Owned and operated by the Sycuan Tribal Development Corporation, Sycuan Resort includes more than 425 acres of lush, picturesque mountain terrain, and offers guests two spectacular 18-hole championship courses, a challenging and fun 18 hole par-3 course, generous practice facilities with top professional instruction, 100 course side guest rooms, fine dining, the Primrose Spa, and 11 lighted tournament tennis courts.

Consistently rated among the best golf courses in San Diego County Sycuan Resort is a unique combination of a true resort experience and exciting casino action just five minutes away, excellent golf and tennis, comfortable guest rooms, great entertainment, and a choice of delicious eating options. The courses are open to the public and they also offer valued membership options for you and your family. Sycuan’s signature is their first class service, and their professional staff is always on hand to cater to your every wish.

All of this is only minutes away from Downtown San Diego!

To Book Your Next Stay at Sycuan Resort, Call Showtime Golf Today at 760-471-6023 or email us at team@showtimegolf.com.

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Continually recognized as one of the best public golf facilities in the Coachella Valley, Cimarron is proud to offer you a choice of playing an impeccable 18-hole championship length course, or an equally stunning 18-hole executive length course. After your round, relax and enjoy a meal in our beautiful full service restaurant or a casual drink on the patio while taking in some of the most breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains anywhere in town. We invite you to experience Cimarron and find out why more people are calling this resort home.

Use our free golf service NOW to book your golf reservations at Cimarron Golf Resort online in real-time!

Use our FREE golf service NOW to book your golf reservation at Cimarron Golf Resort online in real-time! Simply enter ‘Cim25‘ when reserving tee times online and Showtime Golf will deduct $25 off your next 4-some!

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Pebble Beach is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful courses in the world. It hugs the rugged coastline and has wide open views of the ocean. In 2001 it became the first public course (i.e. open to the general public for play) to be selected as the No.1 Golf Course in America by Golf Digest. Greens fees are among the highest in the world, at $495 (plus $25 cart fee for non-resort guests) per round in 2008.

History
The course was designed by Jack Neville and Douglas Grant and opened on February 22, 1919. It was Neville’s only design. His object was, of course, to place as many of the holes as possible along the rocky and beautiful Monterey coast line. This was accomplished using a “figure 8″ layout.

Tournaments
The first professional tournament at Pebble Beach was the Monterey Peninsula Open in 1926, which had a $5,000 purse. Harry “Lighthorse” Cooper of Texas won with a 72-hole score of 293 (+5). In 1929, Pebble hosted its first major - the U.S. Amateur. Then a match-play event, it was won by Harrison R. Johnston of Minnesota.

Beginning in 1947, Pebble Beach began to be one of the host courses for the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am tournament, sometimes known as the “Clam Bake”, and now known as the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. The tournament is annually played every winter, and is an unusual 4-round tournament. The Sunday round is played at Pebble Beach; the first 3 rounds of pro-am play are contested in round-robin format at Spyglass Hill Golf Course, Poppy Hills Golf Course, and Pebble Beach. In September, the course also hosts the Champions Tour Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach with the Del Monte Golf Course.

Pebble Beach Golf Links has hosted the U.S. Open four times and has an exceptionally distinguished set of Open Champions including Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Tom Kite, and Tiger Woods. It is scheduled to host the U.S. Open again in 2010, and was also the venue of the 1977 PGA Championship, which was won by Lanny Wadkins.

Many other high profile championships have been staged on the course including several U.S. Amateur Championships.

Layout and Signature Holes
In laying out the course, Jack Neville attempted to bring as many holes to the rocky coastline as possible. The first two holes are inland, the third runs toward the ocean, and the fourth and fifth holes run along the coast. This arrangement allowed Neville to make use of a peninsula which juts straight out into the Pacific Ocean, allowing the construction of what, today, are two of the most breathtaking and strategically interesting holes in golf, the par 3 7th and the par 4 8th (see below).

The lower “loop” of the figure 8 layout is formed by holes 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, which brings much of the inward nine inland. Unlike virtually all modern courses, Pebble’s 9th and 10th holes do not therefore return to the clubhouse. Holes 14 and 15 are among the most inland on the course, but the 16th hole runs alongside the 3rd hole to complete the figure 8 and bring the dramatic closing holes along the Pacific Coast. These include the long par 3 17th, whose place in golf history was assured when Jack Nicklaus (1972) and Tom Watson (1982) made key shots there to win U.S. Opens.

It is impossible to name a “signature hole” at Pebble Beach Golf Links, but the most obvious candidate would 8. Notable holes include the short par 3 7th, which plays to just over 100 yards even during major championships, is one of the most photographed holes in the world. From an elevated tee, players hit straight out toward the Pacific Ocean, with nothing in the background but the often violent Pacific Ocean surf crashing against rocky outcroppings. The disorienting background, elevated tee, small landing area, and often brisk ocean winds make the tee shot a mental and physical challenge.

The long par 4 8th runs alongside the 6th hole leaving the peninsula and heading back toward the coastline. A dogleg right, the ocean is a constant companion along the entire right side of the hole. The landing area is extremely generous in width, but a long straight drive could leave the fairway and enter an inlet of the sea. Because the landing area is elevated on a cliff above the green, players have a good view of the small landing target a mid to long iron away. Jack Nicklaus has called this his favorite approach shot in all of golf.

The long par 3 17th is situated on a smaller peninsula to the west of the one that holds the 6-8th holes. Although there is an ocean view and the sea runs along the left side, the primary challenge of the 17th is its length (playing 180-210 yards during championships) and its unusual shaped green. The green is long and thin, tilted about 45 degrees from the angle of the golfer on the tee. Depending upon pin position and wind, a golfer may use a great variety of clubs for the tee shot and, although the green is large in area, the landing area for any approach is relatively small. A large sand trap guards the front and left.

The long par 5 18th is a medium length par 5 (over 550 yards) with Pacific Ocean all along the left. Ironically, what may be the greatest closing hole in golf was originally an unremarkable par 4. In 1922, William Herbert Fowler added almost 200 yards to the hole. This unique hole also features a tree in the middle of the fairway and a long 100+ yard bunker running along the ocean from the green, guarding the left side.

In addition to the lengthening of the 18th, the other most significant change in the course’s layout came in 1998. Early in the course’s history, a parcel of land along the ocean was sold off, forcing the 5th to run inland to where the tee of 6 now stands. As early as a year after that parcel was sold, the course tried to buy back the land but was unsuccessful until 1995. Jack Nicklaus designed a new, breathtaking par 3 on that land. Although it forces a long walk from the 5th green to the 6th tee, the course finally uses as much ocean real estate as possible, which was Neville’s original vision.

Scorecard
Hole 1 Par 4 376 Yards 344 Meters
Hole 2 Par 5 502 Yards 459 Meters
Hole 3 Par 4 374 Yards 342 Meters
Hole 4 Par 4 327 Yards 299 Meters
Hole 5 Par 3 187 Yards 170 Meters
Hole 6 Par 5 500 Yards 457 Meters
Hole 7 Par 3 106 Yards 97 Meters
Hole 8 Par 4 416 Yards 380 Meters
Hole 9 Par 4 462 Yards 422 Meters
Hole 10 Par 4 430 Yards 393 Meters
Hole 11 Par 4 373 Yards 341 Meters
Hole 12 Par 3 201 Yards 183 Meters
Hole 13 Par 4 393 Yards 359 Meters
Hole 14 Par 5 572 Yards 523 Meters
Hole 15 Par 4 396 Yards 362 Meters
Hole 16 Par 4 401 Yards 366 Meters
Hole 17 Par 3 178 Yards 162 Meters
Hole 18 Par 5 543 Yards 496 Meters

U.S. Open Championships at Pebble Beach Golf Links
Pebble Beach has hosted the U.S. Open four times. It last hosted the U.S. Open in 2000 and is scheduled to do so again in 2010.

1972
The first U.S. Open was held there in 1972 and was won by Jack Nicklaus, who captured his 13th major title (of an eventual 18). It was a historically important win, as Nicklaus tied Bobby Jones with 13 major titles (if Jones’ major titles are viewed as his U.S. Open, British Open, U.S. Amateur, and British Amateur titles).

Nicklaus secured the victory with one of the most famous golf shots of all time. Nicklaus came to Pebble’s treacherous 17th hole facing deteriorating weather and a brisk wind. He struck a dead perfect 1-iron that struck the flagstick and dropped next to the cup for a tap in birdie.

Nicklaus had previously won The Masters Tournament that year, making him the first golfer since Arnold Palmer in 1960 to win golf’s first two major titles of the season. Nicklaus would finish 2nd at the Open Championship, ending his Grand Slam run.

1982
Nicklaus was also a key player in the 1982 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Like in 1972, the tournament’s 71st hole would also see one of the most memorable golf shots of all time. Nicklaus would shoot five straight birdies on the back nine and charge into the clubhouse with a share of the lead. Future Hall Of Fame golfer Tom Watson hit his tee shot on 17 into the rough which had been grown very thick as per USGA Open playing conditions. Watson’s chip was made all the more difficult because he was above the hole. He would have to strike the chip vigorously to get the clubhead through the rough, but such as aggressive attack would almost surely leave a long comeback putt for par. Indeed, in a live interview, Nicklaus appeared to be confident that when Watson left 17, he would be in the lead.

