Category Archives

84 Articles
Golf en Provence: C’est une bonne idée

Golf en Provence: C’est une bonne idée

by Hal Phillips 0 Comments

The second green at Golf de Barbaroux

[This is Part II of a travel piece re. Golf en Provence. See here Part I.]

Golf en Provence is actually a very good idea, but it’s a bit like golf en honeymoon. There’s so much to do, and the region’s delights so brilliantly couples-oriented, the golf can seem a bit superfluous, n’est-ce pas?

That said, my wife and I didn’t honeymoon anywhere in the vicinity of the Four Seasons Resort Provence at Terre Blanche, just west of Aix in the Var region. With its 45 villas, this address combines Four Seasons luxury with 36 superb holes from English architect Dave Thomas, designer of The Belfry (don’t hold that against him; the courses here are excellent). Both tracks, Le Chateau and Le Riou, were cut from a mountainous pine forest — like something you’d find near Aspen.

For those who prefer their golf a la carte, the options are legion and easily parsed thanks to the Golf en Terre Mediterranee (http://www.golf-terre-mediterranee.fr), a Myrtle Beach-type program whereby travelers choose a package of courses for one reduced price. If your trip is based near Avignon — an ancient walled city on the Rhone, former home to the schism-era Popes — Pont Royal is a must play, followed closely by Grand Avignon and Golf de Servanes near St. Remy (where Van Gogh painted his Irises).

Should you concentrate on the Var, don’t miss Golf de Barbaroux, a compelling Pete & P.B. Dye creation carved from wild terrain. Neither should you miss a round at Dolce Frégate Golf Club, a sumptuous Golfplan-designed 18 in Saint-Cyr sur Mer. If your French is good enough, you’ll correctly infer that, in addition to 18 terrific holes, Frégate features extraordinary views of the Mediterranean. (If your French isn’t so good, don’t fret. These days, trips to France don’t require a deep familiarity with the language. Most folks — especially those in the golf, hotel and tourist trades — happily converse in English. Your 11th grade French teacher will be disappointed to hear this, but she doesn’t need to know.)

The south of France is, of course, one of the world’s great resort Meccas. Thus it’s hard to imagine where one can combine such good golf with such extraordinary intangibles: endless beaches (with water you can actually swim in; try that in Dornoch), Roman ruins, peerless cuisine (Marseille is the home of bouillabaise), gracious accommodations large and small, and clubhouse chefs going out of their way ensure you’re drinking the best wine possible.

What’s that? You don’t want to rely on gregarious third parties to recommend such things? Fair enough. It’s just about impossible to travel between points of interest in Provence without passing an award-winning vineyard. Stop in and sample their wares for yourself; tasting sessions (dégustations) are great fun, quite enlightening and most are offered free of charge… Excuse me? You haven’t picked up something for the wife? Oh, she’s accompanied you… How ‘bout your mother? Well, personally vetted wine selections are always nice. Or perhaps a bottle of the world’s finest virgin olive oil, or maybe an olive tapenade — two more world-class gourmet products for which the vineyards of Provence are justifiably famous.

Try snagging stylish gifts like these on the road to Cruden Bay.

Golf en Provence: ‘They ain’t drinkin’ this at Cruden Bay’

Golf en Provence: ‘They ain’t drinkin’ this at Cruden Bay’

by Hal Phillips 0 Comments

Golf Pont Royal in Mallemort

While dining in the clubhouse at Pont Royal, one is obliged to meet the head chef, Thierry Candaele, a barrel-chested man with curly gray hair and an obvious gift for bonhomie. In traditional Gallic fashion he glides from table to table doling out multi-lingual pleasantries, accepting deserved compliments and making sure everything is just so. At our table, however, something is amiss. With a quick, playful scowl Candaele eyeballs our vin de pays, our table wine, and lets loose with a wave of apologies. He deftly snatches the bottle away, returns with an upgrade, and issues one last apology before moving to the next table of guests.

The wine he replaced? Only a Chateauneuf-du-Pape, one of the world’s most celebrated appellations.

