Golf Tourism/North America:America may not do cars or elections very well any more, but it does have over 16,000 golf courses, writes Bruce Selcraig
Now that America has so globally warmed Ireland most Corkonians are wearing hula skirts, you nomadic golfers may have lost that primal urge to thaw out in Florida on holiday. And now that your glorious summer approaches you might rightly think there is no better golf trip than to travel within your own green borders.
I won't disagree, but let me appeal to your inner Irishness. With our sad little dollar - a euro's now worth about $1.35 - you can come over now and not only play some of our great courses, but perhaps buy a few as well. (We over-built during Tigermania and dozens have gone bankrupt.)
The toughest decision will be where to go.
While America may not do cars or elections very well any more, we do have over 16,000 golf courses (1,067 in Florida alone) and they cover virtually every climate, culture, cost and geological substrata you can imagine - from vast cactus-lined Arizona deserts to Hawaiian rainforests, primordial wetlands in Louisiana and former toxic mines in Montana. You can stay in fluffy-bathrobe luxury at chic resorts, even on stark rural Indian reservations, or you can rest comfortably in roadside inns for €40 a night and splurge on turquoise jewellery and Navajo fry bread.
You'll be surprised at how good some unknown public courses are that only cost €30 to €60, and perhaps aghast at how some prestige venues charge three times as much for little more than mango-scented towels and corporate smiles. Don't be fooled. Do your homework.
The list of worthy destinations below, including a few in Mexico and Canada, has some familiar spots plus several that offer more diversity and economy in golf, plus authentic American culture nearby, not just gated communities and chain restaurants.
One note of caution - know thy climates. If you go much later than mid-May to anywhere other than our mountains, Pacific Coast or the far northeastern and Great Lakes states, expect to find humid midday heat indexes already in the mid-30s. In the South and Midwest - that's Florida to Texas and through Middle America - summer won't surrender until October, which is a great golf month almost everywhere over here.
FLORIDA
I'm required by law to start here. It's close and easy to get to, but avoid the brutal summers. Land-locked Orlando is the obvious Disney choice for many families, but if you fancy a rodent-free holiday try the impressive Gulf Coast beaches around Tampa/St Petersburg.
Tampa golf emerged when star architect Tom Fazio, designer of 13 of Golf Digest's top 100 courses in America, worked with Japanese magnate Yukihisa Inoue to construct World Woods, a 36-hole public complex an hour from the Tampa airport. World Woods is kept secluded by lofty pines, and its fairways are uncluttered by suburban housing. Its premier course, Pine Barrens - ranked 39th best public course in America by Golf Digest - is a theatrical wonder, sweeping and bold like the opening of a Bonanza western, but rugged and thoroughly taxing, with 44 acres of menacing bunkers. The sister course, Rolling Oaks, is hillier, even more photogenic, but not as unrelenting.
The Westin Innisbrook resort in Palm Harbor is a classic Florida destination - 72 holes, four restaurants, six pools, waterslides, a spa, 600 guest suites. The Copperhead course, which hosts a PGA Tour event in March, and The Island are dramatically different and as good as any pair of resort courses in Florida; the more benign Highland North and South tracks reward the occasional player. Two others fill out a great week: the Tournament Players Club of Tampa Bay, a senior PGA Tour stop 30 minutes north of downtown Tampa, and the Dunes Golf Club of Seville, overlooked but very worthy, just minutes from World Woods.
OREGON
No golf outpost in America has received more deserving praise in the last decade than Bandon Dunes, a stretch of remote, gorse-lined, Oregon coast along the Pacific Ocean. Now home to three acclaimed courses - by David Kidd, Tom Doak, and the Ben Crenshaw & Bill Coore team; ranked 7th, 2nd and 21st respectively in GD's top 100 US public - Bandon is the anti-Florida resort.
No shopping malls, no fast-food boulevards, no fairway mansions. You stay in comfortable lodges with fireplaces (singles to four-room golfer suites run €132 to €1,176, May to October), but there's little of the raucous wee-hours scene here and few worldly delights nearby.