Watson was apparently equally confident that he would maintain the lead. When he and his caddy were discussing the chip, Watson said, “Close, hell, I’m going to make it.” The chip bounded down the green, struck the pin, and landed in the cup. Watson bounded after it jubilantly. He would go on to birdie the tricky 18th hole for a two shot win.

1992
The 1992 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach was one of the most difficult tournaments ever played at Pebble Beach. Only two players would finish the tournament under par: champion Tom Kite at -3, and runner up Jeff Sluman at -1. Kite was consistently one of the best golfers in the 1980s and had had 19 top tens in majors prior to 1992. Perhaps the best player not to win a major in his era, he finally won his lone major in 1992 at Pebble Beach.

2000
Perhaps looking for a special place to host the 2000 U.S. Open, the USGA bumped Pebble Beach up a couple of years in the rotation to host the final U.S. Open of the millennium. In some respects the Open was even tougher than the 1992 contest with only one player finishing under par - champion Tiger Woods. But Woods owned Pebble Beach Golf Links that year, going 65-69-71-67 to tie a U.S. Open record with 272, and set a U.S. Open record by finishing 12 under par. His -12 was a full 15 shots better than the runners-up, the largest margin of victory ever recorded in a major championship.

Just the 3rd major of Woods’ career, it was the start of his “Tiger Slam” - he would win the following three majors for 4 in a row.

Summary
2000 Tiger Woods - United States
1992 Tom Kite - United States
1982 Tom Watson - United States
1972 Jack Nicklaus - United States

Controversy over further golf course development
There has been continuing controversy between golfing interests and environmental protection, related to a proposed new golf course development by the Pebble Beach Company. The new golf course proposal has existed in some form since the early 1990s, while the environmental protection issues center on the potential damage to rare and endangered species in this locale. On June 14, 2007, the plan was submitted again. Commissioner Sara Wan called it “wholesale destruction of the environment,” and Measure A was denied in an 8 to 4 vote. Opposition to the plan was spearheaded by Mark Massara, a surfer and attorney who heads the Sierra Club’s coastal program.

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Like beautiful birds, women flock together. Whether on vacation, on shopping expeditions or relaxing at spas, women like to get spend time with their friends, having fun and escaping their busy, often over-scheduled lives. Female golfers, in particular, are indulging in “girls’ golf getaways”.

According to the National Golf Foundation, the number of occasional female golfers–women who play between one and seven times a year–has jumped from 2.6 million in 1997 to 4.3 million. Add to this the Sorenstam/Wie factors, and the popularity of the sport translates into a boom in golf trips.

An editor at Travel Agent magazine, Joe Pike said, “Vacations with girlfriends or female relatives are a significant trend. Women are increasingly taking active vacations together and more luxurious vacations than in years past. Travel agents say these getaways are not merely weekend retreats, rather they are between four and seven days long.”

A favorite golf vacation destination is the Coachella Valley in the Southern California desert, where sunny weather 350 days of the year and 115 golf courses make this a golfers mecca. Resorts and spas in Palm Springs and the other glimmering resort cities in the valley–Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, Desert Hot Springs, La Quinta, Indio and Cathedral City–attract snow birds from November through April, when average high temperatures are 79 to 87 degrees.

Women are attracted to the desert resorts by the stay-and-play packages, and by female-friendly golf courses that offer gender-specific golf clinics and multi-day schools. Of course, they save time for shopping in the boutiques lining the palm-lined boulevards, and for pampering at spas. More than forty full-service spas are found here in the birthplace of American hot springs resorts. “Taking the waters” and relaxing together with body and beauty treatments are part of the fun for tuckered golfers.

Janice Littlefield and her friends came out from Austin, Texas to the Palm Springs area this summer. “Anywhere from two to six of us try to get away two or three times a year for golfing and wine tasting. This time we flew into Ontario and stopped at some wineries in Temecula before heading to Palm Springs where we played every day at different courses. The two Marriott’s Desert Springs courses are definitely favorites, with great water features and picturesque holes. They are also very player friendly with different tees for all levels of golfers. The staff was also wonderful; this is definitely a place we will revisit.

“We played Eagle Falls, which has a great staff and a beautiful new course in Indio. And, we also played Desert Willow in Palm Desert and Trilogy in La Quinta, which had $1 beer day, so that was fabulous! All of these courses have GPS on the golf carts, which we really like because it is so convenient not to have to figure out the yardage. The Coachella Valley is a great place for golf anytime, and especially in the off season as you have the courses to yourself and the fees are reasonable.”

Female-Friendly
Uniquely upscale for a city-owned, public-access club, Desert Willow Golf Resort is the host course for the Desert Chapter of the Executive Women’s Golf Association, a group that plays here weekly. A dazzling amethyst and amber-colored, blown-glass chandelier by sculptor Dale Chihuly and spectacular views of the Santa Rosa Mountains greet players as they enter the 33,000-square-foot clubhouse. Among girl-friendly amenities here are showers, hair dryers and amenities in the ladies locker room, and five sets of tees on the golf courses, making them playable for golfers of all abilities. In fact, Golf for Women magazine chose Desert Willow as one of the Top 50 Courses for Women in 2007.

The Firecliff Course here is a challenging “target” style layout with 110 sandy bunkers fringed with palms and barrel cacti, while the wide fairways and few forced carries on the Mountain View Course provide an easier round for the higher handicapper and the beginning player. November through mid-June, the Palm Desert Golf Academy at Desert Willow offers affordable twice-daily swing clinics; and Sunday afternoon clinics are for women only, led by female instructors.

During the annual American Express-sponsored “Women’s Golf Week” in June at Desert Willow, women get free lessons and clinics, rules and etiquette seminars; networking receptions and parties, golf apparel shows and lots of time on the fairways. Among the Coachella Valley courses participating in the annual event are Trilogy Golf Club at La Quinta and the Faldo Golf Institute at Shadow Ridge Golf Club in Palm Desert.

Marriott’s Shadow Ridge Resort is a good choice for longer golf getaways. One- and two-bedroom, two-bath, condominium-style villas have master suites with living and dining areas, sofabeds and fully equipped kitchens. The soaking tubs and the balconies overlooking the Nick Faldo-designed golf course are welcome retreats after golf. At $199 a night for two, “Fabulous Faldo” packages include accommodations and a round of golf with lunch; or accommodations, unlimited twilight golf and sleeves of golf balls.

Visitors who haven’t been to Desert Springs JW Marriott Resort and Spa in Palm Desert lately will not recognize the newly spiffed-up entrance and the hip, urban-contemporary style atrium lobby. Visitors and resort guests descend from the lobby to the gondola dock from where they cruise a labyrinth of canals winding through a tropical setting. The resort is comprised of nearly 900 rooms and suites, twenty tennis courts, five swimming pools, several restaurants and shops, and two Ted Robinson-designed golf courses, the Palm and The Valley.

Reopened in July after an expansion to 38,000 square feet, the spa at Desert Springs caters to small groups of women, offering a private “spa within the spa” with its own lounge, treatment rooms and showers, giving girls getaway parties complete privacy for après-golf Cryotherapy Sports massages, Desert Glow self-tanners and other signature treatments. Window-wrapped saunas overlook the fairways.

Thousands of trees, mostly palms, and lush landscaping decorate the lakes, ponds and waterfalls on the golf courses. On the 18th hole of the Valley Course, five giant bunkers guard the narrow fairway leading to a bougainvillea-draped lake inhabited by pink flamingoes; waterfalls drop on both sides of the three-tiered green backed by a platoon of palms, a scene reminiscent of a 1940s Busby Berkeley movie set.

Each morning, the resort conducts short-game and full-swing clinics; when booking ahead, players can request an LPGA-certified instructor. Putting practice is fun on “The Greens”, a fanciful, 350-yard, 18-hole pitching and putting course with rolling fairways, doglegs upon doglegs, nasty bits of beautifully landscaped rough and plenty of water.

“Girls Getaway” and “Putt and Pamper” packages are reasons to check in at Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa, a sprawling vacation retreat celebrating its 30th anniversary in Rancho Mirage. Six meandering lakes and more than a thousand palms line the Rancho Las Palmas fairways on 27 holes of golf. Women who love tennis as much as golf love this place for the 25-court Peter Burwash International Tennis Center, one of the largest tennis complexes in the West.

French doors open onto private patios and lush gardens from the 444 guest rooms, which have recently been renovated and redecorated by new owners, KSL Resorts, a company famous for such luxury properties as La Costa Resort and the Hotel Del Coronado. KSL is investing $35 million in a revitalization that includes the upgraded guest rooms, the hot new R Bar, the Splash Bar and Grill, and soon to come, a signature fine dining restaurant, a family swimming pool with a “lazy river” and water slides, and a new fitness center.

Rancho Las Palmas is conveniently located across the street from the delightful, park-like shopping and entertainment center, The River, where live music in the amphitheater entertains strolling shoppers and al fresco diners in the evenings.

