Tee Off Around the World

The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club always makes one appreciate the grandeur and beauty of a top-class golf course.

Pine-lined fairways, powder-soft sand traps, meticulously manicured greens, and serene, ball-collecting lakes—the world’s best golf courses blend the natural beauty of an area with time-honored traditions to create a space that inspires.

Of course, to test your skills on these pristine courses, you have to travel there. Luckily, many of the best courses just so happen to be located in some of the world’s most desirable vacation destinations. Travelling and golfing are lifestyle partners, allowing you to intimately experience the local terrain, decode its physical secrets, and face its artistically designed challenges.

Plus, let’s face it, many of us have grown up watching the world’s most iconic golf courses challenge the likes of Arnie, Jack, Tiger and Rory for years. When you travel to the destinations below—the ones that provide you with both an incredible vacation experience and access to the sport’s most storied courses—you can finally discover how you stack up against the greats who played there.

Continental U.S.

Luckily you don’t have to travel far between legendary courses and the local scene. Florida is a recognizable haven for those in search of chill beaches and long fairways. You’ll find both at The Breakers Palm Beach. Originally built in 1897 along the coast and delightfully redesigned in 2000, the oldest golf course in Florida consists of 5,778 yards of lush tropical landscaping, six lakes, hundreds of palm trees and the sound of crashing waves. Forget flat and boring—the course is a mesmerizing collection of curves that will challenge any scratch golfer. When not playing, you can enjoy upscale shopping on Worth Avenue, catch a match at the International Polo Club and stroll through the Norton Museum Sculpture Garden.

For a different feel, Scottsdale, Arizona’s Troon North Golf Club is classic desert golfing at its finest. At either of its two courses, the Pinnacle or the Monument, you’ll find striking rock outcrops, natural ravines and even boulders of the Sonoran Desert—all of which are gorgeous but sometimes superbly distracting. If the challenge becomes too stressful, finding a nearby place to relax will be easy. The area hosts more than 50 luxury resorts and day spas, many using ancient local ingredients and Native American healing techniques to soothe your soul.

Of course, you can’t spotlight American courses without mentioning Pebble Beach Golf Links in California, rated the greatest public golf course in America by Golf Digest. This is the course where history has been made, thanks to the numerous U.S. Opens hosted here. Just imagine putting from where Jack Nicklaus hit his birdie shot on the 4th to claim the 1961 U.S. Amateur or from where Tom Watson drained a 35-foot birdie putt on the 14th in the final round of the 1982 U.S. Open. The course’s stunning coastal views—along with the shops and galleries in the small beach town of Carmel-by-the-Sea—will only add to your enjoyment.

Los Cabos, Mexico

You don’t have to go far outside of the United States to find the perfect vacation combination: luxurious beachside resorts, decadent Mexican cuisine, sun-dappled ocean waters, photogenic geologic curiosities, a vibrant nightlife scene, and several of the world’s top golf courses. Perfection, thy name is Los Cabos. Here, resorts elevate golfing to an art form. Fairways stretch between seaside cliffs, drives often need to sail over cactus forests, sand traps might be either beach dunes or sprawling desert, and water traps are more typically called the Pacific Ocean.

Often referred to as the Pebble Beach of Baja, Cabo del Sol is a legendary course conceived by the equally legendary Jack Nicklaus. One of the first golf courses in the area, the first few holes are but warm-up for the final trio. The 16th is a par 4 that points directly out to sea, the 17th is a par 3 that sees you teeing off atop a cliff in hopes of navigating a sandy cove and jagged rock outcroppings, and the final hole hugs the shoreline in such a manner as to provide ocean spray and a challenging par 4.

Another Nicklaus-designed course, this time with the help of none other than Greg Norman, is Puerto Los Cabos outside the historic town of San Jose del Cabo. Backdropped by the Sea of Cortez and the Sierra de la Laguna mountains, the course is a series of heavenly strolls punctuated with the occasional striking of the ball. A crowd favorite is the par-3 6th with its tee set 100 feet higher than the green. While your shot may make you see red, the view is exquisite.

Hawaii

This string of sculpted emerald islands is a paradise for amateur and accomplished golfers alike. From Robert Trent Jones Jr. to Jack Nicklaus, the biggest names have drawn on Hawaii’s distinct terrains—steep elevation shifts, black and red lava flows, and rainforest jungles—to craft world-class courses. Signature holes are as acclaimed for their beauty as their difficulty, many jumping cliff-to-cliff across wave-lashed coves.

Hitting multiple islands in one unforgettable trip is the way to go, with commuter flights making it easy to hop to another island for a day to play the local courses. On such a journey, be sure to visit Maui’s Ka’anapali Kai, where whales are often sighted cavorting offshore. For a more challenging course, the Ko’olau Golf Club on Oahu will send you through the rainforested slopes, extreme elevation drops, and waterfall-wettened sides of the 2,000-foot Ko’olau Ridge. Be prepared to lose a great a number of balls—all with a smile on your face. Of course, if you need a bit more excitement in your natural scenery, the Mauna Kea Golf Course on Hawaii Island fringes a dormant volcano; note it doesn’t count as a hole-in-one if you hit your ball into the caldera.

Scotland

The mecca of golf travel is Scotland, where the country’s passion for the sport is almost as rich as its medieval history. Although the first record of golf is connected to St. Andrews in cobblestoned Edinburgh, the entire country pays homage to its love of the game with courses, parks and prestigious clubs speckled across the lush country.

Sink your spikes into the birthplace of the sport at the Old Course at St. Andrews, which has been welcoming the world’s best players for over 600 years. Visit the Road Hole, an infamous par 4 that will truly test your mettle, and try not to get caught in the Road Bunker sand trap. Your unforgettable round will be backdropped by the wide skies and tall, grassy, seaside plains that Scotland is famous for.

After driving around the dramatically scenic, castle-perched Ayrshire coastline, you can then drive the celebrated fairways of the Royal Troon Championship Golf Course. The course—designed by the same architects who constructed Augusta—is open to the public on weekends, where golfers will need to dust off their fairway woods to tackle the challenging 7,175-yard course. The course may be tough, with large mounds and ample sand traps; however, the views of the ever-changing sky and sparkling South Bay make your high score easier to swallow.

Wherever you visit, golfing is a great way to appreciate the local flora, meet other enthusiasts, and enjoy a beautiful afternoon. After all, discovering a destination, talking to its people, and just having fun is the recipe for an amazing vacation.