MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – An embarrassment of riches. That’s what I’ve always felt about this unique golf mecca. There is a potential problem for those many who make return trips, however.

You find a favorite course (or two or three) and there’s many times a tendency to just play them on each visit. To do that is doing Myrtle Beach a disservice. You don’t get the full experience of what this area has to offer. That’s why I insisted on changing things up for my fourth Myrtle Beach visit in probably a 15-year span.

No more returning to long-time favorites like Caledonia Golf & Fish Club or True Blue or Pawley’s Plantation or Founder’s Club – the last course to open in the area in 2008. Nope. This time I wanted to play good, interesting courses, of course – but none that I had played before. With the help of Chris King of Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday I was able to do just that.

King lined up tee times on four courses, and the very first one underscored just how much I had been missing. The Dunes Golf & Beach Club should have been the very first course I had played in the area, because it’s the one that gets the bulk of the attention as a tournament site. It’s also arguably the most historically significant.

Pine Lakes, which opened in 1927, was the first golf course in Myrtle Beach. Scottish-born Robert White, the first president of the PGA of America, was its designer. The second course didn’t come along until 21 years later.

That would be The Dunes Club, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and later renovated by his son, Rees. It trigged the barrage of golf interest in the area, which carries into today. Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday has about 70 member courses, but there are quite a few more in the area. One course official said the number is more like 120. The number doesn’t really matter. Suffice it to say, Myrtle Beach has more than enough golf courses.

Back to The Dunes Club, the first on our schedule. For many years it was host to the last round of the Golf Writers Assn. of America championship. That provided immediate recognition to golf in Myrtle Beach, and The Dunes Club eventually hosted six Senior PGA Tour Championships, a U.S. Women’s Open and the finals of PGA Tour Qualifying School. Last year the PGA Professional Players National Championship was played there. The Dunes Club is a beautiful place, with a course that has survived the passing of time and the technological changes that have impacted the game.

After a round at The Dunes Club the trip continued at Tidewater, in North Myrtle Beach. It doesn’t have nearly as famous a designer. The architect of record is owner Ken Tomlinson, a tax attorney, but the layout and its most interesting setting couldn’t be more enjoyable. There’s a whole different kind of charm here, as we coped with thick fog that hampered play on holes along the natural wetlands and tried – many times unsuccessfully – to stay out of the numerous white sand bunkers which seemed to be a factor on every hole.

Weather was a big problem the rest of the trip, as temperatures dropped 40 degrees over night and descended into the 20s at times. Still, it wasn’t difficult to see the enjoyment possibilities at the Dye Course at Barefoot Resort or Grande Dunes, the partner course for The Dunes Club during the 2014 Professional Players National Championship.

Arriving at Grande Dunes for an early morning round was a shocker. Frigid temperatures suggested play would be minimal, but we were told that 150 players would be on the course that day. (That was considered a quiet day in March, as the usual daily average was about 240).

Grande Dunes was designed by Roger Rulewich, whose resume includes a renovation of Medinah’s No. 3 course for the 1999 PGA Championship. Rulewich worked beside Robert Trent Jones Sr. for many years.

The Dye Course had the visual deceptions and railroad ties so prevalent on courses designed by Pete Dye. It wasn’t as busy as Grande Dunes, as only six hardy souls from the Boston area were willing to take on the challenge when the temperatures had bottomed out.

Sam Puglia, the owner of the Dye Course, gave all four of his Barefoot Resort courses the grandest of grand openings back in April of 2000. Barefoot also has courses designed by and named after Davis Love III, Tom Fazio and Greg Norman. Puglia wanted all four to open on the same day – the only time a golf course owner has opted to open four by famous designers all at once. The courses didn’t even have clubhouses then; they operated out of trailers, but all four courses are still going strong today.

It only seemed right to follow a round of golf with a dinner at Greg Norman’s Australian Grille. Opened in 1999, it’s the only restaurant bearing the name of the famous golfer who has dabbled successfully in many other financial ventures outside of golf.

While trying out a variety golf courses is advisable in Myrtle Beach, it’s also important to analyze the variety of lodging and dining options. Lodging-wise you can get an oceanfront condo, a lodge on the outskirts and the area or a chain hotel most anywhere. There’s something to fit all budgets.

Getting the lodging or dining place that best suit you isn’t always easy, because Myrtle has so much in the way of variety. The are, for instance, about 1,500 restaurants in the area. All the chain restaurants are represented, and Norman’s Australian Grille isn’t the only upscale one by a longshot.

Sea Captain’s House is a long-time favorite, having been converted from an oceanfront guesthouse to a restaurant that has fed visitors since 1962. New York Prime and Aspen Grille are also among those representing the best in Myrtle Beach dining.

They’ll be bustling in the coming weeks, as Myrtle Beach has a full schedule of special events. The inaugural March Championship was on tap the week after we departed. It’s a handicap-based 54-hole event that drew 200 players from 28 states, Italy and Canada. Though a new event, its entry spots quickly sold out. The event will be played at the Arrowhead, Meadowlands, Sandpiper Bay, Shaftesbury Glen, Thistle and Tiger’s Eye layouts..

Next on tap is the Hootie and the Blowfish Celebrity Pro-Am at the Dye Course. It’s been held on the Monday after the Masters tournament for 20 years and always draws Masters participants as well as celebrities from the entertainment world.

The biggest event of them all, however, won’t begin until Aug. 31 when Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday hosts the 32nd annual World Amateur Championship. The handicap-based 72-hole event will have more than 30,000 players from over 30 countries and more than 60 area courses will be utilized.

Our next Myrtle Beach visit — one that I expect will come soon – won’t include stops at the courses previously visited. There are so many more to enjoy. If you are enticed by the various magazine course rankings, Myrtle Beach has plenty those honored layouts. I’m not so much about those. We just want pleasant overall golfing eperiences, and Myrtle Beach has loads of potentially good ones.

Black Bear? Carolina National? Crow Creek? Eagle Nest? Tournament Players Club of Myrtle Beach? Waterway Hills? Who knows where you might play next in Myrtle Beach?

Chances are, however, you can’t go wrong with whatever courses you choose.

PALM COAST, FL. – Our three-month stay in this ocean-side community between St. Augustine and Daytona Beach was much different than our previous three winters, spent in Sarasota, Naples and Port St. Lucie.

In this case, “different’’ means generally better golf-wise with one notable exception. We played lots of golf in cold (50 degrees), windy weather, and that’s something we rarely faced in the other, more southerly stops.

