With less than a week to go until Women’s Golf Day 2019, golfing legend Annika Sorenstam is urging women and girls around the globe to give golf a go, and for all golfers to share their love of the game with the women in their life.
Women’s Golf Day returns for its fourth year on June 4 in what will be the largest single day celebration of Women’s golf that the world has ever seen. Open to women and girls of all ages and abilities, WGD 2019 will unite women across the globe at over 800 events in 46 countries, spanning a full 24-hour period starting from daybreak in Australia, to sunset in Hawaii.
With so many opportunities to participate, WGD 2019 gives absolute beginners and avid golfers alike the chance to be part of a global community and grow the number of women and girls that experience the multiple benefits that golf has to offer, as Annika explains:
“Golf teaches you so much about life. It is so much more than just a game. It’s a community, it’s friendships, it’s fitness, it’s mental well-being, it’s challenging and most of all, it’s fun! I’ve been so lucky to benefit from all of these aspects of the game and would urge women and girls around the world to get involved. If you want to be part of an incredible community or if you’re already a golfer and you want any of the women in your life to share your experience, then sign up for a Women’s Golf Day event and take the first steps on an amazing journey.”
WGD unites women and girls around the world and gives them an incredible platform from which they can share their passion with each other and with newcomers to the sport. Each event is a four-hour celebration that combines golf with socializing, which allows women to make the friendships that will keep them coming back for more.
Elisa Gaudet, founder of Women’s Golf Day, believes that this combination has contributed to the global sense of unity participants feel during WGD and is integral to the overall success of the campaign.
Gaudet said: “Since year one we have made sure that WGD events give the participants the chance to feel part of something much bigger than the event they attend. WGD events are about friendship, networking, and creating communities through playing golf. I passionately believe that golf is an amazing game that offers unique challenges, incredible benefits to our health and well-being and unites people through a shared passion. I am proud to be part of the community which loves this sport – we are the ones who elevate it into something truly wonderful. In just four hours, the women and girls who come to WGD events to swing a club for the first time experience this sense of belonging themselves and that’s what makes WGD the global success that it is.”
Anyone wishing to take part in a WGD event on June 4 should visit www.womensgolfday.com and search for a venue close by. Alternatively, search on social media at @womensgolfday and #WomensGolfDay for news of the latest venues to sign up to host events.
Founders Group International, one of the leading golf course owner-operators in the Southeast, has finalized plans to host special National Women’s Golf Day events at four of its Myrtle Beach area courses on June 4.
National Women’s Golf Day is a collaborative effort by golf management companies, retailers and organizations to engage, empower and support girls and women through golf. FGI will be hosting events at Aberdeen Country Club, Myrtlewood Golf Club, Tradition Club and Wild Wing Plantation.
“National Women’s Golf Day is a cause we are excited to support,” said Steve Mays, president of Founders Group International. “Women and girls are a vital part of the golf industry’s past, present and, just as importantly, future. In hosting events at Wild Wing, Myrtlewood, Aberdeen and Tradition, we hope to show our appreciation for the women who currently play and potentially bring new players into the game.”
Wild Wing Plantation will be hosting a 15-minute introduction to the game clinic at 10:00 a.m., followed by a nine-hole event on the Hummingbird Course. At the conclusion of play, golfers will enjoy a post-round meet and greet and the cost of participation is $15. Players can register for a spot in the event by calling 843-347-9464.
Aberdeen Country Club, a 27-hole facility, will be hosting a Nine & Wine event that includes a 45-minute clinic at 11 a.m., followed by golf and a wine, cheese and fruit social at the conclusion of play. The event is $40 and players need to register by Friday, May 31 by calling 843-399-2660.
Former touring pro Yoshio Yamamoto will host a 30-minute clinic at 11:30 a.m. at Myrtlewood, leading up to a nine-hole outing with tee times beginning at 12:20 p.m. At the conclusion of play, there will be a pro shop sale and hors d’oeuvre served. Cost of participation is $40 and players are encouraged to sign up by May 28 by calling 843-913-4516.
