Golf Bucket List: 10 Courses You Must Play
Cool temples, warm colors – These 10 golf courses are worth a trip before winter hits.
By Kyle Moss
When people say “Fall is in the air,” Many different things can come to mind. When golfers say it, it’s usually a statement full of hope and joy. And that’s because there’s a magic to fall golf that no other season can touch. It’s the perfect time when the weather hasn’t turned winter so far, leaving plenty of time for another spot or two.
Sure, the temples are dropping and life is busy and the October leaves are getting in the way and many golf courses are overdone, but don’t make the mistake of putting your clubs early in the morning. As the summer heat gives way to breezy winds and low humidity, tens of thousands of golf courses across America are being dramatically transformed as much for aesthetics as it is for golf. The fairy roads are built with a fiery palette of gold, criss, and russets, turning every walk from tee to green into his feast. It’s the time of year when the air is clear, the humidity is gone, and the conditions are perfect for hitting your golf ball.
But a truly great golf course should offer more than just beautiful foliage and beautiful views. In order to be considered for its true worth, it needs to combine the beauty of a world-class landscape with a course that engages and benefits all golfers. We have searched for courses that happen to be fun and challenging structures, to ensure that both veterans with experience and the known weekend player will find their game tested and their spirits lifted if they choose to organize a fun event away from home.
From the high course changes Payne’s Valley Vistas show panoral autumnamic vistas, to strategic lays and water features that demand your best courses, with this list of combinations of beautiful beauty and unique golf construction. Each of these golf resorts offers great golf packages for a group – but they also work if you want to go solo – and prove that fall can be the season for golf. When the pace slows down, the scenery is beautiful, and every hole feels like a postcard.
1. Treetops Resort – The art course
- 3962 Wilkinson Rd, Gaylord, Michigan, 49735
- Green fee: from $102
- Designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr., this property overlooks the Pigeon River Valley, has lush forests and rolling hills with excellent holes.
Book your tee time now >
2. Jack Frost National Golf Club
- 1 Jack Frost Mountain Rd., Blakeslee, Pennsylvania, 18610
- Green fee: from $45
- It is unique to Northern Pennsylvania with beautiful landscapes and views of the Crest of Jack Frost Mountain. It has an elevation of 2000 ft and a natural oak forest highlights the course of each golf hole.
Book your tee time now >
3. The golden course at the Golden Horseshoe
- 401 S England St, Williamsburg, Virginia, 23185
- Green fee: from $78
- Designed by Father-Son Duo Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Rees Jones, and offers 45 quick holes that are completely inaccessible to the surrounding shops.
Book your tee time now >
4. Killington Golf Course
- 4763 Killington Rd, Killington, Vermont, 05751
- Raw money: n / a
- It takes full advantage of the mountain’s unique terrain and features ground snow distribution, 2,000 elevations, and signal vistas.
Book your tee time now >
5. Sunday River Golf Club
- Championship Dr, Newry, Maine, 04261
- Raw money: n / a
- This is Robert Trent Jones, Jr. Design Winds through the woods of Maine and overlooks the Sunday River Valley with the Mahoosuc Range towering above.
Book your tee time now >
6. Thistle Golf Club
- 1815 Olde Thistle Club Road, Sunset Beach, North Carolina, 28468
- Green fee: from $120
- This 27-Hole Scotland-Links Design features generous fairways, large Bermuda Greens, five sets of fairways and 12-minute tee times.
Book your tee time now >
7. Pronghorn Club – Nicklaus’ signature course
- 65600 Pronghorn Club Dr., Bend, Oregon, 97701
- Green fee: from $125
- Beautiful scenery and flawless conditions define this park-style course, with cascading mountains in the backrop and rock features scattered throughout.
Book your tee time now >
8. Payne’s Valley Golf Course
- 1250 Golf Club Drive, Hollister, Mo, 65672
- Green fee: from $150
- Located at Big Cedar Lodge and adjacent to Ozark National, this is the first full public course in the world completed by TGROW Woods Firm TRID FRICE and is definitely worth a visit.
Book your tee time now>
9. LA COARTA Golf Club
- 16641 la canterapy, san antonio, texas, 78256
- Green fee: from $99
- This Dramatic Hill Country serval scene is very up and down the world. Beautiful live oaks lined the streets with no houses as the garden played between the rushing streams and the limestone rock portcroppings.
Book your tee time now >
10. The Golf Club at Equinox
- 108 Union St, Manchester Village, Vermont, 05254
- Raw money: from $76
- It includes a surprising combination of the past and is located in one of the most beautiful mountain settings in the country, boasting a challenge to play on every fairway, bunker, and green.
Book your tee time now >