The less-than-ideal weather –much like fall golf in Illinois — was never bad enough to keep us from playing and that one drawback was overridden by two other factors. Courses in this area offered much more in the way of variety and affordability than we experienced the previous three years playing our recreational rounds in the heart of the Sunshine State’s tourist season.

This area is called Florida’s Historic Coast because St. Augustine, settled by Spanish explorers in 1565, is America’s oldest city. There’s over 60 historic sites there and is a great location for more than just golf. Still, recreational golf addicts need their golf fixes, and we got it here.

We played 18 rounds between Nov. 28 and Feb. 28, and they didn’t include visits to the most famous course in the area (TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra) or the only layout jointly designed by legends Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus (King &Bear in St. Augustine). We had played those courses on previous visits and our ultimate goal was to experience the widest variety of golf the area had to offer.

Our self-imposed “previous visit’’ rule also kept us from returning to one of the best-regarded public layouts, St. John’s in St. Augustine.

Still, we covered a good cross section of courses in the immediate area and stretched our experiences with visits south, to courses the Orlando’s western suburbs, and north, to layouts near Amelia Island.

As has been the case in previous years, we’re rating the courses strictly from our enjoyment playing them. We’re downplaying the cost factor, since greens fees vary so much –day to day and even hour to hour. Comparing the most expensive courses (some had greens fees slightly over $100) to the lowest ($25) is like comparing apples and oranges. Still, it should be noted that most of the public (non-resort) courses were priced in the $30-$40 range, cart included. That was much more affordable than any of our previous Florida destinations, and many offered the option of walking. That was also a rarity elsewhere.

Each round in the Historic Coast was memorable and enjoyable – and generally for different reasons. In fairness, weather conditions and general atmosphere on the particular day of play probably influenced our rankings. That said, here’s how we rank the courses we played on Florida’s Historic Coast.

1, SLAMMER & SQUIRE, St. Augustine. This is one of two courses at World Golf Village, a must-stop for golfers regardless of the playing options available there. The nearby CaddieShack restaurant also enhances the overall experience. Slammer & Squire is a tribute to Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen. It was probably the best-conditioned course we played. While many might prefer the longer, more challenging King & Bear layout, we lean towards Slammer & Squire because of its more sporty nature and proximity to the other World Golf Village attractions.

2, OCEAN HAMMOCK, Palm Coast. One of two courses offered at the Hammock Beach Resort, which – with Innisbrook in Tampa and Reunion in Orlando – is part of the highly respected Salamander Hotels and Resorts Collection. A Jack Nicklaus Signature design, Ocean Hammock lives up to its name with six views of the Atlantic Ocean, and you can’t beat holes on the water for memorability. Nicklaus also labeled the last four holes as “The Bear Claw’’ – a challenging finish to anybody’s round, but especially impactful when you play the course on an extremely windy day. A real tough call between Slammer & Squire and Ocean Hammock. Both have their unique charms.

3, THE CONSERVATORY, Palm Coast. This Tom Watson design is the other 18-holer offered by the Hammock Beach Resort, but the courses are about five miles apart. Both received accolades from Golf Digest and were used for PGA or Champions Tour events in their earlier years. The Conservatory, which has the most elaborate clubhouse of all those we visited, is the centerpiece for a proposed golf community that hasn’t materialized as yet. At 7,726 yards from the back tees, it’s one of the longest courses in Florida and has one of the highest slope ratings (78.2). The Big Ten Conference played its Match Play Championship at the Hammock Beach courses in February.

4, LPGA INTERNATIONAL, HILLS COURSE, Daytona Beach. One of the two 18-holers near the Ladies PGA headquarters, I was told the Hills (designed by Arthur Hills) was much more challenging than the Jones Course, a Rees Jones design. Both are used for the LPGA’s Qualifying School competition each fall. The Hills has generous fairways but lots of forced carries off the tees and quick greens. It’s a fun course with a fine finishing hole – a dogleg left par-4 that features an approach to the green that can make or break your round. The LPGA connection is significant (it’s prominently promoted off I-95) and the facility is well equipped as an instructional center. It even has practice holes.

5, AMELIA RIVER, Fernandina Beach. The first hole, as well as the fifth and 13th holes, run beside the Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport. That didn’t strike me as a plus, but there are some beautiful holes as well. The designer was Tom Jackson, who has done most of his work in his native South Carolina (he has seven designs in Myrtle Beach). Formerly known as Royal Amelia, the Amelia River layout’s signature hole is No. 17 — a par-3 to an island green — and the finisher is a strategic three-shot par-5 that ends at the edge of the Amelia River.

6, HALIFAX PLANTATION, Ormond Beach. The first course we played during our stay here, it was excellent from all ends –- affordability, conditioning, clubhouse setting and amenities. Bill Amick opened the oldest golf architectural office in Florida in 1959, and designed this course, which is located near that office in Daytona Beach. The course is an interesting layout that runs through a residential community. This one definitely merits a return trip.

7, DUBSDREAD, Orlando. We had to make this one, as its name spawned the name of the much more famous No. 4 course at Cog Hill – the long time Chicago home of the Western Open. This DubsDread is much older – a Tom Bendelow design in 1924 – and is much shorter (6,153 yards from the back tees). Very playable for a wide variety of players, it was obviously a favorite of the locals. It was one of the rare courses that was packed when we played there.

8, DEBARY GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB, DeBary. We strayed from the area to visit this Lloyd Clifton design from 1990 because the club had just been taken over by ClubCore, the Texas-based firm that moved into Chicago during the winter at both Ravinia Green, in Riverwoods, and Rolling Green, in Arlington Heights. ClubCore was in the process of doing good things at DeBary, which had hosted qualifying events for the PGA Tour, U.S. Open and U.S. Senior Open a decade or more ago.

9, RIVIERA, Ormond Beach. Family-owned and operated since 1953, Riviera proclaims itself as “the friendly club’’ on its entrance signage and it was that, both in greens fee ($32), the play on a crowded day and in the clubhouse lounge afterwards. The most fun part of the course, which measured just 6,250 yards from the tips, were the humps in the greens. Though obviously not in the same category as its California namesake, it’s also obvious that — in these difficult economic times — the golf world needs more operations like this Riviera.

