When traveling someplace not specifically for a golf trip, I find that cross checking the various lists and reviews is a very effective way to find a good place to play. For example, last year we were on Maui for business, and we gave Kahili a try which does well on the Golf Advisor site and a couple state specific sites--really enjoyed the course, and it was a bargain for Hawaii ($80 I think). This year we will be in Scottsdale for business and between reading the threads on GCA and the various lists/sites, I am pretty confident that we will enjoy Ak Chin Southern Dunes which unlike We Ka Po or Talking Stick I had never heard of. Bottom line: more information the better so long as one is willing to invest a bit of time in filtering and assessing it.