Put two Dominicans together and you’ve got a party. Add some meringue music and rum and you’ve got a fiesta. No wonder the Dominican Republic (nicknamed the DR) is one of the most popular Caribbean destinations for Canadians. With an average annual temperature of 26 degrees Celsius, it’s always summertime in the DR. And, if chasing a dimpled white ball is a prerequisite to your vacation, Casa de Campo delivers stellar golf, plus the kind of five-star service and amenities you’d expect from a member of The Leading Hotels of the World.

Beware of The Dog

Teeth of the Dog

Teeth of the Dog at Casa de Campo, designed by Golf Hall of Famer Pete Dye, opened in 1971 and still reigns supreme not only as the top Dog in the Caribbean, but also as one of the elite top fifty among the approximate 32,000 courses on the planet.

The likes of Woody Allen, George Bush and Sting have been known to take a swing here. Dye, who transformed a jagged coral reef into a masterpiece, is quick to point out that while he created eleven holes, “the Man upstairs created seven.” Those heavenly seven border so close to the sea that you almost get your feet wet while teeing off.

Numbers six and sixteen are officially named the signature holes but there are plenty more contenders.

The sixth is a long par-four right to left hole that usually has some wind assistance, especially on the second shot. The tee shot presents the usual risk/reward. Hug the left side over the ocean and you’re rewarded with a shorter second shot. Play safe to the right where there is ample room and you might be too far away to reach the green in two. Worse, you’ll have to hit your long second off a side-hill lie. The temptation is to use the coral retaining wall, over the forward tees, as your target line, but it is a huge carry; a neat piece of Dye deception. A line over the bunker to the right of the wall is much better, and the slope of the fairway will kick the ball left too.

Teeth of the Dog

The final Oceanside par-three 16^th is probably the most penal. It generally plays into the wind and is relatively long. The trees around the green also cause the wind to swirl, making club selection even more difficult. The front left pin position is the easiest, and plays to the small bail out area. A pin on the right side of the green over the coral rock wall looks reasonably impossible when you’re standing on the tee with a long iron or fairway wood in your hands. For that pin position, a shot to the middle of the green, like the 12^th at Augusta, is recommended.

Number five, the shortest par-three on the course, plays alongside the ocean. Your tee shot must carry the water all the way to the green, which is surrounded by a small strip of sand and rocks to keep the waves at bay. Bring out your camera.

Back in 1971 the area around Casa de Campo was undeveloped and golf was in its pioneer stage. Pete Dye and his crew of 300 built the Teeth of the Dog course entirely by hand using hand tools and plenty of elbow grease to carve the tract out of rugged coral rock. While pick axing their way through the unforgiving terrain the Spanish-speaking workers started to refer to the parcel of land as dientes del perro meaning “Teeth of the Dog.” Pete Dye liked the name and it stuck. Coincidentally, the jagged seaside holes on the front nine also resemble the open jaw of a giant canine.

Dye’s dogged (pardon the pun) determination was to put the Dominican Republic on the map as a premiere golf destination. Mission accomplished! Even though Dye has received numerous kudos for his courses throughout the world, Gilles Gagnon, the Quebec-born director of golf at Casa de Campo and longtime friend of Mr. Dye and Alice, his partner in life and design, confirms that Teeth is still Dye’s “baby.” Over the years, Dye returns to fine-tune his masterpiece, including a recent renovation that added about 500 yards to extend the Teeth’s bite to 7714 yards from the tips. Mr. Dye was on site and suggesting more design tweaks during my last visit in December 2011.

If you’ve come to the DR to golf your socks off, you’ve come to the right resort. Casa de Campo offers a grand total of 63 holes by the same designer. The Links, an undulating interior course reminiscent of the traditional British and Scottish layouts, features small greens and lots of lagoons. Its greens were recently remodeled and planted with Paspalum grass. If your game is a bit rusty, this is where to work out the kinks. Or if a swing doctor is required, take some lessons at the Jim McLean Golf School.

Dye Fore! the resort’s newest 27-hole giant, set 500 feet above the Chevon River, might just rival the Teeth. Dye Fore! is big. Think wide fairways, huge greens and whopper bunkers. Seven holes plummet 300 feet down to the Chavon River. Warning: not for those with fear of heights.

