Guide for Beginning Golfers

I have been travelling to Myrtle Beach since 1990 for great golf vacations and for the last four years with my golf buddies, Ferd, Fred, Tim, Dennis, Richard, Peter, and Mike F. on our annual golf trip. Since this was to be our 5th year we decided to try a new venue. After careful review of a number of alternate locations we arrived at Scottsdale, Arizona as this year’s golf destination. It turned out to be an excellent choice and we reserved our time there from March 18th to the 22nd. We were hoping for reasonable weather as the week before our scheduled arrival the temperatures were in the high 70’s, which is perfect for golf. When we arrived the temperature rose into the high 80’s and low 90’s, which is hot but still playable. It is a drier climate so the heat was not as formidable as in the north or southeast where the humidity will make it feel much warmer than it is.

The courses we played were TPC of Scottsdale, Las Sendas, Gold Canyon – Dinosaur, Whirlwind - Devil’s Claw and and We-Ko-Pa – Cholla, my personal favorite. The rates at that time of the year were a little pricey but well worth the cost in retrospect. The last three golf resorts had 36 holes each and we were able to replay another 18 holes on their alternate course, which was most enjoyable and convenient. I have played desert golf previously in Las Vegas in 2002, as I vacationed there with my significant other that year to celebrate my 50th birthday, but this was different. The red rock mountains and varied rock and cactus formations and shapes, respectively, were incredible. The green fairway grass against the colorful mountain backdrops, were breathtaking and I enjoyed every minute of the trip. We stayed at the Xona Resort Suites, which was centrally located and had excellent accommodations for a reasonable price. The elevation changes on Gold Canyon’s Dinosaur course were most incredible and the views from some of the higher altitudes were magnificent. After golf each day the restaurant and night life scene was hopping. We enjoyed Maggio’s family style restaurant, which offered so many pasta, fish and meat specialties that it was hard to choose and at all you can eat prices. We also enjoyed Capital Grill, another one of my favorites there. The only downside to this trip was the time of the flight from Newark, N.J. which was over five hours and I was seated against the fuselage with no window. I always request a window seat when I travel because I enjoy taking pictures of the aerial views of the mountains, lakes, canyons, rivers, the beautiful sunrise, sunsets and sometimes even the cloud formations so this seating arrangement was claustrophobic to say the least.

We normally go with a group of eight golfers, but this trip one of my good friends, Ferd, decided to invite a few acquaintances from San Francisco, Chris, Frank, and Dave. We also asked another associate from Philadelphia area, Richard, to join us and round out the third foursome. There was some interesting golf banter and comraderie between the new invitees and the former two groups of foursomes. Everyone got along great and the golf, good food and good times were par for the course. As terrific a time that was had by all, I will still opt for Myrtle Beach as my first choice of golf venues, but Scottsdale, Arizona is definitely a close second. If you are planning a golf trip or vacation, you cannot go wrong with either destination. The amount of choices for excellent golf and accommodations at either venue is unlimited and include many options for after hours’ entertainment. For more information you can check on line at either myrtlebeachgolf.com or scottsdalegolf.com to find some information to help you start planning your golf trip. Have lots of fun, enjoy your trip, and Happy Golfing to All!

