This Week at TravelGolf.com: May 8, 2008

Discounts on great golf in Canada make up for the feeble American dollar

Almost all of us fondly remember when you could go to Canada and get a lavish meal for about the equivalent of $6.99 U.S.

Ah, those heady times when you'd laugh at Canadians' crazily cute currency (It looks like it came straight from a Monopoly box!) and then plop down $25 American for a four-star hotel room.

Okay, it never quite reached those ridiculous levels. But that was part of the Canadian golf vacation experience too: embellishing just how much money you saved. Neighbors became convinced that the guy who'd balk at even the prices of orange slices for the kids' soccer game halftimes, suddenly started living as lush as Oprah's dogs when he crossed the border.

Now ... well, now the Canadian money stories aren't so full of lighthearted fun. In fact, they've gone from having the tone of a Will Ferrell movie to the tone of something written by Edgar Allan Poe.

One U.S. dollar gets you about one dollar and one cent Canadian today. Which triggers more grousing about the old days from U.S. tourists walking Canada's streets than you hear in your average Florida retirement community. It's a little disconcerting to have college kids with beat-up backpacks sound like grizzled geezers who walked a mile through snow to school every day.

It's time to get over it, though. Canada's too good a destination, packed with too much nature - not to mention beautiful and often affordable golf - to ignore just because the U.S. dollar currently looks about as impressive and upstanding as Roger Clemens.

Here's a little known Canadian fact: Everyday Canadians hate to pay big bucks for golf. This means that even best-of-the-best golf courses are almost never in the $160-and-up range that you find in many U.S. golf hotspots.

Take Vancouver Island's golf trail. You can get six nights and six rounds of golf at courses like Nicklaus' Bear Mountain and Olympic View for $575 offseason, $805 high season. That's less than $125 bucks a day for hotel and golf when this scenic island's at its most beautiful.

Who needs those crazy exchange rates when you've still got crazy Canucks setting the prices?

Canadians also do things like seemingly come up with any excuse to give you a lower green fee. Forget just twilight. There's also sometimes sunrise, twilight (five to six hours before dusk, unlike those U.S. courses that try to make it impossible for you to finish a full round on a discount) and sunset (four to five hours before dusk) rates.

Canada, it's still wacky enough to visit.

As always, TravelGolf.com welcomes your comments.

An open letter to my husband on Mother's Day

Dear Honey: We've been married for 11 years now, eight of which I've been a golfer like yourself. Mother's Day is right around the corner. And I think it's time for me to share a little secret with you - I like golf stuff. I really, really like golf stuff. Do you think that this Mother's Day you can forego the roses and just focus on golf stuff?

Also: Time spent golfing a sure-fire cure for "Mommy Brain"

Get ready to be tested at Bob Cupp's Silverstone Golf Club in Las Vegas

When golf course architect Bob Cupp went about the business of designing the 27 holes at Silverstone Golf Club in Las Vegas, he knew he had to include design features to test the better players in the game, and that meant plenty of bunkers, doglegs and water. It also meant length: Silverstone has the longest par 5 in Nevada.

Golf tip: Improve your chipping technique

Lowcountry golf comes to life south of Myrtle Beach on the Waccamaw Golf Trail

Myrtle Beach golfers are raving about the Waccamaw Golf Trail, which brings together a dozen of the top golf courses at the south end of the Grand Strand. Spanning from Murrells Inlet to Pawleys Island, the Trail boasts "an upscale, Lowcountry vibe." Brandon Tucker offers his list of Waccamaw Golf Trail must-plays.

Gallery: Myrtle Beach's best golf in pictures