Dye Fore Lago course

Casa de Campo has been voted the “World’s Leading Golf Resort” at the World Travel Awards for five consecutive years. The property offers so many attractions and activities it should have its own zip code. Indeed, guests are given their own golf carts to travel from place to place. Après golf activities include polo, sailing at the marina and yacht club, horseback riding, tennis, and sports shooting. Swim at a secluded beach or in one of many pools. De-stress at the Cygalle Healing Spa. Go artsy at the unique Altos de Chevon art colony, modeled after a 16th century Mediterranean village with coral block and terra cotta buildings complete with towers and turrets. Follow the winding mosaic cobbled paths to the 5,000-seat Roman-style amphitheatre. Then visit the archaeological museum, art gallery, boutiques and the Church of St. Stanislaus, a popular venue for weddings.

The dining options at the resort are plentiful and outstanding. Casa de Campo recently invested $12 million in its central kitchen, installing state-of-the-art facilities to ensure that all meat, eggs, poultry and produce are handled and stored according to the strictest hygienic standards.

For super sushi, head to Chinos in the Marina. Or, try the snapper cooked in a sea salt crust and then flambéed at the Marina’s La Casita restaurant. My favourite Casa de Campo dining spot is The Beach Club by Le Cirque. Try for a table on the patio and dine via candlelit under a sea grape tree while the waves provide background music.

I know that many folks flock to the DR for its all-inclusives, but for those of us who prefer an exclusive and personalized five-star experience with golf to match, Casa de Campo awaits.

When you Go

West Jet, Air Canada, Air Transat and Sun Wing fly directly to La Romana, about five minutes from Casa de Campo. Note that service to the airport from Canada is seasonal, and runs from November to April.

Talavera dinner party by Barbara Kraft

While the TAP Golf Road Warriors are no doubt slicing and hooking their way through Scottsdale’s fantastic desert  courses, I’m going to take this blogging opportunity to highlight another way to slice and dice at the  Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North.

Their Chef du Jour culinary adventure offers the opportunity to cook in the resort’s Talavera kitchen alongside executive chef Mel Mecinas and his team.

Don your new monogrammed chef’s jacket (yours to keep) and toque and slice and dice alongside the kitchen staff. Can you stand the heat? With their guidance, you’ll create many items from the menu from appetizers to decadent desserts.

Your reward is sitting down to dinner with your special guest or guests (up to three) in the Talavera dining room with stunning views of Pinnacle Peak. Now that you’ve worked behind the scenes, you’ll know just what to order. Maybe a baby beet salad with truffled blue cheese, a sizzling veal porterhouse over morel risotto and apple waffles with caramel gelato? Chef Mecinas will surprise you with a few extras such as his signature lobster mac and cheese. (Note: you must book the Chef du Jour experience one week in advance; participation is limited to one person per evening.)

The Four Seasons offers plenty of other epicurean treats including complimentary wine, tequila and chocolate tastings, plus salsa and margarita demonstrations.

The newly renovated pool complex now has two VIP cabanas available for a daily rental fee. They are outfitted with flat screen televisions, mini fridges, I-pod docking stations and ceiling fans. Free poolside amenities include chilled fruit kebabs and smoothies and refreshing mint-scented towels.

Should you wish to pry yourself away from such pampering, the Four Seasons has an exclusive arrangement with nearby Troon North’s two championship courses, the Monument and the Pinnacle (consistently rated in Arizona’s top five), that gives guests preferred tee times and free shuttle service.

The Tequila Goddess at Fairmont's La Hacienda

My TAP Golf Road Warrior pals (broadcaster and golf historian Peter Kessler and writers Jeff Wallach, Tom Bedell, and Terry Moore) are heading off  to Scottsdale so I thought I’d wish them well and post this blog about the fun I had last year at the Phoenix Open. And although I know you’ll do your research guys, keep in mind that Fairmont’s tequila bar  at La Hacienda offers nightly artisan tastings and features over 200 varieties of tequila from 36 different labels presented by a Tequila Goddess. If you’re going to drown your sorrows, do it with a Goddess.

