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Free Issue of
Golf & Travel
Magazine
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This Week at TravelGolf.com (March 5-11)
By Douglas Carey,
Contributor
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| The Raven at Sabino Springs |
March Madness is upon us, which can only mean countless office pools and leisurely days of spring training baseball. For the ultimate spring escape, we turn toward the underappreciated city of Tucson. In senior writer Shane Sharp's Tucson overview, he says what Tucson lacks in quantity, the "Old Pueblo" can more than make up for in quality. His three-day golf gorge to Tucson will have you teeing it up on the area's best golf courses, eating at out of the way Mexican joints and steakhouses, and bedding down in the best, most affordable digs in town.
Staying in Tucson, senior writer David R. Holland offers a review of The Raven at Sabino Springs, where the golf is simply mind-boggling. As Holland writes, "There's 6,776 yards of keep your mind on the game or you will be penalized golf. It's a par 71, with an elevation change that begins at 2,500 feet and climbs another 500 into the base of the Santa Catalins Mountains." And if it's a PGA Tour destination that you're looking for, the Old Pueblo has you covered. Check out Holland's review of the Omni Tucson National course, home to the Touchstone Energy Tucson Open. Holland also offers his lodging recommendation, the Jeremiah Inn Bed & Breakfast, which allows you to relax in a beautiful new home and refresh yourself on a three-plus acre desert retreat in the foothills of the Catalina Mountains.
GolfCarolina.com: Clyde Johnston Strikes Again
In this week’s new course spotlight, senior writer Shane Sharp offers a first look at the Springfield Golf Club, located just a chip shot south of the popular Regent Park Golf Club on U.S. 21 Business. At a respectable 6,923 yards from the back tees, North Carolina native Clyde Johnston's newest layout will soon be a top alternative for high end daily fee golf. As of Feb. 22, the back nine is officially open for play, and the front nine is scheduled to open the first week of April. "In the meantime," Sharp writes, "local area golfers can expect to find nine holes of pure Johnston-designed golf course, replete with elevated tee boxes, green complexes with forgiving collection areas, and generous fairway landing areas."
Sharp also brings us his GolfCarolina.com notebook for March this week, which includes expansion news about The Grove Park Inn in Asheville and renovation news from the Ocean Harbour Golf Club in Brunswick County. In addition, Sharp checks in with a number of North Carolina professional golfers making noise on their respective tours this season. Check here for updates on several familiar names, including Salisbury’s Tripp Isenhour, who qualified for the PGA Tour this season by finishing eighth on the Buy.com money list in 2000. On the Senior Tour, look out for Winston-Salem’s Walter Hall, who had a solid 2000 season , and is off to a fast start this year.
GolfFlorida.com:
A True Challenge in Sarasota County
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| Bobcat Trail |
Most driving ranges are fairly similar, but that's not the case at the Bobcat Trail Golf and Country Club in North Port, a tiny town in Sarasota County. At Bobcat Trail, there's an aquatic driving range with elevated greens floating on a blue sparkling lake. While you're going through your pre-round routine, staff writer Joe Bruno suggests you take special notice of the practice bunker: "A quick count gave us 56 total sand bunkers dotted throughout Bobcat Trail. So there is more than a passing change that you might be hacking with your sand wedge more than once during the day." Bruno says the course is magnificently well-kept, but extremely challenging even for the veteran golfer. So come prepared for a full round, including the mammoth ninth hole, which weighs in as a 428-yard par 4. After your round, check out the 5,000-foot clubhouse and the award-winning Bobcat Bar and Cafe.
GolfCalifornia.com:
Bob Hope Chrysler Classic Review
Before the PGA Tour west coast swing wrapped up, staff writer Kelly Saul checked in from the 2001 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, where politics meets Hollywood meets the PGA. As Saul reports, the Hope Classic has always been about tradition, professionals, amateurs and celebrities coming together. Although the names are slowly changing, many of the usual suspects still appeared at this year’s event. Unfortunately, Hope was unable to attend the opening ceremonies, but the tournament still drew most of this year’s top players, including Mark Calcavecchia, Brad Faxon and Frank Lickliter. Saul ends her report with a note toward the future: “The tradition of golf in Palm Springs should be preserved and Bob Hope's absence should be a reminder of a great era past,” she writes. “People go to the Bob Hope to feel a part of history, and hopefully in future years more PGA players will fuel the fire of tradition.”
GolfArizona.com:
Mythical Landscape Transforms into Scenic Golf
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| The Boulders |
Since its opening in 1985, The Boulders has been visited by lovers of the desert and golf in multitudes. After reading senior writer David R. Holland’s review, it’s no surprise. “Even though it’s only a short, dark desert highway trip from the shimmering night-time lights of sprawling Phoenix, man is insignificant here,” Holland writes. “The environment rules.” Construction of this world-class golf resort, covering 1,300 acres, failed to drive away the wildlife. Every day golfers are surprised to see a bobcat while hunting for a wayward shot. A “coyote rule” allows you to replay a shot without penalty in case a coyote sprints out and purloins your Titleist. As Holland notes, today’s 36 holes have designer Jay Morrish’s stamp on them. He completed the South Course in 1983 and remodeled the North in 1985. To top things off, he applied another facelift to the North in 1999.
From the Rough
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La Quinta Dunes |
In case you missed last week's report, be sure to catch TravelGolf.com senior writer David R. Holland's review of Marriott's Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage. Holland begins his review with a 1977 anecdote about Bob Hope, who opened the course in a memorable event that began with fireworks and Hope's first swing through a ribbon that burst into flames. The 27-hole Ted Robinson layout is Rancho Las Palmas Country Club, but is also available for guests of the Marriott resort. Holland says it's a short layout, but it can be tight with six lakes that come into play. Best of all, the pace of play gets high marks from most everyone. Even on the busiest day, the pace is typically just a little over four hours.
Holland's recent California travels also took him to the La Quinta Dunes course, which usually toils in the shadow of its younger Lamborghini sibling, the La Quinta Mountain course. Both layouts are bumped against the Santa Rosa Mountains, only a minute from the seven decades old La Quinta Resort, a former getaway for Hollywood's "Golden Era" movie stars. While Holland visited with one golfer who said the "Dunes Course can't really give the Mountain Course much competition," even its critics admit the golf at the Dunes Course is well worth the trip.
As always, if you disagree with our reviewers on a certain course or just want to sound off
about Tiger's "slump", be sure to visit the
TravelGolf.com forum,
a series of message boards where visitors can write about everything from the
Myrtle Beach golf scene to new equipment. There's also a free classifieds section
where golfers can advertise that old set of clubs they've been meaning to sell for
years. And if you haven't checked it out already, be sure
to visit the new TravelGolf.com Pro Shop,
a joint venture with The Golf Warehouse. With all of this at TravelGolf.com, there's no
need to go anywhere else on the Web.
Until next week….happy golfing!
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