While the clubhouse at many resorts and courses is often a good option for after-golf beers, sometimes it's just good to get away. In the Palm Springs/Palm Desert/La Quinta area, there are plenty of great venues with their own unique atmosphere, and many of them showcase plenty of local golf memorabilia.
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We know golfers love the golf courses at Torrey Pines, but it seems people also think very highly of the resort there. So much so that once again, according to Travel+Leisure magazine readers, The Lodge at Torrey Pines is the No. 1 resort in the San Diego area. All told, the San Diego area landed five properties on the list, up from three a year ago.
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Forget Torrey Pines as you know it. Or heard about it. Or watched it on TV. It no longer exists. At least not for the next six months.
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From the outside, the boxy, windowless, white stucco building at 5125 Lankersheim Blvd. looks more like a KGB office than the headquarters of KZ Golf, aka KZG. But don't let the exterior fool you. Inside these vanilla walls lie enough golf toys to make a golfer feel as excited as a kid at nearby Universal Studios.
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Rodeo Drive doesn't go out of its way to lure golfers - or anyone else. You can find just about any golf package imaginable on the Internet, but you won't find one involving Rodeo Drive. This no-need-to-push-it attitude makes a Rodeo Drive jaunt all the more enjoyable.
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Few golfers in the world are as spoiled with riches as those in Southern California. Infinite great weather combines with some of the world's top golf courses to give Southern California golfers the option to pull out their clubs any time of year. For visitors, Southern California is nearly an amusement park of activity. Beaches, great food, Hollywood, and, of course, amusement parks help make Southern California one of the U.S.'s most prominent vacation destinations.
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Frank still rules this town. If you need to know the last name, you obviously haven't been to Old Blue Eyes' favorite L.A. getaway. One of the most important streets still bears his name and his grave is one of the biggest tourist attractions around. Spend any time in the Palm Springs valley and it's easy to become convinced this golfing mecca is still immersed in 1950s and 1960s celebrity worship. Black and white photos of Bob Hope and various Rat Pack members dominate many hotel lobbies and golf course clubhouses.
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While Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego are the media darlings of Southern California, it's the Inland Empire that does the grunt work. Proudly proclaiming itself as "California's job creation leader for more than a decade," the Inland Empire boasts the nation's 13th-largest metropolitan market and has a diverse economy that is one of the largest and fastest growing in the nation in the United States. It's also home to some pretty good golf.
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The city of dreams allows for year-round golf at some of the best public courses in the world.
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This is where every golfer wants to be. I'm sitting on the stone wall outside the golf shop at Pebble Beach Golf Links and just about 15 yards from the first tee of what many call the world's greatest, most revered golf course.
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The golf part of a San Diego area golf vacation is pretty hard to mess up. With well-known big names along the lines of Torrey Pines and La Costa North and South, a host of great mid tier plays like Barona Creek and Maderas Country Club and a collection of semi-reasonably priced lesser-known courses such as Steele Canyon Golf Club and Riverwalk Golf Course, the formula for a good time on the links is pretty simple. Pick a course or two from each category and swing away into your future bored office day dreams.
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William Georgeson finds himself in a most coveted golf demographic. He's 62, nearing retirement and mulling a move from California to a more reasonably priced place to take the swings of his golden years
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The "Good shot, mate" rings out so loud and clear it can be heard two foursomes behind. But no one on the Greg Norman Course in the Palm Springs' offshoot resort community of La Quinta turns a head.
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"Sideways," the low-budget Fox Searchlight comedy that's a "Swingers" for the middle-aged audience, has grossed more than $50 million at the box office after its Oscar and Golden Globe nominations.
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The ball drops dead like it was shot out of the sky by a shotgun-toting pigeon hunter. Straight down into the deep grass with a plop. Forget any type of bounce or roll. It doesn't matter if you're hitting the latest in space-age, long-distance ball technology or a sleeve of Wal-Mart cheapies.
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Anyone who has ever driven the back roads of the Golden State discover something quickly - Interstate 5 might be a breeze, but get off on a scenic byway like Highway 49 and you better not be in a hurry.
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Drive for show, putt for dough. This golf proverb has probably been uttered at every golf course in the United States at one time or another. And it's true. Winners on the PGA Tour are not hitting 36 putts a round. They are rolling with the best that weekend, and their wins are a direct result. But the greens can also be torturous, for pros and amateurs alike. A good round can be squandered by a lipped-out two-footer. If one's stroke dives into embarrassment, his game is right behind it.
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With more than 100 golf courses now sprinkling the Coachella Valley from Palm Springs to Indio and environmentalists even buying land in an effort to preserve sensitive wilderness areas, developers are dreaming bigger in the California desert.
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