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PAST ISSUESMARCH 2011JANUARY 2011AUGUST 2010 |
 New Golf Explorer columns: Black Mesa in New Mexico Monterey Pines in Monterey, Calif. Other courses visited: Golfing California's Delta in Stockton. Surprising Dublin Ranch By Terry VanderHeiden (Terry VanderHeiden can be reached for comments, questions or suggestions via e-mail: terryvh@gmail.com) In the hills of the San Francisco East Bay resides a gem of a golf course that will take you by surprise. The course is Dublin Ranch (www.dublinranchgolf.com) and don’t let its par 63 lull you into thinking that it’s an executive course. This 18-hole Robert Trent Jones Jr. layout offers everything you look for in a golf course, variety, challenge and scoring opportunity. Baja Golfby Mike Hamiel, California Golf Writers Assoc.Baja, Mexico, poetically named “Lands End” stretches from the border at Tijuana for 1000 miles to Cabo San Lucas. You can fly in, take a boat or for the adventuresome, drive down. The “Baja 1000” off road yearly race that started in 1967 makes the drive even more interesting. Probably nowhere else in the habitable world is there so much land without roads and railroads or so much shoreline without ports and power lines. In the narrow center, the weather changes to be more humid due to altitude. It is in this area where a few valleys can be found, such as Valle de Guadalupe, the major wine producer area in all of Mexico.Sun Shines on Three Amigos in ParadiseA Trio of Luminous Mexican Golf and Beach Resorts Spa By Bill Nestor Punta Mita, in the Mexican state of Nayarit, occupies a lovely setting on Banderas Bay, 40 minutes north of the Puerto Vallarta International Airport. White sand beaches and ocean surround a gated 1,500-acre lush tropical peninsular property developed by DINE, Mexico's premier real estate development company. Traveling to Mexico’s west coast was a welcomed respite for this winter-weary Vermonter, and is a superb choice of destinations for anyone in search of an idyllic sun-drenched location, delicious culinary indulgence, exceptional hospitality and weather made for ultimate relaxation, rejuvenation and rapture. Thailand: Golf and Much More!By Bob Fagan If you are searching for a golf Mecca with lots more to offer, Thailand should be right at the top of your list! You will discover Thailand to be one of the most unique golf destinations in the world, not just because of the golf courses themselves, but because of the fascinating life around them. The term “experience” would better describe what you encounter in Thailand. As this story’s title suggests, you will find much, much more than mere golf fare there to interest you. If, however, you are a golf junkie that only travels to play golf, there’s enough golf quality and quantity to more than satisfy your appetite. Let’s face it, if golf is all you seek, you’ll will likely not be interested in traveling to southeast Asia to do so. Golf in India
Yes, there most certainly golf in India. What's more, it’s the kind of quality golf that mixes with India’s other many alluring attractions to make for a most memorable vacation. Take your pick. There are a host of cultural, historical, outdoor sports and adventures, nature, shopping, spa, and general sightseeing to combine with golf. And if you have never been to India like me, you will be well advised to follow my footsteps to the Delhi area. DELTA GOLFby Mike Hamiel, California Golf Writers Association The year was 1914. The Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5.00 for a day’s labor. Pancho Villa is stoking the flames of revolution in Mexico; Charlie Chaplin makes his first film debut. The beginning of the great ‘World War’ is predicated with the assassination of Austria’s archduke, Ferdinand. Babe Ruth makes his first major league appearance with the Red Socks and Walter Hagen wins his first U.S. Open. It was at this time that a small group of Stockton businessmen decided the community needed a golf and country club. To join, the membership fee was set at $50.00 and the dues would be $4.00 per month. The area chosen, four miles west of downtown Stockton, was known as Stockton Acres: farmland where melons and other vegetables grew. Make New Friends and Keep the OldSilver and Gold By Bill Nestor In preschool, my son and his friends often sang, “Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver the other is gold.” Works for golf, too: always looking to experience a new course, but cherishing the old favorites. Not that it’s that easy to find a new one these days, especially close to home. The boom is over, which saw 3,206 new courses built in the U.S. from1990-2005, reaching all time highs of 16,052 courses and 30 million golfers. Now, according to the National Golf Foundation, we’re at 15,979 golf courses and 27.1 million golfers. Course closings have outpaced openings each year since 2006. There were only 49.5 new U.S. courses opened in 2009, versus 139.5 closings. New courses in New England have been particularly scarce, but two were optimistically launched in 2010, and I had the good fortune to play both. From our January issue:
Pasatiempo Goes to the Goats By Bob Fagan
How about this for an environmentally friendly way to clean out the brush on your golf course? One of Northern California’s golf course gems, Santa Cruz’s Pasatiempo Golf Club, has just enlisted the help of nearly 200 bearded goats to help clean out the brush and debris in their canyon areas as part of their restoration process. Call the operation “Landscape Goat.” Read more about it. Costa Baja Picture rugged desert mountains with glistening sunsets on one of the most interesting bodies of water on the planet, and then add spectacular golf. Calm turquoise waters wash the rugged coastline while below the surface exotic creatures live. Combine that with luxurious lodging, and array of delicious food, and friendly, safe surrounds, and you have the CostaBaja in La Paz, Mexico. Dubai Dubai is becoming the “trading center” of the Middle East attracting an unusual “melting pot” of folks from all around the world. Recently I had the opportunity to experience the area and came back so impressed. Not only was the golf absolutely first-rate, but also the number of surrounding attractions allows most anyone to check off multiple items on their “bucket lists.” Saddle Creek Golf Resort by Mike Hamiel. I hadn’t been back to Saddle Creek Resort since June of 1999, just three years after the course opened in the foothills of Calaveras County, I would be surprised with the changes. Golf Today Magazine had been invited to come up to check out the course and enjoy a night in one of the bungalows on the property. Driving east from highway 99 up highway 4 through open rangeland with scattered cattle ranches, I remembered my ultimate destination was somewhere up ahead on the western flanks of the Sierra Mountains. Read more about it. Okanagan Country A Harvest of Sweet Fruit, Golf. by Bill Nestor Okanagan Valley, the fruit basket of Canada, is a land of clear blue sky, dry and sunny weather, expansive countryside and a plethora of outdoor activities. East of Vancouver and west of the Rockies in south central British Columbia, the region has a century-old agricultural industry and a growing number of vineyards and wineries. Read more about it. Norway Golf by Mike Hamiel I had never been to Laughlin but I had heard that this Golfers in search of a Stay & Play golf experience with unlimited same-day play can call Sevillano Links to book a fun and affordable getaway at the nationally-ranked John Daly Signature Course (Corning, CA) in California’s North State Region. |
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