The five star Gleneagles resort in Perthshire (above) and Rocco Forte's The Balmoral in Edinburgh are teaming up to offer an incredible "Taste of Scotland" package this season, providing guests with a true Scottish gourmet experience in two legendary, luxurious and multi award-winning locations. At the historic Balmoral in Edinburgh, travelers will be welcomed into a complimentary upgraded Executive Room, complete with a bottle of Bollinger champagne on ice, and will enjoy dinner in the Michelin-starred number one restaurant. While at Gleneagles, set on 850 acres of Perthshire countryside, guests will relax in a sprawling Estate Room before sampling a Scotch whisky tasting for two in the bar and then dining at the Michelin-starred Andrew Fairlie restaurant. Gleneagles is also home to three of the top Scottish Championship golf courses, a wide range of exhilarating outdoor leisure activities and a spacious spa. The Taste of Scotland package costs £1,200, or about $1,985, for two people with two nights at each hotel.

[via JustLuxe]

One of our favorite menswear collections for fall is from preternaturally stylish Nautica founder David Chu's LINCS line, which he relaunched earlier this year as a full sportswear collection. The name is of course derived from golf, but Chu has expanded its horizons considerably this season. He aptly describes it as "a modern expression of style inspired by a life in and out of the country club - of travel, of sport, of classic chic." The theme of the fall collection is a modern take on the "gentleman explorer," characterized by classic rugged yet elegant styling in a color palette of loden, navy, and charcoal, with fabrics like waxed cotton, cashmere, wool and flannel.

"LINCS is grounded in authentic, classic style, but updated with details and textures men can relate to," Chu notes. "Many of our shirts for example have a contrast color / pattern detail that's subtle. You'll find a surprising detail or color at the cuff, on a collar, or the inside liner. Part of the LINCS concept is the fusion of sporty, easy authentic looks together with performance fabrics and the technical. In outerwear, you'll see a classic piece like a blazer, but designed with quilted nylon and stuffed with down for a look that's rugged and elegant." Also worth noting are the very reasonable price points. Outerwear is between $199 - $399, sweaters are about $119 - $129, shirts are $89 - $99, pants are $79 - $89, available at select Nordstrom, Dillard's and specialty stores.

Key looks include a military style parka in waxed cotton with a sheared rabbit collar (above), a blazer-style coat made of quilted waxed cloth, a loden cashmere cardigan with a leather buckle at the collar, a tan safari-style parka with a removable navy liner, and a quilted navy nylon rip-stop down-filled blazer with suede detailing under the collar. "When I named it LINCS, people automatically thought it was a golf line, but it's not," Chu notes. "LINCS is about sport, about design, and more importantly, this person's lifestyle and an extension of it, which includes easy pieces that can be tailored and elegant, but mixed in with more casual elements for a dressy, but sporty look."



Chu also has his eponymous David Chu Bespoke line, featured in The Classicist's "Best of Men's Style" roundup, a custom-clothing atelier located on the penthouse floor of his "Townhouse" HQ in New York that embodies the deisgner's "ultimate statement on style, sophistication, and the well-lived life," blending the best of Savile Row and Neapolitan tailoring. In addition to Bespoke, Chu is also working on a new project with famed golfer Jack Nicklaus to develop the Nicklaus brands worldwide under a unified creative direction and make it more of a lifestyle brand with a distinct point of view. More on that later.

It may be snowy and cool in some parts of the country but in November it's still prime golfing weather in Ojai, California making it a perfect time for the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa's Celebrity Chef Classic occurring on the weekend of November 13 - 14. The event which includes the chance to golf alongside several celebrity chefs will benefit Share Our Strength, a national organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger in America. This year, Ming Tsai of Blue Ginger (and the cooking show Simply Ming), Todd Gray of Equinox, Alan Wong of The Pineapple Room, Budi Kazali of Ballard Inn & Restaurant and Ojai's own Executive Chef Jamie West will play in the 18-hole golf tournament with guests on the naturally sculpted George C. Thomas-designed course.

The weekend begins with a welcome cocktail party on Friday that will highlight tasting menus presented by each chef. Saturday morning, guests will be invited to play Ojai's greens alongside the chefs followed by celebratory gala dinner. The Celebrity Chef Classic is $1,450 per person, excluding taxes (double occupancy) or $1,850 per person, excluding taxes (single occupancy) and includes two nights in deluxe accommodations, unlimited golf, Friday's welcome reception, gala dinner, breakfast, lunch and additional amenities.

