 |
FEATURES |
|
Fab Five Golf Resorts for Fall
by Karen Misuraca
Chasing the little white ball is a sweet pleasure in the autumn, when the weather is cool, tourists have gone home and off-season rates are appealing. Aspens turn into golden towers in the Rockies, California poppies run riot in Southern California and sugar maples and red oaks are ablaze in the mid-West. In Florida, Wisconsin, Colorado and Arizona, four of the country's legendary golf resorts are showing off spectacular renovations and new facilities this fall, while a glamorous five-star golf resort hotel in San Diego has just opened, to rave reviews.
Golden Aspen in the Rockies
Meadows are knee-high in the Vail Valley in October, and the aspen groves on the mountainsides turn to rivers of molten gold. Laid on historic ranchland between 14,000-foot Castle Peak and the back bowls of Vail Mountain, alpine meadows bordering Red Sky Golf Club are bright with yarrow, blue larkspur, and vivid red-orange Indian paintbrush. The club rocketed to prominence when the Greg Norman- and Tom Fazio-designed courses opened for play in the 1990s. And, the David Leadbetter Golf Academy lends super-star status, as Leadbetter is famous for coaching such PGA pros as Ernie Els, Michelle Wie, Justin Rose and others.
A daunting 7,580 yards with a 144 slope, Norman's layout is comprised of seriously sloped fairways menaced by clusters of bunkers, craggy gulches and rock outcroppings. Players appreciate the extra distance they get from the 8,000-foot elevation on Fazio's track, which measures 7,113 yards.
Only club members and guests at a handful of luxury lodgings in the valley may set foot on these fairways; accommodations at the 4-diamond-rated Beaver Creek Lodge comes with Red Sky access. Now within the prestigious Kessler Collection of hotels and resorts, the lodge has been completely refurbished and expanded. In mountain chic style, suites and 2- and 3-bedroom condos are sumptuously comfy, with fur throws, leather-studded headboards, gourmet kitchens and whirlpool tubs. In advance of arrival, the concierge will arrange tee times at Red Sky, and at Beaver Creek Golf Club, five minutes away. More about golf in the Vail Valley.
 A Legend Reborn
A tropical oasis in toney Coral Gables near Miami, The Biltmore is a lively family vacation destination in the summertime, a quieter, more romantic getaway after school starts. Now under new ownership, the resort has emerged from a decade-long transformation of the entire resort, from the iconic Mediterranean Revival hotel--rooms, suites and restaurants--to a new spa, an award-winning fitness center and the classic Donald Ross golf course. Below a 315-foot tower modeled after the Giralda bell tower in Seville, guests enter a soaring lobby where rows of Corinthian columns, hand-painted, vaulted ceilings and antique aviaries create Old World ambiance.
The greens, tees and more than 70 bunkers of the 1925 Donald Ross course were upgraded to 21st century standards, and the clubhouse was freshened up. Spanned by seven arched cart path bridges, the Coral Gables Waterway runs merrily across the fairways, widening into lakes and ponds where kayakers and manatees dodge golf balls, and fat iguanas sun themselves on the banks of the canal. Fairways are broader, greens undulate in new configurations and golfers can now walk the course, the better to enjoy a leafy canopy of Royal Poinciana, live oaks and several varieties of palms. When October's breezes kick up out of Biscayne Bay, the 6,742-yard track can play like 7,000 yards from the tips. Fortunately for the faint of heart, lessons are available at the John Pallot Golf Academy, which has one of the largest practice venues in the Southeast.
As they have since the halcyon days of the 1920s, movie stars and moguls can still be seen around the largest hotel swimming pool in the country, a flamboyant Roman-style extravaganza lined with columns, statuary and waterfalls. As if in a Persian harem, the beautiful people hide away in white-draped cabanas amid the sheltering arms of old banyan trees, before retiring to the Biltmore Bar for mojitos, and to the Palme d'Or, voted the Best Restaurant in South Florida.
 Never Rains in California
Glimpsed through a morning mist above a forested canyon where Spanish conquistadors once galloped, The Grande del Mar in San Diego's North County resembles a palazzo on the Amalfi Coast, as perfect as a postcard in the crystalline days at summer's end. This may be the most jaw-droppingly opulent resort in Southern California. The $50,000 white marble Neptune Fountain at the entrance hints at Mediterranean-inspired decorative arts within, from fancy iron balustrades to vividly hued marble columns and a museum's worth of hand-decorated, domed and coffered ceilings, frescoes and statuary-the price tag for the privately-owned property, including clubhouse, hotel and fractional-ownership villas, topped out at nearly $300 million.
