Summer golf, beyond the back nine

Plan a trip around a golf course, and you’ll often end up somewhere worth exploring well past the 18th hole. Knowing what’s nearby before you arrive turns your round into a fuller itinerary—a walk through Culloden Battlefield after a morning at Cabot Highlands in Inverness, or a glacier hike in Banff after a round in the Canadian Rockies. These seven summer destinations reward your penchant for golf while adding so much more to the trip.

The Old Course at St. Andrews draws much of the attention when it comes to Scottish golf, but its prestige makes a tee time hard to come by. Three hours north, Cabot Highlands offers a different kind of Highland round, set on the gorse, heather, and sea-marram coastline of the Moray Firth. Its 18-hole Castle Stuart Links, set along the shoreline of the Moray Firth, has long held a place on the World Top 100 lists. A second course, the Tom Doak-designed Old Petty, opened to the public on May 15, 2026.

Built in the shadow of the 400-year-old Castle Stuart, Old Petty runs alongside the castle, creating a round that feels distinctly Scottish.

History sits close to the course. Ten minutes from Cabot Highlands, Culloden Battlefield marks the 1746 site of the final Jacobite defeat — the last pitched battle fought on British soil. A short drive farther, the Bronze Age cairns at Clava reach back roughly 4,000 years. Inverness itself is ten minutes the other way, with restaurants along the River Ness and a Victorian-era market for an unhurried afternoon between rounds.

Arcadia Bluffs sits on a stretch of Lake Michigan coastline north of Manistee, with three courses to choose between: the original Bluffs Course, with views of the water from nearly every hole; the South Course, a Dana Fry design in the C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor tradition; and The Dozen, a 12-hole short course that opened in 2025 for a quicker round.

Off the course, head to Arcadia Beach for a Lake Michigan reset, or drive inland for the region’s wineries and cider houses. Northern Natural Cider House & Winery, about 20 minutes inland in Kaleva, is one of a handful of USDA-certified organic cider producers in North America, with live music in summer and two on-site food trucks for organic pizza and tacos. Near Traverse City, Mari Vineyards on the Old Mission Peninsula sits on a hillside above East Grand Traverse Bay, with more than 70 acres of Italian varieties like nebbiolo, sangiovese, malvasia bianca, alongside the riesling that anchors most Michigan wineries.

Summer in the Swiss Alps takes on a life of its own. Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club sits on a plateau at roughly 5,000 feet with the 18-hole Severiano Ballesteros course running parkland fairways above the Rhône Valley. It’s the longtime home of the Omega European Masters, and at this altitude, the ball flies further than you expect. The signature 7th, a short, drivable par-4 with an elevated tee, opens onto a clear sightline of Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn.

Off the course, Crans-Montana itself sits inside more than 300 kilometers of marked trails. The Bisse du Ro, a 15th-century irrigation channel turned hiking path, clings to a cliff face above the resort and crosses a 120-meter suspension footbridge added in 2020. For something higher, take the Funitel cable car up to the Plaine Morte glacier, where alpine trails run near 3,000 meters. Back in the village, Aïda Hôtel & Spa and LeCrans Hotel & Spa make a case for the slower afternoon, with heated pools, hammams, and long views of the surrounding peaks.

Bandon Dunes Golf Resort took its cue from the great Scottish links, and the south Oregon coast had the raw material to deliver natural dunes, Pacific wind, and weather that can shift twice in a round. The resort opened in 1999 with a single course; today it has five 18-hole layouts—Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails, Old Macdonald, and Sheep Ranch—plus two par-3 courses, all walking-only and all routed to work with the land rather than over it.

Off the course, Bullards Beach State Park runs 4.5 miles north of town, with the Coquille River Lighthouse anchoring the river’s mouth. First lit in 1896 and restored in the 1970s after decades in the dark, it’s now open for seasonal tours from mid-May through September. Old Town Bandon sits on the south bank of the river: a boardwalk along the marina, seals on the docks, Dungeness crab at the fish market, and rental gear at Weber’s Pier for travelers who want to pull up their own dinner.

Where else can you golf under the midnight sun? Lofoten Links sits at 68° north on the island of Gimsøya, well above the Arctic Circle. From mid-May through late July, the sun never drops below the horizon. That means 18 holes at 1 a.m., with the Norwegian Sea on one side and the jagged Lofoten peaks on the other. The ocean plays as the water hazard; white-sand beaches double as bunkers. Time the trip differently and the sky changes: from late August into October, daytime golf gives way to aurora borealis at night.

Off the course, head south to the fishing villages of Reine and Hamnøy, where rust-red rorbuer, traditional fishermen’s cabins on stilts, sit above the fjord against a wall of mountains. Closer to the course, Uttakleiv Beach trades the usual sand-and-surf for white sand, smooth granite boulders, and the Dragon’s Eye: a 20,000-year-old glacial pothole carved by meltwater that still holds a single round boulder at its center.

Banff Springs Golf Course, designed by Stanley Thompson and opened in 1928, was the most expensive course in the world at the time of its construction. The 18 holes wind along the Bow River beneath Mount Rundle and Sulphur Mountain, with the par-3 4th—the Devil’s Cauldron, played downhill over a glacial pond—among the most famous holes in the game. Don’t be surprised if elk wander across the fairway as you play; they’re regulars.

Off the course, Johnston Canyon makes for the easiest local hike: a 25-kilometer drive from town, with a paved walkway that crosses suspended catwalks above the canyon to its lower and upper falls. For a longer day, the Icefields Parkway runs north toward Jasper, with the glass-floored Columbia Icefield Skywalk observation deck about 2.5 hours from Banff. From there, guided tours head out onto the Athabasca Glacier itself, the most accessible glacier in North America and one that’s been in a steady retreat for over a century.

Palm Springs is best known as a winter golf destination, but early summer brings quieter, more accessible tee times to the desert. As temperatures rise across the Coachella Valley through late May and June, courses open earlier to take advantage of cooler hours.

PGA West in La Quinta, Indian Wells Golf Resort, and Escena Golf Club in Palm Springs proper are all known for wide fairways with mountain backdrops, and for conditions that hold up through the heat. Fewer players in the summer means rounds move faster, making it easy to fit in two over a long weekend.

Off the course, Palm Springs leans into its design and landscape. The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway climbs nearly 6,000 vertical feet through Chino Canyon to the Mountain Station at 8,516 feet—a 10-minute ride that drops the temperature by 30 to 40 degrees and trades cactus for pine forest. Back in the valley, midcentury-modern architecture defines neighborhoods like Twin Palms and Vista Las Palmas, both walkable on a self-guided tour. By evening, the desert cools just enough for dinner outdoors, with restaurants along Palm Canyon Drive offering shaded patios well into the night.