Welcome to Provence, where the good life is so pervasive it’s basically taken for granted. I won’t bore you with smug references to Candaele’s choice of replacement wine (a cheery yet robust Reserve from the Mas de la Dame vineyard just up the road). The larger point is plain: They ain’t drinking Chateauneuf-du-Pape in the clubhouse at Prestwick or Cruden Bay — and the head chef sure as hell ain’t replacing it, unbidden, with something even better.

Only in the south of France does one come to expect this sort of finer touch, proving once again (to those with the good sense to listen) that sometimes, oftentimes, there’s more to an exotic golfing adventure than the golf alone. Witness the Provence region, a Mediterranean wonderland extending north from coastal hubs Marseille, Toulon and Nice. With so much hallowed ground to cover in Scotland and Ireland, we recognize that a case must be made for golf in France, what with its puny reputation, its obstinate foreign policies and, well, that whole Jerry Lewis thing. But you may be surprised to learn that the south of France just happens to include more than a dozen superb golfing venues, all in relatively close proximity to one another.

Pont Royal, for starters, is a first-rate parkland design situated in Mallemort, equal distances from both Avignon and Aix-en-Provence. Designed by the late, great Seve Ballesteros, Pont Royal gallops over lush, dramatic terrain, skirting water hazards and topiary gardens by turn. The layout at Pont Royal is but part of a unique, eponymous resort development designed to look and feel like a typical rural hill town Provençale, complete with pink-washed stone walls, terracotta roof tiles, narrow walking streets and small shops selling local wines, breads and cheeses. Of course, there are modern niceties, as well: several enormous pool complexes; Seve’s 18 holes; the lovely Hotel du Golf, overlooking the 9th and 15th greens; and a clubhouse whose stunning fare, thanks to Candaele, would put most American bistros to shame. What’s true for wine goes double for food. One simply cannot compare the vittles in French clubhouses to those in Britain, Ireland or the States. Not a fair fight.

[Read Part II of this story here.]
Sorta Live Chat: Bruins Victory Dissected via Text
The Spirit of '72 is once again loose in the land.

Sorta Live Chat: Bruins Victory Dissected via Text

by Hal Phillips 0 Comments

The Spirit of ’70 and ’72 is once again loose in the land.

 

Nothing like shooting texts back and forth during a sporting event. These comments don’t rise to the level of a phone call, of course. Not in the 21st century. And the result is an interesting stream of consciousness.

After our podcast Wednesday, hockey savant David Desmith and I continued our conversation via this medium. See an annotated transcript here, and our jumping off point was Michael Ryder’s goal that made it 2-0, at 11:11 of the second period. The Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont, a keen observer of the game in my view, had this to say about that tally: “Ryder ripped off a wrister from the top of the left wing circle, right in front of a stick-checking Sami Salo, and the gargantuan [Canucks keeper Roberto] Luongo fanned at the shot with his big left catching glove. Nothing but net. And nothing but a sinking feel for the Western Conference champs. Cup-winning goalies have to make that stop.” I texted Desmith with this:

Hal Phillips: Big goal, soft goal

He didn’t respond until the Bruins had made it 3-0, on a goal from Brad Marchand two minutes later. This would not have happened if Marchand hadn’t clearly tripped Canucks defenseman Keith Ballard just prior — a fact that neither the Versus announcing team (nor Dupont) cared to comment on. Desmith, a Canadiens fan, was hardly so silent.

David Desmith: Two bad goals vs. Luongo. The third one was a gift from unconscious referees. No way should that slew foot behind the net have gone unpunished. Very bad refereeing again tonight in my opinion. Interference and goalie interference all over the place, mostly by Boston. As long as the refs let that kind of shit go on, Boston will have an advantage. Refs in the NHL are so much worse than they were 20 years ago — and there was only one ref on the ice then.

HP: Marchand got away with one, no doubt.

DD: And possibly a crucial one. There’s no excuse for a play like that not getting called. None.

HP: Fair enough but they’ve been given four penalties, the Bruins just two. What ratio would u call fair, 5:2, 6:2? I think 5:2, the Marchand trip shoulda been called; but it’s on Vancouver for doing nothing with four PPs.

DD: No argument there. But if the slew foot gets called and Vancouver scores on the PP, it’s a 2-1 game rather than 3-0. Refs never want to affect the outcome, but non-calls do affect things — just as penalties that are called affect things. Refs need to call everything. That’s the only way the game will get back to being the kind of game you and I admire.

