Play at world famous golf courses while enjoying California‘s beautiful wine country, home to hundreds of vineyards and wine tasting tours. Here’s our quick guide with fantastic accommodation options.
Silverado Resort & Spa, Napa Valley
Napa Valley in Napa County, north of San Francisco in California, is the most famous wine region in the United States with hundreds of hillside vineyards producing some world renowned wines. Napa Valley is most recognized for Cabernet Sauvignon, and beyond that the most popular varieties are Merlot, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Surrounded by the valley and minutes from over 400 wineries, Silverado Resort, known for its white centerpiece pillared mansion built in the 1860s, exemplifies the natural beauty and luxurious indulgence of America’s finest wine country.
Silverado Resort boasts over 350 rooms across the estate, located at the Mansion Estates and Cottage Drive locations, or the secluded communities of The Grove and Oak Creek East. There’s a huge spa that includes 17 private treatment rooms, and a world-class fitness centre with 10 plexi-pave tennis courts. There are three restaurants with fine and casual dining options with food paired expertly with local wines.
Silverado’s two 18-hole, par-72 championship golf courses, (North and South), were originally designed by famed architect Robert Trent Jones, Jr. They were then upgraded by resort owner and two-time major winner Johnny Miller. They both provide fun and challenging golf with dozens of water crossings, elevation changes and routing through oak, pine and redwood trees.
Windsor Golf Club, Sonoma County
Sonoma County in northern California, on the western border of Napa, is known for the Sonoma Valley wine region, as well as other notable wine-making areas such as the Dry Creek and Alexander valleys. The most common varieties planted are Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot noir, though the area is also known for its Merlot and Zinfandel.
About 45km from Silverado Resort & Spa, Windsor Golf Club is a public course that represents wine country golf at its best. The challenging layout carves through a gently rolling landscape dotted with lakes, a meandering creek and majestic oaks. You can pay the course all year round, all the better to accommodate the year-round wine tasting tours in the area.
Poppy Hills / Spyglass / Pebble Beach, Monterey Peninsula
The Monterey Peninsula, at the southern end of Monterey Bay, lies south of Napa, Sonoma and San Francisco on the central coast of California. It’s one of America’s premier wine regions with over 150 wineries and is famous primarily for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, which thrive in a marine climate blanketed by cool, foggy mornings followed by warm afternoon sun and winds. Poppy Hills, Spyglass and Pebble Beach golf courses are all within just a few kilometers from each other.
The Lodge at Pebble Beach
The Lodge at Pebble Beach is nestled up against the pacific coastline. With accommodation options ranging from Garden View Rooms to Ocean View Suites, The Lodge has something for every guest. Prices aren’t cheap, but it would be the golf trip of a lifetime, right by the famous golf course.
Pebble Beach
Pebble Beach Golf Links is surprisingly a public course, but it’s not cheap! The layout is one of the world’s most beautiful with views of Carmel Bay and the rugged coastline of the Pacific Ocean. It has hosted the US Open six times, including Tiger Woods’ first title in 2000 when he won by 15 shots.
Poppy Hills
Robert Trent Jones Jr. led a complete renovation of Poppy Hills in 2014 with the ambition of it being a course worthy of its highly vaunted neighbours Pebble Beach and the Robert Trent Jones Snr-designed Spyglass Hill. He also wanted to build a layout that was playable for public golfers. It’s fair to say he met the brief on both counts. This wonderful course plays through forests of pine and cypress and it provides great entertainment.
Spyglass Hill
Spyglass Hill is utterly unique. Nestled into the coastal dunes, the opening holes afford fantastic views across the Pacific. From the 7th hole the course then heads inland, carving its way through tranquil woodland to an iconic collection of holes characterised by long, pine-tree lined fairways and large tiered greens.
