SPRING GREEN, Wisconsin – This was one of those odd stops where we stayed at a golf resort — and it looked like a pretty good one — but didn’t hit a shot.  House on the Rock has 27 holes designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., but we were there to see a couple of attractions that have intrigued us for years.

In addition to being a resort, House on the Rock proper is a complex of distinct rooms, streets, gardens and shops.  It’s not an easy place to describe, but it’s been a popular tourist attraction since 1960.

Just a few miles away is Taliesin, the long-time home of legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright. These places aren’t related and have very little in common other than location. Still, people come to this town to visit both.

The one area where they are similar is in their creators.  Both Wright and House on the Rock’s Alex Jordan Jr. were extremely creative guys with unique personalities.

House on the Rock is more fun than anything else.  Taliesin is more historical.  It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and spotlights the unique style that Wright was known for during his lengthy architectural career.

I got interested in Wright after reading a “historical fiction’’ book on his life, “Loving Frank,’’ several years ago.  His architectural was controversial and always evolving.  His lifestyle was as well.

Wright called Taliesin his home and design studio for most of 50 years.  He lived for a significant portion of his career in Oak Park, IL., but Taliesin was where he did his creating.  The low ceilings were the most striking from my perspective.

Taliesin is built on 800 acres with great views of the Wisconsin River and very informative  tours of one-, two- and four-hours available.

Shuttles take you from the Frank Lloyd Wright Welcome Center, which was one of his creations, to Taliesen, which is just a few minutes away.

House on the Rock, meanwhile, is a self-guided visit and has three options. The “Ultimate Experience,’’ which we chose, covers the whole place.  It gave us a good four-hour walk.  Two shorter tours are also available.

Founder Alex Jordan was the opposite of Wright, in that he was a recluse who started work on a one-man retreat in 1945. Word of the unusual things he was creating inside rock formations got out and, by 1960, Jordan decided to open it to tourists. It’s grown from there.

The “Tribute to Nostalgia’’ and “Streets of Yesterday’’ were my favorites.  Meticulouusly furnished and crafted doll houses and circus displays were impressive as were two towering carousels.  The Carousel Room had one carousel that had 269 animals; 20,000 lights and 182 chandeliers.

Music played throughout the three sections if you wanted to hear it. Tokens were required to play the music and animation machines, and you could cash the unused ones in for purchases in the gift shop.

We spent the whole day at the two attractions, the morning for House on the Rock and the afternoon at Taliesin. That was plenty enough time for House on the Rock but – if you are a Frank Lloyd Wright fan – you might need more.

The gift center there is filled with good reading on Wright and the Frank Lloyd Wright Trail, 200 miles of sights and sites relative to Wright’s career, can take you through nine counties in south Wisconsin.  It offers dining, hiking, the arts and cultural opportunities not part of the Taliesin experience.

 

DAYTONA BEACH, FL. – The Daytona Beach area is good place for golfers, no question about it.

The greater Daytona area has 20 courses. Two are part of LPGA International, the area’s premier golf destination. Since 1994 it has been the home of the Ladies PGA Tour, and it hosts the final stage of the circuit’s Qualifying School each year.  Its courses were designed by luminaries Arthur Hills and Rees Jones. Enough said.

Three of the other courses have withstood the tests of time, as they’re included in the 50 facilities selected for the Florida Historic Golf Trail. One of the oldest such conglomeration of courses in the country, it honors courses that were built between 1897 and 1949 that remain open for public play.

That trio includes Riviera, in Ormond Beach.  It’s the home of The Riviera Open, the longest-standing mini-tour event in  the U.S., and two designs by the legendary architect Donald Ross – New Smyrna Beach and the South course at Daytona Beach Golf Club.

Ross designed the first nine holes of Daytona Beach South in 1921 and completed the 18 in 1923.  He also did a re-design in 1944. In 1945 the course celebrated with a star-studded foursome – Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan and Jug McSpaden were brought together for an exhibition — and the following year Jimmy Demaret replaced McSpaden and won the competition by shooting a 63.

New Smyrna is one of Ross’ last creations, and he only did the front nine.  He started his work there in 1947, died in 1948 and the first nine opened in 1949.  The full 18 wasn’t available until 1956 and Bobby Weed did a complete renovation in 2006. A side footnote on New Smyrna is that Jim “Bones’’ McKay, the well-known caddie for Phil Mickelson and Justin Thomas and part-time TV analyst, grew up there.

Another course in the mix is Spruce Creek Country Club in Port Orange.  It’s part of the largest fly-in community in the country.

As far as a golf destination goes, Daytona has a problem, however.  Chances are the golf – while interesting – will always play second fiddle to Daytona’s biggest attractions, its white sand beaches and the Daytona International Speedway, home of the Daytona 500 auto race.

“We have a wide group of courses,’ said Andrew Booth, director of communications for the Daytona Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, “but we offer a lot of different things. We’re a great destination. There’s lots of ways you can plan your visit.’’

Indeed he’s right, and big things have been happening there – most notably around the Speedway. A $400 million renovation was initiated in 2014, which greatly upgraded the motor sports aspect. More recently One Daytona, a shopping and entertainment  area across the street from the Speedway, has enhanced tourism options.

“The renovation transformed the area into an arena experience,’’ said Booth, “and that was a real game-changer.’’

The family of Bill France, the founder of NASCAR who opened the Speedway in 1959, had a big vision for the area. One Daytona now includes The Daytona Hotel, a variety of restaurants and shops surrounding a play area for youngsters willing to get wet whether or not the hot sun is shining.

While the dining is fine at One Daytona, there’s one area restaurant that’s not to be missed.  Rose Villa Southern Table, in Ormond Beach, was established as a bed and breakfast in 1901.  It evolved with the times and is now an upscale former historic home that serves a wide variety of cuisine in a Southern hospitality atmosphere.

