The post Travel mailbag: The best courses in the Phoenix area for a bachelor party appeared first on Golf.

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Welcome to GOLF’s Travel Mailbag, a series in which members of our staff field your course- and travel-related queries. Have a question for a future mailbag? Tweet us at @golf_com.

What are the best courses in the Phoenix area for a bachelor party?

Divots and debauchery, eh?

You’ve picked a good place.

The biggest challenge here isn’t finding properties that pair high-quality golf with post-round revelry. The trick is narrowing down the choices. There’s only so much you can squeeze in over what we suspect won’t be much longer than a weekend getaway.

You might start by checking out Talking Stick Resort. It’s in Scottsdale, but just a quick skip from the Phoenix airport. Talking Stick has two courses, the O’odham and the Piipash, Coore-Crenshaw designs that complement each other in their styles: the former is more links-like, the latter more tree-lined. Both will test your shot-making, but neither was built to beat you up. 

Blackjack, on the other hand, can absolutely crush you.

But, hey, you’ve got gambling money, right?

Talking Stick isn’t just a resort. It’s a casino resort. That means table games, slots and all the other trappings. Live music. Comedy shows. Surf-and-turf restaurants. Pool parties. A bonanza for a bachelor bash.

You could say something similar of We-Ko-Pa, in Fort McDowell, another golf/casino one-two punch. There are two courses here, too, the Saguaro and the Cholla, and both routinely rate among the top public tracks in the area (Saguaro is also on GOLF Magazine’s list of Top 100 Courses You Can Play). 

Moving along on the public-access list, we’d be remiss not to point you toward Papago, a muni with a pedigree. Owned by the city of Phoenix, it was designed by Billy Bell in the 1960s and, in renovated form, doubles today as the home course for the Arizona State men’s and women’s golf teams. When you wrap up your 18, we recommend another round or two at Lou’s Bar & Grill, an outdoor venue on property that has live music Thursdays through Saturdays. 

Courses

The music isn’t always live at Grayhawk Golf Club, farther north, in Scottsdale, but it’s almost always playing. Rock tunes echo in the parking lot and pump from speakers on the driving range, adding to the festive atmospherics at a 36-hole venue that used to host a PGA Tour event. Phil’s Grill, aka Lefty’s Lair, is the popular post-round gathering place here, a kickback bar and restaurant adorned with memorabilia from its namesake’s Hall of Fame career. (Mickelson has served as Tour ambassador for Grayhawk for decades.)

By the end of a bachelor-party weekend, you might be too worn down for a regulation 18.

You could always do Topgolf; there’s a great one in the heart of Scottsdale.  

You might also consider the Short Course at Mountain Shadows, an 18-hole, par-3 design, in Paradise Valley, at a resort of the same name. Back in the day, Mountain Shadows was a frequent hangout for members of the Rat Pack, and the property retains a throwback cocktail-hour vibe. 

Our own Alan Bastable was just there with a group of friends, and you can read more about his visit here. Bastable and his crew are all middle-aged, their wild bachelor days long behind them. But the article provides a nice description of Mountan Shadows. You might also read it as a comforting reminder that guys’ getaways don’t have to end when married life begins.

Need help unriddling the greens at home (or on the road)? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate GolfLogix.

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The post Travel mailbag: How far in advance do I need to book a Bandon Dunes trip? appeared first on Golf.

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Welcome to GOLF’s Travel Mailbag, a series in which members of our staff field your course- and travel-related queries. Have a question for a future mailbag? Tweet us at @golf_com.

How far in advance do I need to book a Bandon Dunes trip?

If you’ve been struggling to land a Bandon Dunes reservation, don’t take it personally. No less a luminary than former NBA star J.J. Redick had to work the phone lines hard recently to get a booking. The earliest he could nab was summer, 2023.

So it goes. When you apply the current golf boom to America’s most beloved golf resort, the laws of supply and demand don’t leave a ton of leeway. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.

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At the moment, Bandon is booking rooms through the end of 2023, and there’s limited availability through that period. Tee times have been getting snatched up long in advance, too. But because there are five courses, you might be able to book the golf you want, assuming you are willing to stay off property and pay the higher greens free rate. These rates vary depending on the season, but to give you an example, the resort guest greens fee for July-Sept of 2022 is $295, compared to $345 if you’re staying off property.

