 |
Great greens aren't enough to make this list
It’s the classic question facing anyone packing their clubs and heading to the airport: golf vacation, or a vacation with golf?
At one end of the spectrum, there's playing 36 holes a day, eating for sustenance, sleeping for rest—then doing it again the next day. And at the other end, there’s sleeping in, playing a fun round, hitting the spa, seeing the sights and dining like royalty. Proponents of the former might be content to sleep in their cars, as is necessary to in order to play New York’s famed Bethpage Black, a public course with no lodging, little food and nothing but golf. For those in the latter camp, more comfortable accommodations are in order—and for this crowd, the answer is a luxury golf resort.
See our slideshow of North America's Top Golf Resorts.
“The best luxury golf resorts are those special places that truly are ‘best in class,’ when it comes to golf, accommodations, dining and ideally, non-golf activities,” says David Baum. “Golf resorts realize that great golf isn’t enough.”
Baum is the publisher and owner of Golf Odyssey, a high-end, advertising-free golf travel newsletter that objectively critiques courses and resorts for a very selective audience. “Very few resorts do all these things well… In the U.S., places like Kiawah, Kohler and Pebble Beach would make our short list.”
While Baum notes that great golf is not enough to make a great golf resort, he admits it is the vital first step. Other experts agree.
“You can't have a great golf resort unless there’s something extraordinary about the golf course,” says Bradley S. Klein, architecture editor for Golfweek magazine, author of Rough Meditations and the nation’s foremost golf course design critic. “It could be the setting (Pebble Beach), boldness of design (Whistling Straits), affinity with the PGA Tour (TPC Sawgrass), or simply an overwhelming back-to-basics ethos (Bandon Dunes). The hotel and high-quality service help, but don’t suffice.”
According to Michael Patrick Shiels, author of Short Game for Dummies and other golf books, “At a great golf resort, the golf course itself should be the star of the show, and the resort amenities, clubhouse and lodging should be as close to the course as possible. A luxury resort which happens to have a golf course is not necessarily a golf resort any more than it is a tennis resort or a conference center."
Just as course architects try to incorporate the natural features of the land, he notes that the best resorts also follow that philosophy when designing upscale lodging and dining. Shiels, who has played on every inhabited continent, admits that "having to drive your car or take a shuttle bus from your hotel to the golf course is not my idea of a luxury golf resort. Wearing your spikes all day is my idea of a golf resort."
There has been a trend away from the large “golf factory” convention-based resort, and toward boutique, luxury micro-resorts. Typically, they have just one or two courses, a small lodge and cottages or other limited but lavish lodging.
See our slideshow of North America's Top Golf Resorts .
“The hardest thing to do these days is to operate a big, full-service club that brings in business, family and traditional golf crowds,” says Klein. Citing high labor and food costs, he explains that serving diverse crowds is extremely difficult. “What is interesting is the rise of the boutique golf resort hotel: Lodge at Torrey Pines, Auberge at May River Club at Palmetto Bluff, the Lodge at Sea Pines, with fine service, elegant surrounds and access to very good golf courses.”
Many of these four- and five-star golf-only wonders made our list, but some of the large resorts managed to land top spots as well. Several, including Destination Kohler, Pebble Beach and Kiawah Island, finished at the top of our list for their combination of standout golf courses and world-class amenities. Some also offer an incredible array of off-course diversions—from casino gambling to car racing; exploring Mayan ruins to cooking classes; hiking in the Rockies to sailing pristine Caribbean archipelagos.
One final note concerning our definition of a “golf resort.” Often, the golf and the lodgings are operated separately, but offered together. This is especially true at the large Hawaiian resorts, such as Kapalua, Wailea and Kaanapali. There, multiple courses are shared by multiple hotels within the same complex. While these meet our definition of golf resort, it comes down to which hotel is the best.
We faced the opposite problem when considering a handful of private courses that extend access to guests of certain off-site hotels. While this arrangement could be construed as golf-and-lodging combinations, they didn’t fit our definition of “golf resort.” For this reason, Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, didn’t make the list—despite being one of the best golf courses in the country and being affiliated with many first-rate lodging options.
The bottom line is: You cannot have a top-notch golf resort without incredible golf, but most travelers seeking a luxury experience also demand quality accommodations, service, cuisine, activities and amenities. Every resort on this list fits the bill—whether you’re a spa fanatic, an oenophile or you need to keep the kids busy.
Ultimately, as in so many things, there is no single Best Golf Resort for everyone. Rather, there are the best ones that meet your particular needs.
See our slideshow of North America's Top Golf Resorts.
