College Football Coaches Tee It Up at Reynolds Plantation

You won't see any good golf there, but you'll see a great destination golf course; Reynolds Plantation. Golf Vacation Insider describes tomorrow's event featuring college football coaches. Should be fun to watch, http://twurl.nl/6vmpc6.

My year of getting published: Win a Copy of Organic Explorer New Zealand...#links#links#links#links

One of the most beautiful places on earth, even though it is home to Frank Nobilo (Golf Channel commentator and former PGA Tour golfer (and actually very good at both).
My year of getting published: Win a Copy of Organic Explorer New Zealand...

More than No. 2 at Pinehurst

Pinehurst No. 2. It's where Payne Stewart won the Open in 2000 in dramatic fashion, and site of so many other great moments. It's one of those courses, like Augusta National, St. Andrews, and Pebble Beach, that all golfers have on their list of "Top Places to Play Before I Die." Deservedly so, but there's so much more to Pinehurst, six more courses, to be exact.

Pinehurst No. 1 was built in 1898 and, despite it's just over 6,000 yard layout, is challenging. No place for anything but a straight drive, Donald Ross has made sure of it.

Pinehurst No. 2 and No. 4 hosted portions of the 2008 U.S. Amateur. There's also the Jack Nicklaus-designed Pinehurst National that deserves recognition.

If it's your first trip to Pinehurst, you certainly want to play No. 1. As one of golf's "pilgrimage destinations," my goal is to keep returning to Ol' Caroline until I've finished them all.

Sharing Travel Experiences

Potentially the best way to find out if you will like a place you've never been is to hear what others say, see their pictures, vicarously explore the places they went. None of that was possible a few years ago, at least it wasn't easy to find.

The Travelpod blog makes it easy to do all those things and more. If you're wondering what the new golf course near Hilton Head is like, chances are a Travelpod user has been there.

Avoid Spending the Holidays in an Airport

Here's a great article on how to avoid increasingly ubiquitous airport hassles. Tip: Take a deep breath and remember the reasons it takes so long to get through busy security checks. Airline problems, themselves, are another story.

"How to Avoid the New Holiday Airport Hassles
Traveling home for the holidays just wouldn't be the same without crowded airports, delayed flights and long waits in the terminal. This year, the annual purgatory that travelers experience will be even more profound..."

Read the full Smart Money article here

Hotels.com's "Visualiser"

Popular hotel booking site Hotels.com has introduced the Visualizer. Where a few pictures and some text would have been the old way to research a hotel, golf course or vacation spot, Visualizer is a Travel 2.0 concept. Provide some information about preferences, travel companinions (kids, adults, number, etc), activities, etc., and visual collage is presented.

Pretty neat, but does it replace the often boring methods of online vacation research? You decide. Take a look.

Specialists in British Isles Golf Travel

As much as I write about golf, here and elsewhere, I always enjoy discovering something new about the game.

Recently, I came across a travel agency specializing in golf travel to the British Isles (Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales). In business as Pioneer Golf for over a decade, and with decades more experience beyond that, they are set apart from other golf travel agencies by their in-depth knowledge of their chosen destination specialization.

Pioneer Golf is located in Austin, Texas, but their roots begin in Scotland. Founder and President, Peter Hazelton, was born in Scotland, as was his son, Mark, who is the company's vice president. Few other travel agencies have as much first-hand experience with the destinations to which they send their customers.

Pioneer specializes in the British Isles, but they are also experienced in catering to groups of four to twenty people or more. Their website assists golfers by providing maps of the Isles and a comprehensive listing of courses. A simple mouseover will reveal each course's location and a click will display a course description. With the features offered on the website, you can have your itenerary planned before you even speak with them. That way, Pioneer can concentrate on the things that will make your trip special.

Right now, golfers can book guaranteed tee-times at the Old Course, Muirfield and other popular and historic courses. Also, a golf trip to Scotland in 2009 is about 15% less expensive than in 2008. A strengthening dollar is also making a golf pilgrimage more affordable than at any time in recent years.