This Week at TravelGolf.com: June 5, 2008

Beer for the spa guy proves massages not just a "Sex In The City" thing

Strolling up to the counter for the spa at Westin Bear Mountain Golf Resort, the attendant spoke up before I could say a word. "Gift card?" she more assumed than asked, ready to show me all the different spa packages she thought I'd be looking into for my wife or mother.

When I quickly replied that no, I was there for a massage treatment for myself, thank you very much, she sort of shrugged. "Sorry. Most guys we see are getting the gift cards."

Which is one of the problems with the golf destination world these days. You're seeing more lavish lush spas often steps away from great resort golf courses and there's still not nearly enough male golfers in them. Oh sure, if you talk to the spa directors or resort general managers they'll tell you tales about guys embracing the spa. It seems like the husband of every hotel PR woman alive really enjoys pedicures. Imagine that!

Then, you roll into the spa and the good-looking, college-aged girl behind the counter - and one of the great underrated things in spa-dom is just how fine the counter babes usually are - asks how much you want to spend on a gift card.

Hogwash! Pamper yourself, man, pamper yourself. Spas just aren't for the metrosexuals among us (you know, those dudes who talk just a little too enthusiastically about golf fashion, the guys who will go see "Sex In the City" by themselves).

Sure, there's likely going to be a lot of lavender in that spa - not to mention music only Kenny G could love. But many golf resort spas are now thankfully embracing their manlier side. Including Bear Mountain, a place in the mountains outside Victoria, Vancouver Island that has a Jack Nicklaus course that will rough you up with the gusto of Paulie Walnuts.

That's because spas are embracing beer. Yes, the fuel of Homer Simpson is elbowing its way into the most purposefully soothing places on earth. Bear Mountain's spa features a golfer-geared treatment where a beer is part of the therapy.

Basically, you drink an amazingly tall glass of beer as a massage therapist soaks and works over your feet and lower legs.

Beer's rapidly becoming the norm in spas too. At the excellent Coeur d'Alene Resort in Northern Idaho - home to the famous floating island green - they take your beer request when you check into the men's locker room at the spa.

There's nothing like lounging around in a bathrobe drinking beer while your waiting for a masseuse to pamper you. Forget that football tailgating. This is man's man prep work. Gift card? Not a chance. Unless it's for yourself.

As always, TravelGolf.com welcomes your comments.

With golf courses like Pumpkin Ridge and Reserve Vineyards, Portland, Oregon's a of great golf and beer

With three dozen breweries, Portland is known as beer central. But there's also great golf nearby, making for excellent beer/golf tours of the area, Brandon Tucker writes. Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club and Reserve Vineyards & Golf Club are two of the best courses to checkout.

Podcast: Rating golf at Bandon Dunes

The Marshwood Course combines the best of all the courses at The Landings

The Marshwood Course at the Landings on Skidaway Island combines many of the best elements of the other five courses at the sprawling golf community, just south of Savannah, Ga. "The greens are some of the best on the island, and some are huge and multi-tiered, with well-crafted slope and undulation," National Golf Editor Tim McDonald writes.

Gallery: The Landings' Marshwood course

Monster golf at Loch Ness: Looking for "Nessie" and birdies in the Highlands

Yeah, you know it's fake. But you also know if there is a Loch Ness monster - "Nessie" - it sure would be cool to be one of the first to see it. And besides, the lake is beautiful in its own right, monster or not. If you want to get in on the fun and combine some golf with settling the great Loch Ness monster controversy once and for all, ScotlandGolf.com recommends some nearby golf courses.

Also: Scotland golf vacation package deals