ENGLAND:
Heathrow Stopover
For a break in your European itinerary, take the 30-minute drive from Heathrow to The Grove for the "Spa and Golf Combo" (a round of golf, a "Foot Ritual" and consultation, and a muscle-relaxing massage) (http://www.thegrove.co.uk). The hottest new golf resort in England, The Grove is the lavish, 18th century former home of the Earls of Clarendon, on 300 acres of private Hertfordshire parkland near London.
Stay at the 5-star hotel or come for the day to enjoy the golf, the ESPA Sequoia spa, a 22-meter indoor swimming pool, workout facilities, an outdoor pool, and steam, sauna and Turkish hammam, finishing off with a manicure and a haircut in the salon. To give you an idea of the soothing ambiance, the walls of the spa relaxation room are paneled in a deep claret velvet.
Designed by Kyle Phillips, renowned for his Kingsbarns design at St Andrew's, the Grove golf course hosted the World Golf Championships in 2006.
 BAJA:
New Spa Suites
Nearly four thousand square feet of luxury comprise each of the new spa suites at Las Ventanas al Paraiso at Los Cabos (http://www.lasventanas.com). Creating unparalleled privacy, each suite has two master bedrooms with baths, a treatment room with rainforest shower, an oversized tub, full kitchen and living room, and an infinity Jacuzzi with an ocean view. Your spa butler will arrange your daily activities, from physical/health evaluations and facial lifting/peeling, weight reduction and body toning programs, to yoga and acupuncture, and from a wide variety of treatment choices.
Golfers go for the Ultimate Fitness Program, designed to build strength, increase metabolism, reduce blood pressure and burn calories.
If you can bear to venture out of your spa suite, hit the fairways on the premier courses in Baja. Adjacent to the 5-star resort are Robert Trent Jones, Jr's Cabo Real. And, nearby, Nicklaus' Ocean Course and Weiskopf's Desert Course, both at Cabo del Sol.
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 CALIFORNIA:
Deepak Likes It
Everything old is new again at La Costa Resort and Spa (http://www.lacosta.com). The Mediterranean village style resort has undergone a complete renovation and expansion, with $40 million devoted to the new Spanish Colonial-style Spa La Costa. A whopping 42 treatment rooms surround a lush tropical pool courtyard with Roman waterfall showers, an outdoor fireplace and a charming spa café.
VIP golfers check into very private suites, which include their own bathrooms, fireplaces and private garden patios with whirlpools. The 80-minute Golf Champions Massage, the Men's Executive Facial and the Back Facial are popular with men, while women love the full-body exfoliation followed by full-body bronzing, and the Thai massage, a muscle stretching and compression treatment most beneficial to golfers.
Unlike most spas, even luxury spas, La Costa has both a spacious co-ed relaxation lounge, and large separate lounges for men and women. La Costa is also the home of the Chopra Center for Well Being, which offers Ayurvedic therapies, yoga and mediation programs.
The two championship golf courses, which host the World Golf Championships and PGA tour events, have been completely renovated and upgraded, including new tees, bunkers and trees. A $1.5 million, double-ended practice venue has opened, plus new greens and bunkers in a short-game area, and a high-tech teaching facility.
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 TEXAS:
Hill Country Spa
One of the largest executive conference resorts in the country, Barton Creek Resort and Spa is a golf mecca in the Texas hill country outside of Austin, with four topnotch championship courses (http://www.bartoncreek.com). The spa has been expanded and greatly enhanced, with more privacy on both the men's and women's sides, additional treatment rooms and nicer steam, sauna and Vichy showers.
Focusing on muscles specific to the golfer, the Golfer's Relief Massage combines stretching, sports massage and deep pressure. The spa is also famous for their refreshing Texas Margarita Salt Glow and the Ruby Red Grapefruit scrub.
The Fazio Canyon and Foothills courses, the Palmer Lakeside course and the Crenshaw Creekside course are prime attractions at Barton Creek. The Foothills and Creekside courses have re-opened after improvements to fairway and tee grasses, added tees and lengthening of the tracks. You can book a caddie on all the courses, and kick up your game at the Chuck Cook Golf Academy, run by one of the top 10 teachers in the world.
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 WISCONSIN:
Total Immersion
Home of world-famous Whistling Straits, 2.5 hours north of Chicago, Kohler Waters Spa at the American Club has recently expanded by 50%, with added treatment rooms, luxurious new Immersion Suites, and a glass-enclosed rooftop deck with a huge whirlpool, a waterfall, a 12-foot-long fireplace and a large, open-air, landscaped relaxation space with McGuire chaise lounges where guests enjoy breakfast and evening refreshments (http://www.destinationkohler.com).
Sybaritic bathing facilities and in-room spa treatments are the focus in the Immersion Suites. In each, a Whirlpool bath is located in front of the fireplace, and another spacious whirlpool is outdoors on the deck; natural materials such as bamboo, limestone, marble, grasses and crystal enliven the light-filled open spaces.
There is also the members-only Spa at Riverbend in a grand historic mansion with 31 guest rooms and unique amenities. The spa here consists of three treatment rooms, a salon, a secluded indoor-outdoor year-round swim-through pool, steam, sauna, whirlpool and fitness center.
All Pete Dye designs, the four championship golf courses are among the top tracks in the country, in particular, the Irish and the Straits links courses at Whistling Straits, site of PGA events. The two Blackwolf Run courses have hosted LPGA events and the World Championship of Golf.
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