Other ways to improve your chances? As with the golf, it helps to be flexible; the more windows in your schedule, the better your odds. For obvious reasons, smaller groups are easier to book than large ones. The (relatively) slower winter season can also be rewarding if you don’t mind playing in a bit of weather. Embracing the elements is all part of links golf. And, besides, you might even hit a spell of blue-bird days.

These are unusual times in golf. Tee sheets are packed. Phone lines are flooded. For a marquee property like Bandon, it’s a good problem to have. But the resort takes no pleasure in saying no. They want to accommodate you. Be patient. Keep trying. It will happen, and when it does, it will be worth the wait.

Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate GolfLogix.

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Welcome to GOLF’s Travel Mailbag, a series in which members of our staff field your course- and travel-related queries. Have a question for a future mailbag? Tweet us at @golf_com.

Should you get a hard or soft travel bag when flying?

There’s a great scene from The Simpsons where Bart and Lisa are at loggerheads over something and decide to settle matters by playing Rock, Paper, Scissors.

“Poor, predictable Bart,” Lisa says to herself in voice-over. “Always takes rock.”

“Good old rock,” Bart says to himself in voice-over. “Nothing beats that!”

Can you see where this is headed? In a quest to shield your clubs from potential damage, you might be tempted to go with a hard cover. Hard is tough, after all. Impenetrable. Protective.

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You know what else? Hard is a headache. Ever tried hauling a coffin through an airport? That’s what wrestling with a hard case is like. And don’t even get us started on the logistical hassles of cramming a hard-cover case into a rental car. Or caveman-dragging it down a hotel hallway.

As one veteran golf tour operator told us, people who hit the road with hard-cover cases tend to fall into one of two categories.

“They are either CEOs or celebrities who have other people to do the heavy lifting for them,” the operator said. “Or they are the nutty professor types.”

Meaning, they have a loose grasp on how the world actually works. The moral of the story: don’t think like Bart. Go with a soft bag. The best brands provide plenty of protection, with durable material and padding in all of the right places. They also come with well-designed stiff arms, which help absorb any torques and twists.

You’ll want a bag with wheels for ease of transport, and, ideally, extra room for stashing extra clothes, or dirty laundry.

Good old soft-cover cases. Nothing beats them. (To find our favorites and more key travel accessories, click here.)

Want to overhaul your bag for 2022? Find a fitting location near you at GOLF’s affiliate company True Spec Golf.

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Welcome to GOLF’s Travel Mailbag, a series in which members of our staff field your course- and travel-related queries. Have a question for a future mailbag? Tweet us at @golf_com.

Which mega golf resort is right for me?

Per usual, a ton of our most recent batch of questions asked about golf’s mega resorts. The best time to go to Bandon? Cabot vs. Sand Valley? Pinehurst vs. Bandon? What resorts should I go to? These types of questions come in a lot. But without knowing all the relevant details — your budget, your schedule, the makeup of your group, your appetite for airport security lines, and so forth — it’s tough to narrow a response to a single suggestion. So we figured we’d create this handy explainer about the six resorts we receive the most questions about: Bandon Dunes, Cabot Links, Destination Kohler, Pinehurst, Sand Valley and Streamsong. Here’s hoping these details help clarify your thinking. Now the tough part: deciding where to go.

And if you’re looking for even more information on potential destinations, check out GOLF’s Top 100 Resorts page here.

Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Bandon, Ore.)

How to get there: The closest commercial airport is in North Bend, about 30 minutes from the resort. But another popular option is to fly into Eugene. It’s a longer drive from there to Bandon (about 2 1/2 hours), but it’s also a bigger airport, with a far greater number of flights. Same goes for Portland, which is about a 4 1/2-hour drive.

Courses: Five 18-hole courses; one 13-hole par-3 course; and a 100,000-square foot putting course.

Restaurants: Five on site, ranging from refined to casual grab-and-go.

Why you should go: No destination in the modern era has done more to change the image of American golf than Bandon Dunes, where Mike Keiser proved that if you built it, they would come, provided that you built it really well. Nor does any property on the planet have a greater concentration of Top 100 Courses. Part of the fun of a trip to Bandon is weighing in on the requisite debate over which of the 18-holers reigns supreme — Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails, Old MacDonald, or Sheep Ranch. You may even decide that the 13-hole Preserve is the one you love the best.