Where the Pros Play
Golf lovers will gather in the Coachella Valley in October to watch the top twenty female players in the world compete for a million dollar purse at the Samsung World Championship at Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert. And in April of 2008, the annual LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship at Westin Mission Hills Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage will be one of the premiere events on the LPGA circuit.

A frequent player on the Gary Player- and Pete Dye-designed tracks at Mission Hills, Barbara Hopp owns an online travel company, FridayTravelBug.com. She said, “My girlfriends and I fly down here from Santa Rosa at least once a year. When we can, we get here for the LPGA event to watch the pros, and to play there after the tournament. One of our other favorites is Indian Canyons Golf Resort in Palm Springs, which now has a nice new clubhouse. The hundreds of old palm trees on this course and the setting against the mountains is just gorgeous.

“Indian Canyons is owned by the local tribe of Agua Caliente Indians, who also own the the Spa Resort Casino in downtown Palm Springs. We always end our golf trips there with a sort of ritual in the spa. After taking our time in the steam room and the two saunas, we soak in the private, sunken whirlpool tubs that are fed by hot springs from below the hotel, then we dip into the outdoor mineral pools and have lunch on our lounge chairs.”

-Based in Sonoma in the California Wine Country, Karen Misuraca is the Founder/Editor of www.BestGolfResortsofTheWorld.com and author of The 100 Best Golf Resorts of the World, Learn more at www.KarenMisuraca.com.

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Doubletree Golf Resort San Diego

Location - San Diego

Details - The Doubletree Golf Resort is a first class resort nestled in the lush rolling hills, 23 minutes from downtown San Diego and is 23 miles from San Diego International Airport. This breathtaking property is a golf lover’s paradise……

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Rancho Bernardo Inn San Diego - A Golf and Spa Resort Location - San Diego Details - Golf and Spa Resort is poised on a 297 acre country estate in the Rancho Bernardo suburb of San Diego, Calif. The Bernardo Winery, San Diego’s oldest operating vineyard, offers wine tasting within two miles of the resort……. More Details

San Vicente Golf Resort Location - Ramona Details -  With a mountainous backdrop and open grasslands, the San Vicente Golf Resort is part of an association that manages an equestrian center, a golf course and.. More Details

Raintrees Cimarron Golf Resort Location - Cathedral City Details - It is the ultimate golf destination in the beautiful desert of Cathedral City. Our luxury suites are surrounded by the majestic and rugged beauty of the desert with a spectacular view of the San Jacinto Mountains……. More Details

Califronia’s Best Golf Hotels Details -Search 100’s of Hotels in California….. More Details

Hoteliers & Golf Resorts Post your golf travel specials here for FREE. READ MORE

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Massive overhanging trees line the fairways of the two Robert Trent Jones, Jr. layouts, built in the 1960s. Surrounded by vineyards and wooded hills, and watered by ponds, lakes and three creeks, the courses have good bones, having hosted many PGA Tour and PGA Champions Tour events. A new grounds maintenance program and a $4 upgrade has raised course conditions to near-perfect, creating a stiff challenge, especially on the greens. Tees were leveled, bunkers restored and fairways re-sodded, among other improvements. Club member and U.S. Open winner, Johnny Miller, who lives in the neighborhood, said, “(The courses) …are so popular because they are traditional, natural designs, not tricked up with railroad ties and funny bunkers, and the place is run like a gracious, old-style resort.”

Brand new are a beautiful new clubhouse and pro shop, and The Grill at Silverado, a sophisticated restaurant serving three meals and a bar menu, indoors or alfresco, overlooking the golf course.

The 6,896-yard North Course is wide, with very little water and acres of sand. Greens are big, flat, slanted and can be as slick as plate glass (73 rating 134 slope).

Ducks and birds inhabit the creeks and ponds that cross or border eleven holes of the South Course. Greens are elevated, large, super-fast and softly tiered, the architect’s trademark. The great arms of the Valley oaks loom over the edges of wide, seriously undulating fairways; sidehill lies are the order of the day. A 500-yard, par-five dogleg obstructed by towering pines, the 18th ends in a picturesque garden setting below the verandah of the mansion, on a green guarded by yawning bunkers. Arnold Palmer thrilled Senior Tour crowds in 1993 when he eagled the eighteenth on the first and final rounds; and David Duval nearly gave his father, Bob Duval, heart failure when he appeared, as a surprise, as his dad’s caddie on the first tee at the 1999 tournament.

281 one- and two-bedroom suites cluster in low-rise buildings around intimate garden courtyards with swimming pools; and have equipped kitchens, living/dining rooms, wood-burning fireplaces, and private balconies or patios. Lovely vacation homes and condos are also available.

Clinics and lessons for adults and juniors are scheduled at the largest tennis complex in Northern California, comprising 17 state-of-the art plexi-pave courts; three are lighted.

One of the largest, newest and most commodious spas in a valley known for spa resorts, the Spa at Silverado has enough attendants for an army of sybarites. A signature treatment, Tui-Na is an ancient Chinese concoction of vigorous massage, acupressure and stretching. Popular with non-golfers, the “Golf Widow” is a luxurious package of nearly four hours of massage, facial, manicure and pedicure. The Golf Massage combines stretching, deep tissue and Swedish massage, cross-fiber manipulation and other techniques focused on the golfer’s most-used muscles.

Couples at the spa are pampered together in a two-story, skylight-lit private pavilion with a fireplace, while sunseekers loll in the whirlpool in the men’s or women’s private patios, on the terrace around the 25-meter lap pool. Light meals can be enjoyed by the fireplace in the tiny cafe, or beneath a vine-covered arbor in the spa gardens.

Old oak trees, gardens and a glimpse of the North Course comprise the view from the Royal Oak, where Wine Country cuisine, and meats, poultry and sustainable seafood sourced locally are on the menu; prime beef, double-cut lamb chops and fresh fish are grilled over hardwood charcoal–and as to be expected, the wine list is legendary. The Royal Oak and the lobby and main lounge recently received a major facelift, incorporating a more contemporary, sophisticated style.

Exclusive to the resort, the Napa Valley Experience includes two nights in a junior suite, dinner and wines, daily breakfast, spa treatments, entrance to COPIA; a VIP tasting and picnic at V. Sattui Winery; tasting at William Hill Estates; and concierge assistance: $1090 to $1390 per couple.

A 1.5 hour drive from San Francisco and Oakland International Airports, Silverado is about an hour from Sacramento International Airport. Private aircraft land at Napa Airport, fifteen minutes away.

And, there is all that wine. The concierge will arrange tours at some of over 240 wineries and offer advice on where to find the top art galleries, boutiques and restaurants in the historic villages of Yountville, Calistoga and St. Helena. Popular activities are ascensions in hot air balloons, visits to the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone and to COPIA, the cultural center for wine, food and the arts.

-Based in Sonoma in the California Wine Country, Karen Misuraca is the Founder/Editor of www.BestGolfResortsofTheWorld.com and author of The 100 Best Golf Resorts of the World, Learn more at www.KarenMisuraca.com.

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In the glamorous Hollywood heyday of the 1920s and 1930s, Errol Flynn, Ginger Rogers and their movie star cohorts routinely made the 100-mile trek over the mountains to Palm Springs in unairconditioned cars to relax at the tiny, Spanish-style La Quinta Hotel. They basked in dry, warm air and played on the nine-hole golf course, the first in the valley, for the green fee of a dollar.

Today, over a hundred years and 120 golf courses later, take a look down as you fly into the Coachella Valley, where celebrities and “snowbirds” still flock south for sunny days of golf, tennis, and lazing around more than 30,000 swimming pools. Greens fees are higher by a hundred-fold or more, and beneath a perpetually unclouded blue sky, golf is surreal in its perfection. Desert weather is best during the high of season of November through April; temperatures are in the 70s and 80s, January through March.

The valley is home to the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, Diners Club Matches, PGA Grand Slam and the PGA Skins Game among other competitions. LPGA pros compete in the Samsung World Championship at Bighorn Golf Club; along with PGA players at the Merrill Lynch Skins Game at Trilogy at La Quinta, and at the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club, an event that fills the valley with golf fans. (The 1995 Bob Hope Pro-Am at Indian Wells Country Club was one for the history books, when three presidents—Bush, Ford and Clinton—teamed up with then 92-year-old Bob Hope, Palm Springs’ most beloved permanent resident. The First Players’ scores: Clinton 95, Bush 93, Ford 103.)

The Golf Oasis of La Quinta
KSL Properties owns and operates PGA West and the legendary La Quinta Resort and Club, today a sprawling, low-rise complex in lush tropical gardens below the jagged ridges of the Santa Rosa Mountains. The original twenty casitas at La Quinta are now nearly 800 guest rooms, suites and villas in a complex that includes 23 tennis courts, 42 swimming pools (yes, it’s true), 52 whirlpools, and seven restaurants. The look is of old California: adobe walls, red tile roofs, palms, fruit trees, garden or mountain views, and wood-burning fireplaces (some units have fireplaces in both bedroom and bath and private patios with whirlpools). Oceans of magenta bougainvillea cascade over the walls of private patios, and you can pick oranges and lemons every month of the year. Seclusion, the spa experience and golf remain the order of the day (http://www.laquintaresort.com).

