I just had a friend return from a trip to the La Costa resort in Carlsbad, California. He had been bragging about getting the chance to make the trip, and having suffered through another cold snowy Michigan winter, I was more than a bit jealous.

But he wasn’t impressed with the golf there. His report: “It’s not very good by Michigan standards. If I’d paid thirty five for a course like that in Michigan, I’d have asked for my money back.”

It cost him $265.

His main complaint was with the condition of the fairways and greens. The fairways apparently were not in good shape, but he absolutely hated the greens, which he described as “really spongy.”

“If someone stepped on your line, you couldn’t putt because their footprint left a major indentation,” he said.

It all makes me feel better. First, that some of Michigan’s mid priced courses match up to a legendary place like La Costa. And second, I take perverse pleasure in the fact that he didn’t enjoy himself nearly as much as he thought he would.

USA Today answers the question of what it would cost for a week of golf at Scotland’s best courses: $4,000.

I’d like to play in Scotland, but don’t really have a need to play the premium courses. I read a book once called A Season in Dornoch : Golf and Life in the Scottish Highlands that made think that the REAL way to play golf in Scotland would be to pick one of the small towns and spend a couple of weeks playing their course.

I imagine that it would cost much less than $4,000.

I highly recommend the book, by the way.

I met Greg Schwartz, the founder of Golf I-75 at the recent Michigan Golf Show in Novi, Michigan and was impressed with the concept.

Golf I-75 is but the first of a series of websites that focus on golfing opportunities along the major US interstates.

On Golf I-75, you’ll find a list of public courses located within fifteen miles of I-75, which runs from Northern Michigan to Florida. Michiganians are well familiar with the road, for it leads us “Up North” to our cottages on the lakes, and south to winter playgrounds in Florida.

The site is easy to navigate: after selecting a state, you are shown a map with clickable mile markers. Selecting one shows a list of courses in the area.

Even better: there are coupons for many of the courses.

It’s a great project, and I look forward to seeing more.

Now HERE’s a cruise that the Golf Blogger could get into. Caribbbean Cruise lines is offering a series of trips where eah of the ports of call features a golf course. You dock, play a round, and then return to the ship for your meal and lodging. In they meantime, any non-golfing significant others can visit a spa, shop or see the sights.

They’ve got trips to Mexico, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean.

In an effort to elevate its status as an international destination, Moscow is planning to build ten new golf courses by 2012, including a course on the Moscow River near the city center. That’s an ambitious agenda for a city that is snowed in six months out of the year.

The city fathers seem to think that golf will attract international tourists.

I hate to be so negative, but I doubt it. Given all of the other places to go on a golfing vacation, I can’t imagine that Moscow will be on my list. I wouldn’t mind visiting Russia, but it wouldn’t be for the golf.