Special Golf Breaks
We’ve learnt a thing or two over the 32 years we’ve arranged golf holidays – whether that’s knowing the “who’s who” or the destinations which work well and the destinations to steer clear or developing the expertise and inside knowledge of what a golf holiday can form part of. And with 32,000+ golf courses spread around the world, the wonderful world of golf provides a myriad of opportunities to play, explore, experiment and learn.
And that’s where our special golf breaks come in – in the office we call them a niche within a niche! Golf & wine, golf & battlefields, golf & wine-tasting and gastronomy, family golf…The list goes on. Take a peek below to see exactly how niche we can make your golf holiday.
We’re Europe’s oldest golf holiday company and we know how to obtain discounts on golf green fees. Through personal contacts, well-earned contracts and the sheer number of green-fees we organise, golf courses offer us generous discounts on green-fees and sometimes buggies. Golf discounts can come in the form a percentage discount off the public price, a number of people playing for free, free buggies or an overall discount on the golf, food and the buggy.
Golf discounts can range from just a free trolley to a good reduction off the public green fee plus free afternoon rounds and/or a further golf discount for groups. And not only can offer discounts on golf green fees but also golf equipment – through our special relationship with a reputed and fast-delivering golf equipment reseller you can get great discounts on balls, equipments, bags – everything you need for golf.
Golf Special offers
Depending on the season and destination, we offer golf special offers throughout the year. These special offers for golf holidays come in various forms – added-values such as free nights , a general reduction in the cost of the offer or special offers such as free golf green-fees or room upgrades or a special price for a second week.
We’re always looking for and negotiating golf special offers to help maximise the attraction for our clients and to help them save money. We promote our golf special offers to our clients in various ways – our fortnightly newsletter (subscribe here), over the phone to clients when they call us, our printed Gimme magazine and the various golf special offers on our Home Page (link).
Golf breaks
From weekend golf breaks to golf breaks with championship golf, we at golfholidays.com and Golfplanet Holidays have been creating golf breaks for nearly 35 years. Golf breaks can be just for a golf day to a long golf weekend or longer and involve you, your mates and a round or more of golf.
Our golf breaks feature destinations around the UK, Europe and beyond. Golf courses range from low-key local tracks to the finest championship golf designs in the wold.
Championship golf Most serious golfers have a “wish-list” of golf courses they want to play before they have to put their clubs away.
We at golfholidays.com, through our Bond Street Golf programme, can arrange golf at any championship golf course in the world – you name it, we can arrange it: St Andrews, Les Bordes, Cypress Point, Augusta, Loch Lomond, Pebble Beach, Wentworth…Just a few of our own magic list of over 440 very exclusive and championship golf courses, many of them having hosted Majors and PGA golf tournaments.
Masters Golf
The Masters Golf at Augusta is arguably the most famous and sought-after golf ticket in the world. We can arrange, through our own special contacts, access to Augusta National Golf Club either during the Masters Golf Championship or as a private guest.
British Open
The British Open is the oldest golf championship in the world and it’s probably the biggest golf major too. We have privileged access to the tournaments with tickets and VIP tented village so you can be part of the greatest golf event in the world, The British Open.
European PGA Golf Tour
The European PGA Golf Tour is the most successful golf tour in the world right now and we at golfholidays.com can arrange tee-times to any of the European PGA golf courses and, of course, tickets to the events.
Family Golf Holidays
Whether you’re a family of golfing fanatics or you’re looking for a holiday to please the non-golfers and golfers in your family, we know all the best family resorts around the world. Whether it’s a family golf resort, luxury holiday destination or self-catering villa, we’re able to provide just what you’re looking for.
Golf is a fabulous family sport as it’s the only active sport where you can play properly from the age of 5 until you drop! Many golf courses provide forward tees for juniors and are very welcoming to players of a very young age whilst players who are not so young and sprightly can whizz around in a buggy. What’s more, nearly every golf course offers us special rates for young golfers so the family green-fee needn’t hurt your wallet too much.
Family golf holiday needs change as children get older but we can advise as to Kid’s Clubs, baby-sitting, family tee-times, sports facilities, family bedrooms and suites and villas, shopping, nightlife, beaches and sightseeing.
Call our friendly team – several of whom have personal experience in arranging their own Family Golf Holidays – or have a look at our website Search Filter for “Family Resorts”.
Golf & Fishing
If you like softly-tread fairways you may like the ancient hush of lake fishing. Or playing on a wind-swept links and then fishing for your supper in a fast-moving stream. Or how about playing a big Championship course in the morning and then big-game fishing in the afternoon?
Sounds tempting? No problem. We’ve got the low-down on where to go for every type of golf and most types of fishing. Fishing equipment can usually be hired and you don’t need to worry about taking the bait along either!
Here’s a quick guide to where and what to fish
1. Northern France for trout and lake fishing
2. West coast of Scotland and most coastal parts of Ireland for deep-sea fishing
3. Brittany for lake fishing
4. Florida, South Africa, Mauritius and Caribbean for big-game fishing
Golf & Wine
I suppose there are three sorts of golf holidays . . . Golf your brains out with 36 holes a day (and make it medal play for a bit more torture); saunter through an attractive part of the world with golf almost as an incidental; or – my favourite – 18 holes in the morning, a light lunch, an afternoon enjoying local delights, then dinner to set you up for tomorrow and to dream of the “pine needles kind of shot” Bubba Watson played to win the Masters.
Local delights? They can be anything – a beach, a river-cruise, a gallery, a museum - but I’m going to concentrate this time on golf and wine-tasting in the Medoc area near Bordeaux in south-west France.
First the golf . . . Just 15km north of Bordeaux are the two courses of Golf du Medoc, Les Chateaux (a world-class course which hosted the French Open before Golf National was created near Paris) and Les Vignes. A further 15km north is Margaux, a picturesque course on the banks of the River Gironde. Then 20km to the west near the Atlantic is Lacanau, a top-class course with trees lined with great pines. And just to the south of Bordeaux is Pessac with 27 holes of charming parkland golf.
Now to the after-golf, the wine-tasting . . . Medoc and Haut-Medoc is the land of some of the greatest red wines (think Saint-Estephe, Pauillac, Saint-Julien and Margaux). Several of the chateau vineyards are pleased to welcome visitors – to see how the wine is created, from the grape harvest to the bottling, to taste the wines and to buy them at fairly reasonable prices (and if you don’t want to lug a case all the way home, then the vineyard will ship it on for you and put you in touch with its British or Irish agent).
So which are the best vineyards for visitors? I would recommend from my own experience and those of wine-wise friends these three . . .
Chateau d’Arsac, 1 allée du Comte, Arsac-en-Medoc, Margaux. The tour includes a guided visit of the art collection, the winery (an eccentric blue and white building) and tasting two wines. The cost: €6. Advance booking essential. Telephone +33 5 56 58 83 90.
Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, Le Pouyalet, Pauillac, Medoc. The art – sculptures and paintings, mainly related to wine – is almost as sumptuous as the wine itself. The charge for a tour is €6, but it’s worth paying an extra €12 to experience a comprehensive tasting. Advance booking essential. Telephone +33 5 56 73 20 20.
Chateau Lynch-Bages, Bages, Pauillac, Medoc. This tour costs €8 including tasting. Advance booking essential. This chateau also does half-day and full-day workshops for those who want to take a day off from golf. Telephone +33 5 56 73 24 00. Or go to website www.lynchbages.com.
Champagne Golf
Champagne is the most northerly wine-producing area of France and its capital Reims (pronounce it rance) is little more than two hours down Autoroute 26 from Calais. Stop off at Laon, 50km from Reims, on the way there or back, stroll through the cobbled streets of the medieval capital of France, play the very pleasant course of L’Ailette – but, most of all, enjoy the sparkle of wine, food and golf in and around Reims.
The best of the golf there is Reims-Champagne in the village of Gueux. It’s never going to stage a Tour event but it’s a testing and attractive challenge to players of all levels, and you can celebrate your round (or console yourself) with a glass or two of bubbly from one of the 19 champagne houses which are partners of the golf club. In fact, there’s a story that Fontainebleau Golf Club won the four-day (six man) National Team Scratch Championship here with Champagne before and after each match and rounded their victory off with no fewer than 32 bottles shared between them and the beaten finalists. Now that’s my kind of golf!
The clubhouse itself is worth a mention: it’s the Chateau des Dames de France, where the ladies of the great families used to stay while their husbands went off to war.
Most of the leading champagne houses in Reims and Epernay offer guided tours of their cellars with tastings (the charges vary from about €12 to €30 depending on how many vintages you wish to sample) and, of course, the chance to buy at as much as you can afford and/or carry away. It is important to book. My favourites for a tour are Ruinart, 4 rue des Crayeres, Reims (telephone 03 26 77 51 51) and Mumm, 34 rue de Champ de Mars, Reims (www.ghmumm.com; telephone 03 26 49 69 67).
However, the best experience is to have it all wrapped up in one tailor-made package such as the one at the quite sumptuous Royal Champagne Hotel at Champillon amid the vineyards in the countryside south of Reims and just a few kilometres north of Epernay.
Here’s an example: a glass of champagne on arrival, champagne breakfast, dinner served with champagne, a visit to one of the leading champagne houses plus a visit to a small family-run champagne producer – can there be such a thing as champagne-overload? Of course not! The price will be about £550 person for two nights, including cross-Channel travel, the golf and the Champagne “feast” and tastings.