In my previous writings I spoke about my Myrtle Beach and Disney World golf vacations, which are two excellent choices for golf and vacation destinations, no two ways about it. I had been alternating between both places for about ten years and had some great times but we were ready for a change, for something different. Where would we go next ? I had always wanted to return to Las Vegas since my first visit there in 1976, but just never had the opportunity. I had stopped in Las Vegas for three days on my return trip home from my Honeymoon in Hawaii, my favorite place on the planet, met some friends there and had a blast. In 2002, my 50th birthday was quickly approaching and my significant other surprised me with a gift that I did not expect, a four day golf trip to Las Vegas. Can it get any better ? I guess maybe a five or six day trip would be better but she wanted to make sure we did not go broke while we were there so four days was a good compromise. We were staying at the MGM on Las Vegas Blvd., more commonly known as “The Strip”, where most of the more famous hotels in the city were aligned. From Mandalay Bay, The Luxor, Excalibur and New York, New York on the one end to Circus, Circus, The Riviera, The Sahara, and The Stratosphere on the other, and The Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Paris and Bally’s in between how could you go wrong ?  Then there was the golf. Upon review of the available golf courses we chose three venues that we thoroughly enjoyed. We played Bears Best, a Jack Nicklaus design and who is my favorite player of all time, as some of you may remember from a previous writing, Angel Park, an Arnold Palmer design and another magnificent golf venue, which includes three courses, The Mountain being my favorite, and last but certainly not least is Bali Hai, adjacent Mandalay Bay, right on the Strip. Jacks’ Bears Best course was designed by utilizing the signature hole layouts of some of his other outstanding golf course acomplishments to date and reproducing them in the Las Vegas landscape. The green fairways contrasting with the desert mountains and sand dunes in the background was a breathtaking site, especially if you have never been in the desert before. Angel Park was also very enjoyable and there was a great view of the golf course and a real green miniature golf course, the only one I had ever seen, right off the dining veranda and the club house. It was a great setting for lunch as we took in the gorgeous panoramic view. Bali Hai was as exotic as the name exudes. With well over two thousand Palm Trees imported by the course designers, and many thousands of other varied forms of exotic plant life, complimented by the beautiful white sand bunkers, it added a tropical touch of the South Pacific to the desert, a unique and fun innovation to say the least. After 36 holes of golf at Bali Hai, my birthday celebration meal was a real treat. Dinner at the elegant Wolfgang Puck, “Cili” restaurant located right on premises, in the club house, at the Bali Hai golf course. The design and the ambiance of the restaurant and clubhouse was a continuation of the tropical theme so blatantly displayed on the golf course. Great food, fine wine, dessert and espresso with a touch of Sambuca to top off the meal, which included some live piano music playing in the background was the icing on my birthday cake so to speak. After our dining experience at Cili’s we headed to the casinos. New York City is known as “The City That Never Sleeps”, but Las Vegas is the literal personification of that expression. We walked from one end of the Strip to the other stopping at almost every well known Casino in town and all the joints were hopping no matter what time we went in. New York, New York, MGM, The Bellagio, Caesars, Bally’s and Paris were our favorite stops. I actually won a few grand at The Bellagio but gave it right back at the Paris, but you only live once, or do you ? – a topic for another time, so having fun should be the priority. It’s only money. Once you become enamored with the casino atmosphere and lack of daylight and get into a hot run on the Blackjack or Craps tables, it is very easy to transpose night and day. The hours pass quickly and I see many people having dinner at 5:00 or 6:00am and breakfast at 10:00pm or midnight for that matter. Since we were playing golf , we usually went to sleep around midnight and were out and about by 5:00am or so the next morning, which is when we noted the varied dining habits of the habitual gamblers and night time crowd. As we strolled down the Vegas Strip I could almost feel the presence of some of the larger than life personalities who frequented Las Vegas in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s – Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy and the rest of the Rat Pack to name a few. I was especially reminded of Frank because Frank Jrs.’ face was plastered on the big sceeen video monitor and he was singing all of his dads hits and doing a pretty good job of it at that. Wayne Newton has been a lifer in Vegas and is still as popular as ever. Las Vegas has perhaps the biggest line up of top notch entertainment in the world. Wayne Newton, Barbra Streisand, Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Celine Dion, Tony Bennett and The Blue Man Group plus the first class Magic acts and much more all entertain in Las Vegas. The list of famous Las Vegas personalities from the Golden Age would not be complete without including mention of perhaps the most well known and idolized entertainer of all time, Mr. Las Vegas himself, the veritable “King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley”.  His name is synonymous with the hierarchy of Las Vegas Royalty, they don’t refer to him as the King for nothing. The list goes on and on, but just check on line if you are planning a visit and you will note a dozen or more top rated shows at any particular time you may choose to plan a trip there. On our next night we walked the entire Strip again, aka Las Vegas Boulevard, starting at Mandalay Bay and finishing at the Sratosphere. We stopped in a least a half dozen Casinos, including MGM, New York, New York, Paris, Ballys’ and The Bellagio. The lights were incredible and the water light show in front of The Bellagio was most enjoyable and entertaining. It also kept me out of the casinos for a while longer and saved me some dough which made the time spent there that much more rewarding.

