4 Major Golf Courses for Your Bucket List

You’ll find in our article major golf courses that should be on your bucket list. From the outstanding views of the Sewailo Golf Club in Arizona to the challenging golf course that will test your abilities in Scotland, there’s something for everyone. So, if you’re looking for major golf courses that are definitely worth your time, keep reading.

Sewailo Golf Club – Tucson, Arizona
The Sewailo Golf Club is part of the Casino del Sol Resort, located in Tucson, Arizona. This is a golf course designed by the amazing Ty Butler that has designed many notable desert oasis style golf courses. The desert terrain is transformed into hills, turfgrass, and beautiful valleys. So, it’s safe to say that you will enjoy playing here.

Otherwise, you can enjoy playing exciting casino games in the casino or relax in a highly comfortable and elegant suite. If you feel that you want to continue playing in your room, you can sign up and play on reputable casino sites like Casimba online casino UK, for example. Not only will you find high-quality casino games in many variations, but you’ll also access numerous promotions and great offers. It’s also worth mentioning that loyal players experience exclusive VIP treatment in the VIP program of the Casino.

Royal County Down Golf Club – Newcastle, Northern Ireland
Royal County Down Golf Club is located in the breathtaking nature in Murlough Nature Reserve, and it’s one of the oldest golf courses in Ireland, established in 1889. The 18-hole links courses are exceptionally challenging, while the Championship Course was recognized as one of the best golf courses in the world by Golf Digest. Some of the tournaments hosted here include the Curtis Cup, the Irish Open, Palmer Cup, Senior British Open Championship, among many others.

Victoria – Melbourne, Australia
This is an undeniable top golfing destination designed by Alister MacKenzie, a famous golf architect who designed courses all over the world. The golf course has recently had a green replacement program, so you will find lush green playing surfaces. Whether you’re a skillful golfer or an amateur, your abilities will certainly put to the test. Victoria was home to the Women’s Australian Open and will also it will host the Men’s Australian Open in 2022.

Old Course – St. Andrews Links, Scotland
This is an iconic golf course, considered to be the ‘Home of Golf’ and one of the oldest golf courses in the world. Allegedly, golf was played here since the 15th century. It’s also one of the largest public golf courses in Europe, and it’s open to all. Legendary golfers like Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, John Daly, have played here, among many others.

On the other hand, if you feel that you want to improve your skills, they offer first-class lessons for amateurs and skillful golfers. Here you will find many prestigious tournaments like the St Andrews Links Trophy, St Rule Trophy, and the renowned Open Championship and Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Golfing Scotland with Go Ahead Tours

A “do-it-all” tour of the birthplace of golf that’s suitable for golfers of all levels and, if they so desire, their spouses as well.

Go Ahead ToursEvery hard-core golfer dreams of playing golf where the sport was born, and as I discovered over a glorious nine-day span in September, 2012, Go Ahead Tours Golf Vacations can make your dreams come true.

On September 22 I traveled from Buffalo, NY to Newark, NJ before leaving on an overnight flight for Glasgow, Scotland. Over the next six days I’d play seven rounds of golf on the links courses at Western Gailes, Turnberry’s Ailsa Course, North Berwick, and the Castle, New, Jubilee, and Old Courses at St. Andrews. I’d run on the very beach made famous by the movie Chariots of Fire and tour castles once visited by Robert the Bruce and William Wallace (yes, that’s Braveheart).

The trip, dubbed “Highlights of Scotland Golf Vacation” by Go Ahead, certainly lived up to the billing. Join me as I recap my trip, talk of some of my own highlights, and share as many pictures as I can reasonably fit in one article.

Who am I? A long-time avid golfer turned golf instructor. I’ve got a busy schedule, and though I could have arranged a golf trip myself, I chose Go Ahead’s Golf Vacations division because they handled everything and did it at a price that was likely lower than I could have arranged on my own or with another tour company.

A Vacation on Kiawah Island

I hadn’t ever thought of vacationing at Kiawah Island, but now I can’t wait to go back!

2012 PGA Championship LogoMany people aren’t aware of the fact that Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course hosted the 1991 Ryder Cup mere months after it opened. Check out Google Earth and go back to aerial photos from 1989 and you won’t even see the beginnings of a golf course. Yet less than two years later the site hosted the “War by the Shore” that really set the modern-day Ryder Cup as the most hotly contested, emotional, nationalistic event in golf.

Since 1991, the Ocean Course has played host to several local PGA events, a senior PGA Championship or two, and this week, will host the strongest field in golf in “Glory’s Last Shot” – the 2012 PGA Championship will play over the 18 seaside holes off the south-eastern coast of South Carolina, 45 minutes from Charleston.

I was able to spend a few days with my family vacationing on this exclusive, semi-private island. We played some golf, we lounged in the pools, and we boogie-boarded in the ocean.

Atlantic City Country Club (Atlantic City, NJ) Review

Built in 1897, this seaside classic has a lofty reputation as New Jersey’s top public golf course.

ACCC Logo“Stay out of the bunkers” is the warning from the starter on the first tee, which also happens to be the putting green at Atlantic City Country Club.

