Three of the best foreign golfing holidays
Masseria San Domenico: perfect for golfing foodies
A golf trip for foodies
Masseria San Domenico in Puglia, Italy (above), combines an excellent golf course with a restaurant "aiming for a Michelin star", says the Daily Mail. The San Domenico restaurant uses the best local produce, including olives from the hotel's own groves, to create fantastic dishes.
The resort's par 72, 18-hole course is world-famous and located on the coast surrounded by farmland and the rocky coastline. For non-golfing guests there is a spa offering massages and facials focused on "harnessing the benefits of sea water and mineral-rich seaweed", says the Daily Mail. This is a peaceful resort whose range of activities and fantastic restaurant mean non-golfing partners will enjoy a visit every bit as much as the golf-mad.
For more information, visit www.masseriasandomenico.com, or call 00 39 080 4827769.
For the casual golfer
Brittany offers championship courses and great food. Better still, it is "almost totally free of the stuffiness that all too often surrounds the game", says Duncan Forgan in the Daily Express. Base yourself at St Malo Hotel Golf & Country Club in Le Tronchet, where the atmosphere is "relaxed, with both story-swapping golf types, and casual denim-clad visitors", says Forgan. There are two excellent restaurants, one offering haute cuisine and another more casual brasserie, and a great golf course within the grounds. But head out for the best links: the hotel is also just a stone's throw from two championship courses.
Pleneuf-Val-Andre's 11th hole, bordered by a wide beach and beautiful hillsides, is considered by many to be "the most attractive hole in France", says Forgan. Meanwhile, Dinard – the second-oldest course in France – is "a wild and rugged test, in keeping with age-old golfing traditions". After golf at Dinard, head to the clubhouse for delicious, cheap queen scallops and a bottle of wine that reminds you what France is really famous for.
Your Golf Holidays offers tailor-made golf trips around the world, including Brittany. Visit www.yourgolfholidays.com or call 01277-824100 for more information.
One for fair-weather golfers
If you're tired of battling the weather when you're golfing, check out Mauritius. Blue skies, a lagoon and palm trees make Paradis Hotel and Golf Club look like it has come "straight out of a Bounty advert", says the Daily Mail. Alongside the luxury accommodation, four restaurants and watersports, are three international-standard golf courses. There's a kids' club, so your children will never be bored either, and once you've putted your ball into the last hole an 'after-golf massage' awaits at the resort's Clarins Spa.
And if you'd prefer a day on the beach to a day searching the rough for your golf ball, then prepare to be pampered. Staff are on hand to provide every-thing "from iced drinks by the pool to fresh towels on the beach", says the Daily Mail.
For more information, call 00 230 450 5410, or visit www.paradis-hotel.com.
