Did your favourite college football workforce have a good season? Perhaps that obtained you interested by a bowl trip–and ideally someplace heat. Well, congratulations if the football and climate gods shined upon you earlier this week when the bowl matchups were announced.
If you’re packing your baggage for a trip, hopefully the golf bag is one in all them. Here are a few of SI Golf’s favourite bowl journeys this yr primarily based on golf locations.
Phoenix/Scottsdale (Fiesta Bowl, Guaranteed Rate Bowl)
Many followers of Michigan and Wisconsin will undoubtedly fly into PHX with their golf equipment to play earlier than the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale and the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix.
Desert golf is superb and there are dozens of choices within the Phoenix/Scottsdale space. At TPC Scottsdale you may get a sense of the wild tee shot at 16 as all the development for February’s WM Phoenix Open is nearing completion. Talking Stick is another choice with two programs, ditto Troon North and We-Ko-Pa Golf Club.
Playing TPC Scottsdale a few weeks earlier than the WM Phoenix Open means experiencing the sixteenth gap with its practically accomplished buildout.
Emmanuel Lozano and Michael Chow/USA TODAY Network
Jacksonville, Fla. (Gator Bowl)
Northeast Florida is at its busiest and finest round three occasions: the Florida-Georgia football recreation, the Players Championship and the Gator Bowl.
Late December is a great time to go to TPC Sawgrass to play or to simply stroll across the huge clubhouse, which is lavishly embellished for the vacations. The also-massive professional store normally shares branded merchandise within the Gator Bowl groups’ colours.
Another worthy cease is the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, earlier than it heads out of town in 2024. Its related programs, the Slammer and Squire (positioned simply exterior the HOF’s doorways) and the King and Bear (a few miles down the highway) are each stable performs.
Orlando, Fla. (Cure Bowl, Cheez-It Bowl, Citrus Bowl)
A half-dozen fan bases will go to Orlando for bowls, and whereas the amusement parks could also be on the itinerary for households, that’s a vacation chore we’d quite not face. A extra stress-free alternative that also leaves loads of free time could be a spherical on the Winter Park nine-holer, a locals’ favourite.
If it’s essential to do Disney, do it for golf on the Palm, Lake Buena Vista or Magnolia course. The Magnolia is reopening Dec. 12 as a 14-hole format as renovations proceed, and due to that the greens charges are 33% off.
El Paso, Texas (Sun Bowl)
Only the Rose Bowl (first performed in 1902) is older than the Sun Bowl, which started in 1935. The recreation is a neighborhood treasure (affiliated activities once included a star-studded college golf tournament) with many loyal followers, not the least of which is CBS, which has aired the sport–its solely remaining bowl broadcast–since 1968.
No one will confuse El Paso with Phoenix/Scottsdale for the amount of desert golf and higher-end selections, however there are a variety of reasonably priced choices together with the Tom Fazio-designed Butterfield Trail and 27-hole Painted Dunes.
Las Vegas (Las Vegas Bowl)
Can’t depart Sin City off this listing, though most followers of one of many two taking part faculties (Florida) aren’t hurting for golf alternatives in December. But Vegas has so many choices, whether or not you’d like to get away from the glitz for a whereas (Paiute Golf Resort is 20 miles from the town and has three programs) or keep proper in it (a four-story Topgolf is correct off the Strip).
The Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort is 20 miles from the town however properly price it with three programs together with the Wolf (fifth gap pictured), the longest course in Nevada.
Courtesy Las Vegas Paiute
Honolulu (Hawaii Bowl)
And then there’s the no-brainer. While all of the cities above nonetheless require a peek at a climate app earlier than packing in December, you recognize what you’re getting in Hawaii. Maybe a fast bathe however in any other case it’s going to be round 80 levels, sunny and superb.
The PGA Tour can be on the town at Waialae Country Club in simply a few weeks, however you’ll want a connection to get on there. Great public choices out of city embody the Pete and Perry Dye-designed Royal Hawaiian and the north shore’s Turtle Bay Resort, whose two programs embody an Arnold Palmer design that has hosted LPGA and PGA Tour Champions tournaments.