Insider’s tip: Like many top resorts, Bandon has been jam-packed of late. But even when every room is taken, slots are sometimes open on the tee sheet. In other words, you might still be able to book golf, with the option of renting a house nearby.

More: Visit the resort website here.

Cabot Links (Cape Breton, Inverness, Nova Scotia)

How to get there: The closest commercial airport is in Halifax, a little more than a 3-hour drive from the resort. J.A. Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport is closer — about a two-hour drive — but offers fewer flights.

Courses: Two 18-holes courses and a 10-hole par-3 course.

Restaurants: Three dining options on property: a pub, a bar and a refined restaurant overlooking the water.

Why you should go: Tucked along the coast of a sleepy fishing village, Cabot offers great golf with a vivid sense of place. Both its 18-hole courses, Cabot Links and Cabot Cliffs, are on GOLF’s list of Top 100 Courses in the World, though they offer something of a study in contrasts. Where Links is a layout of understated grace, Cliffs lives up to its billing with the eye-popping drama of holes etched atop towering seaside bluffs. Together, they rank among the finest one-two punches anywhere.

Insider’s tip: You’ve come this far. Go a little bit farther, taking an extra day to visit Highland Links, a public-access bucket-lister by Stanley Thompson, Canada’s Alister Mackenzie, a giant of Golden Age design. It’s about a 2 1/2-hour drive from Cabot, and the scenery alone is worth the trip.

More: Visit the resort website here.

Destination Kohler (Kohler, Wis.)

How to get there: The closest commercial airport is Milwaukee, about an hour from the resort, though many travelers also fly into Chicago’s O’Hare, which is just under 2 1/2 hours away.

Courses: Four 18-hole courses, a 10-hole par-3 course, and a two-acre putting course.

Restaurants: Eleven, with varied menu styles and settings.

Why you should go: You’ve seen it on TV, most recently at this year’s Ryder Cup. But Whistling Straits is even more spectacular in person, a wild work of artistry and engineering by Pete Dye, stretched along a once-flat expanse of Lake Michigan shoreline. Its three 18-hole siblings — the Irish Course, and the River and Meadow Valleys at Blackwolf Run — are also Dye designs and dramatic and demanding as well. But you’ll also want to make time for the Baths, a par-3 course that plays nicely with a few clubs in one hand and a cold drink in the other.

Insider’s tip: The Kohler Swing Studio bar. For guests staying at the Inn on Woodlake, the Kohler Swing Studio Bar is a perfect spot to finish out the day with a beverage overlooking the lake or while smacking shots on Topgolf simulators. Great fun with a group.

More: Visit the resort website here.

Pinehurst Resort (Pinehurst, N.C.)

How to get there: The closest commercial airport is in Raleigh-Durham, roughly a 90-minute drive from the resort. Charlotte is also just two hours away.

Courses: Nine 18-hole courses, a par-3 course and a putting course.

Restaurants: Nine on property, ranging from white-tablecloth dining to a casual brewpub and barbecue joint.

Why you should go: For many travelers, the number-one reason is No. 2, the Donald Ross masterpiece and resort centerpiece that has hosted more elite championships than any course in the United States. History runs deep here. But to say the past is ever-present doesn’t mean the property is trapped in amber. Updates and fresh additions abound, from the Gil Hanse redesign of Pinehurst No. 4 to the opening of The Cradle, a nifty par-3 course, and a putting course called Thistle Dhu. Maybe more than any resort in the country, Pinehurst strikes a balance between sepia-toned tradition and currents of contemporary cool.

Insider’s tip: Whether you snag a tee time at No. 2 or not, carve out an hour to have a drink or bite on the massive porch of The Deuce, which overlooks the 18th green of No. 2. It’s the perfect gathering spot to unwind, recap your round and watch the poor souls try to get up and down to save par.

More: Visit the resort website here.

Sand Valley Golf Resort (Nekoosa, Wis.)

How to get there: Most travelers from outside the region fly into Chicago, Milwaukee or Minneapolis. Of those, Milwaukee is closest (about 2 1/2hours) and Chicago is the farthest (about four hours). The drive from Minneapolis is about three hours.

Courses: Two 18-hole courses and a 17-hole par-3 course.

Restaurants: Four options on property, ranging from farm-to-table fine dining to a food truck, which parks by the Sandbox, the par-3 course.

