Deercreek Country Club

Many golf courses employ risk-reward systems in their layout. It makes for some of the most remembered and most talked-about course designs. The more competitive golfers who are looking for the engaging and the challenging in their golf vacations tend to look for such courses, knowing full well they will get what they want. In South Florida, where it seems as if there is a golf course half a kilometer apart of each other, there is that one course that is said to have more risk-reward than any other in the area: The Deercreek Country Club.

The two-decade old golf vacation destination winds through well-preserved natural wetlands, old pines, and rolling uplands – the natural terrain providing the best and hardest challenges. To make it more challenging, the 18 holes of the par-71 Deercreek Country Club are strategically positioned to seem easy, but they are anything but. They test golfers’ shotmaking skills, as well as better judgment on how to take on each hole. The Robert Miller design stretches to a little over 6,700 yards and features a 285-acre natural preserve and a wide range of Florida wildlife.

The best reward, perhaps, that the Deercreek Country Club offers its guests, apart from a low scorecard and the most stunning scenery on the side, is the 19th hole. The clubhouse gives an Old South feel to the place, with its old school Southern Plantation design and the best gastronomic reward any golfer would want in between or after every round. There probably is nothing close to being a “risk” as far as deciding to take a golf trip hereabouts; it’s all reward!

Grand Palms Golf and Spa Resort

Florida is known to be an American tropical paradise. Thoughts of vacations in the Sunshine State are made of a thousand palm trees, the best sunshine, and the most abundant outgrowth of tropical vegetation. These are also some of the qualities that make Florida golf vacations extra beautiful and unique. While some golf resorts promise the most exquisite, most complete golf paradise, others stop there – with the promise. Fortunately, though, there are those that actually deliver an unforgettable, uniquely Florida tropical golf escapade; and such is the Grand Palms Golf and Spa Resort.

Seated in a lush, 500-acre tropical haven in Pembroke Pines, the Grand Palms Golf and Spa Resort is a world-class vacation destination made of facilities and services fit for royalty. Even more so than anyone else, the golf vacation destination is a wonderland for golfers who want nothing more for their Florida getaway than the best golf they can have. The resort offers three nine-hole courses, Grand, Royal, and Sabal nines – all three allowing the golfers to mix and match the nines for a unique game everytime. Golfers, skill levels regardless, would definitely find something amusing, challenging, playable and beautiful about this 27-hole paradise, and they could only wish they have forever to do it over and over.

This fun-challenge play of the Grand Palms Golf and Spa Resort are complemented by its many other features, including more than a thousand palm trees, stunning water hazards, the best grass carpeting on the greens, excellent conditioning and maintenance and an even better practice facility. Vacationers on the lookout for the most authentic Florida golf trips will find exactly what they are looking for here.

Palm Aire Country Club – Cypress Course

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

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

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.

Bayonet Black Horse – Bayonet Course

If any course in North America deserves the honor of five full stars for being beautiful and challenging, it would be Bayonet Course of the Bayonet-Black Horse Golf Club. That, and its sibling course, the Black Horse. The course has, since 1954, hosted several US Presidents and even more foreign dignitaries. For these heads of the state to bring the nation’s most important guests for a game here, there must be something so special about this golf vacation destination. And for it to last more than half a century and still rank among the best in California, there’s not a reason not to believe there is indeed something so extraordinary about it.

General Robert McClure originally designed the course. Gen. McClure’s design was characterized by fairways lined with cypresses and oaks and a stunning view of the Monterey Peninsula. It was beautiful in its old form, it was ethereal in its recent overhaul – under the skillful hands of no less than Gene Bates. The renovated Bayonet Course of the Bayonet-Black Horse Golf Club now features more challenging hole placement, more trees, and a wider, more breathtaking view of the Monterey Bay. And of course, the signature Gene Bates sand bunkers that might as well add the sixth star to the course’s many merits. The guests must simply expect nothing less than the best from their golf vacations here.

The 18-hole, par-72 Bayonet Course of the Bayonet-Black Horse Golf Club has five sets of tees, measuring 7,104 yards from the longest tees. If the quality of this golf course has fascinated and impressed heads of states over the years, it should not be any different for golf trips of true blue golf aficionados. And happy and satisfied golfers are bigger than any honor for any golf trip.