In addition to One Daytona the Speedway itself is welcoming more than motor sports enthusiasts. Soccer matches were played there last year and a rock music festival drew a huge crowd this year.  Now Jacksonville’s National Football League team, the Jaguars, are considering playing some of their games there while their own stadium is undergoing a two- to three-year renovation.

Sure, the 11 miles of vehicle access around the beaches is nice, but there are other things to consider on a visit to Daytona.

The Speedway has a museum that interests more than just casual racing fans. The Daytona Tortugas are a minor league baseball team that plays in an historic place.  The Jackie Robinson Ballpark, which opened in 1914, was renamed to honor Robinson, who made his professional debut there in 1946 when he played in a spring training game for the Montreal Royals.  That was the lead-in to Robinson breaking the color barrier in the Major Leagues the following year.

Now Ponce Inlet Watersports offers boat tours to explore glimpses of manatees and dolphins as well as kayaking or parasailing for the more adventurous visitors. The Atlantic Ocean is right there for fishermen and Tomoka State Park is an ecological masterpiece for those into cycling, botanical study, paddling, hiking, boating or wildlife viewing. And, the Museum of Arts & Sciences, has a diverse collection of art, history and science exhibits.

Latest attraction is pickleball. Forty-nine courts – some shaded, covered or lighted – are available.  They were the site of the USA Pickleball Diamond National Championships in 2022.

Getting back to golf, though, you don’t want to miss Spruce Creek.  It was an airport before it was a golf course. The airport existed during World War II. The golf course opened in 1972 and home-building started after that. Lots of retired pilots and commercial pilots live in the area.

“People can fly right in and drive their airplanes right into their garages.  We have a lot of hangar homes and a whole lot of roadways for airplanes to drive on,’’ said Jason Pomroy, Spruce Creek’s head golf professional. “It’s quite a unique environment.  Aviation is first, and golf is always second here.’’

The club has about 400 members.  Past members included actor John Travolta, but his jet was too big for the airstrip around the Nos. 1, 8 and 9 holes so he moved on. The club is semi-private now and still accepts public play. About 10-15 planes go in and out on some days, particularly Wednesdays and Saturdays.  You shouldn’t expect peace and quiet on your rounds at Spruce Creek, but you are guaranteed a unique golfing experience.

 

 

Playing golf in the mountains isn’t our norm, but when the opportunity arose we jumped at it – and we’re glad we did.

The International Network of Golf Spring Forum was held in Valley Forge, Pa., and the mountainous area known as The Poconos was barely an hour away.  As soon as the Forum was over we were on our way to the Poconos.

A good mix of golf is available on the Lehigh Valley Poconos Golf Trail and we experienced three very different types of courses with rounds at Jack Frost National, in Blakeslee; Woodloch Springs, in Hawley; and Shawnee, in Shawnee on the Delaware.

We had roughly two-hour drives between Valley Forge and Jack Frost National; another two hours from Jack Frost to Woodloch Springs; and still another two hours from Woodloch to Shawnee. These were all over winding, rolling roads through small towns. They provided pleasant glimpses into the quaint, charming communities but the roads weren’t designed for speed.  You had to take your time and enjoy the scenery.

Jack Frost National was the most interesting of the three courses, Woodloch the most challenging and Shawnee the most historical.  We’ll save Shawnee for last, just because it has the most interesting story to tell.

JACK FROST NATIONAL: This layout, measuring 7,256 yards from the tips and spread over 200 acres, is championship caliber but few big events have been played there.

“It’s hard to schedule them because we’re a busy place,’’ said director of instruction Ryan Kearn.  “We do 218 rounds a day.’’

Most striking about the course are the changes in elevation, most evident between the par-5 ninth hole which plays uphill, and the par-3 eleventh, which is all downhill. No. 14 is the designated signature hole.

The area has a ski hill in operation during winter months, but Kearn says there’s no overlap between the sports. The golf and ski facilities have different owners.

“In each of the last three years closing day (for skiers) came the day before our opening day,’’ said Kearn.  “Our course is interesting, fun, wide open with big greens and fairways and only one water hole.’’

The bar/dining area is covered but open air on the sides, a nice friendly place for socializing before and after play.

Architect for Jack Frost National was Terry LaGree. He holds a degree in landscape architecture from the University of Wisconsin but is best known as the chief executive officer at Florida’s Black Diamond Ranch. He completed Jack Frost National in 2007.

WOODLOCH SPRINGS: Rocky Roquemore designed this toughie in 1992. It’s only 6,579 yards from the back tees but there’s some demanding shots that can’t be avoided.  Nos. 3 and 7 – the front nine par-5s – have three landing areas on the way to the greens that can’t be missed without costing strokes.

Roquemore is a busy, internationally-known designer.  He’s done courses in Portugal, France, Venezuela, Colombia and the Caribbean as well as across the United States. His best-known courses are probably the Magnolia, Lake Buena Vista and Palm at Florida’s Walt Disney World. His resume also includes Pine Meadow, a popular public course in Illinois.

The Woodloch Springs playing experience, while challenging, offers some fine views and deer meander through the layout without showing any fear of the golfers.

Woodloch Springs is a semi-private facility.  There are two restaurants in the clubhouse of the country club, and The Grille provided outstanding dining during our visit.

SHAWNEE: History abounds here at this Inn and golf resort that has 27 holes. The first 18 was the first design of the legendary architect A.W. Tillinghast, who went on to design such famous layouts as Winged Foot and Bethpage Black, in New York, and Baltusrol, in New Jersey. Tillinghast’s first course opened in 1910.

