Tag Archives: golf trip

Palm Aire Country Club – Palms Course

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A golf vacation destination for all ages, Palm Aire Country Club – PalmsCourse will offer players of different playing styles and skills a pleasing yet challenging golf experience with its five sets of tees. It was originally designed in 1959 by William Mitchell and was remodeled under the direction of course designers Karl Litten and Lorie Viola in 1966 – the wider fairways and the bigger greens are some of the noticeable changes. The renovation made the course look modern but its classic feature like the tall palm trees are still evident until today.

 Palm Aire Country Club – Palms Course offers two types of games – tough rounds for players who seek great challenge and easy rounds for beginners. The sidelong water hazards that surround the broad fairways will test the course management skills of the players. Golfers should have precise placement and distant control to be successful on every hole. On the other hand, novice golfers who desire a friendly length can choose other sets of tees that range from 5,431 to 6,586 yards. Spending a golf trip in this course will give enjoyment to all guests regardless of whether they are pros or new to the game.

 Serving golfers of all abilities for decades, Palm Aire Country Club – Palms Course has been host to countless golf events that include the Florida Open and the Nike South Florida Classic. The new layout and the different set of tees are the reasons why this golf vacation destination in Florida is a must play for both young and experienced players.

Palm Aire Country Club – Cypress Course

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It is quite a feat for a golf course to be well loved and maintain an impressive reputation for three decades. All the more, that is an even bigger achievement if the golf course is located in the Sunshine State. Considering that Florida ranks among the states in the US with the most number of golf courses, owing it to the beautiful golf-perfect weather, any golf vacation destination could only wish to be remembered as among the best. The Cypress Course of the Palm Aire Country Club is one such course. Since its debut in 1979, it has been visited and revisited by golfers for its most unique, most wonderful features.

The 18-hole course is the handiwork of Tom and George Fazio, along with its sister course, the Mighty Oaks. The two superb championship courses are part of the four-course facility in Palm Aire Country Club in Pompano Beach, Fl. The Cypress Course of the Palm Aire Country Club measures a good 6,868 yards from the longest tees for a par of 72. It is best known for the beautiful scenery and challenging layout. This layout is characterized by cypress-lined fairways and stunning water features – and they double as the perfect hazards that bring the extra edge into each game – pro or amateur. Because of its pristine condition and superb layout, the course is not only a favored golf trip favorite, but a tournament course too.

In fact, the Cypress Course of the Palm Aire Country Club is the regular home of the Florida Open and the Dixie Amateur Tournaments. It must be this perfect combination of beauty, challenge, attitude and excellence in conditioning that makes the course favored and ranked among the best for golf vacations in Florida.

Jacaranda Golf Club – West Course

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It takes a lot of guts for a developer to decide putting a classic course on a full-blown renovation. And it builds too much pressure on the hands of the architect who will handle the job. It requires heart than talent to put his own mark in someone else’s masterpiece. Bobby Weed carried this exact burden when he was given the task of giving Mark Mahannah’s original design in Jacaranda Golf Club – West Course a full make over. Fortunately, or rather as expected, the renewed design brought out the best in the golf vacation destination without overwhelming its original charm.

The new Jacaranda Golf Club – West Course bears the same shotmaker’s challenge that it was known for, only with more edge to it. The addition of more lagoons and strategic placement of the sand traps make the course even more exciting. The hole placement requires golfers the accuracy of a sharpshooter paired with the patience of a private investigator – as each hole needs discovering, from the deceptive greens. This feature of the course makes it a favorite choice for challenge-seeking, competitive golfers for their golf vacations. It touches on both the physical and mental strength and skills of golfers.

Bobby Weed undoubtedly did well on his version of the Jacaranda Golf Club – West Course. Even the East course in the club looks supreme after his renovation project. There is not a reason to doubt, too, when South Florida golfers would name this as among their favorite local golf trip haven. Weed has proven he has the right amount of guts to go with his talent to be able to take the known course to its next level of best.

Jacaranda Golf Club – East Course

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“The Jac” in Fort Lauderdale is a jack-of-all-trades for golfers-of-all-tees. Much could be said about why this is a complete, challenging, and fun golf vacation destination. And to understand it better, one must see the parts – the why of the golf facility’s being the “it” place in Southern Florida. The Jacaranda Golf Club – East Course is a good place to start.