California cuisine is on the menu in the historic Azur dining room, and at the Adobe Grill, it’s authentic Mexican food; bistro cuisine at Twenty 6; and Spanish-style afternoon tea in the art- and antique-filled lobby.

The $5 million Spa La Quinta is a true retreat, with courtyard fountains, vivid talavera tile decoration and deep archways. A sign of welcome, red pepper ristras—braided strings of bright peppers—hang on every door. Many treatment rooms have patios with close-up views of the sheer, rock-faced mountains. The spa has 40 treatment rooms, most with mountain views; inhalation rooms, steam, a full-service salon and a charming outdoor relaxation garden with a fireplace and a cooling mist system. Open to the sky are the Celestial Showers, desert versions of invigorating traditional Swiss showers.

Also at the spa is the new Cosgrove WellMax Clinic, where you can get diagnostic services and preventive body and skin treatments, from MRI to colonoscopy, CT scans and personal evaluations (http://www.wellmax.com).

No other resort property in the West offers 90 holes of truly world-class golf, including the Mountain and Dunes resort courses, and three PGA West courses, the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course, the Greg Norman Course, and the notoriously scary Stadium Golf Course; plus, a Jim McLean Golf School.

Lots of mounding and sharp angled edges on the fairways characterize the Nicklaus Course, along with his signature well-protected greens. A Scottish links layout, the Dunes rolls like a stormy green sea across the desert floor, scattered with large bunkers and abundant water on eight holes. Rimmed by a treacherous lake along the entire left side and copious sand traps at the curve of a dogleg, with a severely sloping green, the par-four 17th was rated by the PGA as one of the toughest holes in the United States.

Rivers of stone, prickly shrubs and native grasses stream across the Mountain course. On the 6th hole, rocky foothills descend to the edge of the fairway and the two-level green, which is ferociously guarded by sand and grass bunkers. A deep ravine and a wilderness of desert border the 14th fairway, leading an elevated green menaced by yet another ravine and waves of sand. On the 16th, you get turf on the tee and the green, and 167 yards of rocks between.

Pete Dye intended the PGA West Stadium Course to be “the hardest damn golf course in the world” and many PGA Tour players believe it, considering his eighty-two monster bunkers—one is twenty feet deep—and water hazards as too difficult. 200-yard forced carries, lots of water, and Dye’s dicey bunkering, and of course, railroad ties, contribute to the 75.9 rating and 150 slope. From the back tees, it’s 7,261 yards; fortunately for mere mortals, there are five tees, shortening the length to 5,087 yards.

Renovation in 2005 made the Greg Norman Course at PGA West more playable, widening fairways and removing some ball-eating vegetation. This is a stunning track, colorful with native grasses, riots of wildflowers, and indigenous mesquite, paloverde and acacia trees in a spectacular, rugged low desert setting surrounded by mountains. You will not see here the palm trees and exotic water features typical of Coachella Valley courses. Distinguishing the design are 122 “Great White Shark” bunkers filled with brilliant white crushed marble sand. Replacing traditional grass rough is tan-colored decomposed granite—tough on the golf clubs and requiring a deft touch to pluck the ball off the crunchy surface. Five sets of tees make it playable for everyone. You can walk the course—a privilege usually unavailable in the valley, or hire a caddie. In the new stone and copper, Australian-style clubhouse, golfers take a breather and take a chance with the signature cocktail, the “Sharkarita”.

Presidents Play Indian Wells
In a stunning setting against the Santa Rosa Mountains, the Golf Resort at Indian Wells has for nearly 20 years been famous for Ted Robinson’s East and West courses, the sites of countless PGA and Senior PGA tournaments (http://www.golfresortatindianwells.com). A complete renovation of the courses is taking place, to the tune of $45 million. Former European PGA Tour, Clive Clark, has updated, rerouted and lengthened the West course, now named the Celebrity Course, adding gorgeous lakes, streams and waterfalls on nearly every hole. And, John Fought is working on the East track, to be reopened in late 2007. Add to this a new Callaway Performance Center and the resort’s renowned teaching academy, and expanded practice venues. A massive new clubhouse is underway, too, to be completed at the end of 2007.

Tee times at Indian Wells are not easy to obtain during the high winter season. Your best bet is to book a golf package at the adjacent mega-resorts, the Renaissance Esmeralda or the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort.

White columns and archways, and garden courtyards with fountains and rushing streams are luxuriant with rose gardens and citrus trees at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort and Spa. Guest rooms and suites have with private terraces, and some have sunken sitting rooms with mountain views. Separate villas each have a Jacuzzi spa and a private courtyard. For a resort complex with over three hundred rooms, this Hyatt is surprisingly serene, with cool, pale Carrara marble floors and numerous leafy nooks and crannies where guests can hide away. A parade of tall palms flutter in the desert breezes over four outdoor swimming pools, and those inclined to hit the fuzzy ball head for twelve grass, clay and hard surface tennis courts (http://www.grandchampions.hyatt.com). Staying On:

A good choice for a longer stay is Marriott’s Shadow Ridge Resort (a Marriott Vacation Club Resort), a condo-style property with one- and two-bedroom, two-bath villas with master suites, soaking tubs, living and dining areas, fireplaces, and full kitchens. Hotel-type guest rooms are also available. http://marriott.com

The new Shadow Ridge golf course is Nick Faldo’s only West Coast design. Said to be inspired by the “sand belt” tracks of Australia, notably, Kingston Heath and Royal Melbourne, it features high native grass rough, pot bunkers, sandy waste areas and pronounced doglegs on ten holes. A new Faldo Golf Institute is located at the resort, too.

Water Everywhere at the Marriott
If you haven’t been to the Desert Springs JW Marriott Resort and Spa in Palm Desert lately, you won’t recognize the spiffed up entrance and atrium lobby (http://www.desertspringsresort.com). Stone columns frame a dramatic fire cauldron and waterfalls, introducing the theme of the resorts, which is water, water, everywhere. In an exotic hanging garden setting, complete with running streams and chattering birds, and a huge saltwater aquarium, the eight-story atrium lobby at the 4-star Marriott overlooks a large lake and a gondola dock, from which visitors and guests set off to cruise a labyrinth of canals. Spread out in tropical oasis-like grounds are nearly 900 rooms and suites, including 900 square-foot and 3,150 square-foot hospitality suites.

Windows, skylights and glass doors in the spa open to the views of the Santa Rosa Mountain range, creating a wide-open-spaces effect. Recently expanded, the spa now offers suites with showers, fireplaces, and outdoor whirlpools; a VIP suite with a butler, and private treatment courtyards. With saunas, steam, hamman steam, a colossal fitness center, a yoga studio and a full-service salon, you’ve got one of the largest and most multi-faceted spas in the West. The new spa cafe has a nice view of a swimming pool and the mountains. You may want to stay all day, enjoying the adults-only spa swimming pool, hot and cold plunge pools, and private, clothing-optional sun decks. With iced spritzer water bottles to cool your body, and iced compresses to refresh and protect your eyes while in the lounge position, “taking the waters” takes on entirely new meaning.

Ted Robinson has struck again at the Marriott, liberally watering his Palm and Valley golf courses with lakes, ponds and falls, and adding 5000 trees—mostly palms—for good measure. On the 3rd hole of the 6,381-yard Palm, which wraps completely around the hotel, it’s waterfalls to your left, islands in a stream on your right, a line-up of palms and a giant bunker backing the deep green. Gondolas full of resort guests cruise around the four finishing holes of the Valley course. The 160-yard 17th tees off above cascading falls over a pool where a flock of pink flamingos pose, to a small island green encircled with palms; the palm barrier comes in handy when ball seems destined for a watery demise. Back across the footbridge go the players, to be greeted on the 18th by five giant bunkers on each side of a narrow fairway, hitting dizzily down to a landscaped lake inhabited by pink flamingoes and the inevitable waterfalls that guard two sides of a three-tiered green backed by a platoon of palms, a scene reminiscent of a 1940s Busby Berkeley movie set.

“The Greens” is a fanciful Ted Robinson creation, a 350-yard, 18-hole pitching and putting course with rolling fairways, doglegs upon doglegs, nasty bits of beautifully landscaped rough and—you guessed it—plenty of water.

Tennis players head for 15 hard surface, 3 clay and 2 grass tennis courts, while families and lounge lizards retire to three swimming pools and a bevy of whirlpools. You can rent an electric bike, play basketball and shop in 17 boutique shops. Starbucks has a unique café here with a picturesque outdoor seating patio warmed at night by fire pits. Dine in a half dozen restaurants, listen to live calypso music in the bar (no shirt, no shoes, no problem), and dance until almost dawn to dance bands and DJs in the nightclub.

Dye and Player at the Westin
In Rancho Mirage, the Westin Mission Hills Resort and Spa is a tile-roofed, North African-look complex whose garden terraces are graced by water channels, fountains and pools, with views of the San Jacinto Mountains and the Pete Dye resort course (http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin). The patios and balconies from the more than 500 rooms and suites are perfect vantage points from which to watch pink and golden dawns streak across the mountains. At sunset, the sun drops behind the ridges, turning them into a serrated black wall against a fading curtain of sky. At the heart of the resort, the Las Brisas pool was built to mimic the nearby Indian Canyons with a 60-foot, S-curve water slide that spills into a lagoon-style pool surrounded by explosions of bougainvillea, bird of paradise and hibiscus flowers.