Tradition Club (shown above) will be home to a special 18-hole captain’s choice event for female members of FGI’s Honors Club, an enhanced membership package the company offers to deliver value on and off the course. The event at Tradition Club tees off at 9 a.m. and will include a welcome gift and post-round lunch.
For more information about Founders Group International, go to www.foundersgolf.com.
The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe is the first AAA Five Diamond resort in the Lake Tahoe area. Nestled mid-mountain at Northstar California Resort, the resort is a contemporary mountain retreat featuring slope-side ski-in, ski-out access in winter and mountain concierge services for golfing, mountain biking and hiking in the summer.
Golf Aficionados will relish in the “High Sierra Golf Experience,” a package tailored to satisfy the desire for a luxurious getaway with the links as the star attraction. This annual package combines exciting play with luxury mountainside resort accommodations. Golfers enjoy two 18-hole rounds of golf at their choice of either Gray’s Crossing or Old Greenwood, as well as deluxe accommodations at the resort. This offer also capitalizes on the resort’s Mountain Concierge, which handles all the details of a seamless golf game, from golf-club storage and booking tee times to sharing valuable insights about the region’s various golfing opportunities. It’s available through October 21.
Want more than golf? Spend quality time with the family on wilderness hikes in the expansive forest, enjoying fun lawn games in the property’s backyard, and splash around during pool time at the resort or during water activities lakeside. With the “Discover with You” package, offered through December 20, 2019, guests will enjoy deluxe accommodations, daily breakfast for two at Manzanita (the resort’s signature restaurant) a special s’mores kit to use at the fire pit, and $100 resort credit.
Beginning Memorial Day weekend, guests will have the opportunity to experience Lake Club, The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe. Located just ten miles from the resort, the Lake Club adds an extraordinary new dimension to The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe experience, providing resort guests with a unique, stunningly designed waterside venue and an accompanying host of amenities that include al fresco dining, leisure and water activities, and direct access to the lake.
All Ritz-Carlton packages are subject to availability and cannot be combined with any other offer. Blackout dates and the resort’s cancellation policy applies. Advance reservations are required; rates do not apply to groups. Rates listed are per room, per night, single or double occupancy, and exclusive of taxes, gratuities and other charges unless otherwise noted. For more details and booking, click here.
The third hole at Bandon Trails. Photo by Brian Oar
Bandon Dunes Golf Resort turned 20 years old this month. That’s nothing on the centuries-long arc of golf history, but it’s something to celebrate.
Mike Keiser’s you-gotta-be-kidding me lark on a remote stretch of Oregon coast has, in my estimation, changed the game in ways we’re still discovering.
For instance, the natural, “let the land dictate the routing” design trend it helped revive from the world’s pre-heavy equipment days is still going strong.
The ingenious way it brought the very feel, smell and taste of a classic Ireland or Scotland excursion to the continental United States is now the model for countless golfer getaways from coast to coast.
Its strict adherence to the game’s sturdiest traditions — walking only, emphasis on amateur play, the heady mix of unspoken respect and childlike joy its rumpled fairways and giant greens engender — makes it seem like it’s been there far longer than two decades.
Just the word “Bandon,” with or without the Dunes, puts golf pilgrims onto a new plane of mental clarity. It’s that kind of place, that powerful an emotional trigger. It transcends score, wipes out swing thoughts, pummels self-consciousness and somehow sheds new light on your attitude toward the game no matter how many visits you’re lucky enough to pay.
I’ll go ahead and say it: Bandon Dunes is up there in the golf pantheon with likes of Pebble and Pinehurst and St. Andrews now, and will be as long as the game draws breath.
Golf this good, this pure, this challenging, this stripped-to-the-soul beautiful, this real, should take some effort getting to.
So drive. Fly to a feeder city if you must — Portland is three and a half hours away, Eugene two and a half — and rent a car, which will allow you to explore beyond the resort’s boundaries, including the charming town of Bandon itself with its marina, downtown eateries, rock-studded beaches and, the area’s other golf courses, including the excellent Bandon Crossings.
THE BIG STAY
In the years since it opened with a dozen rooms and one golf course, Bandon has pretty much set a new standard for guy-friendly, golf-specific digs.
