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Ever since GolfPass launched in 2020, we've kept this column under lock and key. Only GolfPass members could read the insider tips and travel golf news from our monthly column, 'Secrets from the World of Golf Travel'.
This month, we're allowing anyone and everyone to see what we we offer. It's part travelogue, part newsletter and part travel guide. Anything that relates to golf travel is fair game. We hope you enjoy its content, and if we decide to lock it again in the future, join GolfPass to keep following along. Here goes:
A "continuous" cruise for golfers
The Villa Vie Odyssey, a continuous, residential world cruise that will visit 147 countries and 7 continents starting this May, has created new luxury experiences for golfers.
For $399/day, golfers can choose their own adventures in exotic golf locales such as Ireland, the Scottish Highlands, Netherlands, the Baltic Sea, Iceland, Greenland, Canada and New England.
Onboard the ship, sailors will be treated to private lessons with a PGA Pro on a golf simulator and unlimited opportunities to practice. Each "golf trip" will be up to two weeks long. For example, you can play six courses each on three back-to-back-to-back legs from London to Copenhagen during the "Kingdom of the Netherlands" portion of the journey, the "Baltic Beauties" from Copenhagen to Warnemunde, Germany, or the "Golfing Fjords" from Warnemunde to Reykjavik, Iceland. The sail from Canada to New England also features six more courses. Other options include fewer courses but arguably even more epic off-the-boat excursions. For more information, visit the golf portion of the website.
A Northern Michigan golf adventure
We met Stevens Tombrink while playing The Bear - the appropriately named Jack Nicklaus course at Grand Traverse Resort just outside Traverse City, Mich., in 2021. He and his son loved northern Michigan so much, they're planning a second golf vacation this summer. Tombrink reached out with questions about his itinerary.
The schedule Tombrink put together on his own was fantastic - flying in and out of Grand Rapids to play The Revenge at Manistee National on the drive "up north", followed by Belvedere, The Torch at A-Ga-Ming Golf Resort, Arcadia Bluffs, Mountain Ridge at Crystal Mountain and Manitou Passage. He asked us what he was missing by not including Forest Dunes, Shanty Creek and Treetops, three other fantastic resorts that are a bit of a drive from where he'd be staying. After some e-mails back and forth, he's doing what we've been recommending to golfers for decades - you can't do northern Michigan all at once. He's subbing in American Dunes and at least one round at Shanty Creek for this trip and planning a third visit to stay at Treetops to enjoy its five courses with a stopover at Forest Dunes next time. Well played!
Just so you know, we're always happy to act as a golf concierge if you have questions about where to stay, play and eat on your next trip ... as long as you don't mind us writing about the exchange.
A new Scottish golf resort
We're always thrilled when golfer-friendly accommodations debut overseas. We've stayed in some funky bed-and-breakfasts and quirky hotels that just don't offer what golfers need - early breakfast options, golf club storage, elevators for dragging clubs to the room and drying areas to sort out the rain gear after a wicked, wet day. Sometimes you can forgive the lack of modern comforts if it's a really cool historic venue. An hour from Edinburgh, the new SCHLOSS Roxburghe debuted in 2023 with completely transformed accommodations run by Destination by Hyatt. This restored estate house hotel added 58 new rooms, a spa and 12 two-bedroom cottages. The adjacent 18-hole championship golf course, interspersed among rivers and woodlands, gets solid reviews on GolfPass. A review from June 2023 reads: "Excellent course in Excellent condition excellent greens. Have to hit the fairways to score well. Plenty of bunkers so that part of your game has to be up to speed. Nice picturesque signature hole. If in the borders a must play course."
New airport for golfing snow birds
A new international airport - the Felipe Carrillo Puerto International Airport or Tulum Airport (TQO) - opened last December in Quintana Roo, Mexico, giving snow bird golfers another option for international flights other than the Cancun International Airport (CUN). South of Cancun, Tulum is most famous for its Mayan ruins and its less-crowded beaches. According to this story from afar.com, a number of airlines already have flights scheduled to start:
- American Airlines: American will fly twice daily from Dallas/Fort Worth and daily from Charlotte and Miami
- Delta Air Lines: daily service between Atlanta and Tulum will begin on March 28
- JetBlue: daily service from New York’s JFK will begin in June
- Spirit Airlines: Spirit will fly seven days a week from Fort Lauderdale and Orlando
- United Airlines: daily service to Tulum will be offered from Newark, Los Angeles, Chicago O’Hare, and Houston
The website Tulumgolf.com includes Mayakoba - past PGA TOUR host and current LIV Golf host - but it's a good two hours north. The best bets for golfers would be a stay at the Bahia Principe Luxury Akumal to play PGA Riviera Maya.
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