Travel Notes

Golf Digest, April, 2001

World's best hotels: In its annual ranking of the top 100 hotels in the world, Travel & Leisure magazine selected

The Lodge at Koele in Lanai City, Hawaii, third over all and No. 1 among golf resorts. The next-best American golf-destination hotel was The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., at No. 20. The Oriental in Bangkok was the top-rated hotel.

Next time, barge in: European Waterways Ltd. is offering seven different golf excursions using canal barges as the primary mode of transportation. Cruise first class in renovated barges through Scotland, England, Ireland and France and play courses like Royal Dornoch, Nairn, Gleneagles, Lahinch and Sunningdale. The cruise season runs through October with prices ranging from $2,500-$4,190. Phone 800-394-8630 or visit www.gobarging.com.

Coming to America: Add England's Nick Faldo to the growing list of professional golfers who have designed at least one course in the United States. Faldo's first is Marriott's Shadow Ridge Golf Club in Palm Desert, Calif. The 6,923-yard course opened in late 2000 and costs $70 to $130 to play. Phone 760-674-2700.

Open to the public: According to the National Golf Foundation, all 18 golf courses in Alaska were open to the public at the start of 2000, giving it the best public-to-private course ratio of any U.S. state. Vermont was second with 57 of 65.