HP: Assuming the Nucks score on a power play is a big “if”. They’ve caught some lame PP flu from [Bruins power play “specialist” turned anchor Thomas] Kaberle. They’ve had no jump, 5 v. 5 or 5 v. 4…

DD: Agreed. But they can’t score on a PP they don’t get. Vancouver is intimidated. The Garden will do that to you. V needs to score at least 2 in this period or the mo will definitely be on Boston’s side.

HP: They score one and Bruins sphincters will tighten right up

DD: Maybe. That’s why that third goal was such a huge gift.

 

The third period begins and Sedin is quickly called for a slash. Boston’s Rich Peverly puts the game out of reach with a goal at 3:27. Luongo is pulled in favor of Boston College product Corey Schneider.

HP: The Sedins are minus-11 in this series? Are u kiddin me?

DD: Euro-chokers… Another bad call. They really want the Bs to win don’t they? Luongo’s done. Two horrible games in a row. Very surprising.

HP: Why is that surprising? First time past the second round for him, he nearly threw up in his mouth vs. Chicago, Bruins shot everything at his chest in Vancouver…

DD: U could be right. I’ve just seen him play so many superb games. In the playoffs, too. But maybe he’s not a playoff guy when it counts.

HP: Remember the Olympics? He was awful. They won in spite of him.

DD: True.

HP: Don’t want to get triumphal but look how the B’s lost those two gamex away from home, and look at the way the Nucks have laid down here… I say that’s telling

DD: Could be. Objectively, I’d say Boston’s in the driver’s seat now. Personally, I hope V wins the next two.

HP: Well you’ve been consistent in your distaste for the black and gold. You’re entitled… But a lesser team drops two opening games like that and doesn’t come back and spank the “best” team in hockey, 12-1, in the next two. Boston has to feel pretty good about their chances to win 2 of the next 3.

DD: Indeed. Boston has been impressive all year. It’s why I knew they’d beat Mtl, why I knew they’d be in the Finals, and now they’re here fighting hard. I do give them credit — and there are even some Bruins I admire: Luke, Bergeron and Thomas. But it’s Neely’s team and he’s a total waste of oxygen.

DD: And, most Bruins fans are Neanderthals.

DD: I feel bad for Canucks fans. Their team has disappeared.

DD: Do you start Schneider next game? I would.

 

 

At this stage, the game begins to degenerate into a chaotic venomfest, similar to the third period of Game 3. Marchand starts the first fracas by taking a triple minor (!), holding, tripping and roughing Henrik Sedin in the corner at 17:33. Ballard retaliates and the Bruins Adam McQuade draws a game misconduct.

DD: Typical Boston crap. THAT is why I hate the Bruins. Mtl never resorts to such shit. It’s shameful.

HP: Pushing them to the edge. They took the bait. Now they’re pulling the goalie to score a single goal.

 

 

Another fracas at 18:09, involving Alexandre Burrows (cross-checking), Ryan Kesler (roughing) Zdeno Chara (roughing), even Bruins keeper Tim Thomas (slashing). Kesler and Chara earn game misconducts. Replay clearly shows Vancouver winger Burrows, the guy who bit Patrice Bergeron in Game 1, attempting to slash the stick out of Thomas’ hands. Thomas retaliates by slashing Burrows, seemingly unprovoked, 10 seconds later.

HP: Uh oh. More fun

DD: God I hate Boston. Animals like that should never wear Cup rings.

HP: Did u see who started it? The Biter

DD: Thomas started it with the slash. He’s gotten away with that the whole playoffs. Again, poor refereeing leads to bad hockey. And the fans love it.

HP: No, no. They showed it on replay. The Biter slashed Thomas’ stick out of his hand; that came first

DD: How could Thomas slash him if he didn’t have his stick?

HP: He slashed it out of his hands. Thomas picked it up. Where’s the mystery… Don’t you get the impression that the Nucks just don’t do this sort of thing well? The goading and intimidation? They’re out of their depth

DD: I’ll have to watch that highlight. It’s about time someone did to Thomas what’s he been doing to everyone else… They’ve gotten sucked into playing Boston’s game. The way these games are being called isn’t helping them. It’s almost like they have no choice

HP: Agreed. It’s not entirely honorable nor is it the Bruins fault the game is being called the way it is… But if Van scores a couple PP goals, isn’t Boston chastened and tone it down, out of necessity?