Big tournaments were commonplace there then.  Top tour players Fred McLeod and John McDermott, a two-time U.S. Open champion, won Shawnee Open tourneys in 1912 and 1913; Alexa Stirling captured the U.S. Women’s Amateur there in 1919 and Paul Runyan won a title match with Shawnee pro Sam Snead in the 1938 PGA Championship.

In 1943 the resort was sold to singer/entertainer Fred Waring.  Jackie Gleason learned to play golf there and Hale Irwin won an NCAA title at Shawnee before Karl Hope purchased the resort in 1974 and built a ski area with three-time Olympic gold medalist Jean-Claude Killy heading the operation on the slopes.

Arnold Palmer met his first wife, Winnie, on the porch of the Shawnee Inn and golfers there over the years included Lucille Ball, Art Carney, Perry Como, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Eddie Fisher, George Gobel and Ed Sullivan.

Indiana architect Bill Diddel added a third nine to Tillinghast’s work in 1963 and Tom Doak created a nine-hole practice facility at the resort.  A major bridge construction was underway when we visited. That’s significant because the course is divided by what director of marketing Jeromy Wo describes as “international waters.’’

The par-3 second hole on the Red nine plays over the Delaware River to an island that ends when golfers tee off on the No. 7 hole of the Blue nine and the holes come back to the mainland. Twenty-four of the 27 holes at Shawnee are on the island.

“The island isn’t part of either Pennsylvania or New Jersey,’’ said Wo.

The three nine-hole courses are basically flat, but very much fun.  Shawnee isn’t all about golf, however.  The 80-room Inn is old, but charming, and there’s vacation cottages and the Delaware Lodge also available for visitors.

The resort has two pubs and a brewery. Spa Shawnee and Salon is a place to get pampered and unwind. There’s also river boating and rafting, an indoor Olympic-size swimming pool, a beach along the Delaware River, biking and hiking trails and a playhouse.

That’s a lot to digest, but Shawnee is a special place and I’m glad to have experienced it.

 

ALL OVER, Alabama – There’s a handful of golf trails across the country – and then there’s the Robert Trent Jones Trail that stretches over about 400 miles in Alabama, from the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains to the Gulf Coast.

This collection of courses is like no other. It includes 26 courses — or 468 holes — spread around 11 locations.  Eight of the locations have upscale lodging available. The scenery is beautiful throughout.

Every serious golfer should visit the RTJ Trail at some point. They’ll find courses that reflect the best golf in the U.S. and offer challenges for players of all abilities. Course conditions are uniformly good and the greens fees are fairly priced. One warning, though: Be prepared for significant elevation changes on most every hole, not just every course.  Flat courses don’t fit the RTJ style.

We’ve made three visits to the Trail.  Two were over-night stops spread over several years.  The last was extensive – seven courses over six days with no hotel stay longer than one night.  We were on the move to experience everything the Trail has to offer, on and off the courses.

We made stops at seven of the 11 Trail destinations and, while the golf certainly didn’t disappoint, we were taken almost as much by the non-golf attractions along the way.  The RTJ Trail isn’t all about golf.

A little history first. Dr. David Bronner, the chief executive officer of the Retirement Systems of Alabama, is the visionary credited with getting the Trail launched in 1992. It gave a big boost to Alabama’s tourism. With millions of dollars worth of television commercials provided at no cost by the state pension fund each year the Alabama tourism industry has grown from $1.8 billion in 1992 to over $24 billion.   That’s according to Lee Sentell, director of the Alabama Tourism Department.

In promoting the Trail, the media attention also benefitted many other attractions – and we were happy to check them out in between our rounds.

For instance:

A tour of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio gave us an interesting glimpse into the state’s rich musical history.  The Studio was in its heyday from 1969-78.  The Rolling Stones called it “rock and roll heaven.’’  Cher was the first artist to use the Studio, but among those who followed her there included Lynryd Skynyrd, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Rod Stewart and Willie Nelson.

The U.S. Space & Rocket Center, in Huntsville, could command a full day to experience everything there.  Space travel evolved after German engineers hooked up with American scientists there in 1950. Now the Center includes a Space Camp where youngsters from all over the world come to learn how to become astronauts, and many have already made it.

Much more recently the Tony & Libba Rane Culinary Science Center has opened at Auburn University.  It features an upscale teaching restaurant – the only one in the world – where students learn about all aspects of hospitality management.

While the Auburn facility, which opened less than a year ago, tells you what’s coming in the hospitality business, the Grand Hotel Resort & Spa, in Point Clear, tells you what it was like in the good old days. The hotel opened in 1847, was used as a miliary hotel during the Civil War, overcame fires, hurricanes and ownership changes and emerged as a place that includes spas, tennis courts, Bucky’s Lawn (which serves great Mint Juleps by its fire pits) and facilities for all sorts of yard games. It’s a charming place all around.

Dining?  No problem here.  There are all kinds of restaurants around the Trail.  The most memorable was 360 Grille at Marriott Shoals. It’s located at the top of a tower and the restaurant slowly moves in a circle while you’re eating. Straight to Ale Brewery at Campus 805, in Huntsville, took over what had been a high school and remnants of the school days were still there. Back Forty Beer, in Gadsden, was a friendly place with an Astroturf play area where kids of all ages could toss a football. The Hound, in Auburn, is a hopping place with 28 craft beers on tap and a menu that includes wild-game sausage and claims to focus on “bacon, bourbon, community and family.’’

And now for golf on the Trail.

None of the courses are easy,  but Silver Lakes, in Gadsden, has three nines that are aptly named Heartbreaker, Backbreaker and Mindbreaker. Yes, they’re tough.

Lakewood Club, in Point Clear, has the only Trail course not designed by Robert Trent Jones.  The club opened in 1947 and Perry Maxwell designed its Dogwood course, with Jones eventually renovating it. Dogwood recently hosted the 59^th U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur.