The Nike Method putter hasn't been made available to the general public yet but it has had people buzzing for months. It's not officially supposed to be out until February 2010 but Golf.com reports that Nike Golf is going to sell a limited number of Method putters starting on November 2 at the Nike store website. The putter has polymer grooves on a steel face and a solid polymer layer dampens vibrations and has already been used by several pros. There are five versions but the limited edition putter is only available in the Blade 001 version. You give Nike the length and lie angle and they will build the putter at the Nike Fort Worth, Texas research and development plant. Each putter will be customized with your initials and shipped within three weeks making it a pretty perfect holiday present for the golf lover. The limited edition putter will be $499.The regular Method putter will be $250 when it is released next year.

There is such an abundance of high-quality desert golf in the greater Phoenix and Tucson areas that it can be hard to decide where to play over the course of a short visit. Here's one option that may help make Arizona snowbirds choose where to alight this winter with their clubs in tow: The soon-to-open Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain is offering an unlimited-golf package beginning December 18. Guests who take advantage of the deal can play the resort's
Jack Nicklaus–designed layout--annual host to the world's finest golfers at the Accenture Match Play Championship--from 2 p.m. the day they arrive until 7 p.m. the day they depart. The offer, which includes deluxe accommodations, starts at $399 for one player and $519 for two.

When completed, the Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain will encompass 850 acres within a spectacular saguaro forest outside Tucson. Plans call for the 250-room resort to be accompanied by a community of 400 homes. Beyond golf, activities at Dove Mountain include hiking along 20 miles of trails mapped by National Geographic and touring the rugged desert-scape by mountain bike or Jeep. There's also a state-of-the-art spa that features, among other enticements, a Vichy shower (see photo gallery) that's ideal for scrubbing off the perspiration and grit accumulated on a warm Sonoran day.

Not long ago, golf real estate communities sprouted across the country every month, each project promising a higher level of luxury than the last. These days, they're as a rare as a postseason in baseball that doesn't include the Red Sox or the Yankees. Hence the curiosity of the Victory Ranch Club, an expansive (5,600-acre) development just east of Park City, Utah, that's to be designed around a just-opened--and, of course, camera-friendly--Rees Jones golf course.

The primary selling point of Victory Ranch is its mountain setting. The 7,600-yard golf course gambols across rugged topography that features deep ravines, bulwarks of ancient stone and high plateaus that yield sweeping views of the Deer Valley ski area and the Jordanelle Reservoir. Horseback riding on a network of trails and fly fishing in the Upper Provo River complete the tableau. Whether buyers will come at a time when the nation's high-end real estate market is reeling remains to be seen.

On our way back from a summer sojourn to Nova Scotia a few weeks ago we had to seek refuge from Hurricane Bill, and wound up at a luxurious, historic seaside resort in New Brunswick that turned out to be the highlight of the trip. Built in the 1880s, the Tudor-style Fairmont Algonquin, in picturesque St. Andrews overlooking the Passamaquoddy Bay, is a veritable castle by the sea. A Canadian Maritime tradition in its second century of impeccable hospitality, the hotel has played host to many notable personages over the years including the first Prime Minister of Canada, Sir John A. Macdonald, President Theodore Roosevelt and Diana, the Princess of Wales.

The hotel was originally the enterprise of the St. Andrews Land Company, established in 1883 by wealthy American businessmen who found the town to be the ideal vacation spot; a 1902 brochure described it as '"an incomparable resting-place and retreat from the cares of business and the heat and dust and bustle of the city." During this period most guests arrived by train and so it was only fitting that the Canadian Pacific Railway Company took over ownership in 1903. The hotel was sold to local interests in 1970 and the Province of New Brunswick leased the property in 1973. The Province eventually purchased The Fairmont Algonquin along with two golf courses and a private beach in 1984, and it is now run by the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts luxury group.

