Travel Blog

Earlier this year we reported on the reopening of the Pebble Beach-area gem Bayonet and Black Horse Golf Club. At around $120, the 18-hole sister layouts are an economical alternative to the Pebble Beach courses. Both underwent a $13 million renovation by the Bates Golf Design Group and re-opened in December, 2008.

The club announced this week that its “stay and play” packages with Inns by the Sea, a collection of boutique hotel properties, will be offered throughout the reminder of 2009 and in 2010.

The packages, ranging from $249 to $389 per night, per golfer, offer myriad stay-and-play options at a variety of price points. Included (in addition to accommodations) is one round of golf, daily, on Bayonet or Black Horse with cart and range balls. As an added bonus to the package – and these days, who couldn't use one of those – Continental breakfast is delivered to your room each morning.

Additional golfers can be added for $95 per day, Monday through Friday, and $120 on Saturdays and Sundays. Rates are subject to availability and some restrictions and blackouts. For pricing and booking, visit www.innsbythesea.com or call 800-433-4732 and ask for the Bayonet and Black Horse package.

In preparation for the Kiwi Challenge at Cape Kidnappers in New Zealand, golf course architect Tom Doak paid a visit recently to his award-winning course. Despite opening barely five years ago, he’s already impressed with how quickly the course has established itself.

“Cape Kidnappers was the next great piece of property I had to work with after Pacific Dunes,” said the 48-year-old former assistant of Pete Dye. Similar to Pacific Dunes, Cape Kidnappers is situated atop a bluff along the east coast of New Zealand’s northern island, and offers stunning views of the Pacific Ocean.

It is recognized by one ranking organization as the fourth best course of the last 50 years.

Doak is particularly fond of the closing six holes, beginning with No. 13, short par 3 set on the cliff’s edge overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Hunter Mahan is fond of that hole as well. That’s where he started his birdie-fest in last year’s closing round of the Kiwi Challenge, making four birdies and an eagle from holes 13-17 to edge Anthony Kim in a playoff.

“I walked the back nine with (NBC announcer) Mark Rolfing last year and when Hunter Mahan made birdie on 13 I think the players took that as a signal to start shooting at the flags. I know how good the pros are, but watching Hunter down the stretch was somewhere between fun and frightening when you are a golf course architect.”

The second-annual Kiwi Challenge is a four-man event that features returnees Mahan and Kim, as well as newcomers Camilo Villegas and Sean O’Hair. The event takes place November 11-12 and airs on NBC November 14-15.

ORLANDO, Fla. – It’s not often golf history is made at Disney World but it happened Thursday, as the Waldorf Astoria hotel and golf course officially opened. It’s the brand’s first hotel outside of New York City, and also its first golf course. Among the participants at the ribbon-cutting ceremony were Florida governor Charlie Crist and course architect Rees Jones.

“I think the course is different than any in Orlando because it has an old, classic look,” said Jones, who has earned acclaim through the years for his redesigns of such U.S. Open venues as Bethpage Black and Torrey Pines. "It's hard to mix it up in Florida because the ground is so flat, but we elevated the whole site, which gave us some flexibility."

While it isn’t meant to be a U.S. Open course, Jones said he sees Waldorf Astoria Golf Club as a future site for the Florida State Amateur. The par-72 has a slope/rating of 130/72.5.

"It will certainly be challenging for good players from the back tees," he said

Beyond its classic look, Jones also thinks the course stands out from a playability standpoint. “It’s like a walk in the park," he said. "There’s no housing, and the tees and greens are near each other, so if you had a state amateur here, you could easily walk it.”

Until December 24, 2009 the resort is offering a special introductory offer that's worth looking into:

Starting at $329 per night you get a room, two rounds of golf and a $20 restaurant credit per person. A night at the Waldorf Astoria, two rounds of golf and food afterward, all for less than $400... Not bad.

For more info, visit: www.waldorfastoriagolfclub.com.

If you want to play where Tiger just won the BMW Championship, you might have to come up with $150 or so. That’s because the Dubsdread Course at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in Lemont, Ill., near Chicago, is one of the nation’s finest courses. But the National Golf Foundation (NGF) is worried that these kinds of courses – which it says are the exception, not the rule – may be unfairly bolstering the myth that golf is just for the economic elite.

A just-released report from the NGF, the industry advocacy group based in south Florida, says that nearly a third of so-called Core U.S. golfers (those who play eight or more times per year) pay less than $40 per round (with cart). Only 8 percent pay $70 or more. Three in four golfers say they’re spending only a little more per round than they did five years ago.

The same report, which was based on a survey of 1,000 core golfers in January, said that courses asking for green fees in the $30-$80 range are considered good to excellent. Below that, the course is seen as acceptable – but if a course is asking for less than $20, golfers begin to wonder if it’s any good. On the other end. The $0-$130 courses are considered good for special occasions, and anything over $130 is felt out of range for most golfers surveyed.

As cooler temperatures begin creeping in, you might be thinking about a golf trip to the Caribbean. Not a bad idea considering you can usually get more bang for your buck if you travel south of the border. The toughest part is getting there.

Beginning November 15, however, it'll be a lot easier to get to one Caribbean destination, Honduras, thanks to the recent announcement of one-stop from flights from New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Washington, DC and Orlando. And if you haven’t heard already, Roatan, Honduras is home to Pristine Bay Resort, one of the truly up-and-coming luxury golf destinations in the Caribbean.

The Pete Dye-designed Black Pearl is Roatan’s first golf course – nine holes will be ready for play in November, and 18 by January. Measuring 7,157 yards from the back tees, Black Pearl features 14 ocean-view holes and a Dye-signature island-green par 3 as it snakes through the island’s foothills.

Targeted at retirees and second-home owners, Pristine Bay has home sites ranging from $230,000 to $700,000; a hotel and spa are in the works.

As America’s most renowned golf course architects continue to leave their mark in the Caribbean, more American golfers are thinking they should too.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – As the week has gone on the weather has seemed to get better. A couple showers on Monday have given way to sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-80s at today’s championship round at The Dunes Golf & Beach Club. As we stand at the doorstep of fall, it’s nice to know there’s still plenty of great golf weather in Myrtle Beach.