Like it or not, today's social-media culture is all about: "Look at me!"
Golfers are especially guilty. We're always humble-bragging online about where we're playing or who we're playing with. We're showing up at the first tee with a logoed hat from Top 100 course 'X' and a shirt from Top 100 club 'Y'.
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. We've gathered up our annual list of the 10 hottest golf destinations to visit in 2023. By chasing golf's biggest events, and the most exciting new course openings, you'll be the envy of all your golf buddies. Start planning now before tee times disappear and flight costs soar.
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Frisco, Texas
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View of the 16th green from the East Course at Fields Ranch Golf. Fields Ranch Golf The debut of Omni PGA Frisco - a destination resort at the PGA of America's new home with 36 holes of golf - officially launches with its first major, the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship on the Fields Ranch East Course in May. The TV coverage of future major championships over the next decade should put the resort squarely on your bucket list.
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Central Wisconsin
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Avoiding water hazards, like this one on the 12th hole, is a big part of conquering SentryWorld. Courtesy photo Golf architect nerds are salivating at the prospects of playing The Lido, a reproduction of a course that disappeared almost a century ago but has been revived by Tom Doak. It will be private when it opens later this year but will offer some limited play to guests of Sand Valley Golf Resort. Come August, SentryWorld in Stevens Point will be fresh off of hosting its first U.S. Senior Open in late June. With a new comfort station stocked with goodies and extended breaks between tee times, plus its recent renovation, SentryWorld has plans to make a splash when it reopens. If a fall visit suits you best, slot in playing University Ridge, a PGA Tour Champions host that finished no. 24 in Golfers' Choice Top 50, and attending a Wisconsin Badger football game with new coach Luke Fickell leading the charge.
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Northern California
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Pebble Beach Golf Links is one of the world's top bucket-list golf courses. David Cannon/Getty Images This is "THE" year to tee up Northern California this spring if for no other reason than to experience Pasatiempo in Santa Cruz before the iconic Alister MacKenzie design rotates closing its nines for a two-year renovation that won't wrap up until 2024. There are also two milestone events for women on tap - the LPGA Tour's Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown at TPC Harding Park in May and the first U.S. Women's Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links in July. If you're looking for two very underrated places to play, try San Juan Oaks, which will reopen July in Hollister after a major renovation, and Yocha Dehe at Cache Creek Casino Resort (no. 31 in the Golfers' Choice top 50) in Brooks, an hour north of San Francisco.
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Golf PackagesPebble Beach, CAFROM $1117 (USD)![Spyglass Hill Golf Course]()
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Southern California
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Gil Hanse's restoration of Los Angeles Country Club impressed golfers and fans alike at the 2017 Walker Cup. It will gain even wider acclaim when the 2023 U.S. Open comes to Southern California. Harry How/R&A via Getty Images Southern California lost its "Dinah Shore" major for the women when the Chevron Championship moved to Houston this year, but landed a big-time short-term boost with the Los Angeles Country Club hosting its first U.S. Open in June. Between the golf in Orange County, San Diego and the Coachella Valley, golfers can flee the chaos of LA to find dynamic courses such as Golfers' Choice 2023 Top 50 standouts like the Journey at Pechanga (10) and Heritage Palms (19) in Indio, the Celebrity Course at Indian Wells (28), and the Mountain View Course at Desert Willow (45) in the desert. It's important to note that PGA West's Stadium Course goes under the knife this summer for a renovation. If you can afford it, the new Sensei Porcupine Creek in Rancho Mirage delivers access to play the exclusive Porcupine Creek.
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Italy
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The Marco Simone Golf and Country Club hosted the 2022 DS Automobiles Italian Open - and the 2023 version in May - to prep for the 2023 Ryder Cup. Courtesy of Paolo Cammillucci/Getty Images The first Ryder Cup in the post-LIV Golf era will be interesting to see how well the teams stack up. Italy's purpose-built Marco Simone course will have already had a test run of a couple of Italian Opens on the DP World Tour by this fall, so it will be ready. Italian golf might not be as highly regarded as some destinations, but I guarantee some golf mixed with Italian food, wine and scenery won't disappoint. A new 200-acre resort named Tuscany National Golf Resort and Spa will finish the final nine holes of 18 designed by Gary Player Design in time for the big event this fall.
