in the State according to South Golfweek in 2002 and 2003. Finally, Golf Digest Surveys rated the course with 4 1/2 stars consistently in 2004 and 2005.

Also award winning is Talking Stick – South Course‘ 26,000 square foot clubhouse that offers a golf shop with complete golf equipment, locker rooms for players, dining rooms for general guests and private dining rooms for vacationers who desire an intimate feel. Golfers can also avail of the practice facility or enroll for a golf workshop at the Tim Mahoney Golf Academy. Aside from that, there are more amenities served at the Wildhorse Grille where golf trips enthusiasts can also view the never-ending desert panorama that exhibits a display of mountainous landscape making guests reflect on the relaxing feeling of rural seclusion. Grabbing a quick bite will never feel the same when made at this area.

At eight years old, the Hernando Oaks Golf Club is still quite new, but there is something old about this golf vacation destination. And it is not a bad thing. It is not the old, outdated kind that is just awaiting demolition. This is the kind of old that could only be closely associated to classic, timeless, a graceful aging of sorts. It must be the fact that it is located in Brooksville, a part of what is known as Old Florida, or it could be the fact that it bears a semblance to golf courses of the past. It has the air of courses built at a time when large machinery have yet to exist, and there was little or no disturbance on the land’s natural terrain.

This Scott Pate design has that quality. There was a goal to keep this golf vacation haven as close to nature as possible and it was undoubtedly achieved. At 6,905 yards from the longest tees, par 72, naturalists will love the Hernando Oaks Golf Club as much as hardcore golf aficionados would. Its five sets of tees also ensure that golfers of all skill levels will have fun here. It has the right amount of natural beauty and human intervention to its layout, that the wild inhabitants of this area could stand side by side with the enthused golfer and they will both be just fine.

The Hernando Oaks Golf Club is teeming in old, stately oaks draped in Spanish moss and expansive tree-lined fairways. The layout makes optimum use of the natural rolling wooded terrain of Brooksville to create a challenging but fun quality to games here. Truly enjoying the sport never gets old hereabouts; no wonder this is becoming an old-time favorite for golf trips.