GolfWRX Travel Experience

Hey WRXers-

Johnny Newbern here...GolfWRX travel and lifestyle writer. See my stories here: http://www.golfwrx.com/author/johnnynewbern/

It's a new year and I am putting together my calendar for upcoming travel stories. I wanted to reach out to the forum and see if you guys have any recommendations or suggestions for upcoming "Experience" articles. In 2019, I visited and wrote about Bandon Dunes, Sand Valley, TPC Harding Park, Whistling Straits, Streamsong, New Orleans, Scottsdale and Pinehurst. That is going to be tough to follow...but let's give it a shot.

WHERE SHOULD I GO THIS YEAR???

I want to write about places you want to read about. Any thoughts? Sidenote: I am always looking for playing partners for these stories, so if you are local, join me!

Thanks everyone for reading and for all your awesome comments this past year. It has been a blast!

JN

Thanks for posting as i just found your articles as a result of this thread, I’m headed to Bandon in August, 2020 so that was a good read.

That's awesome @Cwing ! You are going to have an absolute blast. Here's hoping for good weather. Feel free to reach out for any questions ahead of your trip, brother.

Will do!!!

It just shows that I spend too much time in the forums and not enough in other areas of Golfwrx!

i assume you are referring to public courses ... everyone knows that ranked private courses, so take your pick if you have the contacts ...

i wouldn't mind hearing about the public courses in Nebraska that are somewhat highly ranked ... of colorado, if ballyneal still has that "once in a lifetime deal", that would be neat ... or mississippi ... fallen oak, mossy oak, dancing rabbit & old waverly ...

if you are allowed to travel, any highly ranked parkland course in england ...

Correct, more or less, @tiderider . So far, my articles have focused on public courses since all of the readers have an opportunity to play them as well. However, if there were an opportunity to experience an amazing private track and be allowed to write about it, I absolutely would. If there is value for the readership, I am all for it. Ballyneal is a good example. I would love to read about what a day there is like.
I love all those deep south suggestions you mentioned, though. I may need to take a trip through Mississippi. Then the UK next! Could make it a series....Oxford, MS to Oxford, England!

Here are a few of interest for me:

big cedar

kiawah (been here but interested in additional courses around area beyond the ocean course)

Tpc danzante

cabot links

Muskoka would be good ... great tracks for US guys to try

If you make it to the Mid Atlantic, The Old White TPC and The Homestead.

Nebraska is a heck of a journey. Few courses are close to each other, so you rack up a ton of miles while experiencing the beauty of the state. Start in Omaha, and make the trek across the state, finishing in Denver. The highlight is the side trip to the Sand Hills region. Prairie Dunes is wonderful, and you should have no problem getting on Dismal River.

Big Cedar, Cabot and Kiawah are all on the list for me this year. Was last in Kiawah in 2005 and am dying to see how much it has changed. Big Cedar obviously looks to be the big new thing, and Cabot (or anything by Mike Keiser) is going to have me buying a ticket no matter how far away it is. GREAT SUGGESTIONS.

Near Toronto, @cardoustie ? I've considered a Canada trip. Any good places to stay around there you would recommend?

st georges golf & country club (top 100 course)? ...

Washington state and I'll make the trip down from BC to join you. Gamble Sands would be a heck of a write up. But boy is it in the middle of nowhere.

Gamble Sands! YES! DMK! I heard its so tough to get to but there is lodging on site. Stay and play makes the commute much easier to stomach. I am game. Great idea, @Phireside.

In my opinion, writing about places like Kiawah or Cabot add little to the golf landscape. We've all read a thousand articles about these great courses. We all know they are beautiful and awesome. It would be far more interesting if you wrote about places that aren't as well known. For example, an article about Gold Mountain on the Olympic Peninsula (site of Jordan Spieth's junior am win). Something on reversible courses (not the loop) like Bobby Jones or Silvies ranch. Writing about interesting munis like Presidio and Sharp park in SF or Manikiki and Sleepy Hollow in Cleveland. Playing golf below sea level at Furnace Creek in Death Valley and then somewhere a mile high in Colorado.

All of these would be far more interesting than another article on Bandon talking about how your favorite course is the one you're playing next or you're surprised with how good Trails is even though it's not on the coast. All true, but we've read that. This is why Golf Digest is dead.

