Chambers Bay is a golf course that grabs you before anyone even says hello. Stepping out of your car and seeing the wide-open course and the striking blue water of Puget Sound stretching out below your hillside perch gives the ultra hyped host of the 2015 U.S. Open a sense of entrance that few golf courses anywhere can match. The clubhouse sits on top of this big hill and you take a shuttle bus ride to get to the course down below. The setting couldn’t be more of a contrast with Torrey Pines - the USGA’s other West Coast muni of choice. ... full post »

Idaho is one of few states I’d never set foot in until this week. It doesn’t carry a lot of destination mystique and you won’t see a ton of glossy magazine stories written about it. But if you’re a golfer, it turns out you need to visit northern Idaho. Consider it a necessary pilgrimage, right along with the one everyone and his brother will tell you that you must make to the superhyped Bandon Dunes. That’s because Circling Raven Golf Club is in Idaho and it’s one of the most unique golf courses in the world, a place where nature’s been given ... full post »

While colleagues like Tim McDonald continue to obsess over celebrity golf architects such as Arthur Hills (who happens to now be vastly overrated, all the more so after people started calling him underrated), I know that golf course superintendents usually have a much greater impact on regular golfers’ day-to-day enjoyment of a course. Survey after survey shows that good course conditions matter most to the folks who pay to play the game (as opposed to the golf writing freebie kings of the universe). I was reminded of this when I visited Storey Creek Golf Club, the farthest out-there nature course on ... full post »

When Annika Sorenstam announced her retirement, I was deep into Canada - which really is becoming more and more its own removed world where America feels eons away. Busy combining beer and chocolate, getting fussed over by arguably the world’s best concierge and playing the rare golf trail that actually makes sense, I didn’t have much chance to reflect on Annika’s sayonara. To be fair, I’m not sure that 10 whole people on Vancouver Island even noticed it. But what’s struck me since I’ve been back is what easy, eager suckers most golf writers are. Everyone seems to have taken Sorenstam’s declaration ... full post »

I’ve stayed at some of the top resorts in the world for this job, places in Cabo where the pool seems to meet the sea, the Four Seasons Whistler, the ex-Four seasons and even better service now Island Hotel in super wallet trendy Newport Beach. I’ve spent a day at Trump National LA when The Donald himself wanted his staff to convince me that the place was a Top 10 California course (close, but still not Top 10). Yet through all this luxury service, I’ve never been treated quite as well as I was at a recent stay at Crown Island ... full post »

Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco is one of the worst tourist monstrosities of all time. The world famous Fisherman’s Wharf manages to pull off the difficult task of combing garish rip-off tourist trinkets and outrageous prices at really bad supposedly “high-end” restaurants in a setting seedier than many big city bus depots. So anytime you hear about another Fisherman’s Wharf in a tourist city, there’s bound to be a little trepidation. Fear not when you’re told about Fisherman’s Wharf in Victoria, Vancouver Island’s largest and most hip city, though. For the Fisherman’s Wharf in Victoria is a pure charming pleasure. You’ll actually find ... full post »

WorldGolf.com’s resident grunge master Brandon Tucker’s been going on and on lately about all the beer he couldn’t understand that he slurped up in Portland. Well, one afternoon into a trip on Vancouver Island and I’ve already topped BTuck. How about a beer, cheese and chocolate truffle tasting? That’s one of the culinary innovations offered at Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub & Guest Houses, a spot right on Victoria’s waterfront - one of the prettiest waterfronts in the world with the floatplanes taking off of the striking blue and the funky house boats bopping. Spinnakers is the oldest licensed brewpub in Canada, but it’s ... full post »

Paula Creamer once gave this bad golfer a great tip about hands and the swing. During which she no doubt wondered why such a devastatingly handsome man was coming to her for advice - and likely went on to secretly pine for more Baldwin hugs and less caddie hugs (alas, Paula I’m taken). Anyway, I’ve now finally paid Creamer back. For one of the best players in women’s golf clearly took my advice after her playoff loss to Annika Sorenstam last Sunday. Like I pleaded, Creamer finally got mad. And it resulted in a playoff win over Juli Inkster in the SemGroup Championship ... full post »

Regular readers of TravelGolf.com already know about Roger Clemens’ love of golf. Not to mention actor Matthew McConaughey’s giant man crush on Clemens. But it turns out I should have been following The Rocket around off the course too during the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. That’s where the New York Daily News reports that Clemens first met Paulette Dean Daly, one of John Daly’s ex-wives, and started a relationship with her. And people don’t think these celebrity golf tournaments are relevant anymore? The New York Daily News - whose new slogan needs to be “a new Roger Clemens’ extra-marital affair revealed every day” ... full post »