Managed by the excellent Troon Golf company, the golf courses at Mission Hills are among the top rated in the Palm Springs area. In true Dye fashion, railroad ties are ubiquitous on the Pete Dye Resort Course, along with long lakes, waterfalls, rolling fairways and deep pot bunkers; elevated tees and obscure pin placements, and hundreds of trees—olive, eucalyptus and California pepper trees, date palms and fan palms.

The Gary Player Signature Course reflects the natural contours and flora of desert arroyos, with boulder-strewn lakes, waterscapes, falls and craggy rock formations, and wide, sloped fairways rimmed with high berms. The golfer’s task is to brave the 7,062-yard length of the course and the seasonal winds.

Practice facilities are expansive, with a driving ranges, putting greens, and chipping bunkers at both courses. You can book lessons at the Westin Golf Academy here and the 3- and 5-day Troon Golf School.

-Based in Sonoma in the California Wine Country, Karen Misuraca is the Founder/Editor of www.BestGolfResortsofTheWorld.com and author of The 100 Best Golf Resorts of the World, Learn more at www.KarenMisuraca.com.

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Woods has won 13 professional major golf championships, the second-most of any male player, and 63 PGA Tour events, the fourth-most of all time. He has more career major wins and career PGA Tour wins than any other active golfer. He is the youngest player to achieve the Career Grand Slam, and the youngest and fastest to win 50 tournaments on Tour. Woods has held the number one position in the world rankings for the most consecutive weeks and for the greatest total number of weeks. He has been awarded PGA Player of the Year a record nine times, the Byron Nelson Award for lowest adjusted scoring average a record eight times, and has tied Jack Nicklaus’s record of leading the money list in eight different seasons. He has been named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year four times, a record he shares with Lance Armstrong.

Woods, who is multiracial, is credited with prompting a major surge of interest in the game of golf. Woods doubled attendance and TV ratings, and generated interest among a multicultural audience in a game that used to be considered insular and elitist.

Background and family
Eldrick “Tiger” Woods was born on December 30, 1975 in Cypress, California to Earl (1932-2006) and Kultida Woods (from Thailand). He is the only child of their marriage but has two half-brothers, Earl Jr. (born 1955) and Kevin (born 1957), and one half-sister, Royce (born 1958) from the 18-year marriage of Earl Woods and his first wife, Barbara Woods Gray. Earl, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and Vietnam War veteran was of mixed African American (50 percent), Chinese (25 percent) and Native American (25 percent) ancestry. Kultida (nee Punsawad), originally from Thailand, is of mixed Thai (50 percent), Chinese (25 percent), and Dutch (25 percent) ancestry. This makes Woods himself one-quarter Chinese, one quarter Thai, one quarter African American, one-eighth Native American, and one-eighth Dutch. He refers to his ethnic make-up as “Cablinasian” (a portmanteau term he coined from Caucasian, Black, American-Indian, and Asian). Woods is a Buddhist. He has said that his faith was acquired from his mother and that it helps control both his stubbornness and impatience.

Tiger got his nickname from a Vietnamese soldier friend of his father, Vuong Dang Phong, to whom his father had also given the Tiger nickname. Woods became generally known by that name and by the time he had achieved national prominence in junior and amateur golf was simply known as “Tiger Woods.” On his twenty-first birthday, Woods legally changed his name from Eldrick to Tiger. He grew up in Orange County, attending high school at Western High in Anaheim.

Marriage
In November 2003, Woods became engaged to Elin Nordegren, a Swedish model. They were introduced during The Open Championship in 2001 by Swedish golf star Jesper Parnevik, who had employed her as a nanny. They married on October 5, 2004 at the Sandy Lane resort on the Caribbean island of Barbados and live at Isleworth, a community in Windermere, a suburb of Orlando, Florida. They also have homes in Jackson, Wyoming, California, and Sweden. In January 2006, Woods and his wife purchased a US$39 million residential property in Jupiter Island, Florida, which they intend to make their primary residence. Woods’ Jupiter Island neighbors will include fellow golfers Gary Player, Greg Norman and Nick Price, as well as singers Celine Dion and Alan Jackson. In 2007, a guest house on the Jupiter Island estate was destroyed in a fire caused by lightning.

Early in the morning of June 18, 2007, Elin gave birth to the couple’s first child, a daughter, Sam Alexis Woods, in Orlando, Florida. The birth occurred just one day after Woods finished tied for second in the 2007 U.S. Open. Tiger chose to name his daughter Sam because his late father said that Tiger looked more like a Sam.

Career

Early life and amateur career

Woods was a child prodigy who began to play golf at the age of two. In 1978, he putted against comedian Bob Hope in a television appearance on The Mike Douglas Show. At age three, Woods shot a 48 over nine holes at the Navy Golf Club in Cypress, California, and at age five, he appeared in Golf Digest and on ABC’s That’s Incredible. In 1984 at the age of eight he won the 9–10 boys’ event, the youngest age group available, at the Junior World Golf Championships. Woods went on to win the Junior World Championships six times, including four consecutive wins from 1988 to 1991. While attending Western High School in Anaheim, CA, at the age of 15, he became the youngest ever U.S. Junior Amateur Champion, was voted Southern California Amateur Player of the Year for the second consecutive year, and Golf Digest Junior Amateur Player of the Year 1991. He successfully defended his title at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, becoming the first multiple winner, competed in his first PGA Tour event, the Nissan Los Angeles Open and was named Golf Digest Amateur Player of the Year, Golf World Player of the Year and Golfweek National Amateur of the Year in 1992.

The following year, he won his third consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, and remains the event’s youngest-ever and only multiple winner. In 1994, Woods became the youngest ever winner of the U.S. Amateur Championship. He was a member of the American team at the 1994 Eisenhower Trophy World Amateur Golf Team Championships and 1995 Walker Cup. Later that year, he enrolled at Stanford University, and won his first collegiate event, the William Tucker Invitational. He declared a major in Economics and was nicknamed “Urkel” by his college teammates. In 1995, Woods defended his U.S. Amateur title, and was voted Pac-10 Player of the Year, NCAA First Team All-American, and Stanford’s Male Freshman of the Year (an award that encompasses all sports). He participated in his first PGA Tour major, The Masters, and tied for 41st as the only amateur to make the cut. At age 20 in 1996, Woods became the first golfer to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles and won the NCAA individual golf championship. In winning the Silver Medal as leading amateur at The Open Championship, Woods tied the record for an amateur aggregate score of 281. He left college after two years and turned professional.

Professional career

1996-98: Early years and first major win
With the announcement, “Hello World,” Tiger Woods became a professional golfer in August 1996, and signed endorsement deals worth $40 million from Nike and $20 million from Titleist. He played his first round of professional golf at the Greater Milwaukee Open, tying for 60th place, but went on to win two events in the next three months to qualify for the Tour Championship. For his efforts, Woods was named Sports Illustrated’s 1996 Sportsman of the Year and PGA Rookie of the Year. He began his tradition of wearing a red shirt during the final round of tournaments, a link to his college days at Stanford and a color he believes symbolizes aggression and assertiveness.

The following April, Woods won his first golf major, The Masters, by a record margin of 12 strokes, becoming the youngest Masters winner and the first winner of African-American or Asian-American descent. He set a total of 20 Masters records and tied 6 others. He won another three PGA Tour events that year, and on June 15, 1997, in only his 42nd week as a professional, rose to number one in the Official World Golf Rankings, the fastest ever ascent to world No. 1. He was named PGA Player of the Year, the first golfer to win the award the year following his rookie season.

While expectations for Woods were high, Woods’ form faded in the second half of 1997, and in 1998 he only won one PGA Tour event. Woods answered critics of his “slump” and what seemed to be wavering form by maintaining he was undergoing extensive swing changes with his coach, Butch Harmon, and was hoping to do better in the future.

1999-2002: Domination and the Tiger Slam
In June 1999, Woods won the Memorial Tournament, a victory that marked the beginning of one of the greatest sustained periods of dominance in the history of men’s golf. He completed his 1999 campaign by winning his last four starts, including the PGA Championship, and finished the season with eight wins — a feat not achieved in the past 25 years. He was voted PGA Tour Player of the Year and Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for the second time in three years.

