There is a wide range of golf courses, locations and styles of play to be found across the US. We asked one of the specialist operators, Delta Vacations Golf America, to come up with three very different examples. The tour operator is sister company to Delta Air Lines, the official carrier of the PGA Tour and The PGA of America.
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Resort: The Sands Ocean Club.
Facilities: excellent mid-range beachfront hotel has every amenity, including oceanfront restaurant, indoor/outdoor pool and Ocean Annie’s Beach Bar.
Location: close to so-called Restaurant Row and the best of the area’s nightlife.
Courses: more than 100 top-quality locations spread along the Grand Strand, part of the Low Country coast of South Carolina.
Suitable for: everyone of all abilities.
Special features: water and marshland are a feature of the courses that have been used by some of the world’s best golf architects.
Sample package: from £552 per person in the winter low season, rising to £834 in the peak April golf period. Includes Delta flights from Gatwick or Manchester, seven nights in a two-bedroom/two-bathroom ocean suite based on four people, six rounds of golf at different courses with pre-arranged tee times rental car and breakfast.
Scottsdale, Arizona
Resort: Hospitality Suites Resort.
Facilities: great value property featuring a choice of spacious suites, three pool areas, whirlpool, sports and games bar. Complimentary full breakfast and hosted evening cocktail party.
Location: in the Valley of the Sun, Scottsdale is 10mins from Phoenix Airport and offers world-class shopping, nightlife and dining.
Courses: more than 150 in the region offering some of the best golf in the US. Anyone who has played desert golf will never forget it. This is target golf at its most demanding, and the beautiful contrast of the emerald-green fairways against the desert that surrounds them is spectacular.
Suitable for: the connoisseur.
Special features: the golf is superb but comes at a price in the winter with a round at Troon North or Greyhawk costing more than £115. Summer is cheaper and, although temperatures are around 100C, there is no humidity in the desert, which makes it easier to bear.
Sample package: from £1,266 per person in the high winter season and £972 in mid-summer. Includes flights from Gatwick and Manchester, seven nights’ accommodation double occupancy in a one-bedroom junior King Suite, six rounds of golf with more than 40 locations to choose from, including carts, and one week’s car hire.
Counting the cost: a winter round is a costly experience
Pinehurst Village, North Carolina
Resort: a wide selection of resort accommodation to choose from within the area, including condos and apartments.
Facilities: Pinehurst Resort features large bedrooms with sitting areas, 24 tennis courts, sailing, five pools, health and fitness centre and a variety of restaurants.
Location: in the Sandhills region of North Carolina.
Courses: the rolling wooded countryside is perfect for offering challenging golf courses and the area has more than 50 to choose from – Pinehurst Resort alone has eight locations.
Suitable for: the discerning golfer. However, a variety of tee boxes make all the area’s courses suitable for every standard of golfer.
Special features: Pinehurst’s Donald Ross-designed number two course, venue of the 1999 US Open, is constantly rated as one of the world’s top locations. Like many of the local courses, it has wide fairways but very tricky greens and the trees are never far away.
Sample package: seven nights twin-share accommodation in a one-bedroom apartment in the Pinehurst area costs £1,107 per person in October including flights from Gatwick and Manchester, six rounds of golf at different courses with pre-arranged tee times and carts, plus hire car. A week’s package staying at the Pinehurst Resort and based on the same arrangements would be £2,336 per person in October, including daily golf, breakfast and dinner.