DD: Sure. But that doesn’t mean that refs shouldn’t call everything that’s a penalty. Why are there rules if the refs can just call only what they want? V could’ve had 10 PPs tonight.

HP: So I’m watching the highlights and NO ONE said Marchand tripped Ballard before the third goal. Why not?

DD: I’m watching the CBC feed. Knowledgeable hockey people saw it and commented on it. Still V sucked tonight and the Sedins in particular. Bad calls or no, they didn’t deserve to win.

 

That is indeed the bottom line: The Canucks are halfway to pissing away this series, and their once-vaunted power play is the reason why — that, or the Bruins’ now-vaunted penalty kill wins Game 5 Friday night in Vancouver. Should be a Dusey.

 

Desert Golf Safari Conjures Memories of Bob Labbance

Desert Golf Safari Conjures Memories of Bob Labbance

by Hal Phillips 2 Comments

So I’ve been thinking a lot about Bob Labbance lately. Bob was a good friend, a golf writer and historian, a counter-culturist after a fashion, and, as my grandfather would have described him, one of nature’s gentlemen. Note the tense. Bob suffered a traumatic fall and paralysis in 2007. He fought back to regain a great deal of motion and a large measure of his life, only to contract Lou Gehrig’s disease, degenerate quite quickly and pass away in Aug. 2008, at the tender age of 56.

You learn a lot about a guy when horrible shit befalls him. You talk more deeply and seriously about things with that person. You learn more about the man — more than you ever would have if, as we do with most acquaintances, both parties were to skate together through life largely unaffected by tragedy.

Bob loved the desert, and I thought of him as my family and I toured the American Southwest last week and played a fine Johnny Miller design in St. George, Utah: Entrada Golf Club at Snow Canyon. Bob grew up in Fairfield County, Connecticut, went to school in Maine, and lived much of his adult life in Vermont. He was a New Englander through and through, and he was what I like to call an unreconstructed hippie. But he loved golf, and the counter-culturist in him allowed an appreciation of desert golf — something a lot of golf design nerds reflexively disdain.

I first met Bob in about 1994, and only later in his all-too-short life did I learn that he fancied the idea of retiring to Flagstaff, Arizona. I got the impression his family wasn’t as keen on this particular idea, and in that way his untimely death mooted the issue. I thought of him as we passed through Flagstaff twice last week. We were there to play some disc golf but found far more than an excellent track tucked beside the athletic complex at Northern Arizona University. More than a mile high, surrounded by open chaparral and sitting in the shadow of the 10,000-foot San Francisco Peaks, Flagstaff is physically gorgeous and a pleasing college vibe pervades. Many towns in the north of Arizona — hell, in all of Arizona and much of the West — are striking (to a New Englander especially) for just how new or post-modern they feel. Flagstaff has some of that, but it also has a proper, turn-of-the-19th-century downtown where today funky galleries and a wide variety of non-chain, quite excellent restaurants abound.

I didn’t start playing disc golf until after Bob had passed away, and playing in Arizona made me wonder what he’d have thought of it. Hardcore golfers tend to look askance at this golfing cousin, and while Bob was in many ways a counter-culturist — he lived in a commune after college on the shores of Sabbathday Lake, for chrissakes — he was something of purist when it came to golf. He revered the old course designs, soaked up the game’s rich history, and collected old clubs and books… But when he wrote books on course design, his subjects were Wayne Stiles and Walter Travis, not Donald Ross and Alistair Mackenzie. Bob also organized an annual Cayman tournament at his place in Vermont, where competitors holed out by chipping the ball either against a car tire (1 stroke) or into said tire (no stroke).

I’m betting Bob would have liked disc golf, recognizing that between the ears it’s essentially the same game — minus the status-seeking, the collared shirts, and the reliance on expensive, ever-upgradeable equipment. I’m also betting that as an eminently practical unreconstructed hippie, Bob would have recognized that to love one game doesn’t prevent the love of another.