Why you should go: Picture Bandon Dunes, relocated to the Badger State. Sure, Sand Valley has no ocean, and fewer golf holes. But the Keiser family owns it, and its courses, designed, respectively, by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, and David McLay Kidd (all of whom also worked at Bandon), reflect a similar modern-minimalist aesthetic, with emphasis on creative ground-game fun.

Insider’s tip: In addition to its courses, Sand Valley has 15 grass tennis courts, miles of hiking and fat-tire biking trails, and complimentary strength and stretching classes. It also has a culinary garden, a key component of the resort’s first-rate food and beverage program.

More: Visit the resort website here.

Streamsong Resort (Bowling Green, Fla.)

How to get there: The resort is roughly equidistant from the Tampa and Orlando airports. It’s about a 90-minute drive from each.

Courses: Three 18-hole courses, a 7-hole short course and a 1.2-acre putting course.

Restaurants: Four on property, plus three bars and lounges.

Why you should go: Conjure every stereotype of Florida golf — flat, lush, water-laden — and then imagine the opposite. Set amid the heaving dunes of a former phosphate mine, Streamsong offers the kind of rollicking golf that fans have come to expect from Gil Hanse, Tom Doak, and the duo of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, the architects, respectively, behind the Black, Blue and Red Courses here. In keeping with its style of golf, the resort requires that you take a caddie and highly recommends that you walk, though carts are also available.

Insider’s tip: Can’t find the fairways? The resort has other target-based activities, including archery and sporting clays.

More: Visit the resort website here.

Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate GolfLogix.

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The post Travel mailbag: 3 underrated golf destinations perfect for any buddies trip appeared first on Golf.

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Welcome to GOLF’s Travel Mailbag, a series in which members of our staff field your course- and travel-related queries. Have a question for a future mailbag? Tweet us at @golf_com.

What are the most underrated golf courses in the USA for a golf trip? —@rexygolf via Instagram

A good question! To help, we asked three GOLF.com staffers for their picks. And if you’re still looking for even more options (albeit some aren’t “under the radar”), check out our best resorts for buddies trips here.

Dylan Dethier, senior writer: Underrated golf destination? Ooh boy, I’m glad you asked. This August I trekked to Portland, Maine, with colleagues Sean Zak and Claire Rogers to explore whether America’s northeast corner could be considered a worthy recommendation. Good news: The answer was an unanimous “yes!”

Some golf destinations will bathe you in all golf, all the time — and that’s awesome. Others boast PGA Tour-worthy courses. Maine does neither. Instead it delivers courses with history, character, grit, quirk and epic scenery. There are elite courses on the ocean, courses in the mountains, others still overlooking inland lakes. But the best part of a golf trip to Portland is everything else. There’s a reason they call it Vacationland: There are boats, beaches and breweries in ridiculous supply. Portland’s food scene is really good — and not just for lobster rolls.

In other words, Portland is an awesome destination for a well-rounded golf trip. Golf plus other things. Stay in Portland or just south in Kennebunkport and play Cape Arundel. Stay in local hotspot Freeport and play nearby Belgrade Lakes, Brunswick or take the ferry over to the unforgettable Great Chebeague.

You can make Maine your own! Just keep an open mind. You can read more about our trip here or watch the video below.

James Colgan, assistant editor: I had never heard of Traverse City, Mich., until I booked my return flight from there in June. It was Saturday at the Memorial Tournament, and I was about to pinch-hit my way into an all-time work trip from the press center at Muirfield Village.

Beloved podcast hosts and fellow GOLF co-workers Dylan Dethier and Sean Zak were about to trek up to Northern Michigan for a few days at Forest Dunes resort when they called me. Sean was feeling under the weather, they said, and since I was just a short drive away, would I be interested in joining?

Two days later, I screeched out of the parking lot of a Dublin Marriott in my rental Toyota Corolla and embarked on a six-hour journey into the Great Lake State.

I arrived to find golf summer camp — a tiny, friendly, escapist resort tucked a dozen miles into the middle of the woods. Dylan, Sean, our host Tyler Tabor and I played The Loop, Tom Doak’s now-famous reversible design — a wide-open, wildly friendly and endlessly quirky track. Then we played the Bootlegger, a short course named for the brothers of a certain Sicilian fraternal organization who once owned the resort property. Then came the Dunes Course, the resort’s slice of parkland bliss. We completed our trip, naturally, by playing The Loop again from the other direction — sending our tee shots on our first hole up what was the 18th fairway the previous day.