We revisited Las Vegas about four months later and we got some great deals on golf and hotel rooms. I guess they figured they should lower the rates for anyone crazy enough to play golf in 114 degree temperatures. It was tough I must say, but we played and still had a good time, wet face cloths and all. It was another wonderful vacation under our belt and they just keep getting better. If you’re considering Las Vegas for your next trip, I can guarantee you won’t be bored. It truly is the “City That Never Sleeps”. You can get some terrific packages, both for golf or just to stay and play at the resorts. Las Vegas is truly the ultimate playground for the over 21 crowd. Happy Vacationing and Golfing To All !

Visit http://guideforbeginninggolfers.com and http://mddeagle.golfbegin.hop.clickbank.net/ for more valuable golf info, especially for the beginner to learn “The Right Way”

We have to give credit to Mr.Walt Disney, whose ability to manifest his dreams is second to none. Walt, or out of respect, I should say Mr. Disney, opened Disney Land in Anaheim, California in the mid-fifties, at just about the time the Brooklyn Dodgers were leaving their fans in Brooklyn and heading for Los Angeles, California. His vision was not yet complete though, he had found a perfect piece of property in Orlando, Florida where he would initiate the creation of the most Magical Land on the face of the planet. This was also the place where another and maybe final portion of his dream would be realized. In the spring of 1990 I had planned my first golf vacation ever to Myrtle Beach and it was such a wonderful trip I was soon ready for another. While I was contemplating my next golf and vacation destination, slated for the fall or late summer of 1990, my significant other came up with what later turned out to be an excellent suggestion. How about Disney World ? I said, “I have never been to Disney World or Disney Land for the that matter but what about golf ?” I was reminded that the Buick Classic, which I think it was called at the time, was played at Disney World so “Duh”, there must be golf courses there, right ? Yes, there were. In fact, Disney World was a stop on the PGA Tour since opening in 1971, if I’m not mistaken. The Magnolia and the Palm were the two courses that high lighted the tournament. There is also Lake Buena Vista, a course less known but one that turned out to be very enjoyable to play. I was convinced that we should give it a shot, what could we lose ?

In September of 1990 we were headed for what turned out to be one of the best vacations ever. We booked our hotel right on Disney premises at, “The Disney Inn”, a quiet little section of the resort adjacent the two main golf courses, The Magnolia and The Palm. A few years later, the Inn was turned over to the U.S. Government and from my perception, it  is now utilized for the armed services entertainment and supplementary needs. We were disappointed when we couldn’t make our future reservations there because it was an out of the way place where we could enjoy peace and quiet. We now frequent the other resorts, especially Port Orleans, which is centrally located and reasonably priced. Although not quite as sequestered as The Disney Inn, it provides an amount of privacy, beauty and and just the right touch of ambiance in the surroundings to be enjoyable as well. In the process of booking our golf reservations, we were advised that there were two other newer courses at The “Bonnet Creek” Resort, not too far from where we were staying. They were named Eagle Pines and Osprey Ridge, and were designed by two of the premier architects of the time, Tom Fazio and Pet Dye respectively. Having kept up with my Golf Digest subscriptions, I was well versed in the reputation of these two golf architects, and it dawned on me that I had just recently read about the openings and rave reviews received when they had first opened a short while ago. Since we were able to visit Disney World  for six days, it allowed us enough time to play a different course every day and one course twice if we chose to. Luckily, we were able to reserve tee times at the two new courses at Bonnet Creek. So, our room, airfares, rental car and tee times were booked as we waited impatiently for the next few months to go by so we could venture off to another unforgettable golf vacation.