Among its many attributes, the Fairmont Scottsdale Resort is located beside the famous TPC Stadium Course, home to the Phoenix Open, also known as the Greatest Show on Grass.

Last winter I attended the fabled Waste Management (formerly FBR) Phoenix Open. I assure you that it’s not like any other major golf tournament on the planet. Imagine frat house revelry at a football game.

On the par -three 16^th hole, the bleachers are packed with fans who cheer or boo the golfers depending on whether or not they nail the green. Carrying an alcoholic drink seems to be mandatory.

After the game, a huge tent called the Bird’s Nest becomes party central. As one local observed, “it’s the greatest concentration of cosmetic surgery on earth. I was wondering if perhaps there was a two-for-one (pardon the pun) on breast implants. There’s nothing staid about this event and that’s just fine in my books; anything that gives golf a friskier, sexier image is good for the game. (Tiger excepted).

Dates for the 2012 Waste Management Phoenix Open are January 3 to February 5.

www.scottsdalecvb.com

Bloody good golf and no worries mate in Melbourne

Federation Square, downtown Melbourne

The rivalry between Australia’s two largest cities is alive and well and generally provokes great gnashing of teeth in Melbourne and mused indifference in Sydney. The former’s setting on the Yarra River, though lovely, can’t compete with Sydney’s iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge. However, when it comes to golf, Melbourne is the undisputed champ in the Land of Oz.

According to Terence Sieg and the editors of Golf Travel’s Guide to the World’s Greatest Golf Destinations, “Melbourne has the most illustrious and unique collection of golf courses of any city in the world, with an amazing cluster of eight vintage layouts in its suburban Sandbelt dating back to the 1920s, many of which were designed by Dr. Alister MacKenzie, the World War 1 camouflage-expert-turned-golf-course-architect, the creator of Augusta and Cypress Point, and arguably the most influential course architect of the twentieth century.”

I began my swing on Royal Melbourne’s West Course, ranked number one in Australia and number five in the world. Perhaps most memorable at the Royal Melbourne are MacKenzie’s brilliant par-threes. The all-carry 161-metre fifth, for example, features awesome bunkering and a slippery raised green set against a scrub-covered dune.

Royal Melbourne's West Course

MacKenzie visited Melbourne just once in 1926 on the recommendation of the R&A. His fee was 1,000£ Sterling but the clever Scot offered to pay a fifty percent commission for any other consulting working the club could find for him during his stay. When the good doctor left Australia six weeks later, he had worked on more than twenty courses, so Royal Melbourne not only got a masterpiece but also made a tidy profit on his visit.

Within minutes of each other in Melbourne’s Cheltenham Beach district are several more top-rated Sandbelt courses (Royal Melbourne East, Kingston Heath, Victoria, Metropolitan, Commonwealth, Woodlands, Peninsula, Huntingdale and Yara Yara.) What they share in common is a fertile sandy base that allows instant drainage and ideal playing surfaces year-round.

Kingston Heath

Most concur that the number two course in Oz is Kingston Heath. The genius of this Dan Soutar design with its Alister MacKenzie bunkering lies in its intricate routing over a mere 125 acres. However, the Sandbelt course I would most want to play again and again is Victoria. P.G. Wodehouse and his characters would feel right at home in the clubhouse with its panelled and beamed sitting rooms and leather armchairs scattered around a roaring hearth. The place resonates with history both inside and out on its undulating fairways bordered with gum and tea trees.

The beauty of a day on the links at Victoria is that you don’t have to leave. The club has fifteen bedrooms and packages that include a round of golf, breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you’re staying in one of the upstairs rooms, a staff member walks down the corridor ringing a gong to summon you to supper.

Golf may be the raison d’etre but you must allow sufficient time to succumb to Melbourne’s many other charms. The sports-mad Melbournians love their fun and games. This is home to Australian Rules Footy. Try to see a local match; just don’t expect to understand the unique rules.

Victoria

Melbourne also gives Sydney a run for its money when it comes to wining, dining and shopping. Victorian arcades house avant-garde designer boutiques, and a maze of narrow alleys play home to a vibrant café society.