Our time was stupidly fun. Our golf was stupidly good. Our location was stupidly beautiful. I wish I could go back again if only to play Arcadia Bluffs, another brilliant course that’s only a short drive down the road.

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If you’d like to get away from it all (like, really, truly get away), zip your way up to Michigan and thank me later. You’ll be glad you did.

Josh Berhow, managing editor: Good picks above. I’ll stick with the northern trend and pick the Brainerd, Minn., area. First of all, it’s worth noting I live in Minnesota and am very familiar with that spot, and I actually tried pretty hard to name something out of state, but alas, I didn’t really have a great under-the-radar destination I’ve visited myself over the last few years worth mentioning. So Brainerd is the perfect pick! And I’ll defend and recommend this here forever. Here’s why.

The Brainerd Lakes region is loaded with great golf courses, top-notch resorts, sparkling lakes and glorious vacation fun. Grand View Lodge, one of our Top 100 Resorts, has 18 holes at The Preserve (with an epic 19th-hole view) and three different nines at The Pines, not to mention all the awesome resort goodies (spa, restaurants, beach, boating, etc.) to complete any stay. Madden’s Resort has two 18-hole courses that are cheaper alternatives than some of the others in the area, but it also has what many believe to be the top area course in The Classic, which is one of the best-conditioned and highest-rated public courses in the state. There’s also Cragun’s Resort, which already had two awesome courses but has started on a massive renovation and will soon have three different nines at The Dutch Legacy and a brand new Lehman Legacy, named after the man in charge of the redesign, Minnesotan Tom Lehman. And then there’s Deacon’s Lodge, an awesome Arnold Palmer design at Breezy Point Resort.

And those are the just the courses I’ve played (there’s more to check out), and they are all within 30 minutes of each other. What’s great about Brainerd is that whole region is just a superb vacation spot in the gorgeous Northwoods. Besides the golf there’s great beaches, lake activities, restaurants, shopping, mini golf, water views, amusement parks and more. So it doesn’t even have to be a buddies trip; it’s just as great as a family-trip option. It’s 2 1/2 hours from the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, so not even a terrible drive for out-of-staters.

What’s more is the area just keeps getting better. For example, The Gravel Pit, a 13-hole par-3 course that also has a 13-hole extreme putting course, is set to open in Brainerd in the spring.

Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate GolfLogix.

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Welcome to GOLF’s Travel Mailbag, a series in which members of our staff field your course- and travel-related queries. Have a question for a future mailbag? Tweet us at @golf_com.

How do you make a golf trip work with kids? -@garethpaul via Instagram

A golf trip? Great! A golf trip with kids? Now that’s a little different! But that doesn’t mean it has to be any less fun than hanging out with your buddies — if nothing else it will be more wholesome. (Although there’s a slight chance you might mean how to make a trip work while leaving the kids at home, but in the rare event that’s the actual question, that’s something to discuss with your spouse, not GOLF’s highly respected Travel Mailbag.)

Anyway! As one of several dads on the GOLF.com staff, I raised my hand to tackle this tricky mailbag question. First, though, there are some things that are important to clarify. Is this a golf trip with just a dad or mom and kids, or the whole clan? And are the kids golfers? Or are they just along for the ride? Is it a golf trip with kids or a family vacation where you are trying to squeeze in some golf? Planning might be different. Trips with kids need kid-friendly activities, and more refined extracurriculars for dad or mom never hurts either.

Either way, we’ll cover it all. Here are four tips to knock out a golf trip when it’s not just you and your buddies.

1. Water is your friend (no, not on the golf course)

Most great golf resorts offer at least one, if not several, pool options. For example, the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa is host to the PGA Tour’s Valero Texas Open. There’s two great courses you can play there. Plus, look at these photos. When you are done with a morning round, the backside of the resort is an unreal watery oasis of slides, lazy rivers, pools and sun loungers. Even mom and dad would love a place like this.

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2. Share the wealth

My first golf trip with my wife and daughter was at Hammock Beach in Florida. I played golf on the Ocean Course one morning and my wife got a spa treatment the next day. Splitting the parenting duties makes it easier on everyone.

3. Off-course splendor

If it’s not all golf all the time, then it’s important to find other activities to fill afternoons. Play mini golf, ride go-karts, shop downtown, get ice cream, find a fun restaurant, stop at a brewery. Options are unlimited.