Woods rang in the new millennium with his fifth consecutive victory and began a record-setting season, where he would win three consecutive majors, 9 PGA Tour events, and set or tie 27 Tour records. He went on to capture his sixth consecutive victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am with a comeback for the ages. Trailing by seven strokes with seven holes to play, Woods finished eagle-birdie-par-birdie for a 64 and a two-stroke victory. His six consecutive wins were the most since Hogan in 1948 and only five behind Byron Nelson’s record of 11 in a row. In the 2000 U.S. Open, Woods broke or tied a total of nine U.S. Open records with his 15-shot win, including Old Tom Morris’s record for the largest victory margin ever in a major championship, which had stood since 1862, and became the Tour’s all-time career money leader. He led by a record 10 strokes going into the final round, and Sports Illustrated called it “the greatest performance in golf history.” In the 2000 Open Championship at St Andrews, which he won by eight strokes, Woods set the record for lowest score to par (−19) in any major tournament, and he holds at least a share of that record in all four major championships. At 24 he became the youngest golfer to achieve the Career Grand Slam. His major championship streak was seriously threatened at the 2000 PGA Championship, however, when Bob May went head-to-head with Woods on Sunday at Valhalla Golf Club. Woods played the last 12 holes of regulation seven under par, and won a three-hole playoff with a birdie on the first hole and pars on the next two. He joined Ben Hogan (1953) as the only other player to win three professional majors in one season. Three weeks later, Woods won his third straight start on Tour at the Bell Canadian Open, becoming only the second man after Lee Trevino in 1971 to win the Triple Crown of Golf (U.S., British, and Canadian Opens) in one year. Of the twenty events he entered in 2000, he finished in the top three 14 times. His adjusted scoring average of 67.79 and his actual scoring average of 68.17 were the lowest in PGA Tour history, besting his own record of 68.43 in 1999 and Byron Nelson’s average of 68.33 in 1945, respectively. He was named the 2000 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. Woods was ranked as the twelfth best golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine just four years after he turned professional.

The following season, Woods continued dominating. His 2001 Masters win marked the only time within the era of the modern “grand slam” that any player has been the holder of all four major championship titles at the same time, a feat now known as the “Tiger Slam”. It is not viewed as a true Grand Slam, however, because it was not achieved in a calendar year. Surprisingly, Woods was not a factor in the three remaining majors of the year, but finished with the most PGA Tour wins in the season, with five. In 2002, Woods started off strong, joining Nick Faldo (1989-90) and Jack Nicklaus (1965-66) as the only men to have won back-to-back Masters. Two months later, Woods was the only player under par at the U.S. Open, and resurrected buzz about the calendar Grand Slam, which had eluded him in 2000. All eyes were on Woods at the Open Championship, but his third round score of 81 ended Grand Slam hopes. At the PGA Woods nearly repeated his 2000 feat of winning three majors in one year but bogeys at the 13th and 14th holes in the final round cost him the championship by one stroke. Nonetheless, he took home the money title, Vardon Trophy, and Player of the Year honors for the fourth year in a row.

2003-04: The rebuilding phase
The next phase of Woods’ career saw him remain among the top competitors on the tour, but lose his dominating edge. He did not win a major in 2003 or 2004, falling to second in the PGA Tour money list in 2003 and fourth in 2004. In September 2004, Woods’ record streak of 264 consecutive weeks as the world’s top-ranked golfer came to an end at the Deutsche Bank Championship, when Vijay Singh won and overtook Woods in the Official World Golf Rankings. Many commentators were puzzled by Woods’ “slump,” offering explanations that ranged from Woods’ rift with swing coach Butch Harmon to his marriage. At the same time, Woods let it be known that he was again working on changes to his swing, this time in hopes of reducing the wear and tear on his surgically-repaired left knee, which was subjected to severe stress in the 1998–2003 version of his swing. Again, Woods anticipated that once the adjustments were complete, he would return to his previous form.

2005-present: Resurgence
In the 2005 PGA Tour season, Woods quickly returned to his winning ways. He won the Buick Invitational in January and in March he outplayed Phil Mickelson to win the Ford Championship at Doral and temporarily return to the Official World Golf Rankings number one position (Singh displaced him once again two weeks later). In April Woods finally broke his “drought” in the majors by winning the 2005 Masters in a playoff (after holing a historic chip on the 16th hole), which regained him the number one spot in the World Rankings. Singh and Woods swapped the number 1 position several times over the next couple of months, but by early July, Woods had established an advantage, propelled further by a victory in The Open Championship, a win that gave him his 10th major. Woods went on to win six official money events on the PGA Tour in 2005, topping the money list for the sixth time in his career. Woods’ 2005 wins also included two at the World Golf Championships.

For Woods, the year 2006 was markedly different from 2005. While he began just as dominantly (winning the first two tournaments he entered on the year) and was in the hunt for his fifth Masters championship in April, Woods never mounted a Sunday charge to defend his title, allowing Phil Mickelson to claim the green jacket. Shortly thereafter (May 3, 2006), Woods’ father/mentor/inspiration, Earl, died after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer. Woods took a nine-week-long hiatus from the PGA Tour to be with his family. When he returned for the 2006 U.S. Open, the rust was evident — he missed the cut at Winged Foot, the first time he had missed the cut at a major as a professional, and ended his record-tying streak of 39 consecutive cuts made at majors. A tie for second at the Western Open just three weeks later showed him poised to defend his Open crown at Hoylake.

At the Open Championship, Woods staged a tour de force in course management, putting, and accuracy with irons. Using almost exclusively long irons off the tee (he hit driver only one time the entire week — the 16th hole of the first round), Woods missed just four fairways all week (hitting the fairway 92 percent of the time), and his score of −18 to par (three eagles, 19 birdies, 43 pars, and seven bogeys) was just one off of his major championship record −19, set at St Andrews in 2000. The victory was an emotional one for Woods, who dedicated his play to his father’s memory. Four weeks later, at the PGA Championship, Woods again won in dominating fashion — making only three bogeys, tying the record for fewest in a major. He finished the tournament at 18-under-par equaling the to-par record in the PGA that he shares with Bob May. In August 2006 he won his 50th professional tournament at the Buick Open, and at 30 years and 7 months old, he became the youngest to do so. He ended the year by winning six consecutive PGA Tour events, and won the 3 most prestigious awards given by the PGA Tour (Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Byron Nelson Awards) in the same year for a record seventh time. At the close of his first eleven seasons, Tiger’s 54 wins and 12 major wins had eclipsed the all time eleven-season PGA Tour total win record of 51 (set by Byron Nelson) and total majors record of 11 (set by Jack Nicklaus). He was named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for a record-tying fourth time.

Woods and tennis star Roger Federer, who share a major sponsor, have developed a friendship and first met at the 2006 U.S. Open tennis final. Since then, they have attended each other’s events and have voiced their mutual appreciation for each other’s talents.

Woods began 2007 with a two-stroke victory at the Buick Invitational for his third straight win at the event and his seventh consecutive win on the PGA Tour. The victory marked the fifth time he has won his first tournament of the season. With this win, he became the third man (after Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead) to win at least five times in three different events on the PGA Tour (his two other events are the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and WGC-CA Championship). Woods earned his second victory of the year at the WGC-CA Championship for his third consecutive and sixth win overall at the event. With this victory, he became the first player to have three consecutive victories in five different events. At the 2007 Masters Tournament, Woods was in the final group on the last day of a major for the thirteenth time in his career, but unlike the previous twelve occasions, he was unable to win. He finished tied for second two strokes behind winner Zach Johnson. Woods earned his third victory of the season by two strokes at the Wachovia Championship, the 24th different PGA Tour tournament Woods has won. He has collected at least three wins in a season nine times in his 12-year career. At the U.S. Open, Tiger was in the final group for the fourth consecutive major championship, but began the day two strokes back and finished tied for second once again. His dubious streak of never having come from behind to win on the final day of a major continued.

In search of a record-tying third consecutive Open Championship, Woods fell out of contention with a second round 75, and never mounted a charge over the weekend. Although his putting was solid (he sank a 90-footer in the first round), his iron play held him back. “I wasn’t hitting the ball as close as I needed to all week,” Woods said, after he finished tied for twelfth, five strokes off the pace. In early August, Woods won his record 14th World Golf Championships event at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational by 8 strokes for his third consecutive and sixth victory overall at the event. He became the first golfer to win the same event three straight times on two different occasions (1999-2001) and (2005-2007). The following week, Woods won his 2nd straight PGA Championship by defeating Woody Austin by two strokes. He became the first golfer to win the PGA Championship in back-to-back seasons on two different occasions: 1999-2000 and 2006-2007. He became the second golfer, after Sam Snead, to have won at least five events on the PGA Tour in eight different seasons. Woods earned his 60th PGA Tour victory at the BMW Championship by shooting a course record 63 in the final round to win by two strokes. He sank a 50-foot putt in the final round and missed only two fairways on the weekend. He led the field in most birdies for the tournament, and ranked in the top five in driving accuracy, driving distance, putts per round, putts per green, and greens in regulation. Woods finished his 2007 season with a runaway victory at the Tour Championship to capture his fourth title in his last five starts of the year. He became the only two-time winner of the event, and the champion of the inaugural FedEx Cup. In his 16 starts on Tour in 2007, Woods’ adjusted scoring average was 67.79, matching his own record set in 2000. His substantial leads over the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th players were similar in 2000 (1.46 (Mickelson), 1.52 (Els), 1.66 (Duval)) and 2007 (1.50 (Els), 1.51 (Rose), 1.60 (Stricker)).