Today it boasts nearly 400 beds in several tasty configurations, from the single rooms of the original Lodge, where you can walk downstairs for breakfast and about 20 yards to the first tee of Bandon Dunes itself; to the Inn located between the Lodge and Bandon Trails, a great choice for large groups with a fine public gathering space with its own bar; to the convenient and comfortable Lily Pond rooms; to the two-story, four-bed Chrome Lake suites and brilliantly devised, built-for-foursomes Grove cottages, where each guy gets his own bedroom, bathroom and parlor.
If you’re all in for the golf and golf only at Bandon Dunes (the choice for the overwhelming majority of first-timers who want to play the resort’s quartet back-to-back and wall-to-wall until their legs fall off), you can’t go wrong with any of these lodging options.
Gull Lake View Golf Resort remains one of the largest family-owned resorts in the U.S. and now, with one of the most talked-about new golf courses in country, the venerable destination looks excitedly toward its next generation.
Brian Schneider, Eric Iverson, Don Placek and Brian Slawnik, senior associates for Renaissance Golf Design of Traverse City, collaborated with Gull Lake View owners, the Scott family on the acclaimed new Stoatin Brae course, a magnificent design situated on a picturesque bluff overlooking the Kalamazoo River Valley that marries classic links-style playability with architectural elements from golf’s golden design era of the 1920s and 1930s to create stunning and unforgettable golfing experience. Oh, and by the way, you can play it for just $59 at twilight!
Stoatin Brae is destination golf at its finest and now, as the sixth course at Gull Lake View, makes one of the Midwest’s greatest “value” resorts for families and buddies’ trips an intriguing vacation option for the golfing purists and golf architecture aficionados alike. With some of the most plentiful and affordable quality golf in the region, it’s no stretch to call Gull Lake View “The Golf Resort of the People.”
Historically speaking, put down Gull Lake View Golf Resort for a four.Sure, four stars out of four for the family-owned resort in aptly named Augusta, Michigan, near Kalamazoo.
Though in this case, the reference is to a fourth generation of the Scott family, Alex. He is studying turfgrass management at Michigan State University and has worked at Sand Valley in Wisconsin and is now out at Gamble Sands in Washington for some serious hands-on golf experience to bring home to the family business.
“He will become a bigger part of the business here,” said Jon Scott, his father and the third generation of the family to steer what started with 18 holes of golf in 1963 and has expanded to 108 golf holes in an award-winning full-service resort community with popular villas, restaurants and real-estate development.
“My grandpa, my dad, me we’re really dirt guys, but we’ve always looked at the big business picture,” Jon Scott said. “We’re grooming another dirt guy. There is just some gene in us that loves golf and dirt. My kid loves working on a golf course, like I do, like my father did and grandpa did and a lot of others in the family, too.”
Jon said the family has taken that love of golf and working on golf courses and coupled it with the capacity to continually reinvest.
“We don’t take out, we push back in and make sure there is something for tomorrow,” he said. “We don’t just try to benefit from today. It’s been our family perspective over the years. Grandpa started it all. My father was an artist, and I don’t think gets enough credit for what he added, and I’ve tried to make an impact and my son will make an impact in his way.”
Gull Lake View has impacted golf in Michigan since ’63 when Darl Scott, an entrepreneur at heart and golf course superintendent by trade, decided to build and open his own public golf course.
“It comes from Grandpa, always having something going on,” said Jon, who is the son of Charlie, who took the mantle of leadership from his father Darl.
“We don’t mind a little work or getting our hands a little dirty.”
As the story goes, Darl and his wife Letha worked hard, and Gull Lake View grew. Then Charlie and Jim, two of their three sons, directed the family golf business into the next generation where Gull Lake View continued its growth. Charlie has retired, though he still lends a helping hand as the mantle of leadership has been place on Jon’s shoulders.
“I love this place, my dad loves this place, and if you know our family you know this is not just how we make money, it is who we are,” Jon said.
The Scott family, seemingly ever expanding its friendly, welcoming golf community, opened a sixth golf course in 2016. Stoatin Brae, which means Grand Hill in Scottish Gaelic, is the name of the course that marked a departure from the normal pattern of growth at the resort while at the same time reminding the family of previous decisions.