10, PALATKA GOLF CLUB, Palatka. This is a Donald Ross design from 1925, a fact clearly promoted on the outside of the clubhouse. Made challenging by its small, turtle-back greens, it’s been the home of the Florida Azalea Amateur since 1958. There were lots of doglegs and waste bunkers with a few blind shots mixed in and moss hanging from some of the trees. A long-time Donald Ross fan, I felt this course was one of the best resemblances of a Ross original creation.

11, NEW SMYRNA, New Smyrna Beach. This municipally-owned layout is one of five courses played on this trip that were part of the Florida Historical Golf Trail, a state-wide conglomeration of 50 courses that have been continuously accessible to public play for at least 50 years. This one, opened in 1948, was one of Ross’ last designs. The famed architect died a few months after New Smyrna’s opening. The course is now notable for its white sand bunkers and the Italian restaurant in its clubhouse.

12, DAYTONA BEACH, SOUTH COURSE, Daytona Beach. Part of a 36-hole municipal complex that gets heavy play in one of Florida’s major cities, the South layout is another Ross design. While very playable, it had one most notable feature—a train track that ran right through the course. We were there when a train came roaring through with its horns blowing. I’m told the North Course is the more challenging of the complex’s courses.

13, RIVER BEND, Ormond Beach. This one had tightly-mowed fairways with a helicopter airport adjoining the course and a nature center across the street. Also memorable was the rickety bridge over a highway that was needed to get you from the No. 3 green to the No. 4 tee and the palm tree that was in the middle of the No. 6 fairway.

14, INDIGO LAKES, Daytona Beach. This layout had just come under new management and its pub held its grand opening the day before we visited. The fairways were wide, the greens unusually fast for the area. There was also a nine-foot alligator resting beside a pond off the 17th fairway. Unlike our other Florida stops, we didn’t see many alligators on these courses – but we will remember this big one.

15, PALM HARBOR, Palm Coast. Managed by Chicago-based KemperSports, this course opened in 1973 in what was to be a centerpiece for a planned community. Now it’s a busy city-owned municipal course with a big practice range and a particularly friendly staff. It’s also in the process of change, with home construction underway beside some of the holes. Most unusual about this layout is that you go past the clubhouse to get from the No. 4 green to No. 5 tee. You also make the same journey in the more traditional spot in the rotation — between nines.

16, PINE LAKES, Palm Coast. This is an Arnold Palmer design from 1980, a good layout with interesting contours on the greens. But, it had undergone a recent management change and the conditioning wasn’t good. It did offer a nice view of the 18th green from a huge glass bay window from the clubhouse.

17, ROYAL ST. AUGUSTINE, St. Augustine. We liked the rich sound of the name, the merchandise in the clubhouse and the low greens fee ($25). But this was a goofy layout, starting with the very first hole, as the course meandered through streets that featured some interesting homes.

18, CYPRESS KNOLL, Palm Coast. A Gary Player design, this course was once under the same ownership umbrella as Pine Lakes and Matanzas. We were told that Matanzas, a Palm Coast course which had since closed, was the best of that trio when all were in operation. Cypress Knoll was also in the process of a management change and had conditioning issues, which was reflected in its $25 greens fee. The back nine was much better than the front in both design and conditioning.

FINALLY, we couldn’t include this one in our rankings. Oceans Golf Club, in Daytona Beach Shores, has only 13 holes. The longest is 135 yards, the shortest only 40. But this walking-only course, which wanders through high-rise buildings and botanic gardens, was every bit as enjoyable as all the others we played on the trip.

Golf trails are nothing new. Courses and clubs have formed marketing partnerships for years with varying degrees of impact.

In the United States alone there are at least 50 trails. Texas has five separate of them. Colorado Golf Trails is one marketing entity, but it promotes 10 different trails within that state, and some of those trails have as many of 12 courses. Go to http://www.golftrips.com/golftrails/ to check out the various trails out there.

Most famous is probably the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, which unites 11 Alabama golf facilities. It’s been a rousing commercial success, but some of the “trails’’ amount to nothing more than websites.

I’ve played all the courses on Indiana’s Pete Dye Golf Trail and some courses on a few of the others, including the Robert Trent Jones. This winter, though, I’ve been introduced to one that is different – and in some ways better – than all the others.

The Florida Historic Golf Trail is a collection of about 50 courses. Most were established between 1897 and 1949. All have been publicly accessible for at least 50 years and remain open to the public. Some have been at least partially updated. Some have conditioning issues. Some have retained much of their old-time charm. All would be worth a visit.

One good way to get a feel for an unfamiliar area is to play its golf courses. While I’ve played only five courses on the Florida Historic Golf Tour, four this year, it’s my belief that you can generally get a very affordable golf experience along with a history lesson if you opt for a stop on this list of links.

Florida’s golf history is one of the oldest in the nation, and courses on this trail are spread throughout the state. They’re listed at FloridaHistoricGolfTrail.com, and the site greatly enhances a visit to one of the courses because it provides historic details on each layout and the area surrounding it.

For instance:

Riviera Country Club, in Ormond Beach, started as the cornerstone of a housing development called Rio Vista on the Halifax in 1924. About all that’s left from that development are the elaborate arches that formed the entryway. The Meyers family has owned Riviera since 1953 and it’s the home of the longest-standing mini-tour event in the country, the Riviera Open, which made its debut in 1960.

New Smyrna Golf Club in New Smyrna Beach, might be the last 18-hole course designed by legendary architect Donald Ross. Now a municipal course, New Smyrna lists its opening in 1948 — though the Donald Ross Society says it was a year earlier. Only one other Ross designs, Lianerch-McGovern in Haverton, Pa., was listed in 1948 by the Society. Ross died on April 26 of that year.

Ross, who designed over 400 courses world-wide — most notably Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina, N.C. — was in the process of completing his last course at Raleigh (N.C.) Country Club at the time of his death.

Other Ross courses are included on the Florida Heritage Golf Trail. Palatka was another that I played. Ross designed it in 1925 and it’s been the home of the Florida Azalea Amateur since 1958.

The Bobby Jones Golf Complex in Sarasota also had a Ross influence, but a relatively minor one. He designed the first 18 of the 45 holes now there. The nines of Ross’ course are now split among the two existing 18-holers and a nine-hole executive course is named in honor of Scottish-born Colonel John Hamilton Gillespie. Gillespie built a two-hole practice course in Sarasota in 1886 and because of it the city has claimed to be “the Cradle of American Golf.’’

While Ross courses are prominent, other famous designers like Seth Raynor and Tom Bendelow have courses on the trail as well.

