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NEWPORT DUNES AND INNSBROOK MAKE GOLF DIGEST'S BEST NEW COURSES 2009

December 14, 2009

The Arnold Palmer Design Company is very proud of Newport Dunes G.C. and Innsbrook Golf & Boat Club making Golf Digest's list of America's Best New Courses of 2009. The annual ranking, which is in its 27th year, will be featured in the January 2010 issue of Golf Digest, on newsstands now. The complete rankings can be viewed online now at www.golfdigest.com/rankings/courses/new/2010/01/bestnewcourses.

Posted: December 14, 2009 04:22 PM

Tralee Golf Club - County Kerry, Ireland

December 11, 2009

For sheer exuberance, the setting of Tralee is tough to beat.

From GolfClubAtlas.com

The design of the golf course at Tralee polarizes golfers. Some swear by it as among the finest and finding playing elsewhere to be a bit boring. Others contend the two nines are too disparate and the course has too many all-or-nothing shots to be considered great. How can both views exist among reasonable men?

As for the first point of view, those who endlessly sing Tralee’s praises, a large part of their reasoning lies in the course’s setting. Its appeal is impossible to overstate but Peter Dobereiner did well when he wrote, ‘Robert Louis Stevenson was wrong, and by a long chalk, when he described the Monterey Peninsula of California as the finest conjunction of land and sea that this earth has to offer. As a spectacle Tralee is in a different class.’ In recent times, Old Head of Kinsale has received considerable attention for its setting but it too falls visually short of the diverse glories on offer at Tralee. Though the biggest dunes are found on the second nine, the views afforded when playing the front are every bit as captivating.

Though the biggest dunes are found on the second nine, the views afforded when playing the front are just as captivating.

Pictures will never capture the sight that awaits you upon first seeing the course and no man could be faulted for falling under its charms. However, the important thing is the golf, so how about the specific holes themselves? Are there compelling shots and does the course strategy draw you back again and again?In analyzing the course, the Club’s instructions to architect Ed Seay should be considered: build us as many spectacular holes as possible. On more than one occasion, Seay had to be talked into some of the final green placements. He advised them that the third green out on a promontory would need to be replaced virtually every year. He thought the twelfth green located directly above an eighty foot chasm on a 440 yard par four was excessive. He worried that the back markers on the sixteenth tee would require a driver on some days, and even then the ball could still end up in another deep chasm.

And yet the Club told him to press ahead with all of them. The biggest reason? They, like most in Ireland and the United Kingdom, prefer match to stroke play. As Archie Baird, the curator of the golf museum in Gullane, Scotland recently remarked, ‘Americans are killing the game. Look at them after a match. You have four unhappy men bent over their scorecards frowning. With match play, at least two men are always smiling!’

This same belief helps explain why the members of Tralee swear by their golf course. Who can blame them? The course offers many incomparably thrilling moments; only a scorecard and pencil mentality could ruin the day’s fun.

Read the full article at GolfClubAtlas.com

Posted: December 11, 2009 11:04 AM

STARR PASS COUNTRY CLUB TO HOST 2009 FAMILY GOLF FESTIVAL

December 03, 2009

Golfing Families Invited For a Fun and FREE Day of Golf Activities & Instruction

ORLANDO, Fla. - December 2, 2009...Marriott Golf, one of the world's premier golf operators, is once again reaching out to families all over the world and promoting "togetherness in golf." Starr Pass Country Club, at 364 West Starr Pass Blvd., Tucson, AZ, today announced that it will be hosting its second annual Family Golf Festival on Sunday, December 13 from noon to 4 p.m.

The Marriott International Family Golf Festival, which encourages parents and children to learn and play the game together, invites families to Starr Pass Country Club for a day of FREE golf activities and instruction, including short game and full swing clinics with chances to win a number of great giveaways and golf discount certificates.

Event highlights include: * Noon: Equipment demos for both juniors and adults will be sponsored by Nike and Callaway * 12:30 p.m.: Starr Pass professionals will conduct free golf clinic's for all participants * Popular Nickelodeon animated television stars Sponge Bob Square Pants and Dora the Explorer will be on hand all day to greet guests!

For more information on this year's Family Golf Festival, please call the Golf Shop at (520) 670-0406.

Read the full article

Posted: December 3, 2009 02:02 PM