“When Grandpa decided to build his own golf course that was certainly out of his comfort zone, and as we’ve expanded over the years, we have pushed those limits that others see,” Jon said. “What we have at Stoatin Brae is different, very different in the kind of course and how it compares to the others we have here because we did not design it ourselves.
“But in doing it, forging ahead with it, it is consistent with what our family has done from the beginning. We’re giving more to the golfer, our customers, giving them more reasons to come play golf here, another way to have fun.”
Stoatin Brae is only the second course of the six that is not designed by the talented family with landscape architecture backgrounds. It is also a dramatic departure from the current five courses, including four designed by either Darl, Charlie or Jon, or in combination. Those courses cut naturally through the trees and hills on the area’s rolling land carved by the glaciers of long ago.
Stoatin Brae offers views for miles over natural undulations and reestablished prairie grasses, and the wind is seemingly always in play.
Jon said Stoatin Brae is among other things an effort to reach the world’s travel-minded golfers who seek destination courses that offer exciting new adventures. “This site is unique for us, and we decided it was best to add something different,” Jon said.
The resort’s lineup of courses currently includes the Gull Lake West course, the East course, Stonehedge South, Stonehedge North all very near the main resort campus, as well as Bedford Valley near Battle Creek, which the family purchased in 1988. Bedford Valley is a popular parkland William Mitchell design, which blends well with the designs of the family.
“We’ve always been willing to evolve,” Jon said. “We’ve always listened to our customers. We’ve always tried to attract new customers, tried new things. Dad building courses and teaching me, Stoatin Brae, our programs, everything we do, fits within our big picture.”
In that big picture, Jon can’t wait to see the reaction of golfers this summer to a more mature Stoatin Brae.
“People coming back will see a different course,” he said. “It has softened up and is really starting to hit its stride. We found out last year that people found it better. That’s only going to continue. We work to make things better. That’s how we try to do everything around here. It’s the family business.”
Tee time reservations are now available for starting times beginning May 16, 2020 at Dumbarnie Links, a new true links golf course located on Scotland’s East Coast in the Kingdom of Fife, and on the north shore of the Firth of Forth. Tee times can be made through the Dumbarnie Links website, at www.dumbarnielinks.com.
“Dumbarnie Links is a high-end public golf course exclusively for daily fee play, and we’re thrilled to announce to the public that the tee sheet is now open,” said Luke Beardmore, Senior Vice President of Agronomy and Construction for OB Sports Golf Management, the management firm for Dumbarnie Links. “Favorable weather during construction and grow-in contributed to spectacular conditions. It’s absolutely stunning. We’re looking forward to introducing it to the golf world.”
Clive Clark – Dumbarnie Links golf course designer, born and raised in England – created the golf course on 345 acres along 1.5 miles of shoreline on the Balcarres Estate, owned and occupied by Anthony Lindsay, Lord Balniel. The 5,000-acre Balcarres Estate has been in his family for more than 400 years.
The back of the site sits 80 feet above sea level and slopes down to the coast. The elevation change opens up breathtaking views spanning across the Firth of Forth to Muirfield, North Berwick and Edinburgh. A series of 500 coastal dunes located along the beach add to the links-style charm without obstructing the ocean views.
“Most links courses, if you think of the old traditional courses where they play The Open Championship, tend to be along the beach behind the sand hills,” said Clark. “They generally don’t have views of water – maybe only two or three holes. We have 14 unobstructed views of water, and water can be seen from all 18 holes.”
Clark incorporated several elevated tees into the design that play down the escarpment towards the ocean. And on the coast, he placed tees up on a ridge serving elevated greens so close to the water that golfers could “literally toss a golf ball into the water.”
Dumbarnie Links is anticipated to take a prominent place among roughly 246 true links layouts worldwide, a number cited in the 2010 book “True Links” by Malcolm Campbell and George Peper. Clark further qualifies this count by adding that “of the 246, there’s only around 40 truly outstanding genuine links.”
Among its true links characteristics, Dumbarnie Links is located along a magnificent coastal strip of land; built on sandy soil with only a few trees near the clubhouse site; firm and fast fescue playing surfaces; and traditional sod-stacked pot bunkers.