Another course in the mix is Dubsdread, in Orlando. The late Joe Jemsek liked the name so much he used it for his famed No. 4 course at Cog Hill in Lemont, IL. – for 20 years the site of the PGA Tour’s Western Open. Orlando’s Dubsdread was a PGA Tour site, too. It hosted the Orlando Open from 1945-47 and such legendary players as Patty Berg, Jimmy Demaret, Sam Snead and Babe Zaharias were frequent visitors in the 1940s and 1950s.

A Chicago architect named W.D. Clark designed the Jacksonville Beach Golf Links in 1928. Ten years later Golf Magazine rated it with Pebble Beach, Oakmont and Pine Valley as among the hardest courses in the nation. That course eventually became what is now the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club’s Ocean Course.

All these places have a different feel about them, something you don’t find at the newer facilities.

The Florida Department of State created this golf trail with funds from the National Park Service. The courses on the trail, strangely, haven’t embraced their membership as much as they could. The promotional literature consists simply of a scorecard listing of the courses, with places to record the date and score posted for each round. Those promotional scorecards were hard to find at some of the courses we visited.

One aspect of this ongoing golfing adventure is noteworthy, however. Most of our nearly 20 rounds played this winter were on much newer courses, and there was rarely a delay in play on any of them. That wasn’t the case in our visits to Palatka, Riviera or New Smyrna. Those courses may be old, but they were packed with people having a good time and many of them were staying after their rounds to socialize in the clubhouses. There’s a message there some place.

Given the brutal winter of 2014, no doubt plenty of Chicago golfers will want out in search of warmer climates within the next few months. Many will likely head for Arizona. After all, in addition to the sunshine there are lots of good courses in that state and – for another diversion – the Cubs and White Sox will both conduct spring training there before the winter weather departs Chicago.

Those who opt for Arizona, however, don’t have to wait to cross the state line to play some interesting golf courses. The likely route to the Arizona line would be Interstate 80 out of the Chicago area through Iowa and Nebraska, then Interstate 76 to Denver and Interstate 25 to Albuquerque, N.M.

From there it’s a straight shot for about four hours on Interstate 40 to Winslow, Ariz. –- the town made (somewhat) famous by the Eagles’ song, “Take It Easy’’ – and it’s not much further to more typical Arizona destinations like Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.

Before reaching Arizona, though, consider these golf options, most all of them within an hour of the main highways on the route:

AMANA

First state out of Illinois is Iowa. The Harvester Golf Club – the best-known public course in Iowa – is a little further down Interstate 80 near Des Moines, but I’d suggest a stop about an hour before that — in the Amana Colonies on the outskirts of Iowa City and Cedar Rapids.

Amana’s hilly course, designed by William Spear and opened in 1989, may have a few too many blind shots, but the elevation changes create some great views and interesting, fun challenges. The restaurants and shops in the Colonies are also worth a visit. The Colonies – there’s seven of them that date back to 1855 – have been designated a National Historic Landmark.

After leaving the Amana Colonies it’s only barely an hour’s drive to Rhodes, which is 25 northeast of DesMoines and the home of The Harvester. It’s a well-received Keith Foster design that opened in 2003.

INFO: amanagolfcourse.com, harvestergolf.co

TIBURON

After leaving Iowa the logical next stop would be in Omaha, the first big city in Nebraska. There’s plenty of courses in the area (16 in the city itself), but two stand out. Tiburon is the best. It has 27 holes, a definite plus, with its Hammerhead,, Great White and Mako nines.

I’m also intrigued by the city-run Johnny Goodman Course. This 18-holer honors arguably Nebraska’s most famous golfer. Johnny Goodman is the last amateur to win the U.S. Open, having captured the 1933 championship at North Shore in Glenview. Greens fees at both courses are most reasonable, but Goodman is generally a busier place.

INFO: tiburongolf.com, cityofomaha.org/parks/golf.

WILD HORSE

It’s always nice to find “hidden gems,’’ and this one might be the best one in Nebraska. It’s located in Gothenburg, 35 miles from the bigger town of North Platte. Wild Horse has an interesting history. Its designers are Dan Proctor and Dave Axland, who have a small architectural firm called Bunker Hill Golf Inc. Within the golf industry, though, they’re better known as the lead construction and shaping specialists for the much better known architectural duo of Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore.

Crenshaw and Coore handled the renovation of Pinehurst No. 2 for last summer’s U.S. Open. They also created a well-received Nebraska course, Sand Hills. Proctor and Axland worked for them on that projected.

We’ve strived to keep our golf stops reasonably close to the main highways, but another Nebraska possibility — the upscale Prairie Club in Valentine – should get some consideration. It has three courses, all created by well-known designers – Tom Lehman (Dunes Course), Graham Marsh (Pines) and Gil Hanse (Horse).

Prairie Club, about 300 miles from both Omaha and Denver, is managed by Chicago’s well-respected KemperSports. Visiting the Prairie Club requires a significant departure from our designated route to Arizona, but the stop is well worth it if you have the time.

INFO: playwildhorse.com, theprairieclub.com.

FOSSIL TRACE

This one is owned by the city of Golden, a suburb one mile outside the Denver limits and the home since 1873 of the beer manufacturer Coors. One of my favorite architects, Jim Engh, designed the Fossil Trace course, which opened in 2003.

Fossil Trace is reasonably priced and fun, though some might think it on the gimmicky side. Engh’s signature hole, No. 12, has fossil rock formations in the middle of the fairway. The other holes range from a 100-yard par-3 to a 659-yard par-5.

This course is the closest to a must-play layout on our road to Arizona. It’s adjacent to the foothills of the Rocky Mountain Front Range and 15 minutes from downtown Denver. Golf Digest also rates it among its Top 50 Courses in America for Women.

INFO: fossiltrace.com. (RICH, FYI: PHOTO OF NO. 12 SEEMS IDEAL TO SUPPLEMENT THIS PIECE).

PAA-KO RIDGE

Some say this is the best course in New Mexico, and it’s certainly one of the longest – 7,667 yards from the tips. It’s located 17 miles from Albuquerque in the town of Sandia Park.

Paa-Ko Ridge has 27 holes with extreme elevation changes. It’s very scenic thanks to its mountainous location and probably the most challenging course on our road to Arizona. Golf Digest named it the Best New Course in America for 2000.

