With his work appearing in publications ranging from Cigar Aficionado to Outside, Larry Olmsted is a nationally renowned travel writer. But it's in golf travel writing that he has created a special niche. The golf columnist for USAToday.com and editor-in-chief of The Golf Insider, Olmsted plays as many as 100 rounds a year at some of the planet's best-known (and unknown) golf courses. We caught up with him at home in Hartland Four Corners, Vt., where he spends a lot of time skiing while he waits for the local courses to thaw.

Corporate Meetings & Incentives: What kind of golf courses do you visit and play?

Olmsted: I usually travel to resorts. I try to avoid visiting private clubs — I really can't write about them because my readers can't play them. So I usually visit public-access courses, and almost all of them are associated with resorts.

CMI: How would you define a “resort-style” course?

Olmsted: More forgiving — a course where a golfer who only plays once or twice a year won't get beat up. As a rule of thumb, a resort that's not famous for its golf, but has golf available, is going to provide a resort course kind of experience. But the lines are getting blurred. Many resorts have truly challenging championship courses. And there are resorts that provide choices. Doral [in Miami] has five courses, some challenging, some typical resort courses, and one of which hosts a PGA event.

CMI: What's the biggest trend in golf course design today?

Olmsted: Across the board, the biggest trend is natural course design. It used to be that golf architects let the golf course dictate what was going to happen to the land. Modern architects have embraced the concept of letting the land dictate how the course is going to be designed. These courses are inherently less resort-like and more challenging.

CMI: What areas are hot for traveling golfers?

Olmsted: Riviera Maya [in Mexico] is the hottest area in the world right now. Greg Norman, Tom Fazio, and Pete Dye all have designed courses there or have courses under construction. So lots of great courses are coming online in a really hot tourist destination.

China is getting hot as well. It's been so undersupplied when it comes to golf that developers are building them very quickly now. I visited a place called Mission Hills about an hour and a half outside of Hong Kong. It has 11 18-hole courses and two nine-hole courses. Thirty-six holes are fully lighted for night play. This is all in one resort! Golf has become a very important part of business entertainment in China. They used to take you out to dinner for business — now they take you out to play golf.

CMI: What are the biggest challenges facing the traveling golfer?

Olmsted: Losing golf clubs continues to be a chronic problem. My golf clubs seem to get lost or misplaced more often than my regular luggage. When I go to the United Kingdom, it's almost assured!

Now airlines are starting to crack down on extra checked luggage. And that's a problem because you can't take a true golf vacation without bringing your own clubs.

The slow pace of play has long been the biggest problem in the golf industry. I think one reason is the use of golf carts. There's a USGA study that shows that when you can drive a cart on any part of a course, it takes as much time to complete a round as when you walk. But on many courses, you have to keep your cart on a cart path and then walk to your ball, which lengthens the round. Then there's the cost factor. If you're paying $400 for a round of golf, you're not going to rush. Pebble Beach is infamous for slow play.

On the positive side, I think resorts, particularly upscale resorts, are getting better at providing service. At the Sanctuary at Kiawah Island, once you get there, your travel bag magically disappears; your clubs are ready to go. And when you're finished, everything gets repacked for you.

Drill Down

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