If you’re a foodie, Melbourne will knock your socks off. Taxi, across from the landmark Flinders Street Station in Federation Square, is a hip and happening spot where the sake sommelier will recommend just the right Japanese fermentation to pair with your sushi.

Travel Planner

Gary Lisbon and his team at GOLFSelect arrange customized golf tours throughout Australia.

I have travelled to what some Kiwis describe as the end of the Earth, and guess what? It’s rather more lavish than one would have expected from such an extreme location. There’s an outstanding golf course perched precariously over the edge of a jagged cliff, a spa tucked into a ferned glade and a lodge and cottages that live up to lofty Relais & Chateaux standards.

Yes, it’s a long way to go, but some places are worth the journey. Kauri Cliffs located on the Bay of Islands about a three-hour drive north of Auckland is remote and spectacular. Conde Nast Traveler named it the number one Lodge/Resort in Australia/Pacific region on their 2011 Gold List, The World’s Best Places to Stay. Travel + Leisure readers have chosen The Lodge at Kauri Cliffs as the No. 1 Lodge/Resort in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific in the 2011 World’s Best Awards readers’ survey.

Named forty-ninth among Golf Magazine’s Best Golf Courses in the World, Kauri Cliffs, designed by Floridian David Harman, clings to the top of steep, jagged cliffs overlooking the Bay of Islands and three private beaches. Fifteen holes have water vistas and six play oceanside on a layout whose slope rating swells to 144 from the tips. But with five sets of tees, everyone can find a challenge without a whipping. Every hole is unique and fantastic, but perhaps my favourite is the par-three fourteenth, named Waiaua Bay, where severe drop-offs from green to sea require utmost accuracy. A plaque dedicated to Harman by owner Julian Robertson behind the tees reads: “A designer can always make a golf course too hard. He can add bunkers, more walls, whatever he dreams up. The true test is whether or not he can use what Mother Nature gave him and turn it into something like you see here.”

As one enthusiast opined in the guestbook, this makes Pebble Beach look boring.

After your game, take the footpath through a Totara forest to a lily pond fed by a winding stream to The Spa.  Outside comes inside in the form of orchids and ferns growing along an organically curving hallway which leads to spacious treatment rooms with floor-to-ceiling glass doors opening to alfresco spaces with fireplace, lounge chairs and the soothing sounds of the gurgling stream.

If you’re lucky enough to be sharing this bit of paradise with a partner, go for the couple’s massage that starts with an aromatherapy soak. Or indulge in your own ménage-a-trois with the spa’s Four Hands Massage, during which two therapists perform a soothing duet over every inch of your limbs and spine. 

The culmination of an idyllic day is dinner, either in the intimate dining room overlooking the course and sea or down on the Lodge’s private pink beach. The chef sources the finest Australian and New Zealand produce and dabbles with Asian, Middle Eastern and Indian flavours. Some signature dishes include seared scallops with a lemongrass sauce, duck leg on a scallion pancake with banana lime relish and chili jam or an aromatic tagine of pheasant, fig and ginger with spinach couscous and watermelon salad. Save room for dessert. This is no place to count calories or double bogeys. Simply indulge.

Even though your fling in Monaco can (and should) be divinely decadent, I’ve found ways to both splurge and save.

The “You Only Live Once” Splurge List

Fairmont Fling

When it comes to location, location, location, the Fairmont Monte Carlo has been dealt a Royal Flush. The property, perched above the sea, has the ambiance of a luxurious cruise ship. The hotel entrance is situated at the famed Formula One Grand Prix’s famous hairpin turn, plus it’s next door neighbour is the world’s most famous casino. On the seventh level you can hang out at the swimming pool with views to the port below or check into the new Willow Stream Spa for some pampering Riviera-Style. It was recently awarded “best hotel’s spa in Europe by the Prix Villégiature.”