These are not occasional golfers. My only hesitation in recommending the Bandon trio to Irish friends is that all the Yanks rave about them because they are so evocative of Ireland and Scotland - lonely and natural, with raw dunes, dense pines and touches of highland heath. If that's what you came here to escape, try the livelier burg of Bend, Oregon , about 260 miles east of Bandon, across the Cascade Mountains in the postcard perfect, four-season, high desert.
The Sunriver resort offers two pleasant starter courses and one outstanding Bob Cupp design (Crosswater) that continually hops the Deschutes and Little Deschutes Rivers. Forty-five minutes from Sunriver is the posh private golf community of Pronghorn, where you might "guest" your way on to a superb Jack Nicklaus desert course and brand new Tom Fazio layout. The best part of Bend is that it's apparently against local law not to spend a part of each day kayaking, rock climbing, fishing, zip-lining, biking or skiing.
NORTH CAROLINA
Perhaps you've heard of Pinehurst, the elegant 2,000-acre resort with eight inland courses built on a 75-by-35 mile stretch of white quartz sand, home to the famed Donald Ross-designed and now century-old No 2, site of more US championships than any other course. "Nearly void of drama," writes Brian McCallen, "with no island greens, pounding surf or titillating death-or-glory shots to negotiate, No 2 puts most novices to sleep."
But a legion of devotees, from Tiger Woods to Johnnie Miller, have said it is perhaps the most enjoyable, unpretentious and yet nuanced course in America. It is our St Andrews. Fall packages range from about €370 to €740 a day, and just beyond its gates is real Southern culture.
For a less high-tea holiday, I love the gentle mountains of Asheville, a town of "cultural creatives" that offers a week of films, bookstores, canoeing, festivals, farmers' markets and a dozen worthy golf courses within an hour's drive. Stay at the legendary Grove Park Inn, read a book in the arts & crafts era lobby (as guests like FDR to Edison did), and play the resort's brilliantly refurbished Donald Ross course.
Drive the Blue Ridge Parkway - one of America's greatest journeys in the fall - and don't leave without playing Mount Mitchell Golf Club, in Burnsville, an unassuming delight (weekday fees under €45) adorned with giant hardwoods and the trout-filled Toe River, sadly the only US design by the talented Englishman, Fred Hawtree.
Altitude (2,300 feet) makes Asheville a perfect May to October destination.
NEW MEXICO
Yes, that's one of our 50 states, very square, next to Texas, with lots of inhospitable desert south of Interstate highway 40. However, above there, from Albuquerque north to world-renowned Santa Fe, the high desert climbs to over a mile above sea level and suddenly you're blessed with a low-humidity, four-season climate that makes golf a pleasure.
Though Golfweek recently declared New Mexico to be "public golf" nirvana, this cheap paradise is still undiscovered by most Yanks, despite the presence of many outstanding courses around Albuquerque, including two, Paa-Ko Ridge and Black Mesa, that are ranked among Golfweek's top 50 "modern" US designs.
The closest thing to a golf haven is the restful desert-friendly Hyatt Tamaya Resort & Spa, north of Albuquerque on the Santa Ana Pueblo reservation. Here you can play the marvellous Twin Warriors Golf Club, wrapped around red-rock buttes and ancient Indian sites, and the peaceful Santa Ana 27-hole complex, right beside the historic Rio Grande.
Other must-plays include the University of New Mexico Championship Course, Isleta Golf Club, Sandia GC, Cochiti GC and Taos Country Club.
Every course is full of wildlife, from elk to red foxes and rowdy bullfrogs, and be sure to try their incendiary, green-chile breakfast burritos.
Best of all, after golf you have stunning national parks, America's best Mexican food (served at dozens of local mom & pop diners), outstanding local festivals, world-class opera and dining in Santa Fe, and fragrant high-desert air that even makes curmudgeons want to wake up early.
CALIFORNIA
There are no superlatives left for describing America's most famous and desired golf holy land, so we will merely confirm that indeed Pebble Beach Golf Links, opened in 1919, remains a "public" golf course, assuming you can afford the ghastly €350 green fee.