The University of New Mexico, in Albuquerque, also has one of the better college layouts in the country. It’s also one of the oldest, having opened in 1966. This course is known for its extremely quick, tricky greens and unusual location. It’s next to an airport, which means incoming and outgoing aircraft might present a distraction.

INFO: Paakoridge.com, unm.edu.

PINEHURST, N.C. – Sometimes even big events can get lost in the shuffle. That’s certainly what happened when the Pinehurst resort added a Jack Nicklaus design to its portfolio.

Adding a Nicklaus course is a big deal anywhere golf is played, but Pinehurst’s acquisition announcement wasn’t greeted with much fanfare — and for good reason. Negotiations were completed just eight days before the start of the men’s U.S. Open last June. Inevitably the focus was on the tournament at that time, and it wasn’t your ordinary U.S. Open, either.

Not only would Pinehurst host the men’s Open, it would also be the site of the U.S. Women’s Open the following week – the first time the biggest men’s and women’s tournaments in American golf were played back-to-back on the same course. Both those competitions were played on Pinehurst’s No. 2 course, a layout that Nicklaus himself had called one of his all-time favorites.

Nicklaus, though, hadn’t been idle in North Carolina’s Sandhills area. He designed Pinehurst’s National Golf Club, which opened in 1989 as a private facility owned by the Robinette family. It had always been considered one of the best courses in North Carolina, and that won’t change now that it has undergone a name change.

National Golf Club is now Pinehurst No. 9.

Resort guests started playing No. 9 in July, and that naturally boosted play on the layout. The acquisition also broadened some membership options offered by the resort. More than anything, though, it added to the variety of golf options available under the Pinehurst umbrella.

A little history is appropriate here. Pinehurst No. 1 was designed by Pinehurst resident Donald Ross in 1901. Ross was, arguably at least, the leading course architect of his era and his reputation hasn’t diminished over the years. He also designed No. 2 in 1907 and No. 3 in 1910.

Ross designed a fourth course in 1919, but it was re-designed as a tribute to him by Tom Fazio in 2000.

Ellis Maples created Pinehurst No. 5 in 1961 and George and Tom Fazio put together Pinehurst No. 6 in 1979. No. 7 was a Rees Jones design. It opened in 1986 on land used for a long-abandoned employees’ course that Ross had built.

Tom Fazio was back to create No. 8 in 1996 as a celebration of Pinehurst’s first 100 years.

And now Nicklaus is in the designer mix as well. His design has generous fairways throughout and also features huge, undulating greens, which is more of a Nicklaus trademark. The fun in playing this one also comes in negotiating the numerous bunkers and fairway contours that protect the putting surfaces. Nicklaus did some re-design and renovation work on the course in 2012, notably softening the greens.

No. 9 has five sets of tees, with the course playing 4,935 yards from the front markers to 7,122 from the tips, where the rating is 75.5 and the slope 138.

Along with the course, Pinehurst acquired a 30,000 square foot clubhouse, five tennis courts, a pool, banquet facilities and a restaurant. The acquisition announcement included plans for “enhanced maintenance practices’’ for the course and plans for a renovation and expansion of the clubhouse.

And there could be a Pinehurst No. 10 in the not too distance future as well. Pinehurst owner Robert Dedman Jr. purchased a course called The Pit in February, 2011. Already closed at the time of purchase, this one was designed by Dan Maples, son of Pinehurst No. 5 architect Ellis Maples. Though The Pit had its loyal followers, it’s remained closed for several years.

Officially Pinehurst has no plans to renovate that course or build a new one on the property, but people in the know tell me that the design team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw have visited and done some preliminary work on what could be done with it. Stay tuned. Coore and Crenshaw did a well-received renovation of Pinehurst No. 2 in preparation for the two 2014 U.S. Opens.

What’s most obvious about the No. 9 scenario is that the unprecedented staging of those two U.S. Opens won’t be an end-all at the storied resort. Shortly before the acquisition of No. 9 Pinehurst completed a $4 million clubhouse renovation and revealed plans for a multi-million dollar aquatics facility. Who knows what will be coming to this golf-rich area down the road?

ORLANDO, FL. – Roy Schindele, director of sales and marketing for Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club and Lodge, stresses one thing before taking you on a tour of the facilities.

“This is not a resort. It’s a country club,’’ said Schindele, and that’s an important distinction to make from the outset if you’re lucky enough to visit this place.

There’s a different, very nice feeling about Bay Hill – and why wouldn’t there be? After all, it’s been at least a winter home for perhaps the most charismatic athlete of all time for nearly 50 years.

Based on our visit, Bay Hill has become more than just a winter retreat for Palmer, who spends considerable time in the summer months in Latrobe, Pa., the town where he grew up. He’s 85 now, and health issues have basically relegated him to hitting practice balls on the Bay Hill range these days. I’m told he rarely gets on the course.

Yet, Palmer has an apartment behind the tennis courts and is a frequent visitor to all the club’s facilities. Guests see him playing cards, dining with a group of friends or riding around in his golf cart. While he remains one of the most accommodating of all public figures, Palmer doesn’t spend much of his time posing for pictures or signing autographs for guests. Bay Hill is just where he enjoys life.

He operates his golf course design business from an office at Bay Hill. The two hospitals that bear his family name – the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies – are within 15 minutes. So are The Golf Channel studios. And, of course, the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard, an annual PGA Tour stop in March, has been played at Bay Hill since 1979.

Palmer’s history with Bay Hill goes back to 1965 – three years after the course opened. The original 18 holes were designed by Dick Wilson, known in Chicago circles as the co-designer (with Joe Lee) of the Dubsdread course at Cog Hill.

Bay Hill was a modest resort then, owned by a group of Tennessee investors. Many of the roads around it were dirt and the land that now shows an area of tasteful homes was then dominated by orange trees. The course opened in 1962 and Palmer saw it for the first time on Feb. 28, 1965, when he was invited to play in an exhibition with Jack Nicklaus, a local PGA Tour player named Dave Ragan and Don Cherry, the singer who was a good enough golfer to make frequent appearances on the PGA Tour.

Palmer shot 6-under-par 66 that day, and none of the other members of the foursome could break par. For Palmer the course was love at first site, and when he called wife Winnie that evening he declared Bay Hill “the best course in Florida, and I want to own it.’’

It took awhile, but he eventually did. Since 1976 it’s been officially Arnold Palmer’s club and it has blossomed because of it. His family members have taken an active interest in the private, non-equity club’s operation. The staff is friendly, the 70 rooms in the lodge are tastefully decorated and the food in the three restaurants is good. In short, it’s a comfortable place.

