WINDING THROUGH 600 ACRES of lush mountain terrain, The White Witch golf course at The Ritz-Carlton Golf & Spa Resort, Rose Hall, Jamaica, offers 6,718 yards of par-71 play. The course opened in August 2000 and brings Ritz-Carlton service to the fairways via its golf concierges. Fifty-five concierges are on call to serve as a sort of luxury caddie, performing all the traditional functions of a caddie in addition to booking restaurant reservations; making spa appointments for the signature golf treatment The White Witch Foot Soak, among others; and bringing important messages to players while they are on the course. The Ritz-Carlton has a 10,800-square-foot divisible ballroom and four additional meeting rooms. www.ritzcarlton.com
The Woodlands (Texas) Resort & Conference Center opened its championship golf course, Panther Trail, in May following upgrades to the property's TPC course and the recent opening of the new signature Gary Player course. Panther Trail conforms to the layout of the former Pines Championship course, but with eight reconfigured holes and six new ones. All guests have access to Panther Trail and the TPC; The Gary Player course is available by special arrangement to groups. www.woodlandsresort.com.
The new national headquarters of Golf Digest Schools is at Mirasol Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Golf architects Arthur Hills and Tom Fazio created this facility with four practice greens, a 2.5-acre lesson tee that simulates real course conditions, and a private range for special programs. The school's 6,000-square-foot academy complements the outdoor programs, with hitting bays for videotaping and computer analysis, and private viewing rooms for reviews with golf pros. The school also offers the “Golf for Women” program. www.golfdigest.com/instruction/golfschools/index.ssf?mirasol
In February, The Golf Club at Moon Palace opened at The Moon Palace Resort, 10 minutes from the airport and 20 minute south of the hotel zone in Cancun, Mexico. The 7,165-yard, par-72, on-property course is a Jack Nicklaus signature design that navigates through native wetlands. Guests staying at any of the seven Palace Resort properties in Cancun and the Riviera Maya have privileges at the Moon Palace course, as well as at the resorts' other course, The Golf Club at Playacar. www.palaceresorts.com/groups
The Vale Hotel & Country Golf Club, in Hensol, Wales, has just opened its Wales National Course, designed by Peter Johnson, who is also Vale's director of golf. At nearly 8,000 yards long, the par-73 course will encompass close to 200 acres. (Players will also have the option of playing the course at 7,200 yards.) Johnson also designed Vale's existing 6,700-yard Lake Course. The 143-room Vale Hotel, Golf and Country Club, 20 minutes from Cardiff, has eight conference rooms for up to 300 attendees, and a separate indoor sports training facility, which also has meeting space. www.vale-hotel.com