This Week at TravelGolf.com: July 10, 2008

From Idaho to Las Vegas, summer's a time for golf vacation experiments

Eleven minutes into my first round in Minneapolis, a marshal sauntered over to deliver a slow-play warning to our group - a foursome that included two Japanese dignitaries in town for the U.S. Women's Open. The foreigners look a little bewildered - and they weren't the only ones.

So much for that happy stereotype of Minnesotans being laid-back, "you betcha"-spewing characters. A week in Minneapolis had this golfer convinced those winters wind many folks tighter than a DMV employee who had her doughnut break canceled. And Minnesota golf - while sometimes scenic and often reasonably priced - can be easily equaled in Pennsylvania and bettered in Michigan.

Eleven minutes into my first round in Idaho, on the other hand, I felt like every green fee at Circling Raven Golf Club should come with a nature guide and instructions on how to handle the clean-air shock to any city-dweller's system that accompanies skies so blue you swear they had to be produced in some Hollywood special-effects lab.

So much for any preconceived notion of Idaho being boring. A week in Northern Idaho had this golfer convinced this is one seriously underrated state - and not just in golf courses, but luxury spas like Coeur d'Alene Resort's, too.

That's what summer golf is all about. It's a chance to be surprised, good or bad. It's the time of year when you can take some risks with your golf trips. That winter getaway is too precious to leave to chance - especially if you're stuck under ice and snow, just counting the days to that escape. (A requisite two-week golf trip to Scottsdale might do wonders for jumpy Minnesota marshals' dispositions, for example). But for many golf nuts, summer provides the opportunity to try something new in a location you wouldn't otherwise consider.

Summer's also a chance to go to a hotspot at a time you wouldn't normally think of doing it. If you've only been in San Diego in the winter, you've missed out on the best time of the year for its ocean breezes. With the new, super luxury Grand Del Mar Resort and its renovated Tom Fazio course now going strong, there's the ability to see a different side of San Diego, too.

If you've never hit Las Vegas in the summer, you haven't just avoided heat. You've lost out on experiencing the most over-the-top pool party scenes in the U.S. And you've missed the chance to play cheaper golf in the morning while dodging the heat (as an added bonus, the babes aren't hitting the Hard Rock Hotel's infamous pool during your golf mornings anyways - perfect 10s don't do early wake-up calls).

Hey, it's your summer. Whether you're staring at string bikinis, fantastic nature or crabby Midwest geezers is strictly your call - your own fun experiment.

As always, TravelGolf.com welcomes your comments.

A Northern Idaho must-play, Circling Raven G.C. gives you miles to gawk at

If you could build your own private golf course with no limitation on space, no worry about houses, and the budget of an oil sheik, Circling Raven is what you'd build. You don't need Exxon money to play it, though, as green fees are less than $100 during the summer high season. This Northern Idaho gem deserves to be mentioned in the same breath with Bandon Dunes, Chambers Bay and Pinehurst No. 2.

Blog: Circling Raven's right up there with Bandon Dunes

Cape Breton's Highlands Links Golf Club gets you high on dazzling Nova Scotia scenery and a superb golf course

Highlands Links Golf Club is golf in the Canadian wild. The views are breathtaking, over ocean waters - where whales can be seen in the Gulf of St. Lawrence - and up to the ringing mountains and over inlets, lakes, ponds and clear, rocky streams holding trout and Atlantic salmon.

Also: Hot deals on Canadian golf vacations

GolfCourseRealty.com: Be your own Master at Cuscowilla on Lake Oconee down in Georgia

Cuscowilla on Lake Oconee was established in 1997 on a site 80 miles from Atlanta that housed a former seed orchard. The property covers 700 acres with a variety of native, wild grasses like broom sedge. Homes are located in remote parts of the resort grounds, often behind automatic gates away from the developed side of the property, in an array of architectural styles - no cookie-cutter homes here.

Also: Top Georgia golf communities