Bay Hill also has six tennis courts, a junior Olympic-size swimming pool, a fitness center, a marina, a salon and a spa. All are top notch without being glitzy. The Palmer touch is everywhere – from the trademark umbrella logs on the napkins and coffee cups and some of the wine bottles to the captivating movie of Palmer’s life that’s available on the television sets in the lodge rooms. The memorabilia and pictures throughout the club also stir all kinds of good memories.

And then, of course, there’s the golf. Bay Hill was an 18-hole facility when Palmer came on the scene. It now has an additional nine-holer, called The Charger, which is pretty much on par with the championship 18 (officially the Championship and Challenger nines) that is used for the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The main layout was a Wilson design, but Palmer has tweaked it many times over the years and it’s now labeled as an Arnold Palmer Signature Course. I’ve played at least 20 courses that have hosted PGA Tour events, and Bay Hill is easily the most fun for the serious recreational player who tees it up from the proper tees.

That’s not to say Bay Hill is easy pickings for the PGA Tour crowd. It’s not. From the tips it’s a 7,381-yard layout, but there are six sets of tees. The 17th hole, a par-3 blocked by a pond front right of the green, is considered Bay Hill’s signature hole but I didn’t see it as an overwhelming choice.

No. 18 has a special, historical touch – a plaque in the fairway commemorating one of the most memorable shots in golf’s recent era of tournaments. Robert Gamez holed out from there for eagle with a 7-iron from 176 yards out to beat Greg Normal in the 1990 Nestle Invitational. That was one of the PGA Tour stop’s title over the years (it was also called the Bay Hill Citrus Classic, Bay Hill Classic, Hertz Bay Hill Classic and Bay Hill Invitational before Palmer’s name was most appropriately included in the title).

The course is spread over 270 acres along the shores of the Butler Chain of Lakes and all the other club facilities are just a very short walk from it, creating a warm, cozy feeling.

Getting to play Bay Hill isn’t easy. You have to either be a member (there are about 800 of them, half living within a 50-mile radius of the club), be a guest of a member or stay at the lodge. The latter option, coupled with its 9,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space, has made Bay Hill a popular place for corporate retreats and weddings.

You’re not a resort guest when you stay at the Bay Hill lodge. You’re in effect a member during your stay and you can take part in all that Ball Hill has to offer. The atmosphere’s the thing here. In nearly 50 years covering all aspects of golf I haven’t experienced anything quite like it.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – Now I know why so many golfers call Hilton Head their favorite get-away destination. It could easily become mine, as well.

Prior to the early 1960s Hilton Head was basically a stop for hunters and fishermen. Then, in 1962, the Ocean Course was built at the Sea Pines Resort. That opened the gates for a series of rapid-fire developments on the island that now has 38,000 residents and attracts 2.5 million visitors annually.

They don’t come just for the golf. Hilton Head also has 13 miles of Atlantic Ocean beaches and eight beach parks, 51 miles of paths for hiking and biking, an extraordinary array of tennis facilities and over 300 restaurants and entertainment venues. The dining isn’t just a load of chain restaurants, either. There are a wide variety of dining options.

Golf, though, is what Hilton Head is really all about. The island’s golf guide lists 31 courses, and there are packages to accommodate about any kind of get-away you could imagine.

During our stay we experienced a good cross section of Hilton Head golf. The premier layout, of course, is Harbour Town Golf Links at Sea Pines – the site of the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage Classic since 1969. It had an interesting beginning, with then-fledgling course architect Jack Nicklaus learning on the job from the veteran Pete Dye in what turned out a joint creation by the two of them.

That course has its landmark lighthouse behind the 18th green, a popular visual for golf viewers annually when the Heritage Classic is in the golf spotlight worldwide. We found that there’s a lot more golf in Hilton Head than what’s played at Harbour Town, however, and there’s even a lighthouse that has a much more interesting history than Harbour Town’s — which isn’t a functioning lighthouse anyway.

Palmetto Dunes’ Arthur Hills Course has its Leamington Lighthouse, known officially as the Hilton Head Rear-Range Lighthouse. Built in 1879, it doesn’t come into play but is worth more than a glance. It’s haunted, or so the story goes.

An 1893 hurricane made a direct hit on Hilton Head and water around that lighthouse was reported to be three feet deep. Adam Fripp, the lighthouse keeper, and his daughter Caroline worked through the night trying to keep the lanterns burning during the storm. Fripp collapsed and died the next day and Caroline succumbed a few weeks later from exhaustion and the loss off her father.

Caroline became known as the Blue Lady, and local lore believes she still haunts that lighthouse wearing her blue dress from that stormy night. Anyway, few golf courses can claim such an unusual feature.

Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort, which has three courses, has been a Hilton Head fixture almost from the beginning and it’s still going strong — though its name, along with that of its first course, is a bit misleading. The Robert Trent Jones Oceanfront Course, opened in 1969 and rebuilt in 1993, has but one hole with an ocean view.

That’s the only ocean view on any of Palmetto’s three courses, and – like the Leamington Lighthouse – the water doesn’t come into play there, either. (The ocean, however, does come very much into play at the resort’s popular beach club).

The three Palmetto courses (the others are the Arthur Hills and Fazio) are all a bit different. The Fazio, designed by George Fazio (uncle of Tom) in 1974, is a demanding par-70. The Hills layout – my choice as the best of the three – is also the newest, having made its debut in 1986.

Palmetto has a broad following. Its visitors include many who return year after year, and such longevity is reflected by director of golf Clark Sinclair. He’s been on the Palmetto staff since 1983 and is a huge supporter of the Hilton Head lifestyle.

While Palmetto has its charms, it’s at Sea Pines — on the southernmost portion of the island — where the action really is. While all the Hilton Head resorts and golf facilities have been regularly updated – over $200 million has been invested in new construction and renovations in the last few years – Sea Pines has been the clear-cut leader in that regard. That’s in keeping with the style of owner Riverstone Group of Richmond, Va.

Riverstone also owns another premier South Carolina resort, The Sanctuary at Kiawah island. One of that resort’s courses, Osprey Point, just opened after a renovation and Riverstone’s other golf facility unveiled its own spectacular new course in September. Full Cry, at Keswick Hall in Virginia, is the legendary Dye’s latest creation.

