Where You Should Be Golfing AFTER LOCKDOWN -
Well, here we are! It’s 2020—meaning it's been 20 years since Y2K (and not 10 years, like us 30-somethings like to tell ourselves). And just three months into the new decade, so much has changed already. While we’re all home navigating the “new normal” that is COVID-19, we have lots of time to plan our wishful to-do lists and goals for when this period ends. So… who’s ready to plan a trip somewhere fun?!
We might not be travelling right now, no, but that doesn’t mean we won’t start travelling again soon. And if you’re an avid golfer, those trips can (and should) include a little golf! Read below for the three golf courses that are at the top of our bucket list—for very different reasons, we think they’re all a hole-in-one.
1.) STICKING WITH TRADITION : CARNEGIE LINKS, SCOTLAND
If you really want to feel like royalty, golf around a Scottish castle. Spread across nearly 7,000 yards of the Northern Highlands, right on the banks of the Dornoch Firth, Carnegie Links is an 18-hole championship golf course. Spend the morning trying to make a par five on the 14th hole, and retire to Skibo Castle for a three-course lunch, post-lunch drinks and an afternoon that makes you feel like an aristocrat in the early 20th-century UK. Bonus? If you’re a member, you don’t have to worry about tee times for this golf experience. But even if you’re not, you still can visit the pro shop and get your fill of Royal Albartross golf shoes and accessories.
Image credits: @CarnegieLinks/Twitter
2.) LIVING THE HIGH LIFE | CASTIGLION DEL BOSCO, ITALY
Alright, so not just anyone can play at Castiglion del Bosco. It’s an 800-year-old estate that doubles as Italy’s only private members club, has a winery onsite and puts a luxury golf course across miles of rolling Tuscan hills and valleys. At “CdB,” as its members like to call it, golfers shoot their shot across flowing ravines and streams, around towering cypress trees and into a vista that could easily be the set of a Nicholas Sparks movie. Or our summer 2019 photo campaign and Royal Albartross brand video.
3.) TAKING A RISK | LEAPORD CREEK, SOUTH AFRICA
Ready for a wild day on the course? Turn your golf game into an exotic travel adventure when you play the holes at Leopard Creek, an 18-hole, Gary Player-designed golf course in the heart of the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. Sitting just south of Kruger National Park, this golf course is a nature lover’s dream. (And not far from the hometown of our fearless Royal Albartross leader and founder, Alex Bartholomew!) A visit to this must-see destination means fully immersing yourself in Mother Nature, and we mean alllll of Mother Nature. While you’re trying to make that par five on the 13th hole, look around for crocodiles, pythons, leopards, hippos, elephants, antelope, buffalo and more. No, really… look for them. We don’t want you to have a run in with this guy.
Image Credits: GolfersGlobe AlfredDunhillChampionship
Words by: Jennifer Agress