Best Golf Resorts of the World

Troon’s New Slow Play Remedies: Time Par & Pacesetter Tips

Waiting for sloooooow players ahead makes golfers stamp their feet, grit their teeth, lose their grip, throw their clubs in the water hazard and wish they were home watching golf on TV.

The new “Troon Values Your Time” program encourages awareness of pace-of-play standards that help your round move along efficiently, making it enjoyable for everyone, not just for your Uncle Jake who hits the fairways only once a year.

Time Par – Each Troon facility calculates its own Time Par by evaluating the appropriate length of time a golfer should comfortably play and enjoy the course. That Time Par is communicated to customers when booking their tee-time and in displays in the pro shop, on staff uniforms, on scorecards, yardage books, and on signage throughout the property. Yea!

• At the Westin Mission Hills Golf Resort and Spa and the Club at Savanna Harbor, the Time Par is 4 hours and 15 minutes.
• At the Makai Golf Club at Princeville, it’s 4 hours and 18 minutes; and at Indian Wells Golf Resort Celebrity Course, it’s 4 hours and 33 minutes.

Pacesetter Times – Troon facilities are also implementing Pacesetter Times, which are designated morning tee times reserved for players committed to playing in at least 20 minutes under the facility’s Time Par. Get out there early and go for it!

Pacesetter Tips:

• Play Your Tees: choose a set of tees with a rating of 142 minus your handicap index; or just tee it forward. Real men play from tees that match their abilities.
• Play Ready Golf (tee to green): at your ball or on the tee box and ready to play . . . . hit the darned thing! Take no more than 45 seconds to hit your shot.
• Be Cart Smart: drop off your partner and drive to your ball. When you leave the cart, take three clubs, not one. Park behind greens.
• Use Rules with Discretion: take no more than 3 minutes to look for balls and take relief. This is not the PGA Tour.
• Keep Moving: proceed quickly to your ball, choose your club and be ready when it’s your turn to hit.
• See It, Read It, Hole It: while others are putting, prepare for your putt, putt it and go on to the next tee.
• Be Accountable: slow play isn’t just the fault of other players. The faster you play, the sooner you get to the 19th hole.

Founder/editor of BestGolfResortsofTheWorld.com, Karen Misuraca is a travel and golf writer from the California Wine Country. She blogs golf travel and writes about Deep Culture Travel. Check out Karen's new iPhone app, California Coast North.

JW Marriott Camelback Inn Resort & Spa to Open New Ambiente Golf Course

In the fall of 2013, the JW Marriott Camelback Inn Resort & Spa in Phoenix will open the new, Ambiente golf course at Camelback Golf Club.

The spectacular $10 million Ambiente course will complete a 7-year, $70 million renewal project at Camelback Inn, which involved:

• Preserving the resort’s 1930s adobe brick
• The renovation of 453 casita-style guestrooms
• A new 20,000 square-foot, hi-tech grand ballroom
• The debut of BLT Steak, Laurent Tourondel’s modern American steakhouse

Replacing the old Indian Bend golf course, the Ambiente has stunning views of Mummy Mountain, Camelback, the McDowells and the Phoenix Mountain Preserve. Hurdzan/Fry Environmental Golf Design laid out rolling fairways with significant drops throughout the course, along with five sets of tee boxes, and massive greens averaging 122,000 square feet. The new track focuses on water and wildlife habitat conservation throughout, with 100 acres of native flora and a 50% percent decrease in pesticide, fertilizer and fossil fuel use as compared to the course it replaces.

The existing, parkland-style Padre course is lovely with mature pine and eucalyptus trees and plenty of water hazards. Together, the two 18-hole courses comprise a golfer’s mecca in the Paradise Valley of Phoenix. Also at the luxury resort are 6 tennis courts, the 32,000-square-foot Spa at Camelback Inn, 2 swimming pools, and 7 restaurants and lounges.

More here about golf in Phoenix/Scottsdale.

Phoenix Open at TPC.

Founder/editor of BestGolfResortsofTheWorld.com, Karen Misuraca is a travel and golf writer from the California Wine Country. She blogs golf travel and writes about Deep Culture Travel. Check out Karen's new iPhone app, California Coast North.

Tee It Up With the Pros at Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu

Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu’s North Shore has expanded its recently announced, resort-wide North Shore Guides Club with the addition of a seasoned team of golf pros. The Turtle Bay Golf Guides will be available to play with guests, show them around, offer instruction and the like; most are highly trained to teach and some are well-known celebrities in the golf world.

