This Week at TravelGolf.com: Feb. 27, 2008

Tucson golf scene one-upping Scottsdale with a PGA Tour-driven resort arms race

People try to make Tucson feel inferior to Phoenix-Scottsdale as often as Cooper Manning gets asked what it's like to be the only Manning brother without a Super Bowl ring.

It's not always easy for Tucsonians to come up with a defense either. Their spring training teams are bolting like someone stuck in a bad date. The Chicago White Sox want to leave for Glendale (the Super Bowl stadium town in Phoenix's burgeoning West Valley) next year and join 11 other teams already committed to training in greater Phoenix/Scottsdale in 2009. There's a chance Tucson could be left with two teams and then the worry is, soon no teams.

Tucson's also dealing with an I-10 freeway construction project that some locals fear could last almost as long as Boston's infamous Big Dig. It might already feel like it has if you get stuck in it during rush hour.

Heck, even the University of Arizona's getting beat by Arizona State in hoops this year.

No, it's not easy to tout Tucson pride right now.

Unless you look at the golf world. For while Scottsdale hasn't been paying attention, Tucson's quietly become the PGA Tour's Arizona desert city of choice. Tucson clearly now holds the most important pro golf tournament in Arizona - the one that Tiger Woods comes to - the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship.

Cool Scottsdale still has the cool party on grass, the FBR Open, but it's become less and less significant on the world golf stage. The FBR Open's a victim of its own success with all the drunken (and, for golf, refreshing) craziness on the 16th hole being the one and only thing that's ever remembered about it. It's the Will Ferrell of golf tournaments: hilarious, but completely forgotten come awards season.

Tucson stepping into the unexpected void might help golf vacationers most. For the area's PGA Tour success is translating into major upgrades in its resort golf scene. A new Ritz Carlton with a Jack Nicklaus signature course is being built to replace Gallery Golf Club as Match Play host starting next year.

Omni Tucson National - the longtime host of the old Chrysler Classic - unveiled a $10 million Tom Lehman desert course a few years ago and is now in the midst of a $92 million resort renovation geared to help it compete with the Ritz, which is only 10 minutes away.

In some ways, Tiger's triggered a golf resort arms race in Tucson. And that's good for Arizona's often ignorantly dissed second city.

As always, TravelGolf.com welcomes your comments.

Hawaii's Dunes at Maui Lani: A rare, quality "airport course"

Golf courses by airports tend to be best played as desperate last escapes. On Maui, though, the course by the airport turns out to be one you might go out of your way to play. It's The Dunes at Maui Lani Golf Course, and if you're driving to Kaanapali or Kapalua after picking up a rental car, you'll pass it on the side of road. It's one of the better reasonably priced golf courses on the island.

Photo gallery: The Dunes at Maui Lani Golf Course

Podcast: Golf on the Gulf in Pensacola, PGA Tour heads east to Honda Classic on PGA National's Champion course

Podcast host Dave Berner talks to National Golf Editor Tim McDonald about golf in Pensacola, Florida. "There are some coastal courses," McDonald says, singling out Lost Key, an Arnold Palmer design. Chris Baldwin praises the Champion Course at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., which hosts this week's Honda Classic. "I think it's one of the more underrated courses on the tour." And Equipment Editor Kiel Christianson presents his list of the goofiest golf products.

Blog: Tim McDonald goes waaaaay out on a limb

Lost Key Golf Club near Pensacola is a saucy, salty, mischievous enchantress

The Lost Key Golf Club is one of those rare resort courses that likes to whip up on the guests, then entice them back for more. It's like a woman who tells you "no, no, no" with her mouth but "yes, yes, yes" with her eyes, writes National Golf Editor Tim McDonald.

Also: Hot Gulf Coast golf vacation package deals