Fighting Joe, at The Shoals, opened in 2004 as the first course on the trail to exceed 8,000 yards from the back tees.  It 8,097 from the back – but that was no place we wanted to go.

Hampton Cove, in Owens Cross Roads, has a course without a single bunker.  It’s no pushover, though.  It’s called The River for a reason – lots of water holes.

Capitol Hill has three courses.  The Senator, a links course, has 140 pothole bunkers and lots of blind shots — but no trees and water on only No. 17. The LPGA has used it for tournament play and Lexi Thompson got her first victory there.

Grand National, in Auburn/Opelika, has two 18-holers, one of which is called The Links. It has wide, roaming fairways but they have lots of slopes – the most of any course we played. Never an easy shot to the green there. It also has the strongest finishing hole on the Trail.

Oxmoor, in Oxmoor, has a par-3 course called The Back Yard.  It has nine holes that can play as short as 59 yards and the course’s longest hole is 132.

The best course? Fighting Joe was my favorite but you can’t choose the best without playing them all. It may take some time, but we’re looking forward to doing just that.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Check out rtjgolf.com.

 

 

 

 

SYLACAUGA, Alabama – Alabama is a golf-rich state, with the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail dominating the lists of top courses there.  There’s only one thing missing from the Trail’s 26 courses spread around 11 destination sites. All of those layouts don’t include the best one – at least according to GolfWeek, one of the best-known rating publications.

GolfWeek gave the nod to the FarmLinks course at Pursell Farms as the No. 1 public course in Alabama for the first time in 2011. Then the Michael Hurdzan-Dana Fry design regained the top spot on those GolfWeek rankings in 2013 and has held it right through 2023.

“We’re No. 1 and they (the RTJ Trail courses) are our competition,’’ said David Pursell, the visionary who spurred FarmLinks’ creation. “They have all the breaks in the world, and five of the Trail courses are in short distance to us.’’

FarmLinks, though, is as challenging as any Trail course from the back tees and more user-friendly from the shorter markers. That’s a good combination, and Pursell also has a good story to tell on his course’s history.

His family had been involved in the fertilizer business since 1904, being first called the Sylacauga Fertilizer Company. Working with his father Jimmy, David Pursell devised a marketing strategy to attract golf superintendents to visit the property in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains near Birmingham.

They got 10,000 of them from all parts of the country to come for three-day visits to what had been Jimmy Pursell’s cattle farm. Choosing Fry and Hurdzan to do the course design work was a wise one, as their later creations included Wisconsin’s Erin Hills, site of the 2017 U.S. Open.

FarmLinks, however, wasn’t built to host tournaments. It was originally built to stimulate fertilizer sales, and — after three years of superintendent visits — it worked.

“We built trust with the golf course superintendents and taught them a lot about the fertilizer business,’’ said David Pursell. In those days the course included 28 varieties of grasses and conducted chemical treatments on the fairways to educate their visitors. Fertilizer sales took off, and offers to buy the company started coming in.  One from a Canadian company was accepted.

“In that one transition we made more money than the company had in 102 years.  My Dad was really happy about that,’’ said Pursell.

The sale came in 2006. Then, with David taking on an increasingly bigger role, the family decided to switch from fertilizer to the hospitality industry.

“The American dream is to build something up,’’ said Pursell.  “I was in my 40s, and I wanted to do something here.  The family decided to re-invest and do something different.’’

Pursell and his wife have lived on the property since 1981 and have six children and 10 grandchildren.  Most have worked at the Farm at one time or another.

After being visitors in the fertilizer days in 2012, we were stunned by the massive changes the Pursells have made to turn the property into a boutique resort, a transformation that took off following Jimmy Pursell’s death at age 84 on Father’s Day, 2020.

Golf remained the key part of the operation, and the course gained a more detailed appreciation. Nos. 5, 8 and 17 became recognized as great downhill par-3s. No. 5 may be the most notable of those. It has a 170-foot drop from the back tees to the green, and golfers are offered watermelon slices when they head from tee to green.

Pursell recalls how that memorable hole came about.

“Dana Fry got me out of my office to look at it,’’ he said. “Dana, who had worked for Tom Fazio, had me look down to the green.  Then he said `we can have one of the most dramatic holes in the Southeast, but the cost will be seven times what it was going to cost.’  I said `let’s do it.’’’

That was a good decision; so was the decision to name the holes – particularly No. 4, a downhill par-5.  A plaque there stirs memories of Andrew Jackson, a former U.S. President and war hero. In 1814 he led his militia, the Tennessee Volunteers, against against the Red Stick Creek Indians in what became known as the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.

At No. 5 there’s a plaque recounting a not-so-pleasant part of course history.  It’s called “Jimmy’s Fall” because Jimmy Pursell made a visit by himself during course construction to see how the elevated tee was progressing.  He took a tumble, fell 40 feet and suffered several broken ribs and fingers and a punctured lung. His recovery started with 10 days in a Birmingham hospital.

David Pursell also designed the resort logo, a combination of legendary Bobby Jones and longhorn steers.  It looked good, until Pursell realized there were no steers on the property.  He had a herd brought in before the grand opening and they have grazed peacefully at the resort entrance ever since.

“I’m creative.  I had no agronomic skills at all,’’ said Pursell.   “I’m in between P.T. Barnum and Walt Disney, but on a much smaller scale.’’

It’s not all golf at Pursell Farms now. The Orvis Shooting Ground is a strong second attraction that attracts hunters and fishermen.  There’s also 30 miles of hiking trails. Hamilton Place, built in 1852, has become a popular wedding venue and spa.  Cottages, cabins and an Inn have swelled the lodging options to 81 guest rooms.