The Joys of Disc Golf: Yeah, you heard me right…

The Joys of Disc Golf: Yeah, you heard me right…

by Hal Phillips 1 Comment

Starting this weekend, in honor of The Masters, we’re “Fighting the Pieties that Be” here at halphillips.net by celebrating golf’s non-traditional, even subversive appeal. Friday we featured the internally illuminated, colorfully sequined mannequins I recently came across in a Vietnamese pro shop. Today’s topic: Disc Golf.

Nothing rolls the eyes of traditional golfers than a discussion of disc golf. Well, I’m here to tell you that not only does disc golf totally rock, but I played more disc rounds in 2010 than actual golf rounds.

Why? Well, there are lots of reasons: First and foremost, between the ears the two versions are uncannily similar. Let me give you an example: Driving. We all know that over-swinging is a recipe for disaster, especially when wielding the big stick. The dynamic is identical with the disc, including the urge to vacantly muscle a drive out there in order to 1) satisfy some animal urge; and 2) gain 5-10 extra yards that won’t, in the end, truly enable you to play the hole in fewer strokes. Managing this dynamic is a dead-on crossover shared by these two incarnations of the game.

Here’s another: When you’re standing over a 4-foot putt, the traditional golfer must weigh the merits of charging said putt, taking the break out, and, should he miss, living with the consequences of another 4-footer coming back — or lagging it, increasing the break one must play, but pretty much guaranteeing one won’t three-jack. The same thought process and consequences are extant with a putting disc in your hands. Exactly.

I could go on and on. There are differences. The most striking is disc golf clever rendering of the body and club as one. But it’s the same game.

I plan to blog more on this topic because there are so many aspects to disc golf’s striking appeal — aspects that tend to address directly many misgivings we have concerning actual golf: A disc round takes no more than 90 minutes to play, for example; there is no dress code; there is absolutely no barrier to entry — anyone can become competent in a few weeks; rounds are $5-10; the courses themselves are really cool, all of them distinct 3:1 miniatures of actual golf courses — with the added dimension that forested areas, if thinned a smidge, produce a corridor of play unlike anything in the actual golf world.

I’ll leave you, for now, with a word on the game’s aural sensations. There are no “cups” in disc golf. One holes out by landing the disc in a basket. I’ve included a picture here, to give you an idea of what I mean. But imagine a circular metal basket that sits halfway up a 5foot metal pole. Atop the poll sits a metal disc the same diameter as the basket. Draping down from the top disk are chains that deaden the oncoming disc, dropping it into the basket.

Holing out in actual golf only makes a sound on TV, whereas holing out with a disc produces a distinctive sound: faintly metallic, a bit plinky, but definitely audible from a couple hundred yards away and pleasing in a communal sense. It’s sorta like the sound a kid makes as he mounts a chain link fence, with the idea of clambering over. Not exactly the roar of a crowd filtered through Georgia pines; indeed, that’s something that most of us will never hear, on any golf course. But to the ears of disc golfer, it’s music.

Masters Week: Fighting The Pieties That Be
Sequined mannequins: You'll never see them at Augusta. And bravo for that...

Masters Week: Fighting The Pieties That Be

by Hal Phillips 2 Comments

As close readers of this blog already know, I possess a highly developed aversion to sanctimony. As a result, Masters Week really is something of a trial for me — until Saturday afternoon, when the inherent competitive attractions of the tournament ultimately win out and take precedence over the weeks of bullshit fawning and musing that routinely precede and general suffuse media coverage of golf’s first major championship of the year.

In this spirit of Fighting The Pieties That Be, I offer this week a series of posts that discuss or otherwise celebrate golf in non-traditional and subversive ways. By mentioning the Masters only obliquely, and with derision, I do my part in diminishing the hype — and perhaps opening our eyes just a bit to the fact that there really is a lot more to like about golf than yet another story on how cheap the sandwiches are at Augusta National, how struck with wonder the amateurs have been in the Crow’s Nest all week, what a fabulous tradition the meaningless par-3 tournament is, and yet another gauzy feature on Arnold Palmer, against whom I have nothing, but let’s get real: The man last won a major in 1964, the year I was born… (Quick caveat: If said story centers on how and why Arnie never won a major once he quit smoking, after the ’64 Masters, I’ll read that with enthusiasm, as I’m fascinated by this little-shared but quite fascinating factoid.)