The routing is a departure from the usual. Instead of the traditional out-and-back layout, Clark explained that Dumbarnie Links is a “mix of two big loops with elevated tees facing into the Firth of Forth.” The bunkering, however, does follow convention with a half-and-half mixture of traditional sod-stacked pot bunkers along with what Clark described as “natural bunkers surrounded by tall fescue grasses waving in the wind.”
Clark incorporated a host of risk-reward elements into the design of the par-72, 6,898-yard (Black tees) golf course. The drivable par-4 17th hole offers an aggressive play at the green guarded by precocious pot bunkers and a short forced carry over a 200-year-old stone wall. For the less adventurous, there is a generous fairway to the left of the old stone wall, but taking that route turns the drivable par 4 into a drive and a full wedge or short iron. The par-4 5th hole gives golfers the option of cutting off 50-60 yards by playing left to a 25-yard-wide fairway surrounded by difficult terrain, or playing to a fairway to the right that is 50 yards wide, leaving a significantly longer approach.
“We know it’s more of a marathon than a sprint, but we also can’t help but crack a smile at what’s going on here,” said Clark. “We have on board an amazing staff of world-class greenkeepers – headed by Grahame Taylor, former Supervisor from The Old Course, St Andrews – supervising and executing the grow-in, and we’ve had perfect conditions for an outstanding project so far. The Golf Gods have been smiling on Dumbarnie Links, and we couldn’t be happier with the results.”
The acclaimed Rees Jones design, centerpiece of Villa del Palmar Beach Resort & Spa at The Islands of Loreto, has to be seen to be believed and guests who take advantage of the property’s new “Unlimited Golf Package” will enjoy hours playing this seaside stunner.
Available through Dec. 20, the resort and TPC Danzante Bay are offering the Unlimited Golf package for $288 USD per person, per night (based on double occupancy and a three-night stay). The package includes:
Three nights’ lodging in a Deluxe Suite at Villa del Palmar Beach Resort & Spa
Unlimited golf at TPC Danzante Bay for three days
$25 Sabila Spa certificate
Plus one day access to wet areas at Sabila Spa and
$500 in resort credit coupons per stay
It didn’t take long for lavish praise to be bestowed on this Rees Jones masterpiece along the Sea of Cortez and Baja’s majestic Sierra de la Giganta mountain range. In its first year, the layout earned a slew of awards from various golf media outlets. Danzante Bay also joined the TPC Network, owned by the PGA Tour, as the fourth international facility in its collection of championship golf courses.
TPC Danzante Bay—par 72, with five sets of tees measuring from 4,916 to 7,237 yards—is accented by coastline, valleys, arroyos, dunes, and foothills. There’s also a spacious practice facility, including a dedicated short-game area.
The immediate popularity of the golf course also was a factor Villa del Palmar Loreto Beach Resort & Spa being named 2018 Leading Resort in Mexico and Central America and 2018 Best Beach Resort in Mexico by the World Travel Awards, as well as recognized for excellence in Condé Nast Traveler’s 2018 Readers’ Choice Awards as one of the “Top Resorts in Western Mexico.”
The resort sits on a sprawling stretch of white-sand beach along Danzante Bay, where the natural habitat includes 900 species of fish. Guests can enjoy world-class sport fishing, swimming, snorkeling, paddle boarding, kayaking, and whale watching. In addition to championship golf and the luxurious Sabila Spa, the resort features six swimming pools, tennis courts, miles of well-marked hiking trails, and glass-bottomed kayaks.
Located 300 miles north of Los Cabos, Loreto is only a two-hour flight from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) via Alaska Airlines, accessible from Calgary with seasonal direct WestJet flights, and from Tijuana and Guadalajara via Calafia and Volaris Airlines.
To book the Unlimited Golf package, visit this link or call (800) 790-4187.
Cheyenne Woods for Troon Golf photo by Everardo Keeme
Troon and professional golfer Cheyenne Woods have teamed up for the “Golf With Cheyenne Woods” sweepstakes, in which one lucky golfer (and three friends) can win a round of golf with Woods at Troon North Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. Those interested in entering the sweepstakes should visit www.troon.com/sweepstakes-woods. The sweepstakes drawing will take place on September 2, 2019 and the winner will be notified via email.