Old Tom’s Pub, The Grille and the Arrington Restaurant are all  well-received dining options and the resort also offers high-tech office meeting space, an outdoor pool and fitness facilities. Indeed Pursell Farms has become a very special place.

So, what’s next on the FarmLinks golf scene? It seems like a big tournament could be an option, since Escalante Golf – one of the resort’s partners – has hosted at some of the LIV Tour events.

“We can’t shut the whole property down for something like that,’’ said Pursell, “but we have identified the perfect spot for what would be a private club.’’

With 3,200 acres to work with, there’s plenty of room for Pursell Farms to expand in other directions when the time is right.  While the place has come a long way, its final chapter is a long way from being written.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit pursellfarms.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s no secret that the horrible pandemic gave a boost to the golf industry nation-wide, and that is most evident in Mississippi. The sport has really taken off there in the last few years.

That was evident when a small group of golf media members from all parts of the country spent a week getting a thorough look at the state’s best courses, be they private, resort or public.

While I don’t take any of the major course rating polls as gospel, our group played seven of Mississippi’s top 10 in the Golf Digest rankings. That gave us a good feel for what golf has done for the state since the pandemic.

“We were the No. 1 state in the country for recovery,’’ said Craig Ray, director of tourism for Visit Mississippi.  “That’s according to the U.S. Travel Association.  We got our casinos open early and encouraged our golf and other outdoor activities (to do the same). That’s why we came back quicker, with a smaller percentage of losses than any other state.’’

The casinos were important, of course, but golf was also a big key to recovery.

“We wanted to get people to the casinos, see a show, get a great dinner,’’ said Ray. “We wanted the golfers to see everything else we have to offer – the hunting and fishing, the culinary tours. We have the largest music trail system in the world.  We wanted to show them the whole state.’’

On our trip the group took in a couple of the casinos, Beau Rivage in Biloxi and Pearl River Resort & Casino in Choctaw. We enjoyed some fine dining at Field’s Steakhouse and Oyster Bar, Jia (featuring Pan-Asian cuisine), Phillip M’s Steakhouse, Mama ‘N’ Ems and Cameron’s at Old Waverly Country Club.

The good golf, though, was spread around the state. Using the Golf Digest rankings, we hit No. 1 Fallen Oak, No. 2 Mossy Oak, No. 3 Old Waverly, No. 5 the Azalea course at Dancing Rabbit, No. 6 Grand Bear, No. 8 Dancing Rabbit’s Oaks course and No. 10 Shell Landing.

While that was a good sampling of what Mississippi has to offer golf-wise, our visits did not include three others in the top 10 – No. 4 Annandale in Madison, No. 7 Reunion in Madison and No. 9 The Preserve in Vancleave – or Country Club of Jackson, site of the state’s only PGA Tour stop — October’s Sanderson Farms Championship.

What we did see, though, was plentiful and impressive.  Our stops were roughly divided into three sections.

COASTAL – Beau Rivage’s 32-story MGM-owned resort is Mississippi’s tallest building and offers spectacular views of the Gulf of Mexico and Biloxi’s Back Bay. Its Fallen Oak course has long been the consensus No. 1 among the state’s courses.  A Tom Fazio design,  it hosted PGA Tour Champions tournament  from 2010 to 2021. (The pandemic forced cancelation of the event in 2020). Fazio has long been one of the premier designers of his era, and Fallen Oak is considered one of his best creations.

Beau Rivage recently completed nearly $100 million in property enhancements including a $55 million remodeling of each of its 1,645 hotel rooms. The resort offers live entertainment in its 1,550-seat theater, an upscale shopping promenade with 12 retail shops, the Black Clover Lounge and Topgolf Swing Suite and a world-class spa. It also has 12 restaurants in addition to an 85,000 -square foot gaming area.

Clearly it’s Mississippi’s full-service sports betting and entertainment destination.

As for Fallen Oak, the course opened in 2006 and has consistently been ranked as the No. 2 casino course in the U.S., trailing only Shadow Creek – its MGM sister course in Las Vegas. Probably because only Beau Rivage members and resort guests can play Fallen Oak the course doesn’t get heavy play and is the best-conditioned of the layouts our group played.

When Fallen Oak asked out of hosting the PGA Tour Champions in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic the tourney switched sites to Grand Bear, a Jack Nicklaus design in Saucier, in 2022 – the last time the tourney was held. Grand Bear, a public course, opened in 1999 and – for the record – our media tour group considered it very much on par with Fallen Oak.

Nicklaus courses are generally very demanding and this one is literally “a Bear” from each tee placement. The front tees are called Teddy Bear, then they go back to the Black Bear, the Brown Bear, the Golden Bear and the Grizzly Bear from the tips.

The course measures 7,204 from the back tees, but this Nicklaus creation, built along the Biloxi River, is more user friendly than many of his others. Grand Bear hit the national spotlight as the site of the Rapiscan Systems Classic in 2022.  Steven Alker was the lone senior star in command that week.  Finishing 62-65 he finished at 18-under-par in the 54-hole test and enjoyed a six-stroke advantage on Padraig Harrington and Alex Cejka.

Shell Landing, a heavily-played public course in Gautier, gives Coastal Mississippi a third course in the state’s top 10. Shell Landing, designed by Davis Love III, was immediately well-received by national golf publications when it opened in 2002. In addition to its popular 18 holes Shell Landing has a 15-acre practice facility.

DANCING RABBIT – The Pearl River Resort is operated by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and its Dancing Rabbit Golf Club is one of its biggest attractions. The facility opened in 1997.