The hotel now has 234 impeccably-appointed guest rooms and suites retaining the resort's classic style, updated with modern amenities. Many rooms have ocean views and look over the lush gardens, swimming pool and tennis courts. The public spaces are elegant and inviting, with fireplaces for cooler weather and plenty of spots to relax indoors and out, while the charming town of St. Andrews is only a few minutes walk. The nearby Bay of Fundy lays claim to the highest tides in the world with rising and falling water levels nearing 55 ft. in some areas twice daily. That provides the scenic backdrop for the award-winning seaside Algonquin Golf Course and Academy, home to two of the top ten golf tees in Canada, while others may choose to go on whale-watching excursions or explore the scenic surroundings.

Sports OPTYX by gruen, a stylish new high-tech, high-performance eyewear line born from a collaborative effort between PrescripSun™ by Carl Zeiss and Nike Vision Lens Technology, was just launched at the U.S. Open. The new line will be vailable exclusively at OPTYX by gruen, the high-end eyewear boutique founded by industry legend John Gruen with branches in New York City, the Hamptons and Greenwich, CT, whose celeb clientele includes Martin Scorsese, Kate Moss, Lauren Hutton, Dustin Hoffman, Madonna, Alec Baldwin, Steven Spielberg and Elton John.

Nike Max Optics delivers precise vision at all angles regardless of the curvature of the lens, while Nike Max Tints enhance critical visual details, providing the ideal amount of light and the optimal range of color for all sports. In order to guarantee maximum performance, athletes must have a clear view in all directions; the Nike Max Optics' patented performance designs have been crafted to allow the clearest view over the widest angle, granting precise peripheral vision, customized for major types of sporting activities, including golf, cycling, running, skiing and rowing.

How's this for a golf foursome: baseball icon Babe Ruth, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby and former California Governor Culbert Olson. The four played together as part of a charity golf match in Sacramento in 1942. The scores were kept by Charles Robertson, a member of the golf club, who followed them on the course that day and obtained their autographs in the clubhouse after the match," said Chris Ivy, Director of Sports Auctions at Heritage.The one-of-a-kind autographed scorecard will be sold by Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas on October 1 and is estimated to sell for $2,000 to $4,000.

The autographs are signed in pencil on the scorecard from the Sacramento Municipal Golf Course that was kept by Robertson and then his heirs for the past 67 years. The match play tournament scorecard only goes through the 16th hole. Hope and Crosby apparently had won at that point, and left to catch a flight to attend a charity dinner elsewhere that evening.

I've seen plenty of tricked out golf carts before but golf enthusiasts and brothers, David and Dan Vahala, have focused on the interior, creating a line of comfortable golf cart seats. Ultimate Golf Seating provides bench and bucket seats which have adjustable headrests. There are three styles of seats available, along with a palette of color selections and seats can be custom embroidered to include initials or a customer's favorite club or team. The luxury bucket seats comes with a center locking console and the bench seat has a center fold-down armrest. The seats are made with marine grade vinyl over a superior resiliency polyurethane similar to high-end mattresses. The seats sell for $695 to $1195.

Keeping a golf course in the middle of the desert maintained is no easy or inexpensive task and now it looks like one luxury golf course may be fighting foreclosure. The Desert Sun reports that the private Stone Eagle Golf Course in California's Palm Desert may be facing foreclosure. The course is part of the community called The Retreat at Stone Eagle where homes can sell for several million dollars. The course was created by LDD Desert Development Inc.. Bill Powers, president of Pacific Western Bank, confirmed to the Sun that a Notice of Default was filed against Stone Eagle Golf Course. Ted Lennon, the president of LDD has said that he is working with the bank and golf course members to alleviate the situation.

The news article also says some members have been approached with a request to pay $100,000 each to help keep the golf course on track. The cooler months are prime golfing season in the desert and the turf is currently being prepped and announcements of tournaments were recently released. The comments on The Desert Sun article are pretty interesting, no one is exactly shedding a tear for the course's predicament. Some say it should never have been built and should be given back to local wildlife, others say it should be made public so locals get a chance to play.

A new golf club and resort being planned for Highland Perthshire in Scotland will require prospective members to prove a net worth of at least £100 million, or $160 million, in order to gain entry. Developer Malcolm James has submitted plans to transform the Dall Estate (above) into a $2 billion ultra-luxe golf resort with membership fees of $3 million. The resort will feature a luxury 104-suite hotel with health spa, leisure and retail facilities, a concert hall and two 18-hole golf courses designed by Calum Todd. There are also plans for luxurious mansions to be built on the property with starting prices of £100 million. James says those who do make it as members will also enjoy Fort Knox-style security and world-class cuisine.