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November 7, 2019Italy has always been a favorite European country to visit, but with the 2023 Ryder Cup matches scheduled for Marco Simone, it's time for golfers to put Italy in their travel plans. Enjoy the eclectic and ancient sights of Rome in between rounds at prestigious city clubs. Or, venture towards the northern Italian and experience the beauty, arts and culture of Lake Como, home to a number of spectacular nearby golf courses. -
South Florida
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Those who haven't been to PGA National in a few years will find the new Match Course full of surprises and cheeky-fun features. Tim Gavrich/GolfPass Florida takes on scores of new residents each day, and the counties of Martin and Palm Beach, especially, continue to swell, while Broward and Miami-Dade remain enormous. Palm Beach-area visitors will have the opportunity to sample two brand-new golf courses in 2023: a 19-hole par-3 course at Palm Beach Gardens' Sandhill Crane Golf Club and the West Palm Golf Park, a total overhaul by Gil Hanse on the site of a shuttered muni that happens to have some of the best terrain for golf in the state. High rollers will want to take note of no fewer than half a dozen new private golf courses in various stages of development in the vicinity. Also, if it's been a few years since your last visit, the radical, revamped Match Course at PGA National is a must-see, and the resort itself has invested $100 million across the board recently.
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Greater Zion, Utah
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The PGA TOUR will be playing here in 2024. Courtesy image Black Desert - the last golf course designed by Tom Weiskopf before his passing last year - debuts its full routing this year. Couple that with last year's $8-million-dollar renovation of Entrada at Snow Canyon, Top-100 stalwart Sand Hollow and Copper Rock - host of an Epson Tour event in its second year - for an incredibly scenic tour of the region's red rocks. Bring your hiking shoes, too, because Zion National Park is a must.
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4 Min ReadMay 19, 2022David McLay Kidd's $7-million redesign reinvents the private golf club that is accessible by a stay at the Inn at Entrada in St. George, Utah.![]()
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St. Andrews, Scotland
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The Old Course at St. Andrews, which hosted the 150th Open in 2022, will be tough to play in 2023 with so few visitor tee times available. Courtesy photo Scotland's "Home of Golf" is perhaps the destination that shows up most on our list for good reason. Who wouldn't want an upcoming visit to St. Andrews to look forward to in the midst of a dreary winter? The Walker Cup - the biennial competition between America's and the UK and Ireland's best amateurs - returns to the Old Course Sept. 2-3 just weeks before the annual Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at the Old Course, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns in October. The Walker Cup's a great spectator event with a little bit of patriotic fervor like a Ryder Cup without the chaos of the crowds. There's very little availability on the trophy courses like those listed above, but Fife is loaded with plenty of other charming links from Leven to Elie and Crail.
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Upstate New York
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The Atunyote Course is one of three strong golf courses at Turning Stone. Matt Ginella/GolfPass The PGA Championship returns to Oak Hill Country Club, the legendary Rochester club that's one of the anchors of upstate New York. The entire region within a two-hours' drive is an underrated golf destination. Enjoie Golf Course in Endicott hosts an annual PGA Tour Champions event in June. Seven Oaks Golf Club at Colgate University in Hamilton will wrap up a renovation this year. Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona remains one of the Northeast's signature getaways.
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Central Florida
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The Mickey Mouse bunker on Disney's Magnolia course is one of the world's most famous bunkers. Courtesy of user 'Mhhkaj' Greater Orlando is always ground zero for tourism. Golfers can choose from any number of tournaments to attend - the PGA Tour's Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in March, the LPGA Tour's Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions (which was held mid-January at Lake Nona) or the ever-popular PNC Championship at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando Grande Lakes in December. There's endless places to play, too. Disney's Magnolia Course, which hosted the PGA Tour for decades, is fresh off a renovation, and two nearby courses - the South Course at Big Cypress in Lakeland (21) and ChampionsGate's International Course (42) both landed in the Golfers' Choice 2023 Top 50 for their overall excellence. Streamsong, the region's anchor resort, was just bought by KemperSports, so keep an eye on news about future expansion. Evermore Resort - the new development emerging on the old Grand Cypress property - should open this year as well.
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