Woods started the 2008 season with an eight stroke victory at the Buick Invitational. The win marked his 62nd PGA Tour victory, tying him with Arnold Palmer for fourth on the all time list. This marked his sixth victory at the event, the sixth time he has begun the PGA Tour season with a victory, and his third PGA Tour win in a row. The following week, Woods was trailing by four strokes going into the final round of the Dubai Desert Classic, but made six birdies on the back nine for a dramatic one-stroke victory. It marked his fourth straight official win, and his second win at the event. Woods took home his 15th WGC event at the Accenture Match Play Championship with a record-breaking 8 & 7 victory in the final. It was his fourth straight PGA Tour win, and fifth straight worldwide.

Playing style
When Woods first joined the professional tour in 1996, his long drives had a large impact on the world of golf.] However, when he did not upgrade his equipment in the following years (insisting upon the use of True Temper Dynamic Gold steel-shafted clubs and smaller steel clubheads that promoted accuracy over distance), many opponents caught up to him. Phil Mickelson even made a joke in 2003 about Woods’ using “inferior equipment” (meaning outdated technology), which did not sit well with either Nike or Woods. During 2004, Woods finally upgraded his driver technology to a larger clubhead and graphite shaft, which coupled with his prodigious clubhead speed made him one of the Tour’s lengthier players off the tee once again.

Despite his power advantage, Woods has always focused on developing an excellent all-around game. Although in recent years he has typically been near the bottom of the Tour rankings in driving accuracy, his iron play is generally as accurate as any player ever to play (including Jack Nicklaus), his recovery and bunker play is very strong, and his putting (especially under pressure) is possibly his greatest asset. He is largely responsible for a shift to higher standards of athleticism amongst professional golfers, and is known for putting in more hours of practice than most.

Early in his professional career, Woods worked almost exclusively with leading swing coach Butch Harmon, with whom he started in 1993, but since March 2004, he has been coached by Hank Haney. In June 2004, Woods was involved in a media spat with Harmon, who works as a golf broadcaster, when Harmon suggested that he was in “denial” about the problems in his game, but they publicly patched up their differences.

While he is considered one of the most charismatic figures in golf’s history, Woods’ approach is, at its core, cautious. He aims for consistency. Although he is better than any other Tour player when he is in top form, his dominance comes not from regularly posting extremely low rounds, but instead from avoiding bad rounds. Woods plays fewer tournaments than most professionals (15–21 per year, compared to the typical 25–30), and focuses his efforts on preparing for (and peaking at) the Majors and the most prestigious of the other tournaments. Woods’ manner off of the course is cautious as well, as he carries himself in interviews and public appearances with a carefully controlled demeanor reminiscent of the corporate athlete persona developed between Nike and Michael Jordan.

Though he is known to be extremely focused and almost machine-like during tournaments, many golfers have mentioned how Woods is easy to get along with and has a good sense of humor. John Daly mentioned in his autobiography that “Tiger Woods is one of my favorite golfers to play with. The kid is an absolute riot and is just hysterical. Everyone who thinks he is just robotic during tournaments needs to walk 18 holes with him to realize how funny and genuine of a guy he really is.”

Career achievements
As of February 2008, Woods has won 63 official PGA Tour events, an additional 22 individual professional titles, owns two team titles in the two-man WGC-World Cup, and won the inaugural FedEx Cup playoffs. He has successfully defended a title 21 times on the PGA Tour, has finished runner-up 23 times, third place 17 times, and has won 29% (63 out of 218) of his professional starts on the PGA Tour. He has hit a combined total 18 holes-in-one in the course of his lifetime, his first at the age of six. He has a 31-6 record when leading after 36 holes in Tour events, and a 42–3 record when leading after 54 holes. Woods is 13-0 when going into the final round of major with at least a share of the lead, and he has never lost any tournament when leading by more than one shot after 54 holes. He has been heralded as “the greatest closer in history” by multiple golf experts. He owns the lowest career scoring average and the most career earnings of any player in PGA Tour history.

He has been the PGA Player of the Year a record nine times, the PGA Tour Money Leader a record-tying eight times (with Jack Nicklaus), the Vardon Trophy winner a record seven times, and the recipient of the Byron Nelson Award a record eight times. He has spent over nine years atop the world rankings in his 12-year career. Woods is one of five players (along with Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player) to have won all four professional major championships in his career, known as the “Career Grand Slam”, and was the youngest to do so. Bobby Jones won all four of what were in his era considered major championships. Woods is the only player to have won all four professional major championships in a row, accomplishing the feat in the 2000-2001 seasons. Woods’s win at the 2005 Open Championship made him only the second golfer (after Nicklaus) to have won all four majors more than once. Woods holds at least a share of the scoring record in relation to par in all four majors, and also holds the margin of victory record in two majors, The Masters and the U.S. Open.

With his victory at the 2006 WGC-American Express Championship, he became the first player in PGA Tour history to win at least eight times in three seasons. His victory in the Buick Invitational in January 2007 placed him 2nd for the longest PGA Tour win streak at 7 straight, trailing only Byron Nelson’s streak of 11 wins in 1945. At the 2003 Tour Championship, Woods set the all-time record for most consecutive cuts, starting in 1998, with 114 (passing Byron Nelson’s previous record of 113) and extended this mark to 142 before it ended on May 13, 2005 at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. Many consider this to be one of the most remarkable golf accomplishments of all time, given the margin by which he broke the old record (and against stronger fields in terms of depth than those in Nelson’s day) and given that during the streak, the next longest streak by any other player was usually only in the 10s or 20s.

When Woods turned pro, Mike “Fluff” Cowan was his caddie until March 8, 1999. He was replaced by Steve Williams, who has become a close friend of Woods and is often credited with helping Woods with key shots and putts.

Amateur Wins (11)
PGA Tour wins (63)
European Tour wins (7)
Other professional wins (17)

Major Championships

Wins (13)
Year Championship
1997 The Masters
1999 PGA Championship
2000 U.S. Open
2000 The Open Championship
2000 PGA Championship
2001 The Masters
2002 U.S. Open
2005 The Masters
2005 The Open Championship
2006 The Open Championship
2006 PGA Championship
2007 PGA Championship

Other ventures

Woods has established several charitable and youth projects.

The Tiger Woods Foundation: The Tiger Woods Foundation was established in 1996 by Woods and his father Earl. It focuses on projects for children. Initially these comprised golf clinics (aimed especially at disadvantaged children), and a grant program. Further activities added since then include university scholarships, an association with Target House at St. Jude Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee; the Start Something character development program, which had had over one million participants by 2003; and the Tiger Woods Learning Center. The Tiger Woods Foundation recently has teamed up with the PGA Tour to create a new PGA tour event that will take place in the nation’s capital (Washington, D.C.) beginning in July, 2007. Tiger believes being a good role model is even more important than golf and that golf is a way he can positively influence others. The main focus of this foundation is to help disadvantaged youngsters become better people.

In The City Golf Clinics and Festivals: Since 1997, the Tiger Woods Foundation has conducted junior golf clinics across the country. The Foundation began the “In the City” golf clinic program in 2003. The first three clinics were held in Indio, Calif., Wilkinsburg, Pa., and San Juan, Puerto Rico, and were targeted to all youth, ages 7-17, and their families. Each three-day event features golf lessons on Thursday and Friday of clinic week and a free community festival on Saturday. Cities are selected to participate in the clinics through a formal bid process. Winning cities invite 15 junior golfers to participate and receive instruction from local PGA professionals. Top junior golfers from each In The City Clinic are participate in the annual Tiger Woods Foundation Youth Clinic. This three-day junior golf event includes tickets to Disney Resorts; a pitch, putt and drive skills tournament; a junior golf clinic; and an exhibition by Tiger Woods. As part of the junior golf clinics, TWF works with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to bring at least one Make-A-Wish child to each clinic. These children are given the opportunity to meet Tiger, take some photos with him and talk to him about anything they choose.

Tiger Woods Learning Center: This is a 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m²) educational facility in Anaheim, California which opened in February 2006. It is expected to be used by several thousand students each year, with a day program for grades 4 to 6 and an after school program for grades 7 to 12. There will also be summer programs, weekend and community outreach programs and online learning programs. The centre will feature extensive multi-media facilities and an outdoor golf teaching area.
Tiger Jam: An annual fundraising concert which has raised over $10 million for the Tiger Woods Foundation. 2006’s Tiger Jam IX was headlined by Sting and Jon Bon Jovi is headlining Tiger Jam X.

Target World Challenge: An annual off-season charity golf tournament. The event also carries generous prize money, but Woods donates his winnings to his foundation.

Tiger Woods Foundation National Junior Golf Team: An eighteen member team which competes in the annual Junior World Golf Championships.
Woods has also participated in charity work for his current caddy, Steve Williams. On April 24, 2006 Woods won an auto racing event that benefited the Steve Williams Foundation to raise funds to provide sporting careers for disadvantaged youth.

Writings
Woods has written a golf instruction column for Golf Digest magazine since he turned professional, and in 2001 wrote a best-selling golf instruction book How I Play Golf, which had the largest print run for its first edition, more than one million copies, of any golf book.

