La Quinta Resort & Club x La Quinta, Calif.
Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play • 2009
22
T
here is a silver lining for
golfers in all the economic
distress that has darkened
the national mood over
the past year: In a large
number of cases, the
“Best Courses You Can Play” have become
cheaper to play, too. From Alabama to
Washington, Alaska to West Virginia, the
top accessible courses have become more
accessible paying less than top dollar.
This may not return your retirement
savings account to its glory days, but
it should still put a smile on your face,
your clubs in the trunk and the keys in
the ignition. Because if a peg in the
ground at some wonderful course doesn’t
make you see the bright side, really,
what will?
At least one course made it easier to
get on, period: the Tom Fazio-designed
Camp Creek in Panama City Beach, Fla.,
the 10th-ranked course in the Sunshine
State, opened for public play after years of
only being accessible to its members and
to guests of the posh WaterColor Inn &
Resort. Most Best Courses You Can Play
offer simply a change of degree rather
than kind. These new deals (or, given the
times, perhaps we should make that New
Deals) fall into four basic, sometimes-
overlapping categories: Replay rates; bulk
or unlimited-play discounts; off-hour
specials and stay-and-play packages.
The breadth of the specials is wonderful,
and so, too, is the participation of some of
the country’s most desirable layouts. The
A-listers are on board. On the incomparable
Monterey Peninsula, 2010 U.S. Open host
Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass
Hill, the top 2 courses in California, are
offering a stay-and-play package priced
more than 10 percent below a la carte
pricing. Kapalua Resort’s Plantation course,
home of the PGA Tour’s season-opening,
winners-only Mercedes Championship
and Hawaii’s top-ranked course, is offering
an $83 replay rate, or $215 less than the
first loop. (Alas, you can’t play the second
loop first, just as your inner Player B can’t
hit until Player A hits one out-of-bounds.)
Pinehurst