China is building more new courses than any other country on the planet. But golf’s transition from a bourgeois, elitist sport to a game of the people in this Brave New Communist Party World is something of a Chinese puzzle.
The best golf courses that easily can be played by passing Business Travellers in and around Guangzhou, near Hong Kong.
Peter Swain says San Diego is the new hotspot for golfers seeking sun, sea and immaculate greens. But Barcelona, Marrakech, Reykjavik and Venice also combine good courses with immaculate hospitality.
With Canada’s Atlantic seaboard only a five-hour flight away, Peter Swain looks at the courses and property scene in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
Golfers are the ultimate lifestyle buyers – much more interested in their handicaps and long-term investment than making a fast buck.
Fairway-side homes have taken their share of the pain during the property market downturn – but with 2012 prices edging up, is now the time to search out a golf holiday home in the Sunshine State.
You like the scenery, security and club-ability of a home on a golf development, but don’t actually play the game. So which resorts might work best for you?
Once there were just a handful of golf resorts to buy property on, but today there are hundreds spread across the globe. But which ones do we think are the best?
For the Business Traveller, Peter Swain hand-picks a selection of courses within easy reach of the city
THE R&A’s OFFICIAL OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP MAGAZINE
Professional golf can be a cruel game. The ranks of the game’s nearly-men who have laboured manfully in the shadows without ever ascending the sunlit uplands of a Major victory, the ultimate yardstick by which history judges success and failure, is peopled by hard-working, honourable players. Until the summer of 1996, it seemed that Tom Lehman was destined to be amongst their number.
THE R&A’s OFFICIAL OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP MAGAZINE
When a young man from Scunthorpe via Potters Bar teed it up on the first at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 1969, he was just about the only player in the field who believed he, or any other British player, had a realistic chance of winning the Open.
In the Italian region best known for sublime scenery, great art and rich food, peter Swain discovers an old hilltop village being brought back to life, where you don’t need to be a millionaire to buy a piece of paradise.
Peter Swain looks at the challenges facing the 2012 PGA field, and the Southern delights of what many believe to be America’s number one golfing resort, Kiawah Island, near Charleston.
What’s new at some of the very best clubs in Abu Dhabi, France, Barbados, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Portugal and Switzerland.
A selection of new courses in Vietnam, Russia, the Maldives, England, Portugal, Italy, Oman, Scotland, Greece and Morocco making waves in 2012.
Before you buy that dream fairway-side home, here are ten important issues to consider carefully.
Peter Swain pads around the Thai capital to find the best courses open to passing business travellers. Read the full BUSINESS TRAVELLER article here: Continue reading
Just like playing golf, buying property in an emerging market such as Thailand is a risk-reward business.
With boy wonder golfer Rory McIlroy aiming to follow up his US Open triumph, this week’s Open Championship at Royal St George’s should be a welcome boost for Sandwich after Viagra-maker Pfizer leaves town.
Read the full MAIL ON SUNDAY article here
THE R&A’s OFFICIAL OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP MAGAZINE
If there is any doubt that sporting success can have a transformative effect on the wider national psyche, the events of a magical 10 days in the British summer of 1934 when a new national hero emerged at Royal St George’s, provide compelling evidence.
THE R&A’s OFFICIAL OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP MAGAZINE
Before the internet, television or even radio, golf’s grip on the public imagination was largely down to the power of the written word. Heroic feats performed by the likes of Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen and the immortal Bobby Jones were first revealed to avid enthusiasts of the fledgling sport in their morning newspapers.
England has country house hotels with rather ordinary courses, and excellent clubs associated with mediocre hostelries. The course and hospitality at Manor House Hotel and Golf Club tick both the quality and value tee boxes.
St Moritz may be one of the celebrity skiers’ favourite resorts, but can its two golf courses rival the Cresta Run and the many pistes?
The very best courses in and around Barcelona for the passing Business Traveller
Read the full BUSINESS TRAVELLER article here
If you like Venice, Prosecco and golf, we have just the place for you – golf property within 30 miles of La Serenissima
Golf and property development go together like Colin Montgomery and the Ryder Cup – they’re a winning formula.
Later this week at the Celtic Manor Resort in South Wales, 150,000 spectators will watch the best European and American golfers do battle in the biennial Ryder Cup – including Tiger Woods, facing his first tournament abroad since his divorce last month.
BMI’s in-flight guide to Mallorca for those who love, and hate, golf.
THE R&A’s OFFICIAL OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP MAGAZINE
Calamity Jane and the Walter Hagen Concave Niblick both played vital roles in Bobby Jones’s 1930 ascension into golfing immortality.
THE R&A’s OFFICIAL OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP MAGAZINE
When Bobby Jones stepped onto the first tee of the Old Course for his opening drive of the 1927 Open, his place in the pantheon of St Andrews greats was far from assured. His first visit to the hallowed links six years earlier had ended in public ignominy.