Scent of Anita

Fairmont’s Scent…sational package (€459 per night, minimum two nights based on double occupancy) includes a VIP jaunt to the neighbouring medieval town of Eze. You’ll have a tour of the famous Galimard perfume factory (the original one is located in Grasse) and the chance to work with Galimard’s “nose” to create your own signature perfume. You compose your liquid elixir at a desk, called an organ, with three tiers of brown bottles filled with oil extracts from plants and botanicals. With the help of my nose, Sandra Dziad, I created “Anita” in a bottle. To make a perfume you must build it in three levels: back, heart and top notes. My final masterpiece contained 15 different scents, including chocolate, floral musk and bergamot. Ms. Dziad, who has worked with Chanel and Jean-Paul Gaultier, seemed pleased with my olfactory offering, pronouncing it “fresh, natural and calm with a powdery base.” We toasted “Anita” with a glass of champagne

Café Society

Café de Paris, the landmark Belle Époque brasserie, across from the casino, is the place for a chic rendezvous from breakfast to the wee hours.  Indulge in one of their outrageous gelato confections. I recommend the Peach Melba or Banana Royale. If you really want to fit in, tote a poodle in a Louis Vuitton case and wear matching designer shades.

The “Cheap Thrills” Save List

Calling all high and low rollers

Even if you’re not a gambler, you must spend some people-watching time at the Monte Carlo casino, another Belle Époque wedding cake of a building created by architect Charles Garnier (who also built the Paris Opera House). You might not spot James Bond but there will be no lack of designer-clad glamour girls and tanned playboys. Entrance is €10, plus your passport.

Double Bill

Just 18€ buys a double ticket for the Prince’s Palace and the Oceanographic Museum. Start in Le Rocher, the medieval heart of Monaco where narrow streets lead up to the Grimaldi Palace. A self- guided audio tour leads you through splendidly furnished suites, including a stately Throne room where there’s a lovely painting of the late Princess Grace, Prince Rainier and family.

At the Oceanographic Museum you’ll have the added bonus of viewing the Giorgio Armani-designed wedding gown and photos from the lavish matrimony last July of Prince Albert II and South African, Charlene Wittstock.

The museum and its research organization were headed by Jacques Cousteau until 1997. Rare fish swim in 90 glass aquariums and there’s a new shark lagoon where those creatures lurk amongst the coral reefs.

Principality Pass

The best deal in town is the one-day pass (€3) for unlimited travel on all of Monaco’s bus routes. By taking them you’ll have a complete tour of the highs and lows of the Principality, plus mingle with the locals, called Monegasques, The pass is also good for the shuttle boat that goes from one side of the port to the other so you can have a close-up peek at the mega-yachts moored in the harbour.

Life’s a Beach

Take the number six Fontvielle/Lavarotto bus to Monaco’s best beach and bask with the beautiful.

Cozy Italian

I like La Piazza (9 rue de Portier), a five-minute walk from The Fairmont. Sit inside or out on the terrace and enjoy friendly, unpretentious service (these waiters did not go to snob school) and traditional Italian food. Their homemade lasagna is excellent, as are fish dishes.

The latest in my quirky new hit list is the Sperone Golf Club at the extreme south tip of Corsica. A series of volcanic eruptions formed Corsica making it the most mountainous island in the Mediterranean Sea. I’ve always been fascinated by this wild and somewhat mysterious region of France, birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte (in Ajaccio), where French flare, Italian gusto and raw natural beauty create a sensual vibe.

When I saw photos of Sperone, the island’s only 18-hole golf course near the town of Bonifacio at the extreme southern end of Corsica, I was compelled to make the journey.

Sperone, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and opened in 1990, is a ravishing drama queen. Turquoise waters, limestone cliffs and views of Sardinia (less than seven miles away) will all vie for your attention.

The front nine plays over an undulating terrain with sneak previews of the coast, but the series of fairways from numbers 11 to 16 clinging to cliffs and running parallel to the impossibly blue sea have earned Sperone the moniker of “The Pebble Beach of Europe.”

By modern standards, Sperone is relatively short at 6,678 yards from the tips, but when the wind howls in from the Straits of Bonifacio you’ll need to club up. The 11^th begins with a blind dogleg left. As you approach the crest, the hills of northern Sardinia spread out to frame your approach. On the par-three 12^th your tee shot must carry Corsica’s wild ground cover called maquis for most of the distance. I played with a local who gathered sprigs of wild myrtle, mint, rosemary and more into a heady bouquet for our golf cart. “It’s the smell of Corsica,” he said.

