A Southern Road Trip

Winter Road Trip

It’s this time of year when I start missing golf again.  I’m lucky enough that I get to play a fair number of rounds during our short Ontario golf season at my beloved Scarboro GC, so come November, I don’t mind the break from playing, and December seems to fly by every year with holiday parties, shopping and family time over Christmas.  So it really doesn’t hit me until we stumble into the new year, and I then I get the itch.  And every year the itch gets worse.  I used to make it through our winters without swinging a club, but now I’m making frequent trips to the basement to waggle my driver (did that come out right?)

I have to say that I do enjoy hitting balls in the new golf simulators and have spent many an hour down at Lakeshore Links over the past few winters, however, despite the significant improvements in golf simulator technology over the past few years, it still doesn’t compare to seeing a ball soar into the air and travel further than 13 feet!

So, the past few years I have made a point of taking a winter golf trip to Florida, Arizona and Portugal among other places.  This year, I’m heading to the PGA Show in Orlando via Pinehurst.  I’ve been to the PGA Show once before, and this year I am looking forward to meeting with many industry colleagues while sneaking in a round or two of golf.  Matt and I already have our tee time booked at Sreamsong Resort, and I’m excited to get a first hand look at what has been viewed as the best golf resort to open in the US since Bandon Dunes. 

Normally I would fly to Florida, but this year, I’m making a road trip out of it!  It helps that I like to drive, and who doesn’t like a guy’s road trip?  My good friend Darren is joining me on the road this year, and I’m actually looking forward to the initial 12 hour overnight drive to Pinehurst.  Although many prefer the convenience of air travel – and I can’t blame anyone for flying instead of driving – there’s something exciting about driving south in the winter; the anticipation growing with every state you pass through on your way to the Carolinas, or Georgia, or Florida.  I get giddy when the outside thermometer on my car reaches double digits, and love rolling down the window every couple of hours, sticking my arm out to feel how “warm” it really is.  12 degrees is downright balmy!

I’ll be making a beeline to Pinehurst to see the newly renovated #2 course that will host both the Men’s and Women’s US Opens on back-to-back weeks in June.  I’ll be staying at the magnificent Pinehurst Resort, which is a must see for all golf enthusiasts.  We’ve had many requests for trips to Pinehurst in 2014, and if you’re interested, you’d better act quickly because after the Opens in June, #2 will be closed for a few months to change all of the greens from bent grass to Bermuda.  So in order to see how the best men and women in the world will be playing the course, you’ll have to tee it up there prior to June.

As much as the trip down is exciting, the drive home is the exact opposite.  I guess that’s the price you pay when you decide to drive south for a winter golf vacation.  Reality eventually strikes, and you realize you have to return to the cold Ontario winter and start counting down the days to April.  But at least this year I will have had my golf fix, and that should be enough to get me through the rest of the winter.  Aw, who am I kidding, I’ll be on the road again in February.

Bermuda - A Fabulous Golf Destination

Bermuda is one of those destinations that everyone has heard of but few have true knowledge of, causing many assumptions to be made. Most people know that’s it’s a tiny island ‘way out there’ but it’s assumed that it lies in the Caribbean, rather than its position due east of the Carolina’s. Most people assume it’s a long trek to get there, despite the short and direct Air Canada and WestJet flights that depart Pearson for Bermuda 8 times weekly. Perhaps most importantly, the assumption is that Bermuda is, to quote Randy Carlisle, just an ‘ok’ golf destination, when in fact Bermuda is a bonafide world class golf destination. On a recent tour of the island, I was lucky enough to have all of my assumptions shattered.

Who knew you could get to a civilized former British colony loaded with interesting history and more golf courses per capita than any other place in the world, in less time than it takes to get to Orlando?! That’s right, just over 2 hours, tarmac to tarmac from Toronto to Bermuda…the movie credits are just starting to roll as you catch your first glimpse of the rocky coastline peeking up over the crystal blue ocean. To me, it’s surreal whenever I fly to a far-flung place in the time it takes some people to commute to work, but Bermuda takes that feeling to a new level. Even better, within 20 minutes of landing you have cleared customs, hit the Duty Free for a couple litres of $13 Goslings rum and are hopping into a waiting taxi. Taxi isn’t really the right word for the omni-present vehicles. They are more like ambassadors on wheels, full of helpful advice and recommendations. It’s like having your favourite aunt or uncle drive you around. Because the island does not permit rental cars, taxis are a very important of the tourism product in Bermuda. The more brave amongst can rip around the island on a scooter, although that’s tough to do while carrying a golf bag.

For us at Golf Away Tours, the most important element of a great trip is the golf. Having a keen interest in golf architecture, I was well aware of Mid Ocean Club, designed by Charles Blair Macdonald, the man who studied the best holes in the UK and used them as templates on all of his courses. And I knew that Port Royal GC had hosted the PGA Grand Slam the last few years, but other than that I was skeptical that an island with 6 golf courses could keep a golf fanatic happy for 5 days. I was happy to find out other otherwise.

At the Rosewood Tucker’s Point Resort (which is a 5*, first class place to stay) there is the Tuckers Point Club, an old Charles Banks design that has been updated through the years to provide a stern test of shot making through the hills and valleys of the oceanfront property.