Built nearly a decade ago, the Tom Fazio-designed Grand Golf Club has undergone significant upgrading and lengthening. Meandering through the wilds of Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve, the course drops into two long gulches and rises up to clifftops brushed by sea breezes off the nearby Pacific Ocean. A million-dollar waterfall, lake and rocky stream at the 18th green are among new additions, besides the double-sided driving range and Phil Mickelson-designed short game practice areas. Read about the golf academy's unique "Train with the Pros" program.
Within the impressive clubhouse the resort's signature dining venue, Addison, began collecting awards months before the resort opened, in late 2007. Rooms and suites have balconies with golf course and canyon views, and 5,000-square-foot villas are available for rental, complete with golf carts, oversized whirlpool tubs, several fireplaces, and private fitness rooms. Guests who can bear to leave the Renaissance-themed Spa at The Grand Del Mar and the adults-only lap pool may venture out to the Del Mar Race Track, to Old Town San Diego and to Southern California beaches.
 Dye Foursome on the Lake
The only AAA 5-diamond resort in the Midwest and four Pete Dye golf courses, including famed Whistling Straits, make Destination Kohler, an hour north of Milwaukee, the top golf resort in the region. Thousands of migrating Canada geese fly in formation during the fall months, a picturesque sight above the vivid colors of the maples, birches and sumacs in the decades-old Kohler Village gardens.
Draped like a dragon on high bluffs above Lake Michigan, the intimidating Straits Course is traditional Scottish links complete with howling winds, huge, grassy dunes and hundreds of bunkers, from little bitty pots to vast, sandy washes. No slouch at 7,201 yards, maneuvering around four creeks, the Irish Course is awash in sand, while Blackwolf Run rambles along the shores of the Sheboygan River, presenting water hazards on 14 holes, and the Meadow Valleys course sports gracefully elevated tees and greens. Whistling Straits will be the site of the 2010 and 2015 PGA Championships, and the 2020 Ryder Cup. Both Straits courses are walking-only, making an après-golf massage or a Golfer's Foot Renewal a must at Kohler Waters Spa, rated one of the top spas in the Western Hemisphere.
Luxury accommodations can be had at the circa-1918, Tudor-style American Club, and at the Inn on Woodlake, where freshly redone guest rooms are outfitted with 22-nozzle showers and whirlpool tubs for two. Non-golfers head for The Shops at Woodlake and the Sports Core Health and Racquet Club, or the lakeside beach.
Can't get to Wisconsin? You can play-and-stay at the Kohler-owned Old Course Hotel and The Duke's golf course in Scotland, and take the waters at a brand new spa near Chicago--the Kohler Waters Spa at Burr Ridge.
 Troon North Makeover
In the Scottsdale/Phoenix "Valley of the Sun", barrel cacti bloom dark red and yellow into September, while pink candy-striped flowers burst out on the fishhook cacti. Icons of the Southwest desert, saguaros stand tall over the golfers at Troon North Golf Club, the crown jewel of target desert golf. The original designer of the Pinnacle and co-designer of the Monument courses here, Tom Weiskopf recently oversaw a rerouting and blending of the two, changing the sequences in which the holes are played, resulting in an even more dramatic marriage of the turfed landing zones with the stunning desert landscape, the monumental granite boulders, the looming arms of the saguaros and the ball-grabbing sandy washes. The greens are new, and bunkers were reconfigured or removed on both tracks.
One of a handful in the country, the Callaway Authorized Performance Center is a high-tech headquarters for analyzing clubhead and ball speed, launch angle and spin rates, using is the same technology used to fit Mickelson, Els, and Sorenstam.
After their rounds, players head for 5-star lodgings at the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North, an intimate compound of Pueblo-style casitas in the highland foothills of Pinnacle Peak. Recently redone rooms and suites have kiva fireplaces and deep soaking tubs, and some have outdoor showers and private patios. The lobby, lobby lounge and the Talavera restaurant have a new look, too, and even wider vistas of the spectacular Sonoran Desert panorama.
In the evenings, guests wander the romantically lit cactus gardens and peer through telescopes at a dome of sparkling stars over the Valley of the Sun, laid out below between the surrounding rims of the McDowell and Superstition Mountain ranges.
|
|
|
|