You can walk Sperone but be prepared for a workout. The 13^th is a short par-four that continues along the coast, drivable if the wind is cooperating. Between 13 and 14 you’ll pass the walking path down to private Sperone Beach, a secluded crescent of white sand lapped by turquoise. Make sure you’ve packed a swimsuit for a return dip at the end of your round.

Just when you’re thinking, “Wow does it get any better than this?” Yes. You’re about to see why Sperone’s signature par- five 16^th was named “ one of the top 500 holes in the world” by the editors of Golf Magazine in 2000.  Tee off in front of an abandoned lighthouse over white cliffs to a serpentine fairway that winds its way along the cliffs to another marvelous seaside green.

Alas, it’s time to head inland back to the clubhouse but not before the tight downhill par-three 17^th and a long 493-yard par-four uphill finale.

The modern clubhouse features a terrace offering grand views of the course and sea, plus superb food.

When you Go

Bonifacio is situated on two levels: the port/marina which is surrounded by cafés and shops upscale enough to appeal to the mariners who moor their mega-yachts here; the old town, perched high on limestone cliffs.

Back at the marina, Kissing Pigs is a favorite wine bar and eatery amongst the sailors and locals alike. They serve only authentic Corsican fare, such as charcuterie made from indigenous black pigs. Chestnuts are another staple from which the chefs turn out bread, pastries and a slightly sweet liquor.

Another way to be awed by Bonifacio is via the sea itself. Take an excursion out of the marina around the spectacular cliffs, past fanciful rock formations and into deep grottos. Now you’ll be tempted to sign up for a scuba or snorkeling session.

Bonifacio is most easily reached from the Figari Airport, half an hour away. There are also ferries from Marseilles and other Mediterranean ports.

I stayed at the three-star Solemare , conveniently located within a short walking distance to the port and upper town.

Each spring the three-story building, built on a former U.S. navy barge, is towed 160 kilometres south from Prince Rupert to Bernard Harbour and each autumn it returns to its winter dock, leaving only a minimal footprint on the environment but indelible memories for its guests.

From the outset owner Joe Morita, whose father co-founded the Sony Corporation, was determined to create a viable and sustainable tourism model. The lodge sits in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest, 4.4 million acres of the largest temperate rainforest in the world.

The journey begins in Vancouver where guests usually spend the night at the Fairmont Airport Hotel. The next morning they take a one-and-a-half-hour charter plane following the snowcapped Coast Mountain range to Bella Bella. From here it’s a half-hour floatplane into Bernard Harbour.

You may be in the middle of nowhere but you certainly won’t be roughing it. The lodge has 17 spacious cedar-paneled rooms with deep soaker tubs and floor-to-ceiling windows to bring in the great outdoors. Creature comforts include Cuban cigars, vintage champagnes and wines, single malts and Morita sake. As you might expect, the cuisine is exquisite specializing in organic seasonal produce and Ocean Wise sustainable seafood. The spa treatments use indigenous algae, sea salt and mud.

Heli-hiking to remote trails, kayaking with sea lions, fly fishing or just enjoying seaweed crusted tuna at lunch while a mother humpback whale and her two calves breach in the bay are all possibilities. The staff has also forged a relationship with the Gitga’at, the First Nation people who have been stewards of this pristine wilderness for centuries. Trips to their village in Hartley Bay can be arranged.

And just when you were thinking that this place sounds like something beyond your wildest dreams… it’s also home to a white bear found only in this rainforest and rarer than the Chinese panda. Zoologists call it the Kermode; the Gitga’at refer to it as the spirit bear. There are no guarantees, but many guests, with the help of local interpretive guides, have had the privilege of seeing this majestic mammal (white due to a double recessive gene) fishing for spawning salmon in the fall.

“For the most part our guests are seasoned world travelers,” observes general manager Robert Penman,   “but few have ever stepped into such a pristine wilderness. Most come here to enrich their lives and many leave with a transformational experience.”