A member of Team Troon – a collection of top international golf talent representing the Troon brand throughout professional golf – Woods is a native of Phoenix, Ariz. and competes on both the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour, where she won the 2014 Australian Ladies Masters. In her 2019 season debut on the Ladies European Tour, Woods placed 15th at the Fatima Bint Mubarak Open at Troon-managed Saadiyat Beach Golf Club in the United Arab Emirates.
The winner of the “Golf With Cheyenne Woods” sweepstakes will receive:
A round of golf for four players at Troon North Golf Club with Cheyenne Woods
Lunch for four at Troon North Golf Club’s Dynamite Grille
Dinner for four the evening of the round at Troon North Golf Club’s Dynamite Grille
A hosted beverage cart
Troon North Golf Club gear
Complimentary round-trip golf club shipping for two courtesy of Ship Sticks (ground service level within the Continental U.S.)
No purchase is necessary to enter the “Golf With Cheyenne Woods” sweepstakes and those entering will automatically be enrolled into the Troon Rewards program. The prize redemption period for golf with Cheyenne Woods and stay at the Four Seasons Scottsdale at Troon North is September 3 through December 15, 2019, on a mutually agreeable day that works with Cheyenne’s playing schedule, plus golf and resort availability.
For more information and official terms and conditions for the “Golf With Cheyenne Woods” sweepstakes, visit www.troon.com/sweepstakes-woods.
Silvies Valley Ranch, a 140,000 acre eco-resort featuring four stand-alone award-winning golf experiences will open for its second full golf season on May 1. Recognized by major golf media including Golf Tips for its creative approach to the golf experience including a unique goat caddie program, The Links at Silvies Valley Ranch intertwines amazing golf opportunities with the natural vegetation and expansive views of Frontier Oregon.
The resort’s 18-hole designs, Craddock and Hankins, which were named among the top four best new golf courses to open in 2018 by Golf Digest, have matured over the last year and are in prime condition to host avid and novice golfers alike.
New this year, the world-famous Silvies Valley Ranch goat caddies will be available to assist players on both short courses at the property – McVeigh’s Gauntlet, the 7-hole challenge course, named Best New Golf Experience by Golf Magazine in 2018, and Chief Egan, the 9-hole par-3 course.
“The four courses at Silvies are shaping up nicely for our second full season of golf,” said Sean Hoolehan, golf course superintendent. “I’m grateful to work with an owner who respects the land and provides the opportunity to care for these award-winning courses in an ecological and sustainable way. We’re looking forward to welcoming players from across the country to Silvies Valley Ranch this season.”
Silvies Valley Ranch unveiled a host of golf packages for the 2019 season that offer a variety of ranch experiences to complement the golf getaway experience at Silvies Valley Ranch.
Silvies Valley Ranch opened to guests in May 2018, its first full season of operation and has made its mark as a new frontier for travel and golf in a largely unexplored area of the Pacific Northwest.
With luxurious Western-inspired accommodations, fine dining options from an award-winning chef, an extensive Scotch collection, and one of the largest spas in Oregon, the boutique eco-resort is a must-see destination for families, couples, buddy trips, corporate groups and visitors across the globe.Visit the golf packages page for more information.
There is a place to relax and unwind in the American West, a bigger-than-big ski destination in the northern Rockies that slips into flip-flops and T-shirts when the snow melts and summer arrives. It’s called Big Sky.
Located an hour’s drive south of Bozeman, a trendy little town of tidy brick buildings known for its gastropubs (local ales, bison burgers) and Museum of the Rockies (dinosaur boneyard), Big Sky Resort loomed into view after the 1992 release of A River Runs Through It, the fly-fishing epic starring Brad Pitt that was filmed on the nearby Gallatin River.
Unmatched for alpine splendor, Big Sky is dominated by Lone Mountain, a 11,166-foot, Matterhorn-like peak that pierces the sky and ranks among the tallest peaks in the Madison Range. On a typically sunny day, the play of shadow and light on its slopes and ridges is mesmerizing.