So, without further ado, see here Fight the Piety Golf Tidbit No. 1:

Check out what I saw recently on display in the striking new clubhouse at Danang Golf Club, on the Central Coast of Vietnam. The image here provided says more than I ever could. Are those not the coolest mannequins you’ve ever seen? I’m not a golf apparel guy; it doesn’t much interest me. For the record, the shirt here was produced by a company called AB Pro Golf, whose own innovations include a line of reversible shirts and high-performance fabrics that include anti-bacterial agents.

But enough about that. I first saw them in March, but I still can’t take my eyes off these mannequins. There’s a cyborg quality to them that I find eerie but irresistible. Howie Roberts, the general manager at Danang GC, reports that such mannequins are quite the rage in Bali, but I’ve not seen anything like them in golf shops anywhere in Asia-Pacific, North America or Europe. They’re sequined, of course, with different combinations of colors: red and black, teal and pale green (pictured), orange and yellow… They simultaneously bring out the best in a shirt’s color while grabbing the eye and never letting go. Check out the shop the next time you’re visiting Danang GC, and bring your sticks; this Norman design may well be the best new course (opened May 2010) you’ll find anywhere.

 

Curmudgeon talks Asia, Tiger, galleries with Kessler

by Hal Phillips 0 Comments

The Curmudgeon, a.k.a. Hal Phillips, made a guest appearance Feb. 22 on Peter Kessler’s “Making the Turn”, a fixture on the PGA Tour Radio network (XM 146/Sirius 209). As a guest on someone else’s show, he kept the ranting and complaining to a minimum, but there was nevertheless lively conversation on the state of the U.S. Tour galleries, the rise of Golf in Asia, the transition of media outlets to web formats, course ranking, Tiger Woods and more. Enjoy.

 

Bali Nirwana stands as epic coda to a golf season
The 7th at Nirwana needs no hype. Note Tanah Lot temple at left.

Bali Nirwana stands as epic coda to a golf season

by Hal Phillips 0 Comments

 

The 7th at Nirwana needs no hype. Note Tanah Lot temple at left.

It may well be that I’ve played my last golf round for 2010. This is the reality of Maine residence. However, if that’s the case (and I’m not invited to Augusta National next week), I can say that my golf season went out with a bang. I finished par-par-birdie-par after an otherwise dreadful scoring display, but it was the venue, and the finishing holes at said venue, that provided the epic coda to my golf year.

I had toured Bali Nirwana Golf Club two years prior. (Yeah, I know: why go all the way from Maine to Bali and merely tour one the top 3-4 resort tracks in all of Asia-Pacific, what many feel to be Greg Norman’s best work? It’s a long story. And this is a blog, wherein I’m supposed to be concise and punchy. And look how long I’ve gone already…) Well, I played Bali Nirwana this time and it’s something, boy. The kind of course that keeps you thinking about golf all through the long New Gloucester winter.

There are 13 Hindu temples located out and about on this diverse routing, and just off the cliff-to-cliff, 185-yard par-3 7th sits the oft-photographed island temple at Tanah Lot. It’s right there, just offshore, perched on its own rocky cliff, and the devout wade out at sunset in the hundreds amid a faintly orange, billowing cloud of incense. A moving scene. So moving I drilled a 5-iron to 20 feet. Then birdied the next.

As Mickey Dolenz once said, I’m a believer.

There are four more seaside holes at Nirwana nearly as good as the vaunted 7th, and a dozen strong inland-jungle holes on terrain that made it pretty darned incumbent on Norman to conceive killer golf holes. It’s riven by rushing streams and bounded by working rice paddies, which are elegantly tiered and in several spots integrated into holes as hazards. Pretty cool. Then there’s the long and superb par-4 4th playing along a plateau that takes you way up high all of a sudden, with long views to the sea. The opening hole plays gracefully up and around a hillside of rice cultivation, capped by a bold pod of steep-faced bunkers at the elbow. When I toured the course I was struck by how hard an opening hole this seemed to be. When I played it, I found it plenty generous out right of all this eye candy. I also loved the hole; the green is cleverly sunk beside a brook. There’s nothing like putting with the sound of water rushing by. There’s a lesson here on the matter of touring vs. playing a golf course.

