ell, we here at Kingdom have sucked in our guts and taken a long look in the mirror (not bad!) and decided that “someday” is on the calendar for 2023. So push your other resolutions out of the way, buy yourself some new golf shoes and whatever else you need to stay motivated, and say it with us: “Before the ball drops on 2024, I will play one of the following courses.” And if you ever feel like faltering, just remember: we believe in you.
Robert Trent Jones Jr.’s first-ever solo design effort, sited on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, is one of those courses that seems almost too good to be true. It’s the kind of place you play and want to join, but then you remember that, incredibly, it’s a public course. Named Top 3 Best Courses You Can Play in Hawaii by GolfWeek, Top 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses in America by Golf Digest, and awarded plenty of other top designations by other media, this immacculate track has six oceanfront holes, views worthy of a Hollywood epic, and an adjacent new hotel set to open this winter: 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay, which will replace the former St. Regis Princeville Resort. With great dining nearby and endless waves on offer, playing here is a resolution that shouldn’t be hard to keep.
Yeah, OK, we get it: it’s hardly original to have Pebble Beach on a list like this. Thing is, if you’re a certain type of golfer, you know you’re going to have to play Pebble Beach eventually, so why not make it 2023? We say get it done in the first half of the year, maybe in March, for example. There’ll be a bit of fog through early summer (“June gloom” as Californians call it) but prices are down, availability is up and you’ve a better chance of having some space to soak up the experience. And honestly, it is an amazing experience, as this is one of those rare places that lives up to the hype.
It’s not every day that one can play golf on a course that birthed a legend, and yet it’s possible at Latrobe Country Club in Latrobe, PA, not far from Pittsburgh. Famous as the course on which Arnold Palmer was raised, worked, grew up under the watchful eye of his tough father, Deacon, and—critically—on which Palmer learned and honed his golf game, Latrobe CC still looks much as it did when a young Arnie was mowing greens and working the till in the pro shop. On some level, just being here is a spiritual golf experience, one that’s well worth having.
You’ve seen it on TV and talked about it over drinks with friends, “Oh Bethpage Black, absolutely, what a course!” and so on. But maybe you’ve never actually played it. Plenty of people haven’t because it’s tough, it’s kind of close to Manhattan but doesn’t seem extraordinarily convenient from the comfort of a downtown hotel, and its popularity—and stories of extended waits to play—are legendary. Still, the major-hosting public course designed by A.W. Tillinghast is one of America’s best. If you’re nearby, you might almost consider it a patriotic duty.
We wouldn’t call it a “bucket list” course exactly, but the Himalayas has escaped some of our staff so far, and it’s high time a few of us played it. One of the storied nines at Princes in Kent, recently upgraded by Mackenzie & Ebert, it offers a walk along the beach from the 5th green to the 6th tee, a green shared by the 4th and 8th holes, a par-3 7th that takes a short iron with a northeastly breeze—or driver if the wind is southwest—and stunning views of Pegwell Bay all over. Add to that the charm of medieval town Sandwich, and this tactical beauty is on our 2023 shortlist.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Volutpat lectus leo in eu sagittis
Follow Us On