Big Sky recently embarked upon a 10-year, $150-million development program intended to catapult it into the league of the West’s top mountain resorts, including Aspen, Colorado, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Sun Valley, Idaho. In addition to its massive size and rustic charm, it has one distinct advantage: the resort is only 18 miles from the northern boundary of Yellowstone National Park, the nation’s oldest park and the most active geothermal region on earth.
Despite the anticipated growth, Big Sky Resort will always be a “more rawhide, less chiffon” getaway for those who crave outdoor adventures as much as golf. The list of activities includes hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, whitewater rafting, paddle boarding, sporting clays, zipline tours, and fly-fishing on blue-ribbon trout streams. Wildlife? You’re likely to see elk, mule deer, bighorn sheep and brown bear during your stay.
The fifth hole at Spanish Peaks. Photo by Aidan Bradley
Big Sky will always be a “crunchy granola” kind of place that attracts fitness-oriented enthusiasts, but the recent emergence of golf as a major pastime in this exalted landscape is drawing players to a trio of vacation-worthy courses.
In ascending order, there’s the Arnold Palmer-designed course at Big Sky Resort, a lightly bunkered, 6,800-yard layout circa 1973 that stretches across the valley floor. Moose frequent its bushy streams, which are forks of the Gallatin River. The gently rolling fairways are generously wide, but a thick collar of primary rough will snare errant shots. If you’re looking for a sporty warm-up round to shake off the rust, Big Sky, a straightforward parkland-style layout known for its speedy, tilted greens, is a perfect place to let out the shaft and get acclimated to the altitude. Walkers are welcome, but at 6,300 feet above sea level, make sure your lungs can handle the thinner air before setting out.
Settle into one of well-appointed guest rooms in its clubhouse or book a golf package, and you can gain access to Spanish Peaks, the tony four-season resort community set below a curtain of jagged mountains. The centerpiece of the 3,500-acre community, 70 percent of which is preserved as open space, is a majestic spruce-beamed clubhouse that resembles Yellowstone’s Old Faithful Lodge. Managed by Montage Resorts (a future 5-star hotel is planned), the clubhouse is a stone’s throw from a splendid Tom Weiskopf-designed course routed in a secluded valley below the serrated Spanish Peaks. Weiskopf roamed the land on horseback over 10 years ago to get a feel for the flow of the terrain before charting the holes through a rolling, wooded valley dotted with specimen fir and spruce trees.
Jack Nicklaus’ Moonlight Basin. Photo by Tony Demin
Routed at nearly a mile and a half above sea level, this beguiling layout, stretching to 7,200 yards, offers risk-reward scenarios at nearly every hole. Greens are subtly contoured and very swift. The bunkers are beautifully sculpted and well-placed. The front nine, set at lower elevation and more heavily wooded, gives way to a rollicking back nine that’s reminiscent of the Scottish Highlands, the fairways pitching and tossing across rolling alpine meadows.
Weiskopf, ever the clever strategist, built an 18th hole with two greens that plays either as a par 4 or a par 5 depending on how the course is set up that day. To settle bets, he also designed a short, entertaining 19th “Bye” hole.
A short hole is a fun way to end the round, but the best and biggest reason to visit Big Sky is to experience The Reserve at Moonlight Basin, a literally breathtaking Jack Nicklaus-designed world-beater debuted in 2015. Walled in by towering crests and stretching to 8,000 yards from the tips, Moonlight Basin has over 1,000 feet of elevation change. Spread across more than 800 acres and linked by 10 miles of cart paths, the course is grand-scale in a Himalayan kind of way, with near limitless mountain views in all directions, including massive peaks in the Madison Range and a pleated wall of Spanish Peaks. You can hear the silence: the layout possesses a quietude not often found on modern courses. By round’s end, Moonlight Basin, quite simply the most spectacular mountain golf course in America, will leave you gasping for superlatives. It’s also wild: The golf carts carry bear spray.