Golf course design
Main article: Tiger Woods Design
Woods announced on December 3, 2006 that he will develop his first golf course in the United Arab Emirates through his golf course design company, Tiger Woods Design. The Tiger Woods Dubai will feature a 7700 yd (7040.9 m), par-72 course named Al Ruwaya (meaning “serenity”), a 60,000-square-foot (6,000 m²) clubhouse, a golf academy, 320 exclusive villas and a boutique hotel with 80 suites. Tiger Woods Dubai is a joint venture between himself and Tatweer, a member of the government-affiliated Dubai Holding. Woods chose Dubai because he was excited about the “challenge of transforming a desert terrain into a world-class golf course.” The development is scheduled to be finished in late 2009 at Dubailand, the region’s largest tourism and leisure project.

On August 14 2007, Woods announced his first course to be designed in the U.S., The Cliffs at High Carolina. The private course will sit at about 4,000 feet in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville, N.C.

Endorsements

Woods preparing for a photo shoot in 2006. Woods has been called the world’s most marketable athlete; shortly after his 21st birthday in 1996, Woods began signing numerous endorsement deals with companies including General Motors, Titleist, General Mills, American Express, Accenture and Nike. In 2000, Woods signed a 5-year, $105 million contract extension with Nike. It was the largest endorsing deal ever signed by an athlete at that time.

Woods’ endorsement has been credited in playing a significant role in taking the Nike Golf brand from a “start-up” golf company earlier in the past decade, to becoming the leading golf apparel company in the world and a major player in the equipment and golf ball market. Nike Golf is one of the fastest growing brands in the sport, with an estimated $600 million in sales. Woods has been described as the “ultimate endorser” for Nike Golf, frequently seen wearing Nike gear during tournaments and even in advertisements for other products. Woods receives a cut from the sales of Nike Golf apparel, footwear, golf equipment and golf balls and has a building named after him at Nike’s headquarters campus in Beaverton, Oregon.

In 2002, Woods was involved in every aspect of the launch of Buick’s Rendezvous SUV. A company spokesman stated that Buick is happy with the value of Wood’s endorsement, pointing out that more than 130,000 Rendezvous vehicles were sold in 2002 and 2003. “That exceeded our forecasts,” he was quoted as saying. “It has to be in recognition of Tiger.” In February, 2004, Buick renewed Woods endorsement contract for another five years, in a deal reportedly worth $40 million.

Woods collaborated closely with TAG Heuer to develop the world’s first professional golf watch, released in April 2005. The lightweight titanium construction watch, designed to be worn while playing the game incorporates numerous innovative design features to accommodate golf play. It is capable of absorbing up to 5,000 Gs of shock, far in excess of the forces generated by a normal golf swing. In 2006, the TAG Heuer Professional Golf Watch won the prestigious iF product design award in the Leisure/Lifestyle category.

Woods also endorses the ‘Tiger Woods PGA Tour’ series of video games; he has done so from 1999 up to 2007 and it is likely that he will continue to do so.

In February 2007, along with Roger Federer and Thierry Henry, Woods became an ambassador for the “Gillette Champions” marketing campaign. Gillette did not diclose financial terms, though an expert estimated the deal could total between $10 million and $20 million.

In October 2007, Gatorade announced that Woods will have his own brand of sports drink starting in March 2008. “Gatorade Tiger” marks Woods’ first U.S. deal with a beverage company and his first licensing agreement. Although no figures were officially disclosed, Golfweek magazine reported that it was for five years and could pay Woods as much as $100 million.

Honors
On August 20, 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver announced that Tiger Woods would be inducted into the California Hall of Fame. He was inducted December 5, 2007 at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts in Sacramento.

Critiques

Cut streak
In both Nelson’s and Woods’ eras, “making the cut” has been defined as receiving a paycheck. However, in Nelson’s day only players who placed in the top 20 in an event won a paycheck whereas in Woods’s day only players who reach a low enough score within the first 36 holes win a paycheck. Several golf analysts argue that Woods did not actually surpass Nelson’s consecutive cuts mark, reasoning that 31 of the tournaments in which Woods competed were “no-cut” events, meaning all the players in the field were guaranteed to compete throughout the entire event regardless of their scores through 36 holes (and hence all “made the cut,” meaning that they all received a paycheck). These analysts argue that this would leave Woods’s final consecutive cuts made at 111, and Nelson’s at 113.

However, at least ten of the tournaments in which Nelson played did not have modern day cuts; that is, all of the players in these events were guaranteed to compete past 36 holes. The Masters, for example, did not institute a 36 hole cut until 1957 (which was well after Nelson retired), the PGA Championship was match play until 1958 and it is unclear whether or not three other events in which Nelson competed had 36 hole cuts. Therefore, these analysts remove “no 36 hole cut” events from both cut streak measures, leaving Nelson’s consecutive cuts made at 103 (or possibly less) and Woods’s at 111.

However, in the tournaments in which Nelson competed that did not have 36 hole cuts (that is: the Masters, PGA Championship and the possible 3 other tournaments) only the top 20 players received a paycheck even though all players in these events were guaranteed to compete past 36 holes. Hence in these no 36 hole cut events, Nelson still placed in the top 20, so Nelson’s 113 cuts made is reflective of his 113 top 20 finishes. Woods achieved a top 20 finish 21 consecutive times (from July 2000 to July 2001) and, in the 31 no-cut events in which he played, he won 10 and finished out of the top 10 only five times. Others, including Woods himself, argue that the two streaks cannot be compared, because the variation of tournament structures in the two eras is too great for any meaningful comparison to be made.

Tiger-proofing
Early in Woods’ career, a small number of golf experts expressed concern about his impact on the competitiveness of the game and the public appeal of professional golf. Sports writer Bill Lyon of Knight-Ridder asked in a column, “Isn’t Tiger Woods actually bad for golf?” (though Lyon ultimately concluded that he was not). At first, some pundits feared that Woods would drive the spirit of competition out of the game of golf by making existing courses obsolete and relegating opponents to simply competing for second place each week.

A related effect was measured by economist Jennifer Brown of the University of California, Berkeley who found that other golfers played worse when competing against Woods than when Woods was not in the tournament. The scores of highly skilled (exempt) golfers are nearly one stroke higher when playing against Woods. This effect was larger when Woods was on winning streaks and disappeared during Woods’ well-publicized slump in 2003-2004. Brown explains the results by noting that competitors of similar skill can hope to win by increasing their level of effort, but that, when facing a “superstar” competitor, extra exertion doesn’t significantly raise one’s level of winning while increasing risk of injury or exhaustion, leading to reduced effort.

Many courses in the PGA Tour rotation (including Major Championship sites like Augusta National) began to add yardage to their tees in an effort to slow down long hitters like Woods, a strategy that became known as “Tiger-Proofing”. Woods himself welcomed the change as he believes adding yardage to the course does not affect his ability to win.

Ryder Cup performance
Woods’ performance in the Ryder Cup playing for the American team has been mediocre throughout the years. In his first Ryder Cup in 1997, he earned only 1½ points competing in every match and partnering mostly with Mark O’Meara. Costantino Rocca defeated Woods in his singles match. In 1999, he earned 2 points over every match with a variety of partners. In 2002, he lost both Friday matches, but, partnered with Davis Love III for both of Saturday’s matches, won two points for the Americans and was slated to anchor the Americans for the singles matches, both squads going into Sunday with 8 points. However, after the Europeans took an early lead, his match with Jesper Parnevik was rendered unimportant and they halved the match. In 2004, he was paired with Phil Mickelson on Friday but lost both matches, and only earned one point on Saturday. With the Americans facing a 5-11 deficit, he won the first singles match, but the team was not able to rally. In 2006, he was paired with Jim Furyk for all of the pairs matches, but they only won one point. Woods won his singles match, one of only three Americans to do so that day. Woods is 3-1-1 in singles matches but has a much worse record in the team matches, which has led critics to question his partnership abilities. As a point of comparison, in the Presidents Cup, Woods is 3-2 in singles matches and 10-10 in partnership matches, and so a trend is not as clear

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The course
The course is a par 72 that is set among the many trees of the Del Monte Forest. The course is noted for its many dogleg holes as it bends through the forest. Many holes have elevated greens with undulating slopes to make putting difficult. Almost every hole has at least one bunker and several have ponds fronting the green. The second hole, a par three, actually has two greens, which allows for many pin positions. Another interesting fact is that the course has five par three holes and five par five holes. Most courses have only three (four at most) of those.

The course measures 6,861 or 6,833 yards from the back (blue) tees with a slope rating of 74.6/144 for men. From the middle (white) tees the course measures 6,254 or 6,237 yards with a slope rating of 71.5/138 for men and 76.3/141 for women (as a par 73). From the front (gold) trees the course measures 5,471; 5,403; or 5,396 yards with a slope rating of 72.1/131 for men and 71.6/131 for women. Spikeless or non-metal spike golf shoes are required to play at Poppy Hills.

Matt Gogel holds the course record of 62, which is ten under par.

Criticism
PGA Tour players have criticized the fact that Poppy Hills replaced the Cypress Point Club after that course did not immediately admit an African-American member to its private club, despite the asking of the Tour. Cypress Point is set on the Pacific Ocean and has been called one of the best golf courses in the entire world, not just Northern California. At Poppy Hills, players have complained about the number of dogleg holes and the course’s poor drainage during the common winter rainstorms.

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