By the end of the day, I’d have said, “stay out of the marsh,” as the holes that wound along the coast proved to be exceptionally difficult on a particularly windy October day. With gusts around 35 mph, and blowing directly toward the water in most cases (and this is the prevailing wind, according to a local expert), the teeth of the course are really exposed on the back nine.

Boxgroove.com Review

Private club golf without the private club price.

Boxgroove.comWant to play that private course down the road but don’t know a member? Now there’s a way to test drive private courses across the country without risking the trespassing charge.

A new online service called Boxgroove.com provides access to tee times at private clubs. Boxgroove currently has 70 participating courses and over 650 members, some of whom hold memberships at private clubs and may be willing to host other Boxgroove.com members (more on that later). The company plans to be in 30 states by summer 2010 and eventually to take the service international.

If you’re like me, you love those occasions when you get to play a course in excellent condition with great greens. The problem is that I don’t belong to a private club, so I play public courses where the maintenance is generally not quite as well applied. While it’s less expensive (unless you are really racking up the rounds) to play public courses, being able to play the occasional round on a truly well kept course is a nice change of pace, one I’ve found to be more and more alluring lately.

Enter Boxgroove.com. I’d been hearing about the service on the radio here in Columbus, my home and Boxgroove’s, as it turns out. When Boxgroove.com offered a membership to let me try out the service and write about my experience, I jumped at the opportunity.

Kennsington Golf Club (Canfield, OH) Review

Kennsington Golf Club is a great second-shot golf course, and if you can get over the somewhat bland driving, a great bargain at a good price.

The joke Alan and I came up with when arriving at Kennsington Golf Club is that we must have passed through some sort of warp door. We made a right turn off a crowded street, right between a Wendy’s and a Panera, then passed some dentist’s offices, and bam! We were suddenly in the middle of nowhere with a golf course stretching out for miles ahead of us. The attractive cart girl (is there another kind?) drove out to grab our clubs and we were off.

Kennsington opened in June, 2006 and has the potential to be one of the top courses in the surprisingly crowded Youngstown, Ohio area. The course is lined by construction (though the interior remain free of McMansions or any other houses) as large houses are being built at a good rate, and the entire area seems to be growing rapidly.

Read on to see what we thought of the golf course at Kennsington Golf Club.

Bedford Springs Old Course (Bedford, PA) Review

Recapturing a bit of the past and taking it into the future: that’s what we find at Bedford Springs.

Bedford SpringsI played my first full round of golf with my (great) Uncle Bud at the Bedford Springs course in Bedford, PA. Bedford Springs was originally designed by Spender Oldham, modified by A.W. Tillinghast, and later revamped and altered by Donald Ross. In the 1890s and 1900s, Pittsburghers wealthy from the thriving steel industry would venture two hours south to Bedford, PA where the natural spring water was said to have rejuvenating, youth-giving qualities. While the women spent their time in the spas, the men entertained themselves with a round on the resort’s golf course.

After falling into disrepair, both the hotel, spa, and the golf course have recently seen a massive influx of hundreds of millions of dollars. All three are open once again and receiving guests and golfers.

I played the course in September, 2007. Read on to see what I thought of this revived classic.

Longaberger Golf Club (Nashport, OH) Review

Longaberger is one of the most expensive courses we’ve reviewed so far, but it’s worth it.

Longaberger LogoRegardless of your location in the country or perhaps even around the globe, you may have heard the name Longaberger. The Longaberger company has been turning out world-famous baskets for 70+ years. Their office is even shaped like a basket.

(Note: as of 2016, Longaberger was sold and is now known as The Virtues Golf Club. Much of the article remains the same, but some URLs were updated.)

In 1998, Longaberger commissioned a golf course from architect Arthur Hills. The Longaberger traverses up and down unusually hilly terrain and offers breathtaking vistas, huge elevation changes, and a challenge to golfers of all skill levels… though higher handicappers may want to stay away. From a few locations on the course, you can even see the building shaped like a giant basket!

Longaberger Golf Club is not about the baskets. The owners didn’t copy Merion’s wicker basket flags nor are the tee markers little baskets… though they should have been. The golf course may have been funded by money earned from making expensive woven baskets, but the golf course is all about golf.

Avalon Lakes (Warren, OH) Review

Avalon Lakes is typical Pete Dye, but set in the middle of Ohio. Renovated in 2001, the course shows plenty of Dye characteristics.

Avalon LakesAvalon Lakes Golf and Country Club is located in Warren, OH about 40 minutes southeast of Cleveland and 45 minutes northwest of Pittsburgh, PA. Avalon Lakes was created by Pete Dye in the late 1960s and is one of the esteemed architect’s earliest creations.

In the late 1990s, Dye came back to rework his diabolical magic. Avalon Lakes underwent massive renovations that cost somewhere between four and six million dollars. The change took the original course from a great Fowler’s Mill style Dye course into a modern-era Dye course: target golf along the lines of the famed TPC at Sawgrass.

Avalon Lakes is ranked 67th on Golf Digest’s list of Top 100 public courses. Avalon Lakes previously hosted the Giant Eagle LPGA event for four years. The final year – 2000 – was the only time the LPGA players competed on the redesigned course.