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GOLF RESORT NEWS |
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Hawaii
The Ritz-Carlton Resort and Spa, Kapalua on the island of Maui has emerged from a $180 million renovation, which included remodeling 463 guest rooms with new furnishings, dark wood floors and flat screen TVs. A whopping 17,500 square feet and waterfalls were added to the spa, which now has 15 treatment rooms with iPod docking, robe warmers, and shower gardens, couples' cabana steam rooms and a lava stone grotto. Home of the PGA TOUR Mercedes-Benz Championship, the 7,263-yard Plantation Course at Kapalua Golf Club has been upgraded in recent years, rambling across tropical canyons and oceanside hilltops. The Plantation is famous for the 18th, the longest hole on the PGA Tour, downhill 663 yards toward the ocean. Arnold Palmer's Bay Course is rather more forgiving and just as lush. On the par-3 fifth, you tee off over the surf onto a postage stamp green with jagged black lava on one side, bunkers on the other and Oneloa Bay below. 463 guestrooms and suites at the Ritz are now luxurious with dark wood floors, all new furnishings, Hawaiian artwork and high-tech amenities. The new full-ownership Residential Suites with kitchens and living rooms are also available to hotel guests.
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Los Angeles
Among the finest courses in the West for decades, The Eisenhower and The Zaharias at Industry Hills Golf Club near downtown Los Angeles have been completely transformed over the last several years, and an impressive new clubhouse and practice area have opened. 7,221 yards long, a William F. Bell classic, "The Ike" carries a 145 slope rating from the championship tees, and has been the site of several U.S. Open qualifiers and LPGA events, while "The Babe" is shorter, and more of a resort course. The Pacific Palms Resort here is fresh from a renovation of all 292 of the oversized guest rooms and suites--uber-sleek, urban-chic in style--with state-of-the-art, CEO-style workstations. Sited on a hilltop with wide mountain and LA Basin views, the resort is a popular retreat for corporate groups and for golfers traveling through nearby airports, LAX, SNA, ONT and LGB.
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Florida
A 3-year, $187 million renovation of Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort is now complete, including a re-do of The Rookery at Marco course design by Robert Cupp, Jr. and the opening of an $8 million clubhouse and The Faldo Golf School by Marriott. Audubon-endorsed, the 7,100-yard course is a virtual bird sanctuary meandering through Florida cypress and palm and pine forests, lagoons and shallow marshes, with 45 acres of water coming into play on 15 holes. With miles of white sand beaches to roam, guests also enjoy the new Balinese-inspired Spa at Marco Island, and the entirely refurbished swimming pool complexes with Gulf of Mexico views; private cabanas come with plasma TVs, WiFi and butler service. Guest rooms have been redone, and the penthouses--now the Terrace Suites--were remodeled, and 30 Lanai Suites with ocean views have been transformed to the tune of $250,000 each.
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Cambodia
Nick Faldo received a blessing from local Buddhist monks as he launched his new Angkor Golf Resort in Siem Reap, near the famous temples of Angkor Wat. Water comes into play on every hole of this 7,279-yard tropical track. A resort and luxurious residential community are on the drawing boards, in the meantime, golfers book the Nick Faldo Golf Package and stay at the sumptuous, 1930s-era French colonial style, 120-room Victoria Angkor Resort & Spa opposite the Royal Gardens of the King's Residence in Siem Reap. Guests are transported to the spectacular nearby ruins in vintage Citro‘ns, returning to lounge in the saltwater swimming pool and the Victoria Spa Angkor, before enjoying Le Jardin de L'Apsara traditional dance shows.
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Idaho
Dazzling Rocky Mountain views are on the menu from the wraparound decks of the new Sun Valley Club, a 4-level, 58,756-square-foot stone, wood and glass clubhouse that now anchors Sun Valley Resort. Also just opened this summer at the resort is the "Alpine links-style", 9-hole White Clouds Course, laid out by Donald Knott, to be followed in the near future by a second 9 holes. Golf Digest calls the Trail Creek Course here (formerly Sun Valley Golf Course) number 1 in Idaho. A creek, in fact, runs across the fairways seven times on this parkland beauty, which has narrow fairways bordered by mature, feathery cottonwood trees.
Among other newly constructed facilities for golfers and vacationers are the soaring Sun Valley Music Pavilion, an indoor driving range and indoor putting, a 25-acre outdoor practice facility, 4 green and bunker target areas, and an 18-hole putting course named The Sawtooths (reflecting the surrounding mountain peaks of the same name)-all of this heralding a new era of destination golf in Sun Valley.
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Arizona
The Tucson National Golf Club now has a glamorous new clubhouse and upgraded conditions on the two beautiful desert courses in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains. The Lehman-designed Sonoran Course (opened in 2005) tilts and twirls on roller-coaster terrain, and the Catalina Course, a Van Hagge/Devlin layout, has hosted over 30 PGA Tour events. The 650-acre, 4-diamond Omni Tucson National Resort has unveiled the first phase of a $92 million facelift and expansion, which will be complete next year. The 4-diamond spa is an award-winner.
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