4. No 36-hole marathons

If your kids are older and into golf, that’s fantastic, but they might not be game for 36-hole marathons at Bandon Dunes quite yet. Now you just have to get your golf in differently. Think nine holes instead of 18. Or play a short course or par-3 instead of another round on a big track. I was at Pinehurst just last week, and while the mega-resort offers world-class golf highlighted by its No. 2 and No. 4 courses, it also has a couple of less terrifying options for beginners and, better yet, an awesome short course and massive practice putting green. You can spend hours there; and both are equally enjoyable for adults and kids.

If you want to check out more family-friendly golf destinations, check out GOLF’s best resorts for families.

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The post Travel mailbag: What is the gold standard golf bag travel cover? appeared first on Golf.

Welcome to GOLF’s Travel Mailbag, a series in which members of our staff field your course- and travel-related queries. Have a question for a future mailbag? Tweet us at @golf_com.

What is the gold standard golf bag travel cover? — scottypsu via Instagram

Traveling opens up a world of choices. So does shopping for golf travel bags.

The options span the spectrum from soft canvas covers to hardshell cases that could almost pass for coffins on wheels. How to pick? As with so much else, you get what you pay for. What you save up front might cost you later in, say, a torn strap, a faulty wheel or a broken club. Do aesthetics matter? Sure. But looks are a matter of personal taste.

For most golfers, the decision comes down to two key factors: price and pragmatics. They want a product that protects their clubs and doesn’t hold them back as they’re trying to get around.

A number of brands check those boxes. By almost any measure, it’s tough to top Club Glove.

Club Glove Last Bag Collegiate

Available in 23 colors, the premium-fitted collapsible Last Bag Collegiate has two outside pockets and exterior dimensions are: 51″ H x 15″ W x 14″ D.

$289 from go.skimresources.com

The company makes its bags in the United States, and it makes them well, using waterproof, industrial-strength nylon, reinforced by equally resilient straps and fabrics. The bags come in more than a dozen colors with all the bells and whistles: pockets for your shoes and assorted extras, and in-line skate wheels built into a sturdy base that roll smoothly and quietly.

Three sizes are available (for stand bags, cart bags and Tour bags), designed to fit snugly around your clubs and to fold up snugly when they’re empty. The list of Tour pros who use Club Glove includes Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka. Those guys all fly private. Starting at $289, the Club Glove is a luxury many of the rest of us can afford.

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The post Travel mailbag: What are Alabama’s best public courses not on the RTJ Trail? appeared first on Golf.

The post Travel mailbag: What are Alabama’s best public courses not on the RTJ Trail? appeared first on Golf.

Welcome to GOLF’s Travel Mailbag, a weekly, interactive GOLF.com series in which members of our staff field your course- and travel-related queries. Have a question for a future mailbag? Tweet us at @golf_com.

I’m new to Alabama, aside from the Robert Trent Jones Trail, what are some of the best courses in the state that I can realistically play on a weekend getaway? — @HotSprots via Twitter

Hey HotSprots. New York without the Statue of Liberty. Paris without the Eiffel Tower. And Alabama without the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. As your question indicates, it’s hard to think about public-access golf in ‘Bama without thinking about the RTJ constellation, which today consists of 468 holes at 11 sites around the state. But those courses are far from the only options. And seeing as you’re keen to go off trail, as it were, a couple of recommendations come to mind.

The first is Kiva Dunes, in Gulf Shores, which anchors a resort of the same name. Inspired golf design all starts with the land, and former U.S. Open champion Jerry Pate was given a fine site to work with here, replete with white sand dunes and natural lakes, all within shouting distance of the Gulf of Mexico. “Links-like” is a well-worn term that drives some persnickety architecture buffs batty. But it applies to Kiva Dunes, in the lilt of the terrain and the raw sandy areas and the ever-shifting winds. Conditions are kept to a high standard, and the course itself is reliably good fun.