With a golfing yardage measuring 7, 195 yards from the longest tees, the  Jacaranda Golf Club – East Course will undoubtedly take golfers of all playing skills to a myriad of playing experiences courtesy of its four different sets of tees. After its most recent renovation under the skillful mastery of Bobby Weed, the course is now in its most superb, most playable form with Paspalum tee boxes and fairways. The unique bunkering and the excellent conditioning of the surrounding greens all combine to make the new East course ideal for any golf getaway. And that is taking optimum advantage of the state’s perfect weather. This quality of the course makes it a favorite not only for golf vacations but for some of Florida’s and the nation’s most awaited golf tourneys.

The Jacaranda Golf Club – East Course has played host to PGA TOUR Q-School; U.S.Open Qualifying; Florida Open Qualifying; 2000 U.S. Amateur Qualifying, Nationwide Tour Qualifying. The course has also been the home of the Broward County Amateur Golf Tournament for the last sixteen years. This is enough a proof that the Jac truly is for everyone and everything related to golf – whether just a recreational round or two, a full-blown golf trip, or an epic championship tournament.

Plantation Preserve Golf Course

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When endings welcome new beginnings, there is much reason to believe that it’s the start of something better. This much was true at the Plantation Golf Club in Plantation, Florida. Its loyal patrons had to bid the old-time favorite goodbye; the good thing was, a better, more beautiful and more challenging golf vacation destination stood in its place. And the Plantation Preserve Golf Course delivered more than what was expected.

The 18-hole championship golf course was designed by the prestigious design team of von Hagge, Smelek & Baril. Whilst everyone was anticipating a course the same caliber as the old one, the Plantation Preserve Golf Course is a shocker. It measures a whooping 7,148 yards from the longest tees for a par of 72. It has a good number of challenging holes, including the signature 9th hole island green. Another interesting feature of the course are the numerous water holes that could boost or break any golfer’s ego. And that is ANY GOLFER, considering it has five sets of tees that could accommodate players of any handicap. The Sea Dwarf Paspalum grass on the greens – the only one in the entire Broward County to use them – and the state-of-the-art practice facilities all the more make this golf course a golf vacation haven.

And it is, in fact, a haven not only for golf trip aficionados but for the nature lovers too. The Plantation Preserve Golf Course is one of the two Audubon-certified courses in the greater Ft Lauderdale area, the other one being Parkland Country Club. It is one of those few courses that combine a classic design with modern amenities and a modern perspective – fits both the traditional and the new-age golfer. It is indeed a beginning that sees no end in the near future.

Silverado Golf Resort

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Napa Valley is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful places to go to in the West Coast. The wine country of Napa Valley has the perfect scenery of rolling hills and endless vineyards and the perfect weather to go with it. These are also the same factors that make golfing in Napa Valley very interesting and exciting, not to mention unique. And what better way to enjoy a golf vacation hereabouts than to spend it in Silverado Golf Resort?

Silverado Golf Resort has long been the face of Napa Valley vacations. Apart from its world class amenities and lodging offers (read: a hotel with 435 guest rooms, a 16,000 square foot luxury spa, 10 swimming pools, 13 tennis courts), the resort is a superb golf vacation destination home to two championship golf courses that was once beautiful and is now MORE beautiful than ever. The North and South Courses were originally designed by no less than Robert Trent Jones Sr. More recently, PGA Hall of Famer Johnny Miller stepped in and gave the course a face lift. And the result are two 18-hole courses that boast of dozens of water crossings, dramatic elevation changes, and making shots through what seem like a hundred oak trees. All that are backdropped with the scenery of Napa Valley that looks straight out of a storybook.

And since this is wine country, there’s no better way to end the day than with a bottle of red wine from one of the 200 wineries surrounding the resort. Silverado Golf Resort has everything laid out for a truly beautiful Napa Valley vacation. Golfers would definitely not ask for more in a golf trip if this were the destination.

Bayonet Black Horse – Black Horse Course

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As mighty and tough as an old tree that stands the test of time, Bayonet Black Horse – Black Horse Course offers superb challenges as well as inspiration to golfers of different ages. Several changes were made in this golf vacation destination to stimulate the visitors with its new setting and test their skills with its improved holes.

 Designed by General Edwin Carnes in 1964, Bayonet Black Horse – Black Horse Course was a 6,800-yard golf course. It was re-sculpted in 1998 by award-winning golf architect Gene Bates. This course has been transformed from a series of tree-lined holes to a wider, flowing, and comfortable environment; it is now a 7,024, par-72 layout that features wide vistas of the Pacific and is highlighted by long rolling fairways, tougher sand traps, new tees, and contoured greens. A golf trip to this 18-hole course will certainly captivate and inspire the players to extend the limits of their skills while playing in its whole new layout.

