Augusta in Georgia, home to many a US Open, sees the summer launch of the River Golf Club on the banks of the Savannah River. It features a 6,830-yard course laid out in lakeland, wetland and dramatic bunkers.
In Prattville, Alabama, 18 holes of a new $22m, 54-hole course are due to be open next month, as part of the latest addition to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. It is the eighth RTJ Trail course, which should be fully operational by the autumn.
Further down the southern coastline, Jacksonville in Florida is home to the new World Golf Village and PGA Hall of Fame complex, offering two top courses, which Destination Golf said it may feature in a future programme.
Along the US Eastern Seaboard, the staging of the Ryder Cup event near Boston on September 24-26 will help to boost awareness of the top-class facilities in the six states of New England, including Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Location for the competition is the The Country Club at Brookline.
Longshot Golf is offering five-night Boston Tee-party packages to coincide with the event with prices from ú2,099, departing on September 22.
This includes bed and breakfast accommodation at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Natick, 14 miles from the event, ticket covering match and practice days, Virgin Atlantic flights between Gatwick and Boston, all transfers and celebration dinner. Eight-night holidays are also available.
Equally, the US Women’s Open Championship, being held in Mississippi on May 31-June 6, will highlight the southern state’s recent investment in the golfing market.
Staged at the Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, the event will be a shop window for golfers and enthusiasts looking for new locations.
The state’s Gulf Coast area has been the scene of large-scale development of casino hotels linked to new golf courses.
Recent openings include Grand Casino Tunica’s Cottonwoods Golf Club; Casino Strip Resorts’ River Bend Links; and The Oaks at Pass Christian, all with 18 holes.
Similar championship facilities coming on line in Mississippi in 1999 are the Silver Star Casino Resort course at Philadelphia, the Beau Rivage course at Biloxi and 18-hole location at the Grand Casino, both along the coast.