Dancing Rabbit has two 18-holers, The Azaleas and The Oaks.  Both were designed by Fazio in conjunction with Jerry Pate, a Floridian who won the U.S. Open in 1976. Both are well-received public courses with more elevation changes and tighter fairways than were offered at the Coastal courses.

Aa major renovation was recently completed at Dancing Rabbit Inn and the Geyser Falls Water Theme Park is also an available attraction.

With more than 6,000 employees, the Choctaw Tribe is one of the top five private employers in Mississippi and the Pearl River Resort is one of its biggest properties. It encompasses the Silver Star and Golden Moon hotel/casinos.

The Silver Star has a spa and salon where guests can enjoy a full complement of skin and body treatments, soothing steam baths, a whirlpool, sauna and outdoor pool. Its fitness center is filled with state of the art equipment.

Golden Moon is a bit different. Its amenities include The Whiskey Bean (for coffee, sandwiches and pastries), Bistro 24 (for a broader menu that includes mouth-watering steak), Timeout Lounge (for easy TV viewing while enjoying a variety of drink selections) and the excellent restaurant, Mama `n’ Em, with particularly interesting menu offerings.

MOSSY’S ARRIVAL – West Point has been a Mississippi golf hotbed once George Bryan’s Old Waverly Country Club opened in 1988.  Bryan passed on in January but left the place in great shape as a unique two-course complex.

Old Waverly is a prominent name, especially in women’s golf.  The U.S. Women’s Open was played there in 1999. The Handa Cup, a team event for senior women stars, followed in 2014 and the U.S. Women’s Amateur came in 2019.

That was all well and good, but Bryan and Toxie Haas, a long-time business associate and West Point resident, wanted more. They rallied some friends to add a second course and there’s no other course in Mississippi like Mossy Oak.  It’s a sporty but challenging layout that also is the home of the Mississippi State University men’s and women’s teams.

“Our whole goal with that course was to develop a different atmosphere,’’ said Greg Flannagan, the director of golf who is in his 23^rd year at Old Waverly. “We didn’t want golfers to get bored with the stay-and-play option.’’

The courses are very different.  Old Waverly is private, yet can be played by those staying at either the Mossy Oak Cottages or the lodging option right at Old Waverly, while Mossy Oak is comparatively new and, well….different. While it’s officially public, most all of its play comes from stay-and-play visitors.

Mississippi State holds its annual men’s tournament at Mossy Oak while the women’s team conducts its big event at Old Waverly. Both courses have accompanying cottages that make for most pleasant stay-and-play visits.

Flannagan says the goal for the year is to get over 22,000 rounds played on Old Waverly and reach 13,800 on Mossy Oak. The newer layout still has some rough spots and could use signage in a couple places to facilitate play, but it was without question the most fun course that our media contingent played during our most memorable tour of Mississippi.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:  visit www.VisitMississippi.org/golf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s time to hit the road again.  Our visits to golf travel destinations will take us to Mississippi, Alabama and Pennsylvania over the next few weeks, but there’s plenty going on at other places that golf travelers should know about.

For instance:

REYNOLDS LAKE OCONEE – Famed architect Tom Fazio is returning to this beautiful resort in Greensboro, Ga.  He’s completed plans for nine holes that will join with his existing Bluffs nine on The National Course, the eventual result being a new 18-hole layout.

Fazio designed the 18-hole National course, which opened in 1997 with two nines – The Ridge and The Bluffs.  An additional nine, called The Cove, was added in 2000 to allow for more playing options.

The future 18-hole course will utilize the existing Bluff nine with adjacent land that includes a creek, natural boulders and an existing pond.  The land slopes down toward a cove of Lake Oconee with more than 100 feet of elevation change.

When completed the new course will be the only one at the resort to traverse both sides of the peninsula and touch the lake from both Richland Creek and the Oconee River.  The first five holes of the Bluff routing will be followed by nine all-new holes and the final four holes will connect back to The Bluffs.

The new course is scheduled to open in late 2024 and will be private, accessible only to Reynolds Lake Oconee members.  Reynolds Lake Oconee will then have two private courses as well as another 90 holes available for member and resort guest play.

MYRTLE BEACH – The folks at this golf mecca in South Carolina are celebrating the 40^th anniversary of the World Amateur Handicap Championship.  It’s rightly billed as the “World’s Largest’’ tournament and registration has already topped 2,400 for an event that runs from Aug. 28 to Sept. 1.

Usually the tourney draws about 3,200, with players coming from all 50 states and over 25 countries, but this one could be bigger.  Players are flighted by gender, age and handicap and over 50 courses – ranging alphabetically from Abderdeen to World Tour Golf Links – will be used during that big week as golfers compete for over $100,000 in prizes.

CRAGUN’S RESORT – The season is just getting underway at this 36-hole facility in Brainerd, MN. The Lehman 18, created in a multi-million dollar renovation supervised by Minnesota native and PGA Tour Champions player Tom Lehman, will be in the spotlight.

The Dutch 27, three nine-hole layouts dubbed the Red, White and Blue,  will offer a variety of other playing options, though the Red nine is set to undergo a Lehman renovation on July 1 and won’t re-open until 2024.

WALT DISNEY WORLD – The Orlando, FL., resort has four courses operated by the Arnold Palmer Golf Management firm. World Disney World just concluded its 50^th anniversary festivities and will begin work towards its centennial with the Magnolia course of immediate interest.

A Joe Lee design, it’s the longest of Disney’s four courses and had hosted a PGA Tour event for several years.  An extensive renovation has limited play to 14 holes but the course will be at full strength before the year is out.  Holes 14-17 are being reconfigured and all 18 greens are being substantially enhanced.

RODEO DUNES – Be on the lookout for this one.  Michael and Chris Keiser, owners of Wisconsin’s Sand Valley, are bringing their Dream Golf vision to the Denver area.  They’re building two courses on property that is an hour from Denver and there’s space for up to six courses there.