There are lengthy drives from green to tee at Moonlight Basin, and no one completes a round in under five hours, but that’s part of the experience. Instead of a yardage guide, there’s a Trail Map. The topsy-turvy layout offers more than jaw-dropping views as it rambles across rugged mountain foothills. Each hole is strategized to reward bold play while giving players of lesser attainment plenty of bail-out room. Conditions are uniformly firm and fast. Not every hole is an architectural triumph—the terrain is unyielding—but there are several holes that are by turns incredibly challenging and totally unforgettable. As an aside, the slick bentgrass greens are anything but an afterthought—they have plenty of movement and command respect.
The par 4 opener makes quite an impression. From a series of top-of-the-world tee boxes slotted into a hillside hundreds of feet above an angled fairway, the tee shot, a forced carry over a gulch, is aimed directly to Lone Peak. Players must select a club that will put the ball in play, a theme repeated throughout the round. Like Jack in his prime, you can tee it high and let it fly, but distance must be squared with accuracy. There are no guardrails at Moonlight Basin. The golf course is embraced by oblivion. Bid wayward shots a hearty “hasta la vista.”
The par-4 fifth hole plays to an infinity-edge green that clings to the side of a mountain and hangs above a yawning abyss. It resembles a hole you might see in one of those outlandish fantasy golf calendars. The stunning par-3 seventh, backdropped by Fan Mountain, plunges downhill to a two-tiered green staked out by mature Douglas fir and spruce trees.
While the magnificent 590-yard 15th hole skirts a pair of central bunkers and climbs to the high point of the course at 7,500 feet, the gargantuan par-5 17th, which tops out at 777 yards, is an overland journey that takes its place among the grandest three-shotters in the nation.
After the round, drop by the Moonlight Basin Tavern, which serves excellent pub fare, pours an array of regional microbrews and stocks more than 75 fine whiskies.
One caveat about Big Sky golf. Make haste. The season is short. Locals claim they’ve seen snow in every month of the year, but from early June through late September, players can expect warm sunny days, clear blue skies and a huge WOW factor.
The Lodge at Moonlight Basin. Photo by Tony Demin
BEYOND THE COURSE
Legends of Golf
Experience Big Sky at its best by booking the destination’s exclusive Legends of Golf package. The program features three nights in a private residence, a round of golf at Big Sky Resort, and a round each at the otherwise-private clubs at Spanish Peaks and The Reserve at Moonlight Basin. Rates start at $308 per person, per night based on quad occupancy. www.lonemountainland.com
Family Fun & Fine Dining
As a family-friendly resort, kids may have the best of it at Big Sky. The Ramcharger chair lift ascends from Big Sky’s village plaza to ‘Adventure Mountain,’ a summertime playground where kids can try their hand at archery, bungee trampoline, disc golf and other games. Would-be prospectors can dump rubble into a sluice and sift for tiger’s eye, amber, amethyst and other gemstones. (Montana is the Treasure State).
Also located at the head of Ramcharger is Everett’s, a handsome log dining room set at 8,800 feet that features locally sourced American alpine fare at its finest. (The demi-glace morel mushrooms served on butter-grilled sourdough are alone worth the ride up the mountain). More casual dining is available on Everett’s spacious deck, which features stupendous mountain views. Accommodations at Big Sky are available at multi-bedroom chalets, lodges and cabins as well as The Summit, one of the finest slope-side hotels in the Rockies.
CLUB DOWN FOR ALTITUDE
It’s important to remember that shots will fly farther in the thinner air of Montana’s mountains. This is especially true for strong players. Light hitters who don’t carry the ball more than 150 yards on their drives won’t notice an appreciable difference in the length of their shots at higher altitudes. However, golfers who hit the ball hard, resulting in a steep launch angle, high trajectory and extended carry time, should figure on roughly 2% added distance per 1,000 feet above sea level. Club selection must be adjusted accordingly.
Players should spend time at a distance-marked practice range to determine how far each club travels. Because each course In Big Sky is situated at well over a mile above sea level, power hitters can subtract 10 percent from marked yardages. For example, from 150 yards, select the club you hit 135 yards. Lofted shots that hang longer in the air will travel farther than low, boring shots.
Don’t trust your visual frame of reference on Big Sky’s courses. Players accustomed to “eye-balling” distances on their home turf will be fooled at higher altitudes, where the air offers less resistance to the ball’s flight. Gauge your distance for each club on the range–and club yourself accordingly on the golf course.