Unforgettable is just what it turned out to be. Our days there commenced with awakening in a magnificent suite at the Disney Inn Resort, which included a view of Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs carved into the hedges outside our room, enjoying the sunrise each morning with an overview of a water feature in the courtyard area outside, which was landscaped with beautiful and exotic plantlife and fauna, then off to a cheery musical  breakfast fare at The Contemporary Resort where Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy entertained and joined us for some fun, and last but certainly not least, the anticipation of playing golf on any one of five magnificent golf venues, each one better than the next. How could you beat it ? We enjoyed every one of the golf courses, especially the two new Bonnet Creek courses, Eagle Pines and Osprey Ridge. After golf, we enjoyed a quick lunch at the Clubhouse Dining Room, which overlooked the golf course. But then, the fun had just begun; it was off to one of the Magical Parks that are part of the Disney World Resort.

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In the winter of 1990 I was contemplating planning my first golf vacation. At that time I had been playing for about 13 years, approximately once a week, either with my golf club at Marine Dunes Golf Course in Brooklyn on Flatbush Avenue or Dyker Beach Golf Course in Bensonhurst, which at the time was the most played public course in the country. I always wondered what it would be like to go on vacation for an entire week and be able to play golf every day if I wanted to. In conversation with my golf club comrades and reading my favorite golf magazines, Golf Digest being at the top of the list, it became clear to me that Myrtle Beach would be a great choice. I had one dilemma, my significant other was joining me on the trip and had never played golf before. So I offered her this option – Learn to play golf or wait for five or six hours, while I played for my return. She was into sports – softball, baseball and football like myself, and athletic so she opted to learn to play. Her decision to learn posed my second dilemma, which was how to teach her to play in four or five weeks before we had to embark on our trip. A crash course with an instructor or should I take on the challenge ? I presented her with the choice and the next thing I knew we were in the local ball fields after work and on weekends and I was teaching her to play. She actually progressed better than I would have imagined. She was hitting 8 iron about 125 to 130 yds. and pretty straight at that. Some of the guys I played with did not hit that well. She had one last query before we left, especially since she had never played, and that was, “Are there other things that we can do besides golf ? ” Good question, but I had already anticipated it and was ready. Of course there are other things to do – I heard the beaches are beautiful, miniature golf, which she enjoyed was readily available, water parks in abundance, great restaurants and I saved my ace in the hole for last, and plenty of places to shop. That did the trick. We were ready – Myrtle Beach here we come ! So, in April of 1990 we were off to our first ever golf vacation. We stayed at the Ocean Dunes and had reserved an oceanfront room with a balcony overlooking the beach, which turned out to be a very good decision on our part. If you have a few extra dollars and enjoy the beach and ocean it’s well worth the additional cost. We are usually early risers and we enjoyed the sunrise each morning as we anticipated our day. Then on to breakfast – a nice little buffet type whcih was incuded in our golf package. All it cost additional is a few dollars for the tip. Finally, the golf was incredible, the first course we ever played at Myrtle Beach was Buck Creek ( now renamed Aberdeen ), then Long Bay ( A Jack Nicklaus design and noted in many golf magazines at the time, especially his signature 10th hole ) and also Tidewater, one of my favorite golf courses played to date and a few others one better than the next. Since this was her first time playing she was a little nervous on the first tee since all the other players are mulling around waiting for their turn to play. Realizing our situation, the starter, who on most courses is usually very nice and considerate, set us up on the back nine where no one was around. This courtesy was greatly appreciated and made the experience much more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise. I would strongly recommend to the new golfer to let the starter at the course know that you are just beginning to play, and would appreciate if he can place you where the least amount of golfers are playing, if possible. Some golf course complexes have more than 18 holes (Myrtle Beach National, Barefoot Landing Resort, Legends, Arrowhead and Heather Glen to name a few )and one nine hole layout may be more readily open for you to play. This is not always the case, but you can also schedule your tee time when the course is less crowded and you would have a more relaxed atmosphere in which to play and take a little more time if necessary. The dining was also very enjoyable, we had some fine meals at Gullyfield’s ( No longer Exisiting), Rossi’s, a nice Italian venue with music, including a little Dean And Frank (located at the Galleria Mall off Business RT.17), and also offered atmosphere and ambiance with an Italian flair as you enjoy your meal, Damons for the rib lovers ( located at Barefoot Landing at the time and since relocated), Chuck’s Steak House and my favorite restaurant at the beach – Greg Norman’s Australian Grille, also located at the Barefoot Landing Shopping Complex ( About a mile or so North of where Rt. 22 and Business 17, aka Kings Highway meet ) I’m not sure if Greg’s Place was open at that time but it has been a must stop for us for the last few years. The Australian Grille offers the option of dining inside or outside the restaurant which overlooks the Intercoastal Waterway. The outside offers a bit more relaxed and less noisy atmosphere, complete with tree lighting, gas torches, an outdoor fireplace, entertainment and a view of the sunset as you dine if you time it right. What more can you ask for ? The shops at Barefoot are also varied and offer a multitude of choices for dining, clothing, fudge, taffies and all kinds of souvenirs. Klig’s Kites And The Christmas Mouse are two of our favorite shops to visit where we always find some great Seasonal Flags and Christmas souvenirs and gifts respectively to bring home.

