Where would you spend 30 days?

[Rich Goodale]

Jeffrey

Assuming I play 50 rounds (2 most days) I'd do 40 Pebble (mostly to find out if it's really as good as I remember it to be), 8 Spyglass (for old times sake and to absorb the new layout) and 2 Spanish Bay (to see if it's as medicore as I remember).  Del Monte's not bad, but not worth playing under these conditions.

Rich

[Rich Goodale]

Tim

Bandon is so low key it doesn't even make it onto the left hand side of a grand piano....

[Larry_Keltto]

No doubt for me -- I'd settle in at Dunkerley's in Deal and spend the month at RCPGC.

[Andy Troeger]

Assuming its a resort course and money is no object, Pebble Beach wins hands down.  The golf might be marginally better in Bandon, but 30 days in Bandon vs. 30 days in Pebble Beach?  Referee stops fight 20 seconds into the first round......

given the 3 courses listed, pebble, del monte and spyglass (and include spanish bay as well) how do you break up 60 rounds amongst those 4?

60 rounds in 30 days? I don't know if I could even do that! I played 50 rounds last year and was pleased that I got to play more than usual!

[Gordon Oneil]

Perhaps it's because I haven't been there but have obviously read so much, unanimous acclaim for it as a classic golf course and unique town but I've gotta go with Dornoch.
Whether it's for 30 days or a "Season..."  Gotta read Lorne Rubenstein.
Yes, I think Dornoch is at the top of a pretty good list of excellent candidates of places at which to spend a month playing golf and life.

[Tim Leahy]

Monterey also has Poppy Hills, Pacific Grove, Bayonet/Blackhorse and Pasatiempo within an hour.

[Tom Huckaby]

Farnsworth makes a great point.  These 30 days do include at least 29 nights as well, and as nice as Bandon is, well... I have to believe stir-craziness would set in.

So let this be a lesson for Patrick Mucci.....

I have learned something from another participant here, and it's caused me to change my position on an issue.

See how easy that was?  The sun still appears in the sky and I am still breathing....

Put me down for Pebble Beach.  I'd likely devote a few more rounds than Farnsworth to Spyglass and Spanish Bay and would play Del Monte at least once - all for variety - but tjis does seem like a pretty dream month.

And Andrew, in my dreams I don't work.  Come on kid, live a little.  Man does not live by obtaining golf course knowledge alone.  

[Kalen Braley]

I'd have to agree that Pebble likely beats out Bandon.  Sure the golf in Bandon is nothing short of awesome, but with the night life in the Monterey area that would take it over the top.

My wife and I kayaked in the Monterey bay a number of years back and that was very fun.  Throw in a down day to take a drive to Big Basin or even up to Santa Cruz/Pasatiempo...its tough to beat the area for just sheer beauty and things to go do and see.

[Dan Herrmann]

Cape Breton Island, NS.

The culture is very peaceful, the golf is heavenly, and Cape Breton National Park is an unknown gem of North America.

Plus, I love the music of the island...

[Bruce Katona]

Given access, the east end of Long Island...Shinnicock, NGLA, Westhampton, Fishers....second choice Kapalua in the winter with the whales off the coast and a mai tai on the veranda of the Plantation Course at sunset....life is not much better than this.

[John Foley]

30 days at Kapalua would be pretty sweet. Not only do you get the plantations & "other" course you can also catch the ferry to Lanai for Manele Bay.

The other plan I was thinking about was a grand tour of the Mid-west. Hit the Michigan courses (Arcadia, Forrest Dunes, Angels Crossing, Marquette, etc..) then Wisonsin (Erin Hills, Whistling Straits, Blackwolf Run, etc) then Minny (Giants Ridge & Wilderness @ Fortune Bay, Deacons Lodge, Dacotah Ridge, etc..), North Dakota (Links of, Hawktree, Bully Pulpit, etc..) but I ran out of places to hit on a southern route back though Iowa, Illinois (ot Chi Town) Northern Indy & Ohio.

[Tom Huckaby]

These all sound like a great way to spend 30 days, but some of you are cheating.  Matt said it had to be one resort and one resort only, at least for the golf.

Tsk, Tsk.

Make it how best to spend 30 days devoted to this game and it's a very different answer.  Then again, maybe not.  30 days at Pebble remains hard to beat even under those parameters.

[tlavin]

Pinehurst.

[Dan Herrmann]

Cape Breton Highlands Links.

A non-resort...  Who needs a resort?

[Greg Tallman]

Huck,

30 days in Cabo is like 30 days in Vegas.  27 days too long....