North Shore Guides Club golf team:

• Matt Hall, Turtle Bay Resort Director of Golf: President of the Aloha Section PGA,; co-host of Hawaii’s No. 1 golf talk show; 2009 Aloha Section Golf Professional of the Year
• Dave Eichelberger, celebrity golf guide: 4-time winner on the PGA Tour, 6-time winner on the Champions Tour and a long-time Oahu resident
• Dean Wilson, celebrity golf guide: Born in Kaneohe on Oahu, after a successful golf career at Brigham Young Universityhe has since won 6times on the Japan Golf Tour and once on the PGA Tour, playing in all 4 major championships
• Tony Finau, celebrity golf guide: best known for his appearance on The Golf Channel’s “Big Break,” one of Golf Magazine’s “Top 10 American Players Under 25
• Parker McLachlin, celebrity golf guide: native of Oahu, 3-time Hawaii state champion in both golf and volleyball. On the PGA Tour, he won the Reno-Tahoe Open, among numerous top-10 finishes
• T.J. Kua, celebrity golf guide: A native of Kauai and recent graduate of the University of Hawaii. One of the top up-and-coming pro golfers in Hawaii, winning many amateur tournaments, he has competed in the PGA Tour’s Sony Open
• Anthony Valverde, golf guide: began on the Southern California PGA, now Executive Director and Tournament Director, Aloha Section of the PGA

About the North Shore Guides Club: with skills unique to their mastery of the North Shore’s land, water, and culture, more than 30 local guides host guests throughout the resort’s onsite programs and activities. .

Renovation News: the only resort on the quiet, gorgeous North Shore, Turtle Bay Resort will complete a multi-million-dollar renovation in fall 2013 that includes upgrades to all of its standard and premium guest rooms and hallways; two of its restaurants; the spa and fitness center; the main building roof and lobby area; and the addition of a media center.

Golf Digest calls the Palmer Course at Turtle Bay one of the "Top 100 Public Courses in the US, ” while the slightly more forgiving Fazio Course, rambling along the oceanfront, has hosted such events as the LPGA Hawaiian Open. (New Titleist high performance rental clubs have just arrived, and you can use them all week for one rental fee.)

More here about Turtle Bay Resort.

Founder/editor of BestGolfResortsofTheWorld.com, Karen Misuraca is a travel and golf writer from the California Wine Country. She blogs golf travel and writes about Deep Culture Travel. Check out Karen's new iPhone app, California Coast North.

Hotties! Head to Furnace Creek Resort for Death Valley Heatstroke Open

At Furnace Creek Resort in Death Valley National Park, the lowest golf course in the world is hosting their 3rd annual “Heatstroke Open” Golf Tournament, June 21-23, 2013.

Surprising to those who have never been to Death Valley, the resort area of the spectacular valley is a true oasis, quite green and lush with palms, willows and lawns that are watered from a steady flow out of the nearby Funeral Mountains. The Ranch at Furnace Creek has 224 rooms, general store, restaurant, spring-fed swimming pool, tennis, horseback riding and the Borax Museum.

The Ranch at Furnace Creek Heatstroke Open package:

• 2 nights of accommodations
• 36 holes of tournament golf plus optional Friday practice round
• cart, prizes, gift bag
• commemorative certificate
• From $199 in a standard room to $219 in a deluxe room; pp per night

The 18-hole Furnace Creek Golf Course measures 6,236 yards from the back tees; 69.7/117. The low elevation and challenging greens earned it a place on Golf Digest’s list of “America’s 50 Toughest Courses.” Originally opened in 1931, the course underwent a major renovation under the direction of world-renowned architect Perry Dye.

(Open from mid-October through mid-May, the Inn at Furnace Creek is an AAA 4 diamond-rated property with 68 rooms amenities, fine dining, tennis and a spring-fed pool.)

Click here for more about Furnace Creek Resort.

More about Furnace Creek.

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Founder/editor of BestGolfResortsofTheWorld.com, Karen Misuraca is a travel and golf writer from the California Wine Country. She blogs golf travel and writes about Deep Culture Travel. Check out Karen's new iPhone app, California Coast North.

Ernie Els' Favorite South African Golf Courses

Straight from the Big Easy, click here to read his personal notes on his fav 19th holes and where he loves to play in his home country of South Africa.

Keep your eyes peeled for Ernie on Africa Travel's "Golfing Heaven" package, which includes golf at Sun City, Fancourt, Conrad Pezula and Cape Town, with plenty of time for sightseeing and sipping Ernie Els wine.

When in Stellenbosch, in the heart of the Wine Country, stop in at Ernie's Big Easy restaurant and wine bar, in a lovely circa-1798 mansion. An upscale steakhouse, the eatery offers more than 170 local and regional wines.

Founder/editor of BestGolfResortsofTheWorld.com, Karen Misuraca is a travel and golf writer from the California Wine Country. She blogs golf travel and writes about Deep Culture Travel. Check out Karen's new iPhone app, California Coast North.