Planning Golf Trips for Your Family

Vanity and specialty vacations have always been popular, but none are quite as popular in recent years as golf trips – vacations that center around hitting some of the best links in the country. If you enjoy golfing and are considering a vacation where you intend to enjoy a round or five of excellent golf, these tips for planning golf trips can help you put together a vacation that you and your entire family will enjoy.

Enjoy Myrtle Beach Golf

In Myrtle Beach, golf is second nature. With nearly 120 golf courses along the Grand Strand, you’ll have a huge choice of excellent greens on which you can tee off. You can easily golf a different course each day, and take advantage of champion courses designed by some of the best golf course architects in the country. While you’re out enjoying the golf links, your wife and kids – assuming they’re not golfers themselves – won’t be stuck sitting around the hotel room. Myrtle Beach offers so many other attractions that you’ll be hard pressed to fit them all into one short, or very long, vacation. There’s shopping, water parks, amusement parks and, of course, some of the most stunning and scenic beaches of the Atlantic Coast.

Hit the Links in Arizona

Arizona golf courses are definitely coming into their own. With several golf courses making the grade in Golf magazine’s 100 Best Courses to Play, the Phoenix/Scottsdale area features desert golf at its best. Sunshine, dry weather and stunning scenery all add up to golf trips that can’t be equaled anywhere else in the nation. But unlike Myrtle Beach, Scottsdale and Phoenix didn’t develop around golf, so there are even more attractions to amuse your family while you’re out enjoying your swinging lifestyle. If, on the other hand, your family also loves to golf, you should definitely include a swing through Tucson on your golf vacation. Though it’s a relative newcomer to the ranks of the top golfing trips in the country, Tucson has already made a name for itself as a family-friendly golf area. Look into all-inclusive resort vacations that include Arizona golf in the amenities.

Overseas Golf Trips

If your golf trips take you overseas, you can’t miss out on Ireland and Scotland, golf capitals of the Old World. The Emerald Isle and Scotland, the land where golf got its start, feature the oldest and most famous golf courses in the entire world. Even newcomers to the game of golf can’t escape the thrill of standing on the Old Course at St. Andrews, site of some of the most famous games ever played.

If you’re considering a golfing vacation this summer, your best bet may be to work through a travel agent or website that specializes in putting together golf trips, and taking advantage of their connections and expertise to get the best deals on golf trips and golf vacations.

Myrtle Beach Golf Vacations Let You Enjoy the Scenery

Most golfers don’t golf for the scenery, but when you’re in Myrtle Beach, you can’t help but enjoy the view. Golf vacations in Myrtle Beach offer a few major advantages you won’t find anywhere else like the 110 plus golf courses to choose from, gorgeous weather and a culture built around golf add up to create a golfer’s paradise. It’s hard to find an unattractive course, but there are some jewels that are true standouts, even when you compare them to other Grand Strand courses. If your golf vacations are taking you to Myrtle Beach this year, be sure to check out these stunning courses where the scenery is almost as good as the golf.

Rivers Edge, an Arnold Palmer Signature course, is easily one of the most beautiful courses you’ll ever play. Six of the holes play out to the bluffs overlooking grassy marshlands and the Shalotte River. It’s not just a pretty face, either. Developed in 1999, Rivers Edge was named to Golf Magazine’s “Top New Courses You Can Play” in 2000 and in “The Best Courses Near You” in both 2008 and 2010.

Winyah Bay, touted as the course where nature meets golf vacations, is another of the most beautiful – and most underrated – golf courses on the Grand Strand. Located in Georgetown, South Carolina, the course opened in 1955, making it one of the oldest courses on the Grand Strand. In 1998, Winyah Bay got a major facelift and an additional nine holes, making it one of the newest 18-hole courses in the Myrtle Beach area. The course overlooks Winyah Bay, affording stunning views from most of the holes, and the topography makes the play interesting. After your game, relax on the antebellum verandah and enjoy the view with one of the club’s signature drinks.

Glen Dornoch, designed by Clyde Johnston, plays along the Intracoastal Waterway. The course meanders among centuries old oaks and over the marshes. Many of the holes feature spectacular views of the waterway, and the course features some surprise changes in elevation to keep the play interesting. It’s one of the four courses that make up The Glens Golf Group, and easily the prettiest of the group.

The Dunes Club, designed by Robert Trent Jones and opened in 1948, takes anybody’s prize as the most spectacular golf course on the Grand Strand. It’s biggest claim to fame is that it’s the only Grand Strand course that’s built along the Atlantic Ocean. While the others flirt with the waterways and inland marshes, only the Dunes is actually right on the ocean, and the stunning views alone are worth the green fees.

If you’re planning one or more golf vacations this year, make sure you get one of these gorgeous courses on your list.