Riddell’s Bay is a very friendly club that has a similar feel to some of the better private clubs in the GTA. It is an easy walk and full of interesting holes with small greens protected by angled bunkering, highlighted by the incredible par-4 eighth hole which plays around a rocky cape. At 6,000 yards, it may seem short on the card but is more than most can handle when the wind picks up.

Turtle Hill is located at the fabulous Fairmont Southampton and is one of the world’s best par-3 courses. In fact, it is the host of the World Par-3 Championship this month.  Every hole has views out over the ocean and tee shots need to be precise in order to hold the small, well-protected greens. If your golf game is not cooperating, the Fairmont Southampton has a wide array of other activities including tennis and snorkeling, and fine dining overlooking their private beach.

Sitting on the patio with a long view over the course and out to the ocean, it’s obvious you are in for a treat when you play Port Royal. The host of the PGA Grand Slam, the course gives you a few holes in the valley to get warmed up and then takes your breath away as you crest the hill to the 7^th green. It seems you can see all the way home from that vantage point and it’s a good place to catch your breath before playing the par-3 eighth, one of the most difficult holes in Bermuda. From there, the ocean is always in view, never more so than on the jaw-dropping par-3 16^th perched on the edge of a cliff. It has to be one of the best ‘do-or-die’ holes in the world.

The granddaddy of them all in Bermuda is Mid Ocean Club. A fixture on world top 100 course lists, Mid Ocean is one of those courses where as soon as you step on the first tee you know you are somewhere special. Having played other C.B. Macdonald courses, it was fascinating to see how he applied the template holes from the great links courses of the UK, such as the Redan hole and the Biarritz hole. The course is very playable with relatively wide fairways, but it is the challenge on and around the large greens where Mid Ocean leaves its mark. It is well deserving of its stature in the world of golf.

After playing such a varied and good group of golf courses, I was sad to be making the cab ride back to the airport. One of our mantras at Golf Away Tours for keeping clients happy is ‘no surprises’. In the case of Bermuda, I was pleased to be surprised by the ease of the entire trip and the outstanding golf we were able to play. Instead of long weekends to cottage country or ski hills, I may be hopping back to Bermuda in the future.

The PGA Show and Streamsong Resort

I’m the first to admit that I really don’t give two titleists about golf equipment. A quick inside my golf bag will tell you all you need to know.  My driver is circa 2005 with a strip of duct tape holding down about a half pound of lead tape. None of my other three ‘woods’ have a head cover. My irons are beat up old Mizuno blades, and my putter is a Ping B60 that hasn’t been made for 20 years. Oh, and my golf balls are much more likely to be stamped ‘PRACTICE’ than have my initials on them. All this fits neatly into a single strap ‘Sunday’ bag.

All the more strange that I should myself a few weeks ago at the equipment porn show that is the PGA Merchandise Show. Every year in January, virtually the entire golf world meets at the massive Orlando Convention Centre to show off their latest wares and make dubious boasts about ’15 more yards’.  And along with the behemoths of the equipment world you also have mom and pop operations selling homemade putter grips.

Among the stranger things I witnessed at the show was a ‘state of the game’ panel discussion involving industry mucky mucks and The Donald himself. I expected Trump to brag about all the golf properties he has been buying up and I wasn’t disappointed. Somehow he was able to ignore the crux of every question and use it to ‘build his brand’.  The entire discussion was largely a waste of time, to be honest. If I learned anything having worked with and amongst golf’s various governing bodies, it is that they love to nod heads and pat each other on the back as they come up with the same old answers to the same old questions.

Ostensibly, I was at the show to meet with PGA of Canada members to offer our assistance with any travel plans they may have, and I have to extend my gratitude to the PGA of Canada for hosting a night for anyone from the Canadian golf industry to attend. The Labatt Blue was flowing and it was a wonderful opportunity to meet and greet. However, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that the highlight of our week was a round at the new Streamsong Resort south of Orlando.

For those of you who’ve been living under a rock, Streamsong is the most talked about golf development in North America this side of Cabot Links and Bandon Dunes. It follows the theory of Mike Keiser, the man behind Bandon Dunes, that if you build superior golf courses that engage and inspire, golfers will flock there regardless of  how much of a pain in the butt it is to get there. And the beauty of Streamsong is that it is not really much of a pain at all…easy flight into Orlando or Tampa and a 90 min drive…no sweat.

As we drove south from Orlando, there isn’t much to give you an idea that a world-class golf facility is anywhere near. It’s quite an opener to leave the façade that is Orlando and enter into the Florida that very few tourists see. The landscape is dotted with mining activity (mostly phosphate), and it is because of the foresight of a mining company called Mosaic, that we now have a reclamation project turned into 36 holes of brilliant, heart racing golf.

I’ll save you the blow-by-blow, but I’m comfortable proclaiming the courses at Streamsong to be the best golf available to the public in Florida, and the Lodge is a stunning piece of modern architecture. Florida has always been a great place for a cheap and cheerful golf break for Canadians, but now we have a legitimate world-class destination that will particularly appeal to the discerning golfer who understands how the game should be played.

When I was searching the basement for my dirty old clubs to take down south, I didn’t feel terribly excited to play. The first thing I did when I got home was plop my clubs in the sink and gave them a good wash. That’s the sign of a good golf course.