On the Tee

As a three-time host of the PGA Tour's rigorous Qualifying School Finals, Orlando's Orange County National Golf Club is one of the most recognizable and celebrated golf facilities in a city known for its outstanding golf courses.

Orange County National has yet another award to add to its growing total, as Zagat Survey again recognized its courses (Panther Lake and Crooked Cat) as two of America's top layouts in its recently released 6th edition of "The Ultimate Golfer's Guide."

This week the PGA Tour makes a stop on Louisiana's Audubon Golf Trail.

The Pete Dye-designed TPC Louisiana, located just 15 minutes from the French Quarter in New Orleans, will host the 2009 Zurich Classic. The most notable course on the Trail is just one of 13 located throughout the state of Louisiana.

Originally organized in 2001, the Audubon Golf Trail is helping to enhance the Louisiana experience. The Trail was created with goals of stimulating economic development, enhancing tourism, attracting new residents and retirees to the state and elevating the quality of life experience in the state - all while incorporating the rich Louisiana flavor.

Classic Hilton Head Golf Course Returns After Being Left for Dead 

BLUFFTON - Unless you made it a point to avert your eyes, there was no way to avoid the sign positioned at the entrance to once functional Rose Hill Golf Club proclaiming the course's intention of re-opening Labor Day weekend.

Wishful thinking you thought, even though you'd heard the whispers and read the newspaper reports about Rose Hill's new management group, and its ambitious plan to, in six short months, make 18 holes playable on a course left at the mercy of native trees, weeds and grasses after it was abandoned in January of 2006 like a sinking ocean liner.

Increased exposure from both cable and network television in the form of more live hours of golf coverage has helped to raise the profile of desert golf in the past decade. Specifically, golf fans have become enamored with desert golf while watching popular events such as the FBR Open and the Accenture Match Play Championship, now both annually held in Arizona.

But before the FBR’s 16th hole became the amphitheater of professional golf, and Tiger Woods made his long-awaited return to the game just north of Tucson, Troon North Golf Club set the standard for desert golf, building a reputation as the roadmap others would follow, the blueprint by which they would build and the guiding light should they get lost. By most accounts, Troon North is the forefather of desert golf, and remains its high water mark. 

For only the second time in the 25 years of Golf Digest's biennial ranking, there is a new No. 1 golf course in the country. Augusta National Golf Club has taken over the top honors on Golf Digest's list of America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses.

Ranked No. 2 on the 2009-2010 list, Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey dropped out of first place for only the second time ever and the first time since 2001 when Pebble Beach Golf Links overtook it. Pebble Beach ranks 6th on the 2009-2010 list and remains No. 1 in the ranking of the 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses, a title the course has held since the list's inception in 2003. 

Home to a classic course annually listed as one of the world’s best and host of multiple U.S. Open championships, the state of New Jersey is no stranger to world-class golf venues.

Featuring more than a dozen upscale public golf courses, Atlantic City is adding another dimension to golf in the Garden State, bringing avid golfers from all over the country with the promise of unmatched “Stay and Play” opportunities.

Good golfers need to know plenty of numbers: yardage, par, rating, slope, and so on. But this summer, the only number golfers need to know to book an affordable and convenient golf getaway is the number nine. Why? Because it's the lucky number that keeps popping up in 2009 Stay & Play travel packages in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania.

Stay & Play packages are a turnkey way to visit the region since they feature all of the necessary components for a great golf trip: overnight accommodations at one of nine area hotels, breakfast, and 18 holes of golf with greens fee, cart and taxes at one of nine participating golf courses.

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. - Head Golf Professional Sean Racki simply and accurately depicted the location of Dancing Rabbit Golf Club as, "Off the beaten path."

Depending on which direction you're heading, this Mississippi golf club that has achieved national recognition but is still somewhat shrouded in secrecy can be reached by taking a few roads less traveled.

Traveling southbound on Mississippi Rt. 25 after leaving Starkville, home to Mississippi State University, and eventually turning onto Highway 15 further south to Philadelphia (and we're talking about the city that's home to the Ham Jam Arts Festival and not the Liberty Bell here), there isn't much to see.

After a 20-month, $15 million project to restore the golf course and clubhouse to its former status and early 20th century grandeur as a premier golf resort, the "new" Pines Lakes Country Club has re-opened its doors.

In recent days Burroughs & Chapin Company, Inc introduced the golf course to South Carolina dignitaries, media members and finally the public on Saturday, March 14. Tom Turnbull of Longs, S.C., winner of the First Foursome on Pine Lakes Sweepstakes, and his guests were the first public players to tee off at Pine Lakes.

Anyone who has played Pelican Hill Golf Club recently has experienced the difference that two years can make – and knows why Tom Fazio’s two 18-hole golf courses are a “must-play” on the Southern California coast.

The club was closed for two years to build a new clubhouse and practice facility and to allow Fazio to work his magic unhindered. The master returned to “re-perfect” the duo he created on the Newport Coast in the early 1990s, which already were among the nation’s most highly rated public courses. 18-hole Ocean Course South and 18-hole Ocean Course North returned to the world of golf in late 2007 more beautiful, playable and enjoyable than ever.