Did your favorite college football team have a good season? Perhaps that got you thinking about a bowl trip–and ideally somewhere warm. Well, congratulations if the football and weather gods shone upon you earlier this week when the bowl matchups were announced.
If you’re packing your bags for a trip, hopefully the golf bag is one of them. Here are some of SI Golf’s favorite bowl trips this year based on golf destinations.
Phoenix/Scottsdale (Fiesta Bowl, Guaranteed Rate Bowl)
Many fans of Michigan and Wisconsin will undoubtedly fly into PHX with their clubs to play before the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale and the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix.
Desert golf is glorious and there are dozens of options in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. At TPC Scottsdale you can get a sense of the wild tee shot at 16 as all the construction for February’s WM Phoenix Open is nearing completion. Talking Stick is another option with two courses, ditto Troon North and We-Ko-Pa Golf Club.
Playing TPC Scottsdale a few weeks before the WM Phoenix Open means experiencing the 16th hole with its nearly completed buildout.
Emmanuel Lozano and Michael Chow/USA TODAY Network
Jacksonville, Fla. (Gator Bowl)
Northeast Florida is at its busiest and best around three events: the Florida-Georgia football game, the Players Championship and the Gator Bowl.
Late December is a great time to visit TPC Sawgrass to play or to just walk around the massive clubhouse, which is lavishly decorated for the holidays. The also-massive pro shop usually stocks branded merchandise in the Gator Bowl teams’ colors.
Another worthy stop is the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, before it heads out of town in 2024. Its associated courses, the Slammer and Squire (located just outside the HOF’s doors) and the King and Bear (a few miles down the road) are both solid plays.
Orlando, Fla. (Cure Bowl, Cheez-It Bowl, Citrus Bowl)
A half-dozen fan bases will visit Orlando for bowls, and while the amusement parks may be on the itinerary for families, that’s a holiday chore we’d rather not face. A more relaxing choice that still leaves plenty of free time would be a round at the Winter Park nine-holer, a locals’ favorite.
If you must do Disney, do it for golf at the Palm, Lake Buena Vista or Magnolia course. The Magnolia is reopening Dec. 12 as a 14-hole layout as renovations continue, and because of that the green fees are 33% off.
El Paso, Texas (Sun Bowl)
Only the Rose Bowl (first played in 1902) is older than the Sun Bowl, which began in 1935. The game is a community treasure (affiliated activities once included a star-studded college golf tournament) with many loyal fans, not least of which is CBS, which has aired the game–its only remaining bowl broadcast–since 1968.
No one will confuse El Paso with Phoenix/Scottsdale for the volume of desert golf and higher-end choices, but there are a number of affordable options including the Tom Fazio-designed Butterfield Trail and 27-hole Painted Dunes.
Las Vegas (Las Vegas Bowl)
Can’t leave Sin City off this list, even though most fans of one of the two participating schools (Florida) aren’t hurting for golf opportunities in December. But Vegas has so many options, whether you’d like to get away from the glitz for a while (Paiute Golf Resort is 20 miles from the city and has three courses) or stay right in it (a four-story Topgolf is right off the Strip).
The Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort is 20 miles from the city but well worth it with three courses including the Wolf (5th hole pictured), the longest course in Nevada.
Courtesy Las Vegas Paiute
Honolulu (Hawaii Bowl)
And then there’s the no-brainer. While all the cities above still require a peek at a weather app before packing in December, you know what you’re getting in Hawaii. Maybe a quick shower but otherwise it’s going to be around 80 degrees, sunny and glorious.
The PGA Tour will be in town at Waialae Country Club in just a few weeks, but you’ll need a connection to get on there. Great public options out of town include the Pete and Perry Dye-designed Royal Hawaiian and the north shore’s Turtle Bay Resort, whose two courses include an Arnold Palmer design that has hosted LPGA and PGA Tour Champions tournaments.
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