At 11,000 feet in the Andes Mountains, the Mallasilla golf club in Bolivia is the world’s highest. Reuters has a story on how some indigenous women, known as Cholitas have taken up the game because they work at the otherwise exclusive golf course. There are some great photos with the story, too.

I think there’s a challenge in this story. One of the big golf magazines ought to sponsor a person to play at both the highest (Mallasilla) and the lowest courses (perhaps the Furnace Creek Course) in the world.

Renowned instructor Rick Smith is saying what we here in Michigan have know all along: Northern Michigan golf is “magical.”

“We have a great golf mecca and we have to keep getting out the word,” Smith said. “We are this hidden gem. It is one of the best playgrounds for golf. We have long summer days and a perfect climate.”

He not only touts golf during his travels, but many of the other activities that make Northern Michigan a four-season wonderland for visitors.

“I talk about the blue-ribbon trout streams, the elk, the natural beauty, the lakes, the weather, the stars in the evening,” Smith said. “And it is a great place to learn how to ski. Snowboarding is huge and you can go mountain biking. Being outdoors in the summer or winter just doesn’t get any better (than Northern Michigan). It’s a resort destination that we want people to enjoy.”

Yeah. I’m a homer. But it really is Northern Michigan golf that made me fall in love with the game.

The Tour of America Airstream Blog has a Flickr photoset of a fifty year old miniature golf course, now scheduled for demolition.

I’ll be the locals have the same feelings about as I had when I learned that they had closed The Enchanted Forest in Maryland.

via BoingBoing

I recently got an email from Expedia promoting their golf and spa vacations packages. I visited the page, and the first thing that hit me was an ad for the Fairmont St. Andrews. It just renewed my fantasy of taking a trip to Scotland to play golf.

Then I saw the photographs of the Fairmont Chateau Whistler. Set amongst the coastal mountains of British Columbia, Whistler features a giant castle and four alpine golf courses.

I’m trying to figure out how to get Mrs. GolfBlogger to agree to go to Whistler in the summer. As a ski patroller, she of course wants to go when there’s show.

Discount Golf Vacations From Expedia

Graeme Smith has a neat idea: he has developed a website called Senior Golf Exchange that allows people age 50+ to exchange homes for golf vacations. For a membership fee, you can list your home, and search for others you’d like to visit.

The snow this winter is really getting to me. In spite of dire warnings of global warming, we’ve had record snow and cold here in Michigan. In fact, it turns out that the cold this past season completely wiped out the 100 year temperate increase average. Sorry Al. It turns our you really are chicken little (although I appreciate your having invented the internet).

If you’re one of those who can afford to get away for a week (or even a few days) in warmer climes, my friends over at Golf Instruction Courses dot Com have written a good report on snowbird golf in Florida. You can get the free pdf here.

They’re from Michigan, so you know they’re good people.

As the snow continues to pound down on Michigan tonight, I am further resolved to escape next week to warmer climes. I think I can get from Ann Arbor to Knoxville, Tennessee in about seven hours—that’s a good day’s drive. Can someone recommend a couple of good public courses in the area?