 Bayonet Black Horse – Black Horse Course has a course rating of 74.4 and a slope rating of 135. The improved playing options make it more enchanting especially to experienced golfers. This made Golf Digest include the course in 2009’s “Best New Courses” in the “Renovation Category”. The new era of this golf vacation destination is always ready to welcome, thrill, and challenge new players with its stimulating environment that is always in spectacular shape, and views of the Monterey Bay as its backdrop. These elements will make the memory of their golf experience here last for a long time.

The Links at Spanish Bay Golf Club

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Andy Warhol definitely knew what he was talking about when he said “One’s Company, Two is a Crowd, Three is a Party”. Looking at the Links at Spanish Bay Golf Club, the three geniuses Robert Trent Jones Sr, Tom Watson and Sandy Tatum must have had a fabulous time creating one of the best golf vacation destinations in America. They brought together what golf was truly about when it started half a millennium ago in the sandy links of Scotland.

The Links at Spanish Bay Golf Club was intended to mirror Scottish links golf right at Pebble Beach, and there is not an iota of doubt: IT DELIVERED. It may take two to tango but it took three of the greatest minds in golf to bring an authentic Scottish golf vacation right in sunny California. The three creators of the Links have made the rugged coastline of Monterey and its sandy seaside links a perfect replica of Scottish golfing. Golfers have to battle the constant blowing of the wind, the hole placement, and even the breathtakingly magical view of the Pacific Ocean for these elements perfectly mesh with each other to make games as exciting as they are beautiful.

The most Scottish, perhaps, about the Links at Spanish Bay Golf Club, is found not at the links, not at the holes, nor anywhere on this par-72, 6,821 Scottish golf trip treat at daytime, but only at SUNDOWN. A bagpiper, yes a real one, closes the golf course at the end of the day EVERYDAY. Right from the opening of the course, down to the closing, there is much reason to believe that the three designers were having such a jolly good time creating the Links, it reflects on the happy moods of every one of its guests.

Encinitas Ranch Golf Course

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Encinitas Ranch Golf Course in San Diego is literally a dream come true. Its course designer, the renowned Cary Bickler, has in his youth dreamed of building a golf course in the rocky outcrops of Encinitas with an overlooking view of the Pacific Ocean. That was the time when he was but a budding golf course architect, starting on his career. 27 years later, he found himself creating the design for his dream golf vacation destination. And today, countless golfers are living the dream of playing in a course that has all the beautiful things other courses could only think of having.

 The 18-hole, par-72 Encinitas Ranch Golf Course stretches to 6,812 yards from the longest tees on dramatic San Diego terrain. The challenge it offers is a combination of the course’s natural setting and Bickler’s genius. The course opens up fairly gently, with generous and forgiving fairways on the front nine but sets the challenge on crescendo beginning with the tenth hole. The back nine requires more accurate shots and better judgment on choice of steel to be gotten over with rather pleasantly. The two lakes that make an appearance on four holes and the interesting changes in elevation don’t make the course any easier. But golf vacations here are nowhere near being a nightmare.

The surrounding scenery – yes, including the stunning Pacific Ocean view, plus the 6,000 square foot, complete clubhouse make Encinitas Ranch Golf Course awesome from every angle. Every golf trip hereabouts is as good as a dream; only better because they are real.

Pebble Beach Golf Links

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The Pebble Beach Golf Links is the golf course embodiment of legendary, classic, and yes, beautiful. This is that one golf vacation destination that everybody who knew golf in America knew; others, even better, they know this place by heart.

1919 may be a long time ago and could easily have taken its toll on the Pebble Beach Golf. But the last 92 years has only made the golf vacation paradise even better. Countless golf legends have graced its greens, and it would be of any golfer’s honor to walk the same paths and shoot to the same holes. Designers Jack Neville and Douglas Grant have utilized the course’s being located on a rugged coastline. A number of holes play on the ocean; others highlight the wide open ocean vistas, cliffside fairways and the sloping greens. Golfers may find it hard to stop themselves from having goosebumps; this is history in itself. If the greens could talk, they would have told of a thousand stories that no historian could have told better.

 The course is just too splendid for words and for any accolade that they would not be able to suffice. Pebble Beach Golf Links is the only public golf course that has been named the No. 1 Golf Course in America by Golf Digest. The award came in 2001, proof of its timelessness. It is also considered the Number 1 Public Golf Course in America. No wonder the golf trip haven is a favorite host of the most prestigious tournaments in America, including the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, and the US Open Championships that it has hosted five times – running six, on its 100th anniversary in 2019. When that time comes, nothing could be expected of it but only the best.