AND MORE FOR 2024 – North Carolina’s Pinehurst Resort is getting a 10^th course, and it could well be a “Perfect Ten.’’ Tom Doak is designing it.

And the Dormie Network is hoping for a “Lucky Seven.’’ The network’s seventh destination will be GrayBull, a David McLay Kidd creation in Maxwell, Neb.

 

NEW EVENTS – Florida is getting a couple of big pro events that are sure to lure visitors in December.

The Grant Thornton Invitational will bring players from the PGA and LPGA tours together at Tiburon, in Naples, beginning on Dec. 4.  It’ll mark a return of a mixed team event, with 16 PGA and 16 LPGA players competing for a $4 million purse. The last time such an event was held was in 1999 when John Daly and Laura Davies won the final edition of the JCPenney Classic.

Meanwhile, the Concession Club, in Bradenton, will debut the new World Champions Cup – a PGA Tour Champions creation – from Dec. 7-10.  This event will have an unusual Ryder Cup-style format, with three teams doing battle – Team USA, Team Europe and Team International.  There’ll be eight nine-hole matches each day of the competition. Points will be awarded for holes won, not just the overall matches.  Jim Furyk will captain Team US, Darren Clarke will guide Team Europe and Ernie Els directs Team International.  There’ll be a $1.35 million purse, and each player on the winning side gets $100,000.

 

GULF SHORES, Alabama – First off, let’s make this perfectly clear.  Gulf Shores-Orange Beach – a  community sandwiched between Pensacola, FL., and Mobile, AL., and not far from the Mississippi state line – offers a lot more than golf.

But we will get to those other nice things later. Gulf Shores is a unique spot for golfers. Not only are its courses good, but they’re also not far from each other. The Gulf Coast and Orange Beach Vacation Guide lists 15 courses in the area with three of the best especially close together.

“We’ve got an island that is 32 miles long in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach,’’ said Easton Colvin, public relations coordinator for Gulf Shores-Orange Beach Tourism. “In it there’s 32 miles of pretty, white sand beaches and 20 miles of golf, if you add the yardages of the courses there together.  All of our courses are public.  You can schedule a tee time on your own at every one of them.’’ We also learned that full-service golf packages can be booked by a division of Troon, which owns three of the course, called Coastal Alabama Golf.

The three courses on the island part of Gulf Shores form a tasty trio.

Kiva Dunes has earned the most accolades.  It’s a links-style layout 200 yards off the beaches. Jerry Pate, working with good friend and developer Jim Edgemon, designed it.

Pate was a hot commodity as a player before Kiva opened in 1995. He starred for the University of Alabama golf team, winning the U.S. Amateur in 1974. His pro career started with a bang, too.  In 1976,  his rookie season on the PGA Tour, he won both the U.S. and Canadian Opens. Six years later he won The Players Championship.

Those are pretty good titles to have on a playing resume, and Pate won five other times before shoulder and knee problems slowed his playing career down. With Kiva one of his first designs Pate converted to being a successful course designer, developer and businessman while settling in Pensacola.

In its early years Kiva hosted the second stage of the PGA Tour Qualifying School three times and was named the No. 1 public course in Alabama in 2017. Located on the Fort Morgan peninsula the facility has condominiums and beach houses to rent, plus four swimming pools, two on-site restaurants and over a mile of waterfront.

Kiva has gained recognition far beyond its home state, and it’s our choice as Gulf Shores’ best – but not by all that much. Peninsula Golf & Racquet Club is pretty darn good, too.

This facility also opened in 1995, with Earl Stone designing its 27 holes on 800 acres.  Peninsula has some things that Kiva Dunes doesn’t have.  It has three nines – the Lakes, Cypress and Marsh – and the facility also has an 8,000 square foot fitness center, eight tennis courts and indoor and outdoor swimming pools.

Third of the island courses is Gulf Shores Golf Club, the oldest course at the destination.  It was built by the father-son team of Jay and Carter Moorish in the early 1960s and they also handled a fullscale renovation there in 2005. The course was hit by Hurricane Sally in 2020 and is still somewhat in recovery mode but its sharp doglegs and numerous water hazards make for a challenging test.

Biggest of the Gulf Shores facilities isn’t on the island but is just five minutes up the road.  Craft Farms has 45 holes with its Cotton Creek and Cypress courses and a nine-hole par-3 layout.  Those two 18-holers comprise the only Arnold Palmer designs in Alabama.

The legendary Palmer was just starting to dabble in course design when he developed a close friendship with Robert Craft.  They worked together for the 1987 opening of Cotton Creek and the 1993 debut of the Cypress course.  Craft passed away in 2006.  His son has been the mayor of Gulf Shores since 2008.

Though some seasons are better than others weather-wise, there’s pride in what Gulf Shores has to offer golfers.

“Gulf Shores in November is as good a place to play golf as you’ll find anywhere,’’ said Dan Dorrough, now the head superintendent at Gulf Shores Golf Club after stints as an assistant at Kiva Dunes and Craft Farms.

We made our first trip to Gulf Shores in 2012 and played the same four courses as we did on this visit. The Gulf Shores community looked a lot different this time, though. Now there’s more, new, or at least expanded, attractions.

For starters there’s Gulf Shores State Park with its 6,150 acres creating a haven for hikers, cyclists and Segway tours. The Hugh S. Branyon Backcountry Trail spans all of the park’s 28 miles and connects both Gulf Shores and Orange Beach to the park. There’s also a nature center, over two miles of uninterrupted pristine beachfront and a lodge (actually a 350-room Hilton hotel that was rebuilt in 2018) featuring the Perch Restaurant.

