For a for few years, Te Arai Links felt like a myth. Its ultra-exclusive and highly-acclaimed sister property, Tara Iti, had captured the imagination of the golfing world with its beauty, tranquillity and its natural wonder. This extraordinary stretch of coastline on New Zealand’s north island was no longer a secret among golfers…
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My P.E. teacher used to call it the shrivel effect and as I prepared to play St Andrews Old Course for the first time, I finally knew what he meant. You know the feeling, it’s the one where every fibre in your body tightens, a pit forms in your stomach and, in my…
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Golf trips are sacred: they’re opportunities to experience new destinations, create lifelong memories and to spend time with your people. The likes of Pinehurst, Bandon and the great links courses of Scotland and Ireland might immediately spring to mind when you’re going through your bucket list but sometimes straying off the beaten track…
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We all book our golf trips for different reasons. Maybe it’s an annual ritual with family and friends? A weekend getaway with a spouse? Or a jammed packed once-in-a-lifetime bucket list adventure. Who you’re going with is just one consideration, of course; the other big one is where you are going. The sheer…
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Gone are the days when people travel to Belfast to see a city emerging from a turbulent past. Impressions of once-abandoned industrial sites have long since been replaced by this vibrant, pulsating, modern metropolis which is clearly packed with visitors from every corner of the world as we walk the streets here. Belfast…
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I’ve been lucky to experience some of the world’s great sea-meets-land road trips: the PCH in California, North Coast 500 in Scotland, the Amalfi Coast in Italy – but as I meander along Northern Ireland’s spectacular Causeway Coastal Route, I’m increasingly convinced that this is up there with them. None of it should…
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It’s an hour before sunset at The Cliff Hotel, Cardigan and we’re watching a pod of dolphins play in the water below us. This stunning corner of Wales has unquestionably taken a piece of all our hearts during our time here – our two-year-old will spend the much of the journey home screaming…
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The Causeway Coast and Glens is a place of incredible beauty and adventure but it’s also one of the best places to play golf. This part of Northern Ireland is perhaps best known for hosting The Open Championship in 2019 when Royal Portrush won the hearts of so many golfers around the world.…
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From the moment you enter The Lodge at Prince’s Golf Club it’s clear you’re following in the footsteps of champions. A photograph hangs in the reception area showing Colin Morikawa drinking from the Claret Jug in joyous celebration. It was taken in the bar here on the night he won The Open next…
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There is no shortage of life to live on any trip to the entertainment capital of the world but what about those Las Vegas golf courses? Where do you begin? Many people travel to Vegas for the casinos and the restaurants, some come for the shows and the concerts, while others are here…
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It was the music, that damn music that saunters into the living room each April, coercing me into four days of couch-surfing. Golfers around the world know the tune and I can vividly recall the first time I heard it, thinking it was the most ridiculous and pretentious piece of music, perfectly suited…
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It’s early on a crisp spring morning and my eyes are sweeping across Mount Juliet golf course taking it all in – it’s hard to imagine a more tranquil, elegant place to spend time. From the moment you drive through the gates of this sprawling country estate in County Kilkenny, Ireland, there is…
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In 2023, Italy will host its first Ryder Cup. The Marco Simone Golf Club, just outside Rome, is staging the biennial contest between Europe and the United States, and while most fans will base themselves in the Eternal City for the contest, those looking to lengthen their trip would do well to consider…
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In my head the atmospheric Old Course was going to be lit up by autumnal sunshine, showing off the home of golf in all its picture postcard perfection. In reality, the stoating rain that had threatened to derail my morning round at the Crail Golfing Society, had followed us up the Fife coast.…
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It’s no surprise to find the Scots have more than 100 words for rain – several sprang immediately to mind as I arrived at Crail Golfing Society, the seventh oldest club on the planet. It was a dreich morning, the darkest and dankest of starts to an autumnal day at the easternmost point…
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It would be understandable if Dundonald Links felt just a little threatened by Ayrshire’s embarrassment of golfing riches. After all it sits within minutes of storied Open venues such as Royal Troon and Prestwick Golf Club. Another, Turnberry, is 30 minutes down the coast. Wonderful Western Gailes is within a wedge. Barassie, Glasgow…
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Our adventure to the Inner Hebrides had to begin by road and involve taking to the water. Like real travellers. In my mind, it was the only way to prepare ourselves for our time on Islay. Yes, you can board a tiny flight from Glasgow and be preparing yourself to land just almost…
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When you think of the city of Liverpool, golf doesn’t immediately spring to mind. This, after all, is a city which lives and breathes football. It’s a city that is known across the world for its incredible music scene and it's a city with a rich, maritime history. But perhaps what golf is…
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If Scotland is the home of golf, Ireland the luxury holiday villa you can’t wait to go back to, what of England? Scotland and Ireland are quite rightly lauded as mythical golf destinations the world over – St Andrews, Ballybunion, Royal Dornoch, Lahinch – the names trip off the tongue. But a new…
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St Andrews and Chariots of Fire: the association immediately brings to mind the evocative opening moments of the celebrated Oscar-winning film, a sequence which has long since taken its place in cinematic history. The iconic images of young British athletes striding out across a windswept beach in slow-motion are set to one of…
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