The upgrades At Sea Pines are more far-reaching, and the cost of three recent major ones hit $55 million. The Plantation Golf Club received a spiffy new 23,000 square-foot clubhouse that opened in April and its Live Oaks restaurant is considered one of the best on the island. That was a $17 million project, and the new Sea Pines Beach Club priced out at $13 million.

Plantation’s Heron Point course, designed by Dye over what had been the Sea Marsh layout, opened but seven years. Still, it was closed for eight months in 2014 for renovation work before being re-opened in September. Davis Love III will re-design Plantation’s other 18-holer, the Ocean course. That layout will be closed next October and is scheduled to re-open in September of 2016.

Harbour Town, though, is getting the most expensive upgrade – a $25 million clubhouse that was built where the old one had stood. The new clubhouse, which opened well in time for the 2015 Heritage Classic (to be played April 16-19), is a 26,000 square foot structure that has 4,000 square feet for lockerroom space.

Shortly after the new clubhouse is up and running the Harbour Town course will close. It’ll be shut down in May, shortly after the next Heritage Classic, to allow for a summer-long renovation in which the fairways will be re-grassed, the greens re-seeded and the irrigation system replaced.

These costly projects have kept Hilton Head at the forefront of American golf facilities, but that’s not to say it has everything. There are too many round-abouts for my taste and a few more streetlights would be nice, too. But learning to handle all the turns and cope with the extreme darkness in the nighttime hours is just part of the Hilton Head experience. They’re no big deal, and you get used to it.

That doesn’t take long, and then the place really has you hooked.

KESWICK, Va. – Pete Dye is in his late eighties now, but the most innovative golf course architect of this generation shows no signs of slowing down. His latest creation, Full Cry, is proof of that.

Full Cry opened informally in September at the Keswick Golf Club with the formal opening on Oct. 10. It’s been well received, but the acclaim will only grow in the coming months.

Dye has designed over 300 courses world-wide, and not all are as user-friendly and fun as Full Cry, the name derived from a fox-hunting term. The name hasn’t really made the rounds yet – it’s not even on the course’s scorecard – but it will once the staff at Keswick order the next wave of merchandise.

The course is actually the third version on the same property, 600 acres on the outskirts of Charlottesville, that has roots to a private estate built there in 1912. The estate was converted into a country club in 1948 when the late Fred Fraley, a Virginia architect, designed a nine-hole course.

Fraley added a second nine in the mid-1950s and Arnold Palmer’s design group renovated that course in 1992. Full Cry is nothing like what the other courses had been.

“It’s 100 percent Pete Dye,’’ said Eric McGraw, the club’s head professional for the last 15 years. “He had to tear everything up. Watching the earth-moving was a treat. It was like watching an artist.’’

Building Full Cry took awhile – 19 months to be exact. The finished product has all the Dye trademarks, especially the green complexes. It also has railroad ties in some places – around a pond and tee boxes — and materials from the course’s previous cart path were salvaged for similar purposes.

“A wonderful use of old material and beautiful to look at,’’ said McGraw – an accurate description.

The more pronounced eye-catcher, though, is the bridge leading to the tee boxes at No. 17. It’s a converted flatbed railroad car.

While a signature hole hasn’t been designated yet, the stretch between Nos. 3 and 7 has been dubbed The Gauntlet and they include two really good par-3s at Nos. 4 and 7.

McGraw’s favorite hole is the 18th, a great visual off the tee with water on the left. It’s not mine, however. I prefer the seventh. The green at the par-3 is surrounded by white sand, creating in effect an island green without any water. A really neat hole, though first-time players may better recall the 17th when their round is done simply because of the presence of the “railroad’’ bridge.

Dye installed six sets of tees at Full Cry, the shortest creating a 4,809-yard course and the layout measuring 7,134 from the tips. It’s not the challenge that his more famous courses – TPC Sawgrass in Florida, the Ocean Course at Kiawah in South Carolina or Whistling Straits in Wisconsin – present but it can be a serious test the further you move back in the tee box. As is the case with any well-designed layout, full enjoyment comes when you use the appropriate tee markers — and that’s especially true of Dye designs, including this one.

Keswick Hall and Golf Club was acquired about three years ago by Riverstone Group, which is based in Richmond, Va. It also includes the well-known Kiawah and Sea Pines golf resorts and two hotels – Hermitage in Nashville, Tenn., and Jefferson in Richmond. Riverstone is a family business that was founded by Bill Goodwin. His daughter and son-in-law live in Charlottesville.

While the focus here is on the golf, there’s much more to the Full Cry experience. Keswick Hall is a full-fledged retreat for golfers with its pleasantly elegant 48-room hotel, and accompanying recreational and dining opportunities. Just a few months after the Full Cry opening Keswick Hall was honored with the coveted Forbes Five-Star Award in recognition of its exceptional level of luxury and service.

The view of the course from the hotel is awesome, and it’s just a short walk from the hotel to the pro shop.

You need to be either a resort guest or the guest of one of Keswick’s 150 members to tee off at Full Cry. The plan is to increase the membership and lodging opportunities eventually and that shouldn’t be difficult once the popularity of Full Cry is in full force.

In February Keswick announced an exclusive partnership with famed sports psychologist Dr. Bob Rotella. He lives in the area and is now Keswick’s Mental Golf Coach.

While the central Virginia town of Keswick is small, the options around it aren’t. Monticello, the historically inspiring home of Thomas Jefferson, is just a few minutes away and two other presidential retreats from the country’s early years – the homes of James Madison and James Monroe – are also in the Charlottesville area.

They provide an ample look at the area’s rich past, while Full Cry is an indication of the good things coming down the road.

HOT SPRINGS, Va. – I don’t think I’ve ever been to a place quite like The Homestead. This resort – officially The Omni Homestead since July of 2013 — is about so much more than golf.

Located just 39 miles over windy two-lane roads from the West Virginia state line, The Homestead also offers such things as falconry, state-of-the-art snowmaking for skiers and snowmobilers, and a new Shooting Club House and Pavilion. There’s also a two-acre water park, a new spa, an equestrian center, clay courts for tennis buffs, a miniature golf course and elaborate trails for hikers, cross country skiers and mountain bikers. The Homestead’s traditions include movies every night, afternoon tea in the hotel’s Great Hall and ornamental gazebos around the naturally-heated springs, all chemically unique.

In fact, you might suspect that golf is being downsized, given that one of Homestead’s three 18-holers – Lower Cascades – was closed two years ago.

