Boasting amenities like spas, swimming pools and gourmet restaurants, there’s absolutely nothing better to entertain the non-golfers in your family like a golf resort, right?
Wrong. Try staying at a golf resort village.
In the past two decades, some innovative developers have created the golf resort village, a self-contained, walkable complex that includes an eclectic mix of recreation amenities and independently owned shops and restaurants. The concept gives guests, especially non-golfers, a larger selection of on-site activities and reduces logistic and transportation hassles.
First embraced by the snow ski industry at places like Whistler in British Columbia and Snowbird in Utah, the modern resort village concept has evolved to feature golf as the centerpiece recreation amenity.
The Original
The forerunner of the golf village genre in the U.S. is Pinehurst in North Carolina (www.pinehurst.com). Designed by famed landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted, the complex has eight golf courses, a 24-court tennis center, three croquet courts and a spa. The social hub is Pinehurst Village, where shops, restaurants and pubs line the cobblestone streets, which are framed by wide walkways. Pinehurst Resort hotels—The Carolina, Holly Inn and Manor Inn—are but a few minutes walk from the village center.
Hall of Fame
Near St. Augustine, Florida, the World Golf Village, home to the World Golf Hall of Fame (see photo), combines history with a wealth of modern era conveniences. The walkable complex encompasses two championship golf courses, 300-room Renaissance Resort at World Golf Village, Laterra Resort & Spa and a shopping marketplace with restaurants, clothing and jewelry boutiques, one of the world’s largest golf stores and the PGA Tour Golf Academy. All of the key components of the World Golf Village, except for one golf course and the spa located a five-minute drive away, are positioned around a large lake rimmed by a wide sidewalk.
Desert Setting
To vacation in a sophisticated desert setting, the Boulders Resort & Golden Spa (www.theboulders.com) in Carefree, Arizona, just outside of Scottsdale, spans approximately 2,000 acres in the Sonoran Desert foothills encompassing two Jay Moorish designed golf courses, a Golden Door Spa, five swimming pools and El Pedregal, a shopping, dining and cultural marketplace with 40 boutiques, art galleries and restaurants linked to the resort by a walking path. El Pedregal also features a museum specializing in American Indian history, arts and culture and an open-air amphitheater for concerts.
Vegas Village
One of the most extravagant in the golf village genre is Lake Las Vegas in Nevada (www.lakelasvegas.com), situated 17 miles from the Las Vegas Strip, which has two golf courses built around the 320-acre namesake lake and three hotel properties—a Ritz-Carlton, a Loews and the Resort at Montelago. The centerpiece of the development is Montelago Village, a Tuscan-theme village with cobblestone streets, plazas, an assortment of restaurants, shops, bars and cafes, a casino and a marina.
More Villages
The modern-day golf village comes in a variety of forms and designs:
Celebration (www.celebrationgolf.com), near Orlando, Florida, is a Disney concept town with a golf course and central core that includes hotels, a movie theater, shops and restaurants.
Casa de Campo, in the Dominican Republic, has three golf courses and two villages with shops and restaurants, a hilltop Italian-style village and a marina village.
Sandestin (www.sandestin.com), in Destin, Florida, a 2,400-acre complex with four championship golf courses, a marina and Baytowne Wharf pedestrian village, which has shops, restaurants, nightclubs and street performers.
WaterColor (www.watercolorresort.com), near Panama City, Florida, a master-planned, coastal, resort/residential community with a core village, hotel and nearby Tom Fazio-designed golf course.
The golf village is not necessarily the perfect fit for every family. But for those families that love golf and want the added bonus of on-site shopping, dining and entertainment, the concept is a logistical godsend.