Queenstown in New Zealand’s South Island calls itself the ‘adventure capital of the world’, but can you combine a new home there with a great round of golf?
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Retire to a resort in the Caribbean
The traditional playground of the rich and infamous has a host of ritzy golf destinations. Barbados leads the field, but other islands like St Kitts and Nevis have plenty to offer.
Cyprus will bounce back as a golfing mecca
Cyprus’s financial crisis hasn’t dulled Aphrodite’s Isle from being a popular British golfing destination for a decade. Peter Swain discovers several new developments around Paphos and a weak Euro are now making this eastern Mediterranean island a favourite for golfing retirees.
Spain still number one choice for golfers
Spain is still the favourite golf destination for British seniors but has suffered more than most in the recession reports PETER SWAIN. Ironically, though, substantial price falls mean there’s never been a better time to buy.
Portugal’s sunny fairways prove a year round winner
When it comes to multi-golf course developments with upscale amenities and a variety of property at different price points, the Algarve in southern Portugal takes some beating reports PETER SWAIN. Not surprising it is the retirement choice for so many golf-loving Brits.
Florida – a great value golfing heaven
With over 1,400 courses, warm weather all year round, hundreds of miles of beaches, and natives who speak English – well, sort of – it’s easy to see why so many golfing seniors find the Sunshine State the answer to their dreams.
From Mao to Mission Hills
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.
Golfing Around… Guangzhou
The best golf courses that easily can be played by passing Business Travellers in and around Guangzhou, near Hong Kong.
Christchurch makes its comeback
As it moves out of clean-up into reconstruction mode, Peter Swain discovers vitality coursing back into the this New Zealand South Island city. “We now have a unique opportunity to remake, in fact to resettle, a modern city.”
City breaks
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.
Make it a Canadian club
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.
Home and a hole in one
Golfers are the ultimate lifestyle buyers – much more interested in their handicaps and long-term investment than making a fast buck.
A Florida hole in one
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.
10 best golf resorts for non-golfers
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?
The world’s best golf resorts
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?
Golfing Around… Los Angeles
For the Business Traveller, Peter Swain hand-picks a selection of courses within easy reach of the city
‘Not pretty but gritty’
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.
“What a corker”
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.
Monégasque metamorphosis
Embodying the remarkable mélange of dynamic style and discreet sophistication that defines Monaco in the 21st century, Groupe Pastor is presenting two new projects in the Principality in 2012: Villa Roccabella and Le Simona.
Heady Tuscan Renaissance
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.
Olympic Gold for amateur landlords?
Peter Swain wonders if he and other amateur landlords can make some money by renting out their homes to Olympic visitors in late July and early August 2012
To Dye for
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.
Hot new courses
What’s new at some of the very best clubs in Abu Dhabi, France, Barbados, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Portugal and Switzerland.
New courses worldwide
A selection of new courses in Vietnam, Russia, the Maldives, England, Portugal, Italy, Oman, Scotland, Greece and Morocco making waves in 2012.
10 things to consider when buying on a golf course
Before you buy that dream fairway-side home, here are ten important issues to consider carefully.
Golfing Around… Bangkok
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
The life aquatic
Discerning seafarers are scanning the horizon for marinas that combine innovative facilities with stylish, water-side property. Peter Swain scopes out the new generation of safe havens.
Thai Pad
Just like playing golf, buying property in an emerging market such as Thailand is a risk-reward business.
Will the Open help Sandwich out of the rough?
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 1934 Open
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.