AROUND THE WORLD
Pilot Alex Frolish takes flight once more to offer a mouthwatering taste of the golfing highlights from his most recent globetrotting exploits
What sort of course occupies your golfing daydreams? Maybe it’s a walk down the closing fairway at a Major Championship venue, an evening round on a summer links or unearthing a hidden gem that none of your golfing friends have ever heard of (but they really should have)?
Golf travel is about the golf courses, about the planning and about the adventure of getting there. It has been a while since I last shared some of the finest golf courses I have played on my travels with you. As a commercial pilot, I find myself in many interesting spots, and I love discovering and visiting golf courses with character – golf courses that I will daydream about long after I have visited.
Featured in this article are eight such courses that I have played in recent times, spread across four continents and many time zones. What draws them all together is that these are places you are going to want to visit if you ever happen to be in the area. From Major Championshiphosting venues to metropolis-surrounded oases and secretive nine-hole loops among the forest, I hope I will have something for every golfing taste covered in the following pages.
Alcanada, Majorca, Spain
Located on the island of Majorca on a peninsula jutting out into the Balearic Sea, Alcanada boasts views from the clubhouse veranda and at many points on the course that could, on their own, largely define the experience here. However, that isn’t the case and the golf on offer is just as noteworthy as the mesmeric window dressing that the backdrops provide.
This is a multi-faceted test, where all parts of your game need to be firing to bring together a score. The opening stretch is the toughest, with holes 1 to 5 occupying the most penal ground. The views strike you from the 7th tee, and similar vistas are presented again at the 11th and 13th. The course is richer for these downhill tee shots overlooking the bay, with the 13th the pick of the bunch. The lighthouse featured in the club crest resides a few hundred yards beyond the green on this reachable par 5, where your camera should be at the ready to capture this picture-postcard spot.
Harding Park, California, USA
A course that has hosted a Major Championship always engenders an additional level of anticipation and intrigue. Set on lush and springy ground only a few miles from central San Francisco, Harding Park boasts tremendous undulating and expansive terrain, with the views of Lake Merced and beyond towards the ‘infamous’ Olympic Club really setting a Major Cha