Encinitas Ranch Golf Course

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.

Temecula Creek Inn Golf Club

The thing people look forward to the most about golf vacations is to have as much golf as they want to, however way they please. These occasions do not happen everyday and they must be perfect. Some golf resorts deliver. Some do not. But true to San Diego’s reputation of being a golfing haven, golfers are assured they will find that perfect course that will let them live out their dream golf getaways. This is what the Temecula Creek Inn Golf Club promises – AND DELIVERS.

The golf vacation destination is made of three nine-hole courses that are as varied from each other as they are as beautiful. The Temecula Creek Inn Golf Club features a variety of views and terrain characteristics that make the nines a combination of challenging and stunning. The Creek nine boasts of a traditional layout while the Oak nine is of sweeping mountain views. The Stonehouse nine, on the other hand, is best known for its highly dramatic elevation changes. Playing a short round in one of the courses, or playing a combination of two will definitely be the kind of golfing experience that could only be described as incomparable.

These qualities of the Temecula Creek Inn Golf Club have made quite an impression that Golf Digest’s Places to Play has ranked it with four stars. And who would not? Apart from three one-of-a-kind golfing experience it offers, it also has the most complete amenities for golf trips – from lodging to clubhouse to practice greens to just about everything else. The entire facility spells VACATION in bold; it makes it easy to figure out why this is a choice destination for when golfers want to be who and what they want to be.

Rancho Bernardo West Course

San Diego is, undoubtedly, home to many of California’s best golf courses. Its idyllic weather and scenic views make the perfect elements for golfing. Golfers are not the least bit surprised to find the best courses designed by the biggest names in the industry. Among San Diego’s most prized classic courses that never fail to amaze golfers is the Rancho Bernardo West Course. It does not take a genius to tell that golf vacations here are nothing but world-class and of championship caliber.

The Rancho Bernardo West Course is a classic course of traditional course layout that debuted in 1962. It has recently gone through a major renovation to keep it up to date and accommodate the new age golfers, but a lot of its original features are kept – hence the timeless feel to it. This golf vacation destination is characterized by meandering streams, fairways lined by large eucalyptus trees, and water features that play on ten of its 18 holes. It is a par-72 course that stretches to 6,631 yards from the longest tees.

Despite its being relatively older than the other courses in San Diego, the Rancho Bernardo West Course proves that time has only made it better. It holds a AAA Diamond rating as a resort. Its other amenities are also ranked as some of the best in the area; for one, its restaurant, El Bizcocho, has been ranked among the highest by no less than Zagat survey. It is also a favorite host of PGA and LPGA tours. Looking at this golf trip paradise, it is safe to say that it has raised the bar high for the newer San Diego courses. No wonder the newer ones are trying hard to be better versions of this classic.

Sycuan Resort – Oak Glen Course

To be surrounded by some of the most beautiful sights and still be able to stand out as amongst the more beautiful ones is a difficult feat. But it was all too easily achieved by the Oak Glen Course of the Sycuan Resort. Being in San Diego does not make it any easy for this golf vacation destination to stand out, considering the hundreds of other stunning and more expensive golf resorts in the area. Being surrounded by a majestic panorama of hills does not help either. But this course, remodeled in the late 1980s by Ted Robertson and Dave Fleming is simply too incredible, no golfer would ever miss it even if the world hides it among an ocean of jewels.

The 18-hole par-72 course is part of a grand 54-hole golf resort facility considered among the top favorites for golf vacations in the golf course-laden area. The Oak Glen Course of the Sycuan Resort is divided on two 9-hole loops, each nine bearing an attitude of its own, and collectively brings some of the most beautiful views and most challenging layouts in the San Diego golfing scene. It is a rather flat course and it is only in specific tees could the elevation changes be felt; its fairways are lined by huge oaks, pines and eucalyptus trees. The true challenge of this course comes where the Sweetwater River makes its appearance, along with other ponds. They give a true meaning to the word “hazard” in this course.

With its stunning surroundings and challenging layout, not to mention the impeccable conditioning, the Oak Glen Course of the Sycuan Resort blends too perfectly with its already beautiful location. It is a testament that golf trips so epic could still happen.