Certainly true for a young man... definitely not true for an old-timer like me.  I doubt I'd get into the town of Cabo San Lucas once.  What I meant by non-golf activities was lying by pool, deep sea fishing, damn good food, desert ATVs, etc.  The partying aspect is a thing of the past.

 

C'mon now Huck you mean you would not venture down to San Lucas with me even once? Surely you like sushi... on of the best spots on the planet in downtown San Lucas and afterward well... you only live once!

You can also add taking tours of the future golf courses to you list of activities getting difficult to keep up with. Hope to get a peak at Hanse site at Querencia sometime in the near future... the Montage project next door to us... Chileno Bay is moving dirt, Puerto Los Cabos, Diamante Cabo San Lucas, Cabo Pacifica... you could fill up 30 days rather easily without playing every day.

Not sure I could actually handle a golf themed 30 day stint anywhere but Kiawah is awfully nice and I would also put Sea Pines near the top of the list. If it were from late august through November then it would have to be Lakeview Resort outside Morgantown, West Virginia... I might play a round of golf or two.

[Tom Huckaby]

Greg:

Well, we'd likely get down there more than once... the fishing boats leave from there.... Trailer Park is down there... and if you say there's great sushi, that works for me too.  I guess I should have said I could spend 30 days in the Los Cabos area and not NEED to partake of the evening activities in Cabo San Lucas.  Been there, done that, too old to repeat now.

   

[Greg Tallman]

Tom - Understood and actually the better dining experiences are more and more appearing in San José.

Although I live closer to San Lucas it truly needs a "destination makeover"... anyone in television on here?

Paul Cowley could star and oversee the new master plan for downtown San Lucas? Where to start... how about the abandon building that has ben in the middle of town for 15-20 years!

[Shane Sullivan]

I agree with all those who shudder at spending 30 days at a resort - any resort.

I would rent a house at the Mornington Peninsula south of Melbourne and play a mixture of the Mornington Courses and Sandbelt Courses.

The weather is almost always good, the food is great and the wineries aren't bad either.  There are also beaches, sailing and Barnbougle Dunes is a weekend break away.

If you do want to stay at a resort - Peppers down there is lovely and has two good golf courses - they have apartment accommodation if you want a little extra space.

[Dan Herrmann]

How about SW Ireland?  I've heard that they may have some quite wonderful links there   And wonderful culture.

Laura said quickly, Pinehurst.

Actually, we'd both probably pick Bandon.  Having lived in Oregon for 9 years, I know a lot of the really great places to visit in SW Oregon when we weren't golfing.

Anybody want to voulenteer to help send 2 40-something kids to Bandon-by-the-Sea?

[Lloyd_Cole]

30 consecutive days in a resort and I'd give up golf.
Alert my wife, we may have a plan.

[Pete_Pittock]

Earlier, on page 1,  I mentioned two places starting with Ban... Bandon was obvious. Banff is the other.

[Bob Jenkins]

Pete,

Banff is wonderful but there is only one course. You have to head out to Canmore for Silver Tip and a few others for variety. In the summer, Banff is also full of tourist buses etc so away from the course, if you are not looking at the Bow River and the mountains, it can be a let down.

You may do better in the Okanagan Valley of BC or in the Kootenays. Lots of good golf for an area, but there would be some movement required.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

1. Monterey Pen/Bay Area
2. Bandon Dunes
3. Access not issue Long island
4. East Lothian
5. St. Andrews
6. London ring
7. Liverpool area

[tlavin]

The Question:

Thirty days is much different than a week or weekend. So, if all of these places offered similar "sabbatical" packages, which destination would you prefer?

Pinehurst (8 courses at the resort)
Bandon Dunes (3 courses)
Pebble Beach (with Spyglass, Spanish Bay, and Del Monte)
Blackwolf Run/Whistling Straits
Kapalua (3 courses)

Somewhere else?

I pick Pinehurst over Bandon and Pebble because of the volume of courses and the availability of some nightlife and spa activity.  Pebble has all of that in spades and the ocean, to boot, but it also has attitude of a type that I favor only in smaller (five days, let's say) doses.  Bandon is far superior to any golf resort than I've ever been exposed to, but more than a week in that isolated outpost would be more than this city boy could probably handle.  Pinehurst has the golf, the history, the ambiance, the more predictable weather and the social life at night.  Pretty hard to top for a golf month.

[KBanks]

If money was no object: Gleneagles, provided one had use of one of their Land Rovers to barnstorm around the rest of Scotland and satisfy the appetite for links golf.

With the amount of daylight in the summer, nothing would be out of reach.

Ken