The moment I first laid eyes on her I was smitten by La Serenissima. Who would not be seduced by this fantastic mirage rising like a Venus from the lagoon? Nothing succeeds like excess could be her motto—from the golden mosaics of the Doge’s Palace to the marvelous Tintoretto-painted ceilings on the Sculoa di San Rocco.

Venice is like a treasure chest brimming with precious exotica from all over the world. This fantasy isn’t far from reality, actually. The city was built by merchant princes whose navies ruled the eastern Mediterranean and dominated trade routes between Europe and faraway eastern lands. So if La Serenissima seems to be a tapestry woven of silk, velvet and lace imbued with saffron, cinnamon, amber and silver filigree, it’s because those riches and more first entered the western world through her labyrinth of waterways. Probably nowhere else on earth does East meet West with so much panache.

Venice has been flabbergasting visitors for centuries. Entering the city via the Grand Canal is a staggering experience whether it’s for the first time or the tenth. Walt Disney could not have improved upon this architectural fantasy of Romanesque and Renaissance palaces, domed churches and arched bridges, all bathed in that rich radiant light that is Venice’s alone.  At dusk the city becomes shrouded in a soft mist made mauve by the glow of the iconic lamplights. The grand salons of the palaces are illuminated by flickering Murano-glass chandeliers and their lacy facades appear to be melting into the watery mirror below.

Is Venice a tourist Mecca? Of course. We flock to the Piazza San Marco, which Napoleon described as the drawing room of Europe. We order exorbitantly priced coffee with zabione liqueur and whipped cream served on a silver tray to the accompaniment of a string quartet at Café Florian. We head off to Harry’s Bar, Ernest Hemingway’s favourite watering hole, for a Belini. We soak up contemporary artworks and theatre at the Biennale and Film Festival (held on odd years).

We buy glass baubles on the island of Murano and hand-made lace on Burano, the fisherman’s island, its houses painted in assorted crayon colours with ever-present laundry hanging from the windows. We make a pilgrimage to the island of Torcello, where Venice began back in the sixth and seventh centuries when the locals of the northwest Adriatic fled to the lagoons from the attacking barbarians. We visit Torcello’s remarkable cathedral and marvel over the Byzantine mosaics and then linger over lunch in the glorious garden of the Locanda Cipriani, another Hemingway haunt.

We bargain for leather goods, Carnevale masks and other trinkets in the stalls around the impressive Rialto Bridge. We shell out 80€ for a 40-minute ride in a sleek black gondola gracefully maneuvered through the narrow canals by a dashing gondolier. And we leave absolutely entranced by the city that Gore Vidal called the most beautiful cliché on earth.

There’s also a mysterious and quirky side to Venice that adds to her allure. During the two weeks of Carnevale each winter revelers don masks and fanciful costumes, play pranks on one another and attend lavish balls. You might glimpse the Three Musketeers riding in a vaporetto or your waiter might appear dressed as a nun.

Indeed all of Venice becomes a stage.

Where else would the world’s most famous lover have caroused and become imprisoned in the Doge’s palace for possessing books on magic? Casanova and his cellmate, a renegade priest, escaped by gouging a passage in the ceiling using a steel bar which they concealed in a Bible under a heaping plate of gnocchi.

Where else would a naked Lord Byron swim home along the Grand Canal after a night on the town while his servant, carrying his clothes, followed behind in a gondola?

Where else could Charles Dickens write, “The gorgeous and wonderful reality of Venice is beyond the fancy of the wildest dreamer. Opium couldn’t build such a place, and enchantment couldn’t shadow it forth in a vision…It has never been rated high enough. It is a thing you would shed tears to see.”

Where else do hotels supply rubber boots for those times when high tide causes the Piazza San Marco to flood so that locals and tourists alike literally walk the planks and slosh their way about town. And keep in mind that as you stroll around Venice’s 400 bridges and 117 islands, you’re actually walking over a petrified forest. The thousands of wooden poles pushed into the mud to create foundations over time have become petrified and are stronger than steel. In Venice, truth can be stranger than fiction.

When you Go

*Join gondoliers in rustic bacaros (wine bars) where a glass of vino costs less than a euro and a plate of cichetti (savory snacks) such as marinated artichokes, a cod mixture spread on polenta squares and mini salami sandwiches, costs about 3€. Try Cantina Do Mori, San Polo 429, near the Rialto Market.

*Caffé del Doge, also near the Rialto market serves the best lattés. Take some beans home.

*Enjoy live opera in a palace on the Grand Canal and move from room to room for each act.

* Dine on inexpensive pastas and pizzas under the wisteria or inside at the cozy Al Nono Risorto Osteria, S. Croce 2338.

* Take a guided “Secret Itineraries” tour through narrow passages of the Doge’s Palace and see the tiny cell where Casanova was imprisoned.

*Shop for a silk Fortuny lamp.

*Buy exquisite lace at Emilia on Burano and dine at the romantic Riva Rosa restaurant, owned by the same family.

*Splurge on a room and dinner on the terrace at Hotel Danieli, a former Doge’s palace just off St. Mark’s Square.

* At the Hotel Cipriani’s Gabbiano Bar, sip a spritz, a Venetian cocktail made of Prosecco, Aperol bitter orange liqueur and a dash of soda.

We golf fanatics love to add trophey courses to our brag and bucket lists. And while the Old Course, Pebble Beach and Banff Springs are obvious contenders, I’ve started a new list—obscure courses that most people have not even heard of.  And that is why I recently braved a narrow one-tract road about the width of a pencil with pull-over passing places and covered with suicidal sheep in the outer Hebridean island of South Uist. My destination? Askernish Golf Club.

Adjacent to a white shell beach on Uist’s west coast Askernish was originally laid out by Old Tom Morris in 1891. Old Tom, accompanied by Horace Hutchinson, traveled to this Hebridean Isle via cart, train and steamer to lay out a course that he described as “second to none in the various elements which go to make up a really good golf course.”

In case you need a bit of a primer on Old Tom…He was the most influential person to early golf pre the 1900s. Born in St. Andrews, Old Tom apprenticed under Allan Robertson, considered by golf historians to be the first golf professional. Morris left St. Andrews to become the keeper of the greens at Prestwick, a course north of Glasgow that hosted the first British Open in 1860. Over the decade Old Tom won four Open championships. In 1865 he returned to St. Andrews as greenskeeper and clubmaker until 1904. Morris was one of the first truly great course designers. A few of his masterpieces include Royal Dornoch, Muirfield, Carnoustie, Royal County Down and Crudent Bay—all worthy of your trophy list. So you will understand the thrill of playing the recently refurbished Askernish.

Golf here is a wild and woolly affair. In fact, during the winter you share the course with grazing sheep and cattle belonging to the local crofters. Initially these local farmers resisted the golf course because they suspected that the golfers were trying eliminate livestock from the machairland. This was entirely untrue, being as the club’s aim is for the course to remain as authentic to its 1891 condition as possible. This  also includes the prohibition of all artificial fertilisers or herbicides, which has received great plaudits from environmental bodies who have branded Askernish “the most natural golf course in the world.”

The local community of keen golfers with some financial  and technical aid from abroad have painstakingly brought Old Tom’s vision back to life.  In fact, there’s a Canadian connection: Gordon Stollery who owns Angus Glen Golf Club in Toronto invested some Loonies. When renowned golf course architect, Tom Doak, was asked what he considers to be the most innovative course design that he has ever seen, he replied “Askernish–it’s innovative because all they did was mow the golf course and it’s still fun to play.” The official re-opening was August 2008; green fees are 35£ per day. A steal!

It was well worth the harrowing drive to play this classic. Most memorable is the 17^th hole called Old Tom’s Pulpit–a 359-yard par 4 with dogleg right approach shot to a green perched high on top of a looming dune. I can just see Old Tom smiling to himself on this one. Another gem is number eleven–a par-three requiring a tee shot over a deep gully to a completely blind large green. When you stand on the tee it looks like you are hitting the ball straight into the Atlantic Ocean—give it a bit of a slice and you are!