Golf Courses
Hooked on Golf Blog 2016 Awards – Best Golf Course: Cruden Bay, Scotland
Written by: Tony Korologos | Thursday, December 29th, 2016
Categories: Golf • Golf Course Architecture • Golf Courses • Golf For Women • HOG World Tour • Product of the Year
Tags: Cruden Bay • French Lick • Golf Travel • Morocco • Pete Dye • Scotland
Categories: Golf • Golf Course Architecture • Golf Courses • Golf For Women • HOG World Tour • Product of the Year
Tags: Cruden Bay • French Lick • Golf Travel • Morocco • Pete Dye • Scotland
Each year my hard work on this golf blog provides me with the opportunity to visit many great golf courses all around the world. 2016 was a tremendous year for playing courses which I had not previously played, from the USA to Scotland to Morocco. To qualify for the Best Golf Course Award for the year, the course has to be one I had not played previously. I narrowed the finalists down to a eight stellar courses played this year:
Donald Ross Course at French Lick Resort, Indiana
Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort, Indiana
Panmure Golf Links in Carnoustie, Scotland
Royal Aberdeen Golf Club, Scotland
Cruden Bay Golf Links in Cruden Bay, Scotland
Mazagan Golf Club at Mazagan Resort, Morocco
Royal Palm Golf Club in Marrakech, Morocco
Journey at Pechanga in Temecula, California
Those are some fantastic courses to say the least, in some fabulous locations. As great as they all are, one course stood out and not by just a wee bit either. Scotland’s Cruden Bay left me absolutely stunned. Here are a few picturesque reasons why.
Cruden Bay – ©2016 by Tony Korologos
The dunes above. What a view. Absolutely stunning.
How about the view below, from the 9th tee. It was a hell of a walk from the 8th green up to this point and despite nearly having a heart attack, the view was well worth it!
The golf at Cruden Bay is stellar. But it has a fun and very quirky personaly as well. Just ring the bell or push the button on the electric post to let the group behind you know it is okay to hit their approach shot.
And because I want to see another money shot, here you go below. This one from late in the day as the sun was setting and the shadows began to really accentuate the terrain.
In the photo above you can see a plateau in the background. That’s where the shots I mentioned from the 9th tee were.
Conclusion
I’m in love. Cruden Bay is one of the top courses I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing.
Awarding Cruden Bay the 2016 Best Golf Course Award was a no-brainer, and it was up against Golf Digest Top 100 USA courses on my list. I will be back as soon as possible. What a fantastic course, design, location and the town of Cruden Bay is quite fun as well.
HOG World Tour Visits Morocco’s Assoufid Golf Club
Written by: Tony Korologos | Wednesday, November 30th, 2016
Categories: Golf • Golf Course Architecture • Golf Courses • Golf For Women • Golf Lifestyle • HOG World Tour • Travel
Tags: Golf Travel • Morocco • Morocco Golf • Travel
Categories: Golf • Golf Course Architecture • Golf Courses • Golf For Women • Golf Lifestyle • HOG World Tour • Travel
Tags: Golf Travel • Morocco • Morocco Golf • Travel
The fourth and final golf course on the HOG World Tour trip to Morocco was the #1 course in Morocco (World Golf Awards), Assoufid Golf Club. Assoufid is a desert style course with some great elevation changes and creative architecture.
Target golf, anyone?
Assoufid is located a short drive southwest of Marrakesh, a city of about 1.5 million (map below).
Assoufid Golf Club, Morocco
If you’ve played golf in Palm Springs, you’ll feel at home at Assoufid. There are distinct takeoff and landing areas, with desert between. Holes are lined with palm trees and olive trees.
Unfortunately our group’s round there was rained out, hard. We got as far as the approach shot on the 10th hole when it was too heavy to plod on. Sorry to my Scottish friends about that.
I even left my golf ball in the fairway on #10. I need to go back and find it soon.
Stay tuned for a full review of Assoufid, and more posts on Morocco.
Video Highlights: Mazagan Golf Club in Morocco
Written by: Tony Korologos | Monday, November 28th, 2016
Categories: Golf • Golf Course Architecture • Golf Courses • Golf For Women • Golf Videos • HOG World Tour • Life
Tags: Morocco • Morocco Golf
Categories: Golf • Golf Course Architecture • Golf Courses • Golf For Women • Golf Videos • HOG World Tour • Life
Tags: Morocco • Morocco Golf
A couple of posts ago I mentioned the HOG World Tour stop to Mazagan Golf Club in Morocco, a Gary Player design right on the shoreline. Beautiful. Below are some video highlights.
HOG World Tour Visits Morocco’s Royal Palm Golf Club in Marrakech
Written by: Tony Korologos | Sunday, November 27th, 2016
Categories: Golf • Golf Course Architecture • Golf Courses • Golf For Women • HOG World Tour
Tags: Morocco • Morocco Golf
Categories: Golf • Golf Course Architecture • Golf Courses • Golf For Women • HOG World Tour
Tags: Morocco • Morocco Golf
Golf course three of four on the HOG World Tour to Morocco last week was the tremendously fun Royal Palm Golf Club in Marrakech (see map below for location). Royal Palm is architecturally different than Mazagan Golf Club and Royal Golf Dar Es Salam.
This course is more of what I would have expected in Morocco, a desert course. It has some light “target” style aspects to it, like courses in Arizona, Nevada, and southern Utah.
Some courses beat you up or lack in interesting holes and movement. Not here. This course was very “fun” to play.
HOG World Tour Visits Morocco’s Mazagan Golf Club
Written by: Tony Korologos | Friday, November 25th, 2016
Categories: Golf • Golf Course Architecture • Golf Courses • Golf For Women • HOG World Tour • Travel
Tags: Gary Player • Mazagan Beach and Golf Club • Morocco • Morocco Golf • Travel
Categories: Golf • Golf Course Architecture • Golf Courses • Golf For Women • HOG World Tour • Travel
Tags: Gary Player • Mazagan Beach and Golf Club • Morocco • Morocco Golf • Travel
The 2nd course on the Hooked on Golf Blog World Tour visit to Morocco was Mazagan Golf Club, located in El Jadida, Morocco. Mazagan is a Gary Player design, located right on the shore. Huge breakers hit the shoreline from the Atlantic Ocean. What a great location.
Mazagan Golf is located a short drive southwest from Casablanca, Morocco. The course is part of the Mazagan Beach and Golf Resort.
Much of the course is right on the shoreline. The views are equally as spectacular as the golf!
I will be posting a review of Mazagan Golf soon as well as posting some photos and commentary about the resort, which is very nice.
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