While many southern locales can boast warm winters and year-round golf, there’s nothing quite like heading out after dinner in late June for a cool, leisurely 18 holes in the north country. Or 36 holes, if you’re playing some of our favorite northern venues — at some, you’ll need to worry about running out of golf balls long before it ever gets dark (which may not occur at all).
Guinness Record
Southeast of Belfast, Northern Ireland, Royal County Down (above) — created in 1889 by Old Tom Morris — is one of the world’s preeminent links courses. With its blind shots, high dunes, and tricky greens, a caddie is helpful here — you can always ask him to play a daunting shot. Peugeot Golf Guide awards RCD 19 of 20 possible points. Toast your round with a creamy local stout in the clubhouse following the final putt. royalcountydown.org
The Other Kind of Guinness Record
Outside Sapporo, Japan, the ninth fairway of Katsura Golf Club is home to the world’s largest katsura pine tree. This Robert Trent Jones II course carves through an entire forest of katsura, with no hole playing parallel to another. The natural layout boasts large water channels and deep ravines and has been ranked among the top 10 courses in Japan. It dares you to set a record of your own (and no, we don’t mean largest divot). rtj2.com
Land of the Midnight Putt
At the Anchorage Golf Course in Anchorage, Alaska, moose, bears, and foxes may join your foursome on the greens (be careful: bears cheat). This tree-lined 6,600-yard layout overlooking downtown Anchorage at the base of the Chugach Mountains also proffers views of Cook Inlet and Mount McKinley. The course is associated with the Alyeska Ski Resort and hotel. alyeskaresort.com
New York State of Mind
Located so far north in New York State (in Peru, an hour from Burlington, Vt., by ferry) that you may think you’re in Canada, the Adirondack Golf & Country Club offers 6,894 yards of Carolina-style golf designed by Geoffrey Cornish, Brian Silva, and Mark Mungeon. The layout was nominated for a best design award by the American Society of Golf Course Architects. adirondackgolfclub.com
Bro Hof Slott Golf Course
Sleek Swedish Design
Golfers can reach Bro Hof Slott Golf Club, 30 miles northwest of Stockholm, Sweden, via boat, train, or motorway — reflecting how the holes themselves can also be approached in various ways. Built adjacent to a fjord, the Robert Trent Jones II layout stretches nearly 8,000 yards over hilly terrain studded with rock outcroppings and copses of trees. Starting in 2009, Bro Hof will host the Scandinavian Masters event on the European PGA Tour. brohofslott.se/en
Like Hockey Without Ice
In summer, the Great White North of Canada becomes the great blue north as daylight stretches long into the evening hours. Tucked between Ottawa and Montreal, Fairmont Le Château Montebello Golf Club offers terrific greens beneath the great blue. Guests can play the 1929 Stanley Thompson design, a secluded Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary course with views of the Laurentian Mountains. fairmont.com/montebello
Golf Is a Scream
Southwest of Oslo, Norway, and surrounded by coves and fishing villages lies Tommy Nordstrom’s Borre Golf Course, built in 1990. Routed around a noble mansion on former farmland and tucking into woodlands, the course exudes a crisp natural feel. After golf, visit nearby viking burial mounds and Edvard Munch’s house. borregb.no
Into the Wilds
During spring and fall, greens fees at the Wilds Golf Club, outside Minneapolis, are determined by the temperature. In high summer this Weiskopf/Morrish venue is a bargain, especially in the evening. It meanders through Ponderosa pines, hardwoods, and wetlands, with water on nearly half the holes and more than 70 bunkers full of the same sand used at Augusta — though your own experience in them may be less than “masterful.” golfthewilds.com
Oh, Brother
Just north of Copenhagen, Denmark, Rungsted Golf Course is a rare design by C. A. MacKenzie, brother of renowned course architect Alister MacKenzie. The well-balanced course, while not lengthy, creates difficulty by employing huge trees, subtle bunkering, and natural water hazards. As at several famous British courses, a railway line runs close to the fairways (in case you need to make a fast escape). rungstedgolfklub.dk
Getting There: All the destinations covered in “Front Nine” can be reached by flying Continental Airlines. To book your trip, contact Continental Airlines Vacations at covacations.com.
