World Golf Destinations of Grandeure

When you think of the greatest places to play, Pebble Beach, Augusta, St. Andrews and the like often come to mind. Here is a different (and unusual) listing of great places to play. I have only been to one of these destinations.

The Bridges San Fransisco Playing to nearly 7,000 yards from the tips, the Bridges Golf Club reflects a stimulating design precept that distance is one element, and risk / reward ball flight options make this course interesting to play, and a beauty to behold. Many carries over natural canyons allow for strategic course management. Do not play here if you are afraid of heights! More information: Bridges Golf Course

. .

Eagle Trace Golf Club Minnesota When it comes to dangerous golf, Eagle Trace is the scariest course I know. If you are not hitting the ball on target, you will find disaster is only one errant shot away. I have never played this course without a high score on one or two holes. Unlike any other course I play, the design is full of tight, water laden, tree lined holes with island greens and multi – level fairways. I get a knot in my gut just thinking about it. Think you are playing well? Play this course from the back tees. The last picture is me, playing my second shot to the elevated island green on #11. Hit the green or else. There is also an aerial shot of this hole above.For more information: Eagle Trace

  Mission Hills Golf Club China The world’s largest golf course destination is at Mission Hills Golf Club. 216 holes stretch across thousands of acres. With 12 resort and championship courses – designed by the likes of Nick Faldo, Greg Norman and David Duval, Mission Hills is serious sensory overload for golf fanatics. If you can’t find enough golf here, you have a serious problem. For more information: Mission Hills Golf Club

  Coober Pedy Club Australia Make your way to the small mining town of Coober Pedy in South Australia, where there’s not a blade of grass or a stitch of greenery in sight at the Coober Pedy Opal Fields Golf Club. Opal mining is the chief business here, and most residents live in a subterranean world of tunnels and caves to escape the Outback’s searing temperatures. The golf course itself is basically one enormous sand trap that must be oiled with grease lest it blow away in the dry desert winds, and golfers tote swatches of faux grass from hole to hole to ease teeing off. For more information: Coober Pedy Golf

  World Ice Golf Championship Greenland Each spring on a tiny island in Northern Greenland, the World Ice Golf Championship lures hardy fanatics for a chance to tee off atop moving ice floes in the High Arctic tundra. The annual event takes place in Santa Claus territory—370 miles north of the Arctic Circle, near the town of Uummannaq, where glaciers groan and icebergs bob around a nine-hole course cut from the snow and ice just before play commences. Since the greens are white, the balls are painted red. For more information: World Ice Golf Championship

  Lajitas, The Ultimate Hideout Texas Indulge your cowboy golf fantasies at the deservedly named “Lajitas”. The Ultimate Hideout … this is a 25,000-acre resort isolated in western Texas, some 300 miles from El Paso along the banks of the Rio Grande. The 19-hole course dubbed “the Ambush” features four holes set on an island in the Rio Grande and a bonus hole that involves a shot across the mighty river into Mexico—making Lajitas the world’s only trans-national golf course. Cool! For more information: Lajitas

  Rotorua Golf Club New Zealand The antithesis of Australia’s arid environment awaits across the Tasman Sea in New Zealand, where you can slice the Southern Hemisphere skies in the thermal hot spot of Rotorua. The Rotorua Golf Club features an 18 hole, links style, par 69 course, as well as a nine hole course where bubbling mud pools, steam vents, steaming creeks and rushing geysers make for otherworldly obstacles. For more information: Rotorua Golf Club

More great golf blogs (random click one!) Brandon Tucker Dot Wong Golf for Beginners – Blog and Podcast Golf Gear News – Blog and Podcast Heather McMichael’s Blogger Leaderboard PGA Punter: Anthony Urquhart’s guide to betting on the PGA Tour Spencer Hux The Wisdom of Solomon: PGA Instructor Marc Solomon William K. Wolfrum Armchair Golf Blog Balls Out Blog – with Mark Nessmith Better Golf With Fitness Bogey Lounge Budget Golf by the Cheap Bastard Chris Baldwin Chuck Evans golf instruction Doug Carey EagleParBirdie GeoffShackelford.com Golf Babes Golf Blogger – Everything Golf Golf Chick Golf for Beginners Golf Gear News Golf Now blog Golf Tips and News Golf With Shanks Grouchy Golf Blog Hooked on Golf Blog Ian Andrew’s Caddy Shack In Golf We Trust blog Jennifer Mario Kiel Christianson Luke Swilor’s Road to the TourMetropolitan Golf Links, Pro’s Blog Mostly Harmless Myrtle Beach Golf Insider New 2 Golf Nidhi’s Blog On Golf Architecture PGA Punter Phantom Golfer Robert Thompson’s Going For The Green Ron Mon Speedcat Hollydale Page SportsByBrooks The Reluctant Jam-Boy Tim McDonald Travelling Golfer Unplayable Lies 19th Hole Comedy Click for other popular golf blogs

Ace in Florida by Legally Blind Man

Legally blind golfer makes a hole in one : adapted from Times Staff Writer RODNEY PAGE’s story

This is Leo E. Fiyalko. He is speaking to the members at Cove Cay Country Club . Fiyalko is 92 and legally blind! This story really touched my heart, and reminded me of my own hole in one experience when I was 13 years old. I thought I had hit a bad shot that went off the back of the green. After looking for the ball, I decided to check the hole … and there it was.
Leo said, “All I was interested in was getting on the green.”
I guess just as I, the surprise was a bit more than just a good day, it was one that was a highlight of my life on the golf course.

The big event happened on the 110-yard, par-3 fifth hole at Cove Cay Country Club in Clearwater Florida. After 60 years of playing golf, the rarest of shots finally occured. “It was my first hole in one, and I never saw it” said Fiyalko

The feat came on Jan. 10 when Fiyalko and his group teed it up for their weekly nine-hole best-ball outing. The group of 20 to 40 golfers, who range in age from 70 to 90-plus, have gathered every Thursday afternoon during the winter for at least 20 years.

In his prime, Fiyalko played to a seven handicap, but now he needs help lining up his shots and finding his golf balls. A seven handicap? Not to bad! I have struggled for years to have a single digit handicap. I plan on playing golf for a long time to come. That is what is so great about golf in my opinion. You can continue to enjoy the sport for such a long time.
Congratulations Leo, I salute you from the frozen tundras of Minnesota. I wish you well, and also wish I could just get “one” round in soon.