If there is one word that could possible surpass the grandeur of the word “classic” to describe a golf course, that word would perhaps be perfectly designated to Hillcrest Golf Club. The famed golf vacation destination situated between Fort Lauderdale and Miami in the Sunshine State was once a classic that’s been given a face lift. And the result does not come short of superb, it may as well be called a “classic-er”, better than classic, at that.

The Hillcrest Golf Club is a timeless piece first opened in the 1960’s, an exquisite Von Hagge/Devlin design that has been among the best courses of South Florida. To keep it up to date, the management hired the services of the renowned designer, Joe Lee, in 2001 for remodeling. Joe Lee, being a true artist and a genius at that, managed to maintain the course’s classic beauty whilst adding his own touch to it, thereby escalating the already high standards of the course. Lee added more than a hundred bunkers, new water features, and improved the tee boxes to the course laden with a variety of mature trees. The result is a golf vacation paradise for any golfer.

And that is any golfer, considering the Hillcrest Golf Club has four sets of tees playing up t 7,076 yards from the longest tees. It’s a golf course that could entice and challenge a pro, but keep the novice golfer amused; impress the traditional golfers and fascinate the new-age non-conservative ones. And all that are the makings of a true classic; after all that has been said, it must be safe to say of this golf trip favorite that it is a classic on its way to becoming a bigger, better classic.

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 9^th 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.

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.

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 100^th anniversary in 2019. When that time comes, nothing could be expected of it but only the best.