Our favorite dinner spot was Big Fish, a great place featuring seafood and a sushi bar but steak, pasta and sandwiches are available, too.  Lucy Buffett’s LuLu’s, located on the Intracoastal Waterway, also has good food along with live music, a fun arcade, a three-story climbing ropes course and children’s activities. The owner is the sister of one of my all-time favorite singers, Jimmy Buffett.

Sassy Bass Cookout Tiki Bar has a somewhat hidden location between Kiva Dunes and Peninsula but the food, served in hot iron skillets, was delicious in addition to having a unique presentation.

And then there’s the sprawling Flora-Bama Yacht Club with its world famous Flora-Bama Lounge, Package & Oyster Bar. It offers open-air waterfront dining and a lot more. This is a legendary place near Orange Beach that appeals to all ages with its music, interesting decor and numerous bars.  Though it was hit by many hurricanes over the years, Flora-Bama remains a must visit no matter the duration of your stop in Gulf Shores-Orange Beach area.

You don’t have to just play golf and eat in Gulf Shores, either.  On rainy days you can still play miniature golf indoors – at the glow-in-the-dark Jurassic dinosaur adventure. It has a unique 5,000 square foot prehistoric setting and was a nice diversion for even the most serious golfers in our group. Most all of them, however,  preferred the Sail Wild Hearts’  relaxing two-hour sunset cruise in a 53-foot open-ocean catamaran. For more information visit gulfshores.com.

 

 

 

 

 

NEKOOSA, Wisconsin – Mike Keiser’s Sand Valley Resort has already brought a new look for golfers looking to travel.

Its two 18-holers, Sand Valley and Mammoth Dunes, are walking courses with lots of sand – of course – and lots of great views.  On our recent visit we asked some of the veteran staffers to pick their favorite course and some didn’t hesitate to go in another direction.

Rather than choose between the 18-holers they went with Sandbox, a series of 17 par-3 holes that really makes a player think and have fun at the same time.  We had played the two 18-holers on previous visits, but didn’t get to the Sandbox until this summer. I can see why that course was so positively received.

The holes roughly measure between 50 and 150 yards.  The yardages change with the daily adjustment of tee markers.  And, there’s an extra shovel-designed tee marker on each hole for those wishing to have an extra challenge.  It’s much closer to the putting surface, designed for putting only and ideal for match play competitions.

The greens have all kinds of elevation changes and the many bunkers are deep and difficult to escape. All of this was the creation of architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, who also designed the Sand Valley 18-holer. Short courses are the in vogue thing now, and the Sandbox is like no other that we have seen – and we’ve played lots of them.

Choosing a favorite in the short course world isn’t easy, but it comes down to the Sandbox or the Cradle at North Carolina’s Pinehurst Resort.  They’re different, but both designed purely for fun. I found that playing the Cradle was addictive, but now the Sandbox gets my nod as the more fun of the two.

That review completes our current appraisal of the Keiser’s Wisconsin resort that opened in 2017. It was a big hit from the outset, and now things are changing.

Keiser, a Chicago resident who had a successful career in the greeting card business,  became enthralled with the links courses of Scotland and Ireland.  Taking that passion back to the United States, he built Bandon Dunes — a true links course in Oregon.

He’s also built award-winning resorts from Tasmania to Nova Scotia. We haven’t visited any of those, but we’ve encountered a wide variety of golf destinations in our travels and Bandon stands by itself.

Sand Valley, though, is closer to our Midwest roots. We visited there before the place was open and got a walking tour from Keiser’s son Michael Jr. Our first rounds there several years later didn’t disappoint and we left for the drive back to Chicago this year with the same very positive vibes, but we also had to wonder if Sand Valley isn’t headed in a new direction.

For one thing, the Wisconsin State Amateur took over the two 18-holers the day after our departure. That’s the most significant competition held at Sand Valley since the resort opened.  Could more be coming?

The obvious construction work beside and across the street from the entrance to Sand Valley indicates more projects are in the works, and plans for them indicate it won’t be more of the same golf-wise. This is what I’ve learned:

Next course to open there, in 2023, is The Lido. This intrigues lovers of golf history, and I’m certainly one of those.

Lido Golf Club was a private facility built in 1917 on Long Island. Charles Blair Macdonald, designer of America’s first 18-hole course at the Chicago Golf Club, was the main designer of this one and it was called “the most demanding course ever built’’ in its day. It measured only 6,693 yards from the back tees, but that was considered very long a century ago when hickory-shafted clubs were the best equipment option.

During World War II The Lido became “lost.’’ It was demolished by the U.S. Navy, which declared it a strategic defensive site. Some courses after that were “inspired’’ by The Lido, but the Sand Valley version is being touted as the real thing.

Architect Tom Doak, who is overseeing the project, has the advantage of working with an unparalleled collection of photos which are said to replicate the original Lido to the linear square foot.

Sledge Village is also bringing something new and different to Sand Valley. Scheduled to open in 2024, it’ll bring residential golf into the picture with the building of 36 homes. The residents will have a course to play, called Sedge Valley.  Also included in the project is a six-acre putting course, a tennis center, a bistro restaurant, a pool house and an arcade with golf simulators.

Along with the work being done at Sand Valley Keiser has just come out with a new book, “The Nature of the Game – Links Golf at Bandon Dunes and Far Beyond,’’  written with Stephen Goodwin (Alfred A. Knopf, Publisher, New York).

While copies weren’t available at the Sand Valley pro shop or several PGA Superstore locations at the time of our visit, I did find one at a Barnes and Noble location. The book provides insight into all of Keiser’s resort creations, including what’s in the works at Sand Valley.  His final sentence of the book, though, may be the most revealing:

“The most interesting chapter is always the next one.’’