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Our second recommendation is thought by many to be the finest public layout in the state. If you were a turf-grass scientist (we’re going to take a risk and assume you are not), you’d have good reason to have heard of FarmLinks Golf Club at Pursell Farms, a golf course that doubles as an agronomical research center. It’s a great place to geek-out over grass varieties. But we’re also confident that you’ll dig the golf. Designed by Hurdzan-Fry Environmental Golf Design, the course is tucked into the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, in a tranquil setting, on land with just the right amount of movement: lots of compelling shifts in elevation, but nothing that comes remotely close to being goofy. And as you might imagine, barely a blade of grass is out of place. The course is part of a nearly century-old family business. It’s also an amenity to a welcome resort with an amiable inn, cottages and cabins — ideal for the weekend getaway you asked about.

Hope that helps, HotSprots. And good luck settling into your new home state. Before long, you’re going to know the local golf scene far better than we do, so please keep us posted on any of your finds.

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The post Travel mailbag: What do I need to know when playing golf with caddies? appeared first on Golf.

Welcome to GOLF’s Travel Mailbag, a weekly, interactive GOLF.com series in which members of our staff field your course- and travel-related queries. Have a question for a future mailbag? Tweet us at @golf_com.

Planning a foursome trip to Bandon Dunes next fall. I’m not very comfortable playing with caddies in general, but I’ve heard it really enhances the experience. Curious about trade offs, or ways to be more comfortable playing with caddies. Also, any helpful tips for planning the Bandon trip? — Tim Farrell via Facebook

Hey Tim. Bandon, eh? I’m envious, but I’ll try not to hold that against you. Let’s get to your second question first. For trip-planning tips, you might check out this Bandon primer, which two of my colleagues (Josh Berhow and Alan Bastable) and I produced a few years ago after our own coastal Oregon getaway. That was before the opening of Sheep Ranch, Bandon’s fifth 18-hole course (you can read more about that here), otherwise, though, all the basics still apply. The cliff notes version is this: pack rain gear, leave your lob wedge at home (on the tight lies here, you’re better off embracing the old-fashioned bump-and-run), book as many tee times as daylight — and your body — will allow. And prepare to have a blast. It’s hard not to.

As for your other question — the caddie conundrum — the answer is a little more involved. You’ve probably heard it said that golf is 90 percent mental, and 10 percent mental. That’s all the more true when playing golf with a caddie: it really can enhance your experience — especially at a place like Bandon, with its quirky bounces and coastal winds and walking-only (barring a medical exemption) culture. But you’ve got to be in the right frame of mind.

Instruction

The caddie discomfort you describe is not uncommon. A lot of golfers I’ve met balk at hiring a looper for various reasons. Sometimes, they’re simply being frugal (for what it’s worth, Bandon caddies are independent contractors; their base rate is $100, plus gratuity, which pencils out to an average of about $120 per bag). But more often, they’re leery of feeling added pressure: pressure to play well in front of a stranger, or pressure to make small-talk with someone they’ve just met. Some golfers insist they just want to focus on their game, on the course and on conversations with their playing partners, and they worry that a caddie will only distract them.

Maybe you share some — or all — of those concerns. How to deal with them? For starters, remember that seasoned caddies (and most Bandon caddies qualify as such) have been around the block. They’ve witnessed it all. Little that you do is likely to surprise them. No matter how well, or how poorly, you play, they’ve seen better and they’ve seen worse. They’re on hand to help you, not to judge you. If you sense their eyes upon you, scrutinizing every swing, that’s a good thing: they’re trying to make sure you don’t lose a ball. In short, you can set your performance anxiety aside.

The other thing to remember is that caddies are adaptable and undemanding. They’re also perceptive. They’ll sense what you want from them and do their best to oblige. If you’re not up for small-talk, they’ll keep quiet. If you’re keen on conversation, they’ll chat right back. The same applies to reading greens and pulling clubs. A good caddie can be as involved as you’d like. Or not at all.

As is often the case at courses with compelling architecture, the potential advantages of a caddie are all the greater at Bandon if this is your first time on property. These are course-knowledge layouts, and no one knows them better than the loopers. There’s also this: If you’re open to engaging with them, most caddies make great company. Many are characters, with stories to tell. Years from now, when you look back on your time at Bandon, it’s the stories you’ll remember, not your score.

Speaking of stories, on a Bandon trip I made a few years back, I was told that Steph Curry had just been at the resort and had a great time with the caddies in his group, so much so that he’d driven to downtown Bandon in the evening to shoot pool — and shoot the breeze — at the Arcade Tavern, a popular caddie hangout. A global superstar, hobnobbing with the local loopers. My guess is that if you wind up getting someone on your bag at Bandon, you might be tempted to do the same.

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