ECCO, the luxury golf shoe brand sported by everyone from Catherine Zeta Jones, Justin Timberlake and Kid Rock, to Bill Murray, Samuel L. Jackson and even Donald Trump has created this unique shoe for the Solheim Cup, which takes place this year August 17-23 at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, IL. The shoes are also worn by international Tour stars, like Juli Inkster, Carin Koch, Linda Wessberg, Iben Tinning, Fred Couples, Aaron Baddeley, Colin Montgomerie, Stuart Appleby, Arjun Atwal, Thongchai Jaidee, Thomas Bjorn, John Bickerton, Bradley Dredge and others.

What makes ECCO shoes so special? Well, not only are they fused together so that the sole will never wear away from the rest of the shoe, but they are made from the very highest quality leather -- the same leather used to make Louis Vuitton leather goods, Coach handbags, BMW car seats and Wilson baseball gloves -- ensuring maximum comfort and durability.

So, if you're attending the Solheim Cup, be sure and pick up a pair of these at the on-site merchandise pavillion for $180. The shoes will also be available to official U.S. team members and LPGA Tour staff. Not heading to Solheim? There are a lot of great shoes available for men and women in performance, golf, street, and dress styles at eccousa.com.

Regardless of how well you've played the first seven holes, when you reach the eighth tee at Mirabel Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., your round takes on a different flavor. There, at a comfort station on the edge of the Sonoran desert, a covered ceramic pot contains "the thickest, moistest, tastiest Beef Jerky ever made." So enthuse Scott Savlov and Jon Rizzi in their appealing new coffee table book "The Club Menu: Signature Dishes from America's Premier Golf Clubs." Hyperbole? Having visited Mirabel and sunk my own teeth into those exquisitely marinated, salted and dehydrated strips of flank steak, I can vouch for every superlative the authors use to describe them.

Savlov and Rizzi (the latter of whom I occasionally worked with while I was an editor at Travel + Leisure Golf) engagingly present the culinary specialties of more than a hundred clubs. The movable feast begins at Atlantic Golf Club in Bridgehampton, N.Y., (lobster salad and coffee cake with Kahlua icing) and concludes at Windsong Farm Golf Club in Independence, Minn., (banana bread with maple pecan butter).

The book's conceit is that enjoying a club's signature dish is as integral a part of the experience as playing its golf course. To be able to say you've had the "burger dog"--a grilled hamburger shaped like a hot dog and served in a hot dog bun (see photo gallery)--at the Olympic Club in San Francisco is to make clear that you've entered an inner sanctum. In fairness, not all of the dishes featured in the book seem particularly indigenous or steeped in tradition. If I never have the orange-soy seared salmon at Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert, Calif., I won't feel deprived. But those are the exceptions. Anyone who has even a passing interest in the game's bastions of privilege will enjoy perusing these pages, which include recipes for every dish. The 128-page hardcover book ($50) is available at www.pindarpress.com.

We all know Tiger Woods is part-Thai. But what's the golf scene like in Thailand, the lush and beguiling land where his mother, Kultida, was born? To promote the country's finest courses, a group of premier golf properties and hotels has partnered with a tour operator and the Tourist Authority of Thailand. The consortium, called Golf in a Kingdom: The Thai Golf Experience, can help you map out an itinerary stretching from Chiang Mai, in the cool, mountainous region of the north, to the seascapes of Phuket and Koh Samui in the south. And by "experience," they mean not just golf but also cultural immersions like visits to Buddhist temples, ethnic villages and the teeming city of Bangkok.

Long a popular destination for Asian golfers, Thailand has more than 250 courses. Some of them, alas, are "American-style" layouts that could be in Florida or humdrum spots in the Caribbean. But others, such as Santiburi Samui Country Club (above), set into coconut groves at the foot of a mountain, offer a distinctly Thai adventure. The many charms of Thai golf will be on full display when Bill Clinton arrives this week--with clubs in tow, it's expected--to accompany Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting on the island of Phuket. For a deeper sense of golf in Thailand, check out this story (which I played a hand in) from Travel + Leisure Golf.