If golf is your religion, you should worship here once. Hit the same shots you've seen at four US Opens. Marvel at the Pacific whales and napping leopard seals. But know that the greens are still cozy and mysterious, that holes seven through 10 are called "The Cliffs of Doom" for good reason and the back-tee rating of 74.3 only hints at Pebble's defences. Whether it should cost three or four times more than Waterville or Royal Co Down, however, is ripe for pub debate.
Located nearby are the equally stunning Links at Spanish Bay and Spyglass Hill, which is tougher than Pebble, forming the greatest luxury golf destination in America. Many believe Spyglass is Robert Trent Jones' finest creation, a mix of danger and artistry woven among giant pines and seaside dunes. Three-night stays at fine lodges, with golf on all three courses, will run about €2,350 to €3,100.
Check the weather. Dense fog and frigid mornings can make a golf day sad.
MEXICO
At the extreme southern tip of Mexico's Baja Peninsula, surrounded by a Sea of Cortez and Pacific so turbulent most hotels ban swimming, the twin towns of Cabo San Lucas and the tamer San Jose del Cabo thrive in large part due to exceptional golf. It all started in the mid-1990s with a Jack Nicklaus 27-hole course at the now-renamed One & Only Palmilla resort, followed by two more Nicklaus tracks at Cabo Real and finally his best, Cabo del Sol, considered by many a world top 100 course.
Three other championship venues, by Tom Weiskopf, Robert Trent Jones II and the Dye design team, make for an alluring half-dozen that combine the saguaro cacti desert look of Arizona with dramatic Pebble-like ocean views.
This is glory golf where you often find yourself waiting, understandably, on foursomes taking group photos by the crashing surf.
Prime-time winter golf is not cheap here, and neither are the best resorts like the 237-suite Marquis Los Cabos.
I would not advise coming during the Saudi Arabian summers.
CANADA
As far removed from the glitz and idle wealth of Los Cabos as one can imagine, rural but worldly Prince Edward Island, Canada's smallest province, has become an exceptional golf destination. In the sylvan land of the beloved novel Anne of Green Gables you'll find a bargain golf environment much like Ireland's, with quiet rural towns, uncrowded (but much safer) roads, miles of inviting beaches, succulent seafood and 10 courses that Toronto's Globe & Mail deemed among its top 100 courses in Canada. I really enjoy The Links at Crowbush Cove, a challenging jewel on the island's northeastern shore; Glasgow Golf Club, set on huge rolling farmland; and fabulous Dundarave, with its cunning red sandstone bunkers and languid Brudenell River. Expect fast greens, great conditioning, Irish wind and a smart environmental ethic about everything, including golf.
The Stanhope Bay & Beach Resort (open mid-May to October) is a rustic, though remodeled, affair, that's within walking distance of the PEI National Park beaches and the Stanhope Golf Club. The unaffected charm of the management, the seaside breezes and seclusion make this modest inn a joy to discover.
A two-stop flight from Dublin, through London and Montreal, will take about 16 hours, but the tranquility might be worth it.
At the other geographical and cultural extreme of Canada is impressive British Columbia, full of serrated mountain ridges, the boundless charms of hip Vancouver (home to the 2010 Winter Olympics) and the outdoor wonderland of Whistler, which many believe is Canada's best golf resort.
It's a bit too planned and perfect of an alpine village for some - 200 boutiques, 93 food options, T-shirt shops galore - but the 32-year-old town of Whistler undeniably offers a world of convenient world-class skiing, mountain biking, hiking, fishing and, my favorite, zip-lines, which hurtle you across taut metal cables over canyons of Ponderosa pines.
The golf is monumental. At Big Sky Golf & Country Club, you play around wetlands at the base of massive Mount Currie, on bentgrass from tee to green. Arnold Palmer's Whistler Golf Club is a relaxing resort course filled with ponds and birdies, while RT Jones Jr's Chateau Whistler and the Nicklaus North Golf Club turn up the difficulty metre. From paintball tournaments to black bear-watching excursions, if you can't find something outdoors to do in Whistler perhaps you need a hearse.
