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The continuing pandemic golf boom continues to be great for the game.
It's been good for me, too. Even though I've played more than 1,100 courses in my career, I've still got a bucket list like everyone else: courses and destinations I aspire to see in person. A few of those long-coveted dreams came true in 2023:
- I journeyed halfway around the world for the most epic of golf trips, spending 17 days exploring the Australian Sandbelt, Tasmania and King Island.
- I was one of the lucky journalists to play U.S. Open host Los Angeles Country Club's North Course and U.S. Women's Open host Pebble Beach Golf Links during back-to-back media days in May.
- I cherished the opportunity to take my wife and daughter to Portugal for eight days of golf and sightseeing in Lisbon and the Algarve in June.
- I won the weather lottery playing London's best heathland courses under sunny skies the first week of October.
- I toured Costa Rica like everyone else does: by small plane and zipline, with some fine resort golf along the way.
It wasn't all play and no work, though. GolfPass experienced record-breaking traffic growth year-over-year, published a summer-long series on walking the golf course (including the first-of-its-kind Top 100 Walking Courses in the U.S.) and debuted its second golf resort guide - for the Caribbean.
Seeing all of those iconic courses and destinations in a single year makes my 2023 travel awards even tougher to crack.
JASON SCOTT DEEGAN'S GOLF TRAVEL AWARDS
World-Ranked Courses Played
Cypress Point Club (2), Royal Melbourne West (7) and East (92), Pebble Beach (14), Los Angeles Country Club North (19), Kingston Heath (22), Barnbougle Dunes (36), San Francisco Golf Club (38), Sunningdale New (54), Victoria Golf Club (96). Lake Course at The Olympic Club (96**). Cape Wickham (12*), Lost Farm (37*), Metropolitan (58*).
(All rankings taken from Golf Magazine's 2023-24 Top 100 except *Golf Digest Top 100 Outside the U.S. and **Golf Magazine 2022-23 Top 100).
Best U.S. Course
Cypress Point Club. It's really hard to live up to such excessive hype but Cypress Point did for me. Making par on the ocean stretch from holes 14-17 was a dream come true.
Best International Course
The setting of Tasmania's Cape Wickham was so inspiring, and yet, the strategy and intrigue of the routing didn't take a back seat, either. Australia's Kingston Heath takes the runner-up slot.
Best U.S. Private Course
It was fascinating to get a glimpse of LACC before the U.S. Open. The glamorous life - Lionel Richie's home and the Playboy Mansion - sits right outside the gates, but inside, it's all about the golf.
Best International Private Course
Spending two nights at Wentworth - where GolfPass co-founder Rory McIlroy just became a member - was one of the highlights of my London visit. The West Course - host of the DP World Tour's BMW PGA Championship - is a shotmaker's paradise. The two other courses are ideal for members looking for a bit more fun. With a short course, Trackman range, fitness facilities, tennis and spa, this private club has never been better.
Most Scenic Course
It might be hard to believe, but Cape Wickham blows Cypress Point and Pebble Beach out of the water when it comes to eye candy. I'm curious how Cabot's new Point Hardy course in Saint Lucia compares.
Best Major Championship Venue
Pebble Beach edges LACC North and the revamped Lake Course at The Olympic Club by a nose.
Best U.S. Clubhouse
Members sitting on the back patio at LACC can watch golfers tee off on no. 1 and putt out on nos. 9 and 18 with the LA skyline as a backdrop.
Best International Clubhouse
Royal Melbourne's stately clubhouse is perfect buying a drink for reliving your round.
Best U.S. New Course
Tom Weiskopf's Black Desert in Ivins, Utah, near St. George, will be introduced to the world during next fall's first PGA Tour event. Once the resort is open, this place will be incredible.
Best International New Course
Portugal's new Dunas Course at Terras de Comporta took more than a decade to emerge from the dunes south of Lisbon, but the David McLay Kidd course was worth the wait.
Best Short Course
A sneak-peek of the new Golden Gate Park Golf Course, the nine-hole home of The First Tee - San Francisco, revealed the next step in the short-course revolution: encouraging big cities to build them to help grow the game organically.
Most Surprising Course
Ocean Dunes on King Island gets so overshadowed by Cape Wickham that I had no idea how incredible it is. The first five holes might be the most dramatic opening holes since Spyglass Hill.
Best Nine-Holer
If you're not playing Dixie Red Hills on your next trip to St. George, you're missing out. Fun. Affordable. Gorgeous.
Best Value Course
I had never heard of West Hill in Woking, England, until I played it after Sunningdale and Walton Heath. I had arguably more fun playing there.
Best U.S. Golf Resort
You've probably never heard of Sensei Porcupine Creek and probably will never get to stay and play there. However, this new resort in California's Coachella Valley is intimate luxury personified from dining at Nobu to enjoying the course all to yourself.
Best International Golf Resort
This is a tricky one to rank because if we're going by courses, Barnbougle Dunes wins. But if we're talking the total package, The Grove outside London was fantastic. From the service to the food, the accommodations and the grounds, everything was exquisite.
Best Non-Golf Activity
With apologies to the Dunn's River Falls climb and catamaran ride in Jamaica, I have to go with the sunrise hot air balloon ride over Melbourne. An emergency landing in a school playground well away from our original target added some adrenaline to the ending.
Coolest Resort Amenity
Want to eat lunch or swim in the pool or the ocean at the beach club? You can get there with a golf-cart shuttle ride or a more adventurous route - zip-lining! - at the W Hotel Reserva Conchal. This experience, only available for an hour at lunch, was definitely on-brand for a luxurious golf resort in Costa Rica.
Best Spa
A massage and soak at the Peninsula Hot Springs, home to geothermal bathing pools and spa facilities in the Mornington Peninsula, helped me survive the 17 rounds Down Under.
Best Tournament Attended
Put the Fortinet Championship on your radar for a couples golf trip. My wife's not much of a golf fan, but the wine, food and beautiful fall weather in Napa Valley makes this one of the PGA TOUR's most fan-friendly experiences. A post-golf concert from Stone Temple Pilots ended the weekend with some rowdy guitar riffs. Even if you can't make the tournament, the Silverado Resort is your golf home base in California's wine country with 36 holes and the perfect chill vibe.
Best Shot
I drove it into the left greenside bunker on the famous 16th hole at Cypress Point and got up and down for the par of a lifetime.
Lowest Score
I'll admit publicly that I played my worst golf in a decade throughout much of the year, so an out-of-the-blue 77 at my home course, Santa Teresa Golf Club, felt like an out-of-body experience.
Please share your 2023 golf highlights in the comments below. I'd love to hear where you played or about that miracle shot.
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