We played the back nine first and finished on the front side which, to be honest, is the way the golf course is mostly dramatically routed — for chops like myself and tournament studs. This sorta matters because Bali Nirwana GC, part of the swank Pan Pacific Nirwana Bali, is under new management as of July 2010. They have big plans for place. Big televised-tournament plans, and the two pros I played with — new Bali Nirwana Director of Golf Paul Lightbody and Howie Roberts, his counterpart at the sterling, new Norman-designed Danang Golf Club in Vietnam — both felt an event would better finish on the front side, as it were, along the Indian Ocean at 7, and home to the 9th green with its natural amphitheater setting.

That the amphitheater is tiered with working rice paddies speaks once again to what makes the course, and the experience on that course, so memorable. Enough to last a winter.

Thai Golf: Cost vs. Benefit

by Hal Phillips 0 Comments

It’s impossible to discuss Thai golf without offering some manner of cost-benefit analysis.

Eighteen holes at Chiang Mai Highlands or Banyan Golf Club will run you about $75, plus a caddie fee of $10. Green fees are a bit more expensive around Bangkok and Phuket, a bit less expensive in Pattaya and Hua Hin — but you’ll never pay more than $100 a round, which stands in stark contrast to resort green fees in North American golfing hubs.

The equation as it relates lodging is perhaps more revealing. Forget about golf for a moment: Thailand is the premier holiday destination for Asians, full stop. As such, the hotel stock here is enormous, diverse, and features all the brands you recognize and trust (Marriott, Sheraton, Hilton, etc), plus a few more you should get to know (Anantara, The Peninsula, Mandarin Oriental). Yet most 5-star rooms don’t exceed $150, especially as part of golf packages, and you can find very functional lodgings for less than $50 a night, if you so choose.

Our tour operator, Golfasian (golfasian.com) booked all our golf and hotels, plus a driver and van to ferry us back and forth. Our boutique hotel in Chiang Mai, The DeNaga, is an example of the high lodging standard in Thailand. Though technically a 4-star lodging (due to its lack of a full-size pool and conference facilities), it was nothing short of elegant with spacious rooms, great service and free, dependable WiFi (Fact: Starting at midnight one evening, I conducted an entire, 3.5-hour fantasy basketball draft via Skype from my room at the DeNaga, without incident). Our rooms there were but $100 a night.

It’s true that airfare to Thailand can run anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500. Yet over the course of a week, the savings on golf and lodgings in Thailand dwarf whatever premium international air travel to Bangkok might be, when compared to domestic U.S. airfare. One must ask himself this, too: How much does it cost to eat and drink in Phoenix, in Myrtle Beach, in Palm Springs? The average cost of a first-class meal in Thailand is no more than $12 per person; beers are $2 apiece. Double or triple those figures for almost any North American golf destination. Over the course of 7-10 days, that really adds up.

In Thailand? Not so much.

We could compare the world-renowned nightlife in Bangkok, Pattaya or Phuket to the nightlife in Phoenix, Myrtle Beach or Palm Springs. But that’s hardly a fair fight, and not so much a matter of dollars and cents. More like night and day.

For more information on Thai golf vacations, visit www.golfasian.com and www.golfinakingdom.com

The Curmudgeon: Golf’s Most Bracing Pod

The Curmudgeon: Golf’s Most Bracing Pod

by Hal Phillips 0 Comments

 

We know how it is. You like your golf. You might even love it, but the game’s fawning media echo chamber leaves you cold, and often woefully ill-informed. Perhaps The Curmudgeon — the golf podcast that dares speak truth to power — is for you. Join host Hal Phillips and a panoply of journalists who aren’t afraid to put their access at risk. What’s more, you don’t have to wear a collared shirt to listen in.

Inside this Special PGA Championship pod:
• Should the Masters really be a Major?
• Sartorial Screed: The Case Against Cargo Shorts
• What are the spoils of Ryder Cup hospitality exactly?

2010.08.12 The Curmudgeon