Decent points for sure, @CMCSGolf . I think you'd enjoy my article on New Orleans golf. It features both TPC Louisiana and Audubon Park, owned and operated within a New Orleans city park not far from the garden district. My articles focus, obviously, on the courses but also on the lodging and accommodations/dining. So I hope to add a bit more than just beautiful photos of popular courses and generic, repeated compliments. But I get your point. It is my hope to find a bit of both in the upcoming year. I'd like to pair a Torrey Pines with a Coronado Municipal for each article. You've got some great ideas. And I thank you for them.

It's an election year, so why not DC? With plenty of solid public tracks to play around the beltway and some historic courses within the city, it could be a golf/Americana experience. Also, beer. Good luck with whatever you decide!

I agree that it would be more interesting to cover places that are less traveled/off the beaten path. I do several trips every year. In 2018 I flew to Spokane, WA and over a week or so hop scotched across Rte 90 to Anaconda, MT and back. There are plenty of interesting and some excellent courses on the way. I think I played 15 rounds from little mom and pops, small semi-private clubs, munis and some famous courses such as Circling Raven, Old Works, Coeur D'Ailene,. I only played two private courses, the highlight being Rock Creek Cattle Co, the #1 course in Montana. Missoula has some excellent courses and some great food (and I'm from NY LOL). It's a beautiful part of the country that many golfers don't think about visiting and not too expensive. Spokane alone has a pretty significant newteork of city and county munis. There are plenty of places like that across the U.S and Canada.

You could also cover some of the lesser known English Heathlands outside of London such as New Zealand, Hindhead, Liphook, Camberley, Reigate or Tandridge, or lesser known, but excellent Irish links such as Corballis, Narin & Portnoo, Cruit Island, Port Salon etc. These are places where you meet the locals and skip the famous really expensive courses the American tour buses visit and all the golf mags already cover. It's a way and really get to know the places your're visiting and the people.

Saratoga Springs has 5 or 6 nice public and semi private options and the classic Donald Ross course at the Sagamore is not too far from there. Saratoga is a great place to visit, eat, be entertained and play lots of golf besides the one big name course in town, which is expensive and over rated.

New York's Hudson Valley from West Point to Albany and the Catskill region has golf courses off of almost every exit off of route 17 and the NYS Thruway

The Twin Cities are rich in public golf options that rarely get covered in the golf media and so is the Detroit/Ann Arbor area, but only Northern MI ever gets covered.

Last suggestion: An article about the best cheap U.S. munis: Keller in the Twin Cities, Swope in K.C., Rustic Canyon north of LA, Wildhorse in Gothernberg NB etc.

Here are links to photo tours of the referenced courses and others: Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana Golf Courseshttps://www.flickr.com/photos/golfcoursepix/collections/72157669255656750/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/golfcoursepix/collections/72157631881715502/

Ireland Links

I don’t share this opinion. I appreciate different perspectives and angles (eg places to eat and stay, golf architecture, challenges for better than average players, etc) on destination golf courses. We certainly have many different opinions on these forums about golf courses to golf equipment. I however will not read articles about esoteric golf courses that satisfy a small portion of a regional base of readers outside of my territory. These courses have no tangible value for me and certainly will not serve as any reason for me or my friends as destination spots. An author, as one person, needs to scale his limited resource, time and to some extent money, in a way that serves a broader audience to be successful.

Love it. Great point. Thanks, @tdog3 . I think this is exactly why I started writing Experience articles. I wanted to see what it was really like to spend 3 days in destination spots. Golf, food, housing. The whole shabang. I hope to do more of the same while adding in a few unique courses along the way.

This is really awesome, @sabram . Give me a bit of time to digest it all, though! I am digging the photos already!

Some great points being made here regarding mom and pops, locals, etc... and established destinations.

2 hours north

look up course pics of the following ... Muskoka Bay, Taboo, Rockycrest, Bigwin Island, Deerhurst Highlands, Grandview O’Meara, Lake Joseph Club ... and many others

pines, granite, lakes etc

best time to go is Aug or Sept

I would toss out an area that people dont typically think of for golf. Montana,, more so in Whitefish area. Start in Missoula and can get up to the Wilderness Club, Many excellent tracks in the area.

Sandhills of NE

Northern Mich

Idaho

Have you thought about Bend, OR? Everything from high end public (Pronghorn) to publicly accessible private (Tetherow, Brasada Ranch, Crosswater) to fun muni courses (Juniper, Quail Run). Excellent brew pubs very reasonable lodging and amazing weather.

Don’t forget your play Tokatee on the way up or down for a true PNW treat.

How about a Road trip across America from Los Angeles to New York or Seattle to Sawgrass? Lots of interesting experiences to be had!

Does the budget extend to using your passport?

northern michigan would be neat, esp if the trip included greywalls at marquette ...