When the world reopened after Covid-19, tee sheets at top courses filled up fast. Demand has outstripped supply ever since, especially in bucket-list destinations like Scotland and Ireