We all know what a hammock is, right? Those hanging rope beds that are couch-like and let us snuggle away for an afternoon nap every once in a while. Well do you know where the first American rope hammocks came from? Well, you are right, if you guessed that 20-mile or so stretch of South Carolina just south of Myrtle Beach.

The Hammock Coast, as it is known, is the same right answer if you are looking for golf, fishing, water activities, entertainment and restaurants away from the hustle- and-bustle of Myrtle Beach proper. And there is a special place to stay, whether you are a woman or a man, called the Inlet Sports Lodge, also known as a boutique hotel. Plus there are two nearby sister courses side-by-side that will satisfy all your golfing desires and are known as the very best in the area, including all of the Myrtle Beach area—the Caledonia Golf & Fish Club and True Blue Golf Club.

This was my last stop on the 7-week, 17-state, 6,000-mile 2015 East Coast Golf Journey so I was ready to get home by the time I hit South Carolina. But after two nights at the Inlet Sports Lodge and playing Caledonia and True Blue I wanted to stay longer and play longer.

The golf is vintage Mike Strantz, who was based in South Carolina and was named as one of the “Top 10 Greatest Golf Architects of All Time” by Golfweek magazine in 2010. Five years later, having designed only nine golf courses, stricken with cancer he died after barely turning 50 years old.

Caledonia was Strantz’s first solo design and is strikingly different than True Blue. Caledonia is a classic and traditional parkland course that weaves through twisted live oaks with hanging Spanish moss. Some say it is like “playing golf  in a garden.” Water comes into play in strategic spots like all the way down the left side of the 415-yard par-4 fourteenth hole and a forced carry to the devilish green on the 383-yard par-4 home hole. Assistant Golf Professional Zach Lawther shares his personal insight into the golfing experience at Caledonia:

CLICK here for a Video Interview with Zach Lawther, Assistant Golf Professional at Caledonia

True Blue, on the other hand, is more wide open, with wide fairways  and large greens and playable sandy waste areas. Untrue to its name, water hazards are present but not exceedingly so, most notably on the 190-yard par-3 third hole with an island green, all the way down the left side of the 548-yard risk-reward par-5  fourth hole. Later in the round there is water in front of the 208-yard par-3 seventeenth hole, all the way down the right side of the 449-yard par-4 seventeenth hole and all the way down the left side of the 437-yard par-4 finishing hole. Head Golf Professional Bart Romano, with ten years experience at True Blue, shares his personal insight into the golfing experience at True Blue:

CLICK here for a Video Interview with Bart Romano, Head Golf Professional at True Blue

Caledonia and True Blue complement each other like the ying-and-the-yang. So do General Manager Warren Beckham and Marketing Coordinator Catherine Rotman at the Inlet Sports Lodge. Sounding like a man’s hotel but with carved mahogany wooden doors, Heart of Pine floors, nine-foot ceilings, granite countertops, Rainhead showers with four massaging body jets and custom china in the kitchenettes, it’s really a woman’s boutique and luxurious hotel. As you can tell in the videos’ introduction I had a lot of fun meeting Warren and Catherine and the rest of the staff at the Inlet Sports Lodge. Warren’s ties to Myrtle Beach go back to 1936 and his family and several others have been getting together  to break bread and have a fish dinner on Thursday nights for the last 62 years!  This is a unique, casually friendly but quite comfortable 34-room home-away-from-home. I really did not want to leave!

CLICK here for a Video Interview with Catherine Rotman, Marketing Coordinator

CLICK here for a Video Interview with Warren Beckham , General Manager

Looking for a romantic couples get away, a girls or guys golfing trip or a place to stay while traveling for business, the Inlet Sports Lodge is the place to stay on the Hammock Coast in South Carolina just south of Myrtle Beach. If you are a golfer, make sure you make time to play Caledonia and True Blue. The fishing, water activities, dining in what is known as the Seafood Capital of South Carolina, entertainment and shopping is good too.

You can even pick up a good rope hammock to take home with you!

We are all creatures of habit, especially us male golfers, play 18 holes and head for the bar!

Not a bad option at the PGA National Resort & Spa with Bar 91, which is the 19th hole when you have five 18-hole golf courses to choose from. But maybe the bar can wait until after the spa?

I had the most fascinating, enjoyable and memorable visit to PGA National for the PGA of America Awards and Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies. While there, my original plan was to venture past the festivities and the resort luxuries themselves to play golf on The Champion course which annually hosts the Honda Classic to kickoff the Florida Swing on the PGA TOUR.

CLICK here to learn how I discovered the “Spa after Golf Option” at PGA National

After finishing golf I was headed to you know where when I was craftily intercepted by Ashley Spurlock, the Spa Group Sales Manager. As you can see in the video, it really did not take much persuasion for me to change my trajectory and head over to the spa for the Muscle Melt treatment by a skillful therapist with the name of Krisann.

I had always wondered how professional golfers dealt with muscle soreness after playing so much golf in one week. If you are like me, the few times I have played four days in a row I was sore, especially when doing so these past few years. I guess I am getting older like everybody else and there are normal age-related issues I feel like everybody else.

Massages for me were always great but came with a period of time afterwards before I was completely refreshed, restored and recovered. The massage felt great but the result wasn’t that my muscles were ready to go play golf again. After having my first Muscle Melt that starts with my body being wrapped up and heated up with a soothing mixture of herbal liniment blended with aloe, I felt ready for another nine holes or for a night of dancing. Actually I did play another nine holes of golf but passed on the dancing. I bet if I had another Muscle Melt body treatment I could have danced the night away!

I was so excited about the new spa experience I almost forgot to tell you about the golf!

It was spectacular and would have been for the fun and friendship of playing with my buddy Frosty but we were paired with 2007 British Amateur Champion Drew Weaver. He finished 8th this year on the PGA TOUR Canada and is exempt into the final stage of Q-School which will be held on the Champion and Fazio courses at PGA National in early December.

CLICK here for a Video Interview with Drew Weaver, 2007 British Amateur Champion

That’s the thing about PGA National and The Champion course, with its long and exemplary history of competitive golf—the 1983 Ryder Cup won by the United States), the 1987 PGA Championship (won by Larry Nelson), and the Senior PGA Championship for 19 years, from 1982–2000. A 1981 George and Tom Fazio original, redesigned by Jack Nicklaus in 2002, The Champion became the home of The Honda Classic in 2007. In its short PGA TOUR history Ernie Els, Camilo Villegas and Rory McIlroy have won there.

In golf, one never knows who will be joining their foursome, but at PGA National it will likely be somebody good or entertaining or both as in our case. Either way you have a great golfing experience. The Champion course is like no other. To me it seems to ebb-and-flow, slowly and strategically revealing itself and challenging you up to and including the crescendo of the final four holes of the ‘Bear Trap’—the dramatic par-3 15th over water, the difficult par-4 16th, the more dramatic par-3 17th since the green is smaller and the end nearer and the exciting risk-reward par-5 18th home hole.

Technically, the last hole is not part of the televised ‘Bear Trap,’ but I think it should be. After all, who is safe from a bear until you have made it safely into the spa and are all wrapped up safe and warm?

If you have ever visited the PGA National Resort & Spa or partied in the lobby during the Honda Classic then you know the resort is simply fabulous in all regards. The lobby deck overlooking the pool has been expanded to 3,000 square feet and is now called the iDeck. It is a great spot to watch the fireworks on Friday and Saturday nights at the Honda. The best in Palm Beach dining can be found in 12 on-site eating options including my favorites—The Ironwood Steak & Seafood restaurant and Bar 91. See, you can make it to the bar after the spa!

CLICK here for an earlier article on the accommodations at the PGA National Resort & Spa

The resort is spectacular, the golf no better anywhere else in the world and the spa is ideal for golfers coming off the golf course. Don’t wait for Ashley to track you down the next time you play golf at PGA National. Book the golf, the spa and the table at Ironwood!

Mister Golfer, look, the spa, the spa, the spa… don’t forget the spa!

I was excited to visit the Omni Homestead Resort during the 2015 East Coast Golf Journey.

I knew the Homestead has been around for a long time, longer than golfing legend Sam Snead‘s time on this earth, but I never imagined it originated in 1766, ten years before the beginning of the United States of America.

Next year our country will celebrate the 40th anniversary of our 1976 bicentennial celebration. That’s 240 years of liberty. Next year the Omni Homestead Resort, will celebrate its Semiquincentennial, its 250th anniversary. And they are doing it in style with a celebration every day of the year. Even then it will be bigger than big since 2016 is a Leap Year and there will be one extra day to celebrate!

Why not leap into 2016 and celebrate forever at the Omni Homestead Resort?

My visit to America’s Resort was extraordinary! Many say that the thirty activities, ranging from the traditional—like golf and spa, to the unique—like falconry and a 13 waterfall Cascades Gorge walk, are the cherry on the cake at the Homestead. I have to disagree. Resident Historian Keene Byrd’s two-hour magical mystery history tour that takes you through those nearly 250 years of history to the days of Thomas Jefferson visits to the Homestead was the golf ball upon my tee. Truly an exciting and amazing trek figuratively through American history and literally through a grand old, yet modern, resort.

Being a golf and travel diary I can’t help but mention the thrilling range of golfing experiences available at the Omni Homestead Resort. With Donald Ross’ 1892 Old Course literally outside your door to the William S. Flynn 1923 Cascades Golf Club just a couple of Sam Snead drives down the valley, golf and competitive golf, as Bobby Jones would say can all be found right where Snead first came to the game he would dominate as a young lad of 17 making hickory-shafted golf clubs outside the Casino Building.

Slammin’ Sammy Snead turned professional at the age of 22 when he became the very first Golf Professional at the Cascades Golf Club in 1934. The next year the tour came to the Cascades Course and he nearly won it after leading by three strokes after two rounds. Still single at the time, a lady by the name of Mildred ‘Babe’ Didrickson became the first girl ever to enter a men’s open event according to the local newspaper. She would go on to become the first and only woman to date to make the cut in a regular PGA TOUR event ten years later in the L.A. Open. Sam Snead would go on to win 185 times including a record 82 PGA TOUR victories.

CLICK here for a VIDEO INTERVIEW with Justin Doyle, Assistant PGA Golf Professional

As Justin points out in his interview, there is a legacy of longtime local Golf Professionals at the Homestead going back to Sam Snead. Director of Golf Don Ryder recently retired after 40-plus years at the Homestead. His cousin and replacement Barry Ryder has served the members and guests at the Homestead for over 30 years. The Head Golf Professional at the Cascades is Mark Fry and he has been working at the Homestead for 20-plus years. Justin is the young pup with 12 years. I could go on and on about their competitive golf careers too but suffice it to say Sam Snead’s legacy of being a pro’s pro and a member’s pro too continues on in the sloped valleys of the Allegheny Mountains in western Virginia.

CLICK here for a VIDEO INTERVIEW with the Homestead Resident Historian Keene Byrd

I so liked the historical tour and the historian that conducted it that I convinced Keene to join me for a round at the Cascades. There is no better way to thoroughly become knowledgeable about the history of a golf course than to play a round with the resident historian. I forgot to ask the unstumpable human Homestead encyclopedia who hit the very first tee shot off America’s oldest First Tee in continuous operation on the Old Course. I did take note of the Sam Snead plaque with his assertion that “if you can play the Cascades, you can play anywhere,” any remembered to question Keene after we finished putting on the 18th green. So when are we going to play the Augusta National Golf Club? Hey, I played the Cascades and Mr. Snead said if I did than I could play anywhere!

CLICK here for a HIGHLIGHT VIDEO of Keene Byrd Describing Sam Snead’s Vertical Leap at Age 65

I would be remiss if I didn’t include my interactions with Lee Perry, one of the outside golf operations guy at the Cascades. Like the golf professionals, the golf staff, as well as the resort staff, have many longtime employees. I don’t even think they call them employees at the Homestead, they just call them and treat them like family which is the way I felt they treated me. Three amigos greeted me at the Cascades Golf Club—Lee with 35 years of service, Loren with 26, and Scott the young pup only in his second year. I could have hung out with them for days but then would have never completed the seven-week East Coast Golf Journey. Actually that is my fear of finding a home and never leaving and the Homestead could likely be the place. I think that is where the name comes from.

Lee was a good buddy of Sam for a long time. The kind of buddy that could stop by his ranch, just open the front door and yell “anybody home?” In fact over the years he took a few guests along with him to meet the golfing legend. Quoted in many articles and books on Sam (this one included), I should have taken better notes and written a book of my own. I do remember one story where Sam played in a Ryder Cup across the Big Pond and caught a four-pound bass while waiting on the 18th tee to finish off a match. Probably the only one to do so in history and win a point for the old country too.

I stopped by the Cascades the next morning on my way out of town to say good bye to Lee and the boys and thank them for making my visit so enjoyable and this article so easy to write. Lee had brought in the program and a pairing sheet from the 1988 United States Amateur contested on the Cascades Course and won by Eric Meeks. Also, a signed scorecard from Sam’s 80th Birthday Celebration and Golf Tournament in 1992. Plus the Summer 2002 issue of Virginia Golfer with Sam and “Golf Misses You Mr. Snead” on the cover. For me? You gotta be kidding. I do have pandering limits my friends and insisted Lee keep the signed 80th birthday magazine cover.

Speaking of the family feeling of the Homestead the first night I was there I walked over to Sam Snead’s Tavern which is part of the Omni operation but located just off property across the Main Street (Sam Snead Highway) in Hot Springs. It was late so I caught them at closing time. Knowing I was interested in the memorabilia a nice lady named Mimi  turned all the lights back on so I could take pictures, downstairs and upstairs. Turned out she is Keene’s sister. When Keene mentioned the possibility of meeting Sam’s son Samuel Jackson Snead Jr. a.k.a Jackie at the Tavern we made plans to meet there for dinner at 7 pm. Unfortunately I arrived a few minutes late and Jackie had left early for another engagement so I missed meeting him but dinner with Keene with Mimi behind the bar was tasty and fun. One missed opportunity out of a dozen direct hits, all the more reason to return to the Omni Homestead Resort on next year’s East Coast Golf Journey.

CLICK here for a VIDEO INTERVIEW with Lynn Swann, Director of Communications & Marketing

Enough of the golf, it is fabulous, you know that. I can tell you the resort experience is fabulous too! I love staying in historic places in historic rooms that are comfortable, functional and luxurious in a modern sense. My room was perfect and room service that first night was better than 90% of the restaurants I have been to in my life. The presidential suite in the East Wing that Lynn showed me was well the difference between me and a president. Speaking of presidents, twenty-two have visited the Homestead and their portraits line the walls of The Lobby Bar. I enjoyed the Breakfast Buffet in the Main Dining Room and it was overwhelmingly scrumptious!

In terms of luxurious resorts and historical golfing experiences, set amid nature at its finest, the Omni Homestead Resort is a must do for sure. Why not leap into 2016 and celebrate forever at the Omni Homestead Resort? I hope to be right there with you!

 

 

 

The High Hampton Inn & CC in Cashiers, North Carolina is a place for all the seasons of our lives—as families with children, young adults with a romantic inclination, singles who are adventurists with an outdoors and sport mindset, such as I, and couples returning with their adult children and grandchildren to celebrate life up in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I absolutely loved my visit as much for the people I met and the hikes I took, as for the golf and spa activities.

The moment I came on property, seeing the tall hedges and driving through a bit of the golf course, then arriving at what can only be called a large resort estate, I immediately felt at home and knew I was in for a unique, relaxing and fun stay. Though I walked up the front steps it felt as though I was skipping up them with teenage excitement. I noticed the National Register of Historic Places plaque mounted outside on the North American chestnut bark siding. Then I opened the door and voila, the lobby lodge said ‘hello, welcome and make yourself at home’ all in one gaze.

I was indeed home and personally welcomed by Mark Jones, a previous General Manager, now a local elected official and the High Hampton Historian. He grew up here and never wanted to leave the mountains or the resort where there are fifth-generation guests and third-generation everybody else. Mark tells the story like you were present years ago when Wade Hampton came upon the property in the early 19th century, when the McKee family took ownership and started hosting guests in 1922, and  how Will Jr. and his wife Becky have carried on and added to the traditions created by his grandfather E.L. McKee and father William Sr.

I like the story of how Will’s grandfather hired J. Victor East, a contemporary of the great Bobby Jones, to build a golf course. After 11 holes were completed, he presented a bill that exhausted the budget so E.L. stopped construction. East countered, stating there has never been an 11 hole golf course and E.L. responded saying that there is one now! The sand greens were converted to grass greens and an additional seven holes designed by famed architect George W. Cobb were added to complete the sporty, beautiful and fun-to-play golf course that is present today.

CLICK here for a Video Interview with Historian Mark Jones

Like any family, the people whether on staff or guests at the resort, are what fill our vacations with pleasure and interesting interactions. I was thrilled to meet Hap Chandler, who was born in 1921, and has been coming to High Hampton since age 14 in 1934 for the fried chicken on Sunday. He was enjoying the beautiful day with his lady friend Ms. Gaynor Screven of Birmingham, Alabama and his two daughters Laura and Barbara.  Hap and Gaynor make a loving couple and I don’t think I have met two nicer people in the whole world. Meet them for yourself in this interview:

CLICK here to meet 94-young Hap Chandler

CLICK here for Hap & Gaynor’s Love Story

If you want to feel young again and get in touch with yourself, friends, relatives or a lover, the High Hampton Inn is the place to go. It is just different, so you are different. There is no air conditioning, internet or electronic gadgets to discharge you so you get recharged. The climate outside and the climate inside are conducive to pure connection, entertainment and fun. Meals in the Main Inn are intimate, delicious and nourishing. Sportcoat attire with ties on Friday and Saturday nights make the dining experience an event as special as the cuisine itself.

I took a hike each day, the first was a little over four miles up to Rock Mountain, the second was a little over three miles up to Chimney Top. Both were spectacular and somewhat challenging to this aging, Florida flatland golfer but easily doable. Nature along the well-marked and maintained trails and the view from above were spectacular. There is something about hiking a trail for the first time and the feeling of wellness, even though a bit fatigued you don’t feel it, when you are standing atop a mountain and looking down from where you came from. There is no more beautiful country than the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina!

CLICK here for a Video Interview with General Manager Clifford Mears

GM Clifford Mears tells it like the High Hampton Inn delivers—simplicity, a place to get unplugged and reconnected with what is important in life—family, friends, nature and yourself. He’s right about the beauty, the safe environment for families and the fantastic choice of amenities. I went to the Hampton Health Club & Spa for a therapeutic deep tissue massage and pedicure. Both were awesome. They certainly fulfilled their promise to “deliver peace and relaxation in a sanctity of nature.”

Whatever the season, the High Hampton Inn in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains is a piece of heaven for sure. Why not come and experience life as it ought to be and can be for you, family and friends at the High Hampton Inn in Cashiers, North Carolina, only a few hours from Atlanta.

I am happy I did!

You can tell a golf resort by its golf courses. If there is only one, then it really isn’t a resort, rather more of a private estate for the owner to entertain her or his friends. When there are two then it is a golf resort for sure, but what kind? Are they mirror images of each other or stately and unique in their own right? At Mission Inn Resort & Club there are two golf courses—El Campeon and Los Colinas and there is no doubt that they are stately and unique in their own right!

El Campeon, a.k.a. The Champion, is the preserver of golf history in the Southeast United States. While not the oldest course in Florida it is old and dates back to 1917. This unusual Florida golf course with significant elevation changes captures the essence of the early years of golf design in America. The Los Colinas course, a.k.a. The Hills, is relatively new and brings into play all the latest modern design principles. Together, the historic and modern golf courses make Mission Inn, located in Howey-in-the Hills, the Orlando area’s top golf resort, if not in the entire state of Florida.

This was an exciting “stay and play” adventure for a number of reasons.  First of all, I have heard about the Mission Inn ever since I moved to Florida in 2008. The location, “Howey-in the Hills” always intrigued me as well—hills in flat Florida? Who-the-heck is Howey and why is he in the hills? Plus I was part of a large group of golfing buddies.

The trip was scheduled right after the annual PGA Merchandise Show at the Orange County Convention Center and the majority, if not all, of the media gathered at the Mission Inn Resort & Club were fellow Golf Travel Writers Association (GTWA) members. Mission Inn is so close to Orlando you could almost golf your way there. It was easy to close the PGA Show at 3 pm, drive to Mission Inn and check in, take a nap and join the Welcome Event in time for dinner at the Lakeside Pavilion with time to spare.

GTWA folks are special and I need them in my life so maybe I am a special needs person in life after all.  What they found at the “Granddaddy of All Golf Shows” and their stories about their finds were wonderful and beneficial to hear about. I am not saying I am the youngest member of GTWA but I probably am and who better to learn from than folks who have been going to a show for twenty or thirty years longer than you have? As long as I stayed away from their one-putt on-course golf betting scam (you know the one where they always just miss the green and get it up-and-down to take your money), I knew I would have a great time at Mission Inn.

George O’Neil, the famous Chicago golf professional and architect, was employed to design El Campeon at a time when golf resorts were just emerging In the United States. O’Neil was also a golf instructor and helped develop the skills of the great amateur golfer Chick Evans. Hiring O’Neil was a bold and provocative decision at the time and sent the message that nothing but the best is good enough at the Mission Inn Resort & Club. This message continues today nearly one hundred years later.

Los Colinas has a storied, yet shorter, design history. Gary Koch, the acclaimed amateur and professional golfer turned golf broadcaster and course designer created the original design in 1992. It was an instantaneous hit and was nominated as the “Best New Resort Course” by Golf Digest. Ron Garl, a prolific designer of golf courses in Florida and around the world updated the layout in 2007.

Like so many dual coursed resorts, El Campeon and Los Colinas are the perfect complement to each other and a purely passionate place to play golf.

Our GTWA gathering was like a corporate meeting or convention with the agenda, logistics and operation professionally orchestrated by Drew Toth (Director, Sales & Marketing) and Bud Beucher (Vice President/General manager). While celebrating 50 years of Beucher family ownership and creating a “Lifetime of Memories” it is easy to see why groups like the PJ Vanderwalle Golf Group came back year-after-year and were celebrating their 20th year anniversary at Mission Inn. Maybe you have an association of family members or folks in your company that could enjoy a ‘stay and play’ experience at the Mission Inn Resort & Club?

“Blessed by nature, touched by history,” I certainly agree. Family owned and operated, there is a strong sense of home when one visits.

Who is Howey? William J. Howey is the entrepreneur who purchased 60,000 acres, including the grounds of Mission Inn, to grow citrus fruits and ship Florida sunshine around the country. In 1917 it was he who hired O’Neil to build El Campeon and diversified his business. Nick Buecher, an adventurist, who rode horseback across Mexico after recuperating from broken leg suffered in a rodeo tumble bought the operation in 1964 and expanded to what it is today. Celebrating 50 years of family ownership is quite an accomplishment!

The question isn’t why Howey and Buecher were in the Hills, the question is why you are not? Whether a private or corporate endeavor, the place to endeavor is Mission Inn Resort & Club with its two golf courses, 176 hotel rooms, Lakeside Pavilion, fresh-water fishing, marina, full-service spa, Billiard Room, three restaurants and 30,000 square feet of group space for meetings, weddings and special events.

My GTWA buddies and I had a wonderful time at the Mission Inn Resort & Club. I even received a gift of homemade Ma Poole’s Chutney from John Dyson. Just in time for the Super Bowl party back in Ponte Vedra Beach, the chutney was as big a hit as our time at Mission Inn.

Modern and historic, with a strong sense of family, for personal or corporate events and outings, Mission Inn has it all to not only offer but to deliver. Check it out next time you are anywhere near Orlando and you won’t be disappointed in any way. In fact unless you are staying there for a week or more you won’t experience it all and will want to make a visit to the Mission Inn Resort & Club an annual affair.

Here are six more memories from a fantastic visit to the Mission Inn Resort & Club: