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13 places that should be on your bucket list for the best golf and skiing
The Boyne properties in Michigan, including the Arthur Hills Course, are among the best examples of those that double as premiium golf and ski destinations.
Brian Walters Photography
In the regions of the U.S. that are already seeing the leaves turn from green to orange and red, there is another form of green on the mind of golfers—the grass on their golf courses. For some, that green will be covered in the white of snow at some point. Accompanying that will be the melancholy of the playing “season” being over, forcing them indoors to work on their games or get a golf fix when the PGA Tour season begins in January in Hawaii and California.
Of course, there are also sporting men and women who are giddy about the coming chill. If you ski, the white stuff is a welcome sight, and true satisfaction can come for those lucky enough to live in or be able to visit a region that offers long days of golf in the summer and the thrills of the slopes in winter.
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It’s a fairly rare double, because it’s not easy to pull off. The snow is mostly left to Mother Nature, but golf superintendents need to recover each spring from that—all for what may be a short season. It takes a lot of money and a lot of work.
Understandably, then, among some 800 golf resorts in the U.S., there are only some 40 that offer both golf and skiing. Of course, there are other tracks close to the slopes that aren’t a resort, and as you’d imagine, many of them are in gorgeous settings because of the requisite mountains nearby.
It all makes for a fun and fascinating combination, with even golf pros putting away their sticks in the summer and taking out the skis for lessons in the winter. Here, we offer a list of some of our favorite places that pull it off beautifully.
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Stowe Country Club has long been at the hub of Vermont golf. Skiing came first, with the lodge owners looking for something to fill their rooms in the summer months. An expansion to 18 holes was completed in 1962 on the rolling hills of a dairy farm.
From architecture editor Derek Duncan: It was a long time coming. That’s not a reference to the three-and-a-half-years of construction and grow-in for Payne’s Valley, the newest resort course at Big Cedar Lodge near Branson, Mo. Rather, it had been 14 years since public golfers began waiting to play a course designed by Tiger Woods. Woods founded his design company, TGR Design, in 2006. But because of his schedule, the desire to be selective of the few projects he signs onto and a devastating financial crisis, only two TGR courses were been completed—the El Cardonal course at Diamante Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, and Bluejack National, a private course in Texas. Payne’s Valley, which opened in 2020, presents to the largest audience to date the architectural principles he most values. “My goal when starting TGR Design was to create courses that are fun and playable for golfers of all abilities,” Woods told Golf Digest. “This was particularly important at Payne’s Valley, my first public golf course.”
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When it first opened in 2004, Pronghorn was strictly private and its Nicklaus Course was ranked by Golf Digest as No. 2 among America’s Best New Private Courses (a second members-only 18 from Tom Fazio opened three years later). A few years back, the club began allowing public play on its Nicklaus design, now ranked No. 42 on America’s 100 Best Public Courses. It’s a beauty. The second nine, carved from a flow of volcanic rock, may be the most delightful Jack has ever designed, with gambling holes and gorgeous scenery at every turn. The shaping is gentle and subdued to create holes sit low on the land and slide through washes of exposed sand, native grasses and low pines and evergreens. For skiiers, Mt. Bachelor and one of the largest ski resorts in world are a short drive away.
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