Our first few trips to Myrtle Beach were so centered around golf that we never realized how enjoyable a day at the Beach could be. Before golf, Myrtle Beachs’ reputation as a seaside resort was well known and it attracted many visitors each year. Even for the most die hard golfer, which I would pretty much consider myself, I would highly recommend a day of relaxation and fun at the beach. Rent a lounge chair and umbrella, toss the football or frisbee around, enjoy the beauty of the ocean and the waves, or just sit, relax, have a beer or two if you’d like, and take in all the sights around you. I promise you won’t be disappointed. Since the sport of golf has become an integral part on the make up of Myrtle Beach it really has become BOTH a family vacation spot and golf destination that the entire family can enjoy. The Golf, Beach, Water Parks, Rides, Miniature Golf, Restaurants, Shopping Complexes such as Barefoot Landing and Broadway At The Beach ( which also has many shops, restaurants, mini – golf, rides, entertainment including tha Hard Rock cafe, nightspots for the younger and middle aged crowd and a multitude of other enjoyable choices including Ripley’s Believe It Or Not and The Aquarium which is fun for all ages. When the sun is down the die hard golfers can also enjoy Medieval Times, The Carolina Oprey, Alabama Theater and Dolly Partons Dixie Stampede, which are just a few of the other options providing entertainment for the entire family golfer and non-golfer alike.

For the family vacation many of the hotel golf packages and golf courses offer FREE golf for children and young adults aged 16 and under when accompanied by a paying adult. Not a bad deal. Some of my favorite but more pricey courses to play are Tidewater, as mentioned previously, Caledonia, a beautiful Mike Strantz design, True Blue, TPC, Kings North at the Myrtle Beach National Resort and Pawleys Plantation, located at the southern end of the Grand Strand and designed by Jack Nicklaus, my favorite golfer of all time. With over 130 golf courses located within a 30 mile radius it’s no wonder that Myrtle Beach is known as “The Golf Capital Of The World” If you are planning a  golf and / or a family vacation check out Myrtle Beach. I’m sure you will revisit it for many years to come. Happy Golfing And Vacationing To All !

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