More than anything, though, The Homestead is all about history. Twenty-two U.S. presidents have visited the charmingly elegant hotel since the resort opened in 1766 – that’s 10 years before the United States declared its independence — and the golf played there is a prominent part of that history.

Golf was why we were there, and our two-day early November visit fell in less-than-ideal weather. Half of our round on the well-decorated Cascades Course was played in rainy weather and our tour of the Old Course was played in 37-degree temperatures and 50 mile per hour winds that knocked many of the pins out of the cups. Still, all was good.

Being a golf history buff, we were particularly intrigued by the Old Course. No course has quite the history this one does.

You’re informed before the round that the No. 1 tee is the nation’s oldest first tee in continuous use. The first tee shot was struck there in 1892 and head professional Mark Fry said 18-hole rounds were played almost from the outset. That suggested an historical controversy could be in the works, since Chicago Golf Club has long claimed to be the nation’s first 18-hole course. It also opened in 1892.

Fry, though, informed me that only six holes were available when the Old Course opened and that players covered 18 holes by playing it in three loops. So, Chicago Golf Club’s claim remained intact. The Old Course didn’t have 18 different holes until 1901. (By then Chicago Golf Club was six years into playing its second 18-holer. The original, in Belmont (now Downers Grove), is now down to a sporty, heavily-played nine-holer run by the Downers Grove Park District).

Donald Ross designed the Old Course and well-respected later architects William S. Flynn and Rees Jones eventually updated it, but the Old Course is still only 6,099 yards from the tips with well-contoured fairways that leave you side hill, uphill and downhill lies to relatively small greens.

The course is a bit quirky, too. I’ve never heard of a first hole being declared No. 1 handicap hole (but I don’t quibble with that choice here). The Old Course also is unusual in that it has back-to-back par-5s on both nines and a par-3 finishing hole.

All that is noteworthy, but – again – history is what really sets the Old Course apart. Not only does No. 1 have the nation’s oldest first tee in continuous use, it also is the place where the first sitting President of the United States played golf. William McKinley smacked his first tee shot there in 1901. He didn’t really take to the game, but William Howard Taft was an avid golfer and the Old Course may have been the course he played the most during his Presidency.

Cascades, once known as Upper Cascades, opened in 1923 and has a modern-day feature with a waterfall (above) beside the 17th green. Cascades has its history, too. The first head professional there was the legendary Sam Snead, who was born in Hot Springs and began his working life as a caddie at The Homestead when he was 17.

Snead eventually made hickory-shaft clubs in the Casino, the name given to the Old Course pro shop and tennis center, and worked on the construction crew that built Cascades.

In 1934 Snead and was named the Cascades’ head pro. Among his duties was giving lessons there, at a cost of $3. Naturally, he also played there frequently and had a best score of 61 that included nine consecutive threes on the back nine.

Snead passed on three days before his 90th birthday but his name, and family, remain prominent in the area. The road leading through Hot Springs is Sam Snead Highway and his son, Sam Snead Jr. (called Jackie) owns Sam Snead’s Tavern – a local hotspot.

It’s the first of 19 restaurants nationwide that bear Snead’s name, but the only one that is still owned by Sam Snead Jr. He has leased it to The Homestead but is a frequent visitor and was there the night we visited. Sam Snead’s Tavern is a most friendly dinner place with lots of great Snead memorabilia and good food. Jackie Snead – in an unsolicited but very nice gesture – sent us an autographed copy of the menu that includes some helpful historical data.

Cascades is considered one of the nation’s best mountain courses. It was designed by Flynn and has been ranked among America’s 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses by Golf Digest. The Allegheny Mountains provide a breathtaking backdrop for the golfers. It’s never been a PGA Tour site, but has hosted seven U.S. Golf Assn. national championship ranging from the 1928 U.S. Women’s Amateur to the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur of 2009.

Probably the biggest USGA event played at the Cascades was the 1967 U.S.Women’s Open, an event that resulted in Catherine Lacoste of France winning the title.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. – Setting foot on the grounds of America’s first golf course took awhile – four years to be exact. Finally, though, it happened. That’s the good news.

The unfortunate part is that Oakhurst Links, saved by a purchase by Jim Justice, owner of the Greenbrier Resort, was closed for the season a week into November. Playing this unique layout was not an option.

Some history: Oakhurst Links was a golf course from 1884 until at least 1912. Then Russell Montague, owner of the property, converted it into a horse farm. Just a few of Montague’s neighbors played the course way back when, and a book — “Oakhurst: The Birth of America’s First Golf Course’’ by Paula DiPerna and Vikki Keller (Walker & Co., 2002) – detailed the early history of the place.

Sam Snead, long a resident of the area, urged the restoration of the course and – with the help of architect Bob Cupp – it was re-opened as a 2,235-yard nine-holer in 1994. There was some initial curiosity about the place, and players were equipped hickory-shaft clubs to play it the way Montague and his neighbors did. The curiosity didn’t last long, however, and the course was closed off-and-on, including during our first visit in 2010.

Searching for the course then was an adventure in itself. A stop in this small town just over the West Virginia line was unsuccessful. The own is home to the Greenbrier, which bills itself as “America’s Resort’’ and hosts an annual PGA Tour event. Still, four years ago most of the locals – including some Greenbrier employees – had barely heard of Oakhurst. That was surprising, since it’s only a 10-minute drive from the big resort and there were landmark plaques in the town.

We followed the signs to Montague Road and apparently got within a mile of the place before a fallen tree on the narrow road curtailed any further travel.

Fast forward four years, to this November. Oakhurst had been closed off and on since our first visit and Justice eventually purchased it from long-time owner Lewis Keller. The price wasn’t disclosed but it satisfied a $700,000 lien on the property, according to published reports.

Greenbrier has been marketing Oakhurst to its guests, and many have played it. Our visit, though, indicated it was a tough sell.

The road to the poorly-marked course is narrow and winding, through a subdivision. We found a nearby course, Valley Lo Country Club, before we could locate Oakhurst. Once there, we saw sand tee boxes, like those used in the early days of American golf, and could spot a few greens. We couldn’t figure out the layout without tee markers, however, and the clubhouse was in need of repair, with paint peeling in several places.

A neighbor reported that golfers were playing the course again during the summer, but not enough of them to stall a mid-October closing for the season. Still, it’d be a shame to lose this piece of American golf history. Judging by the golf history books, it was about the only layout played in the U.S. prior to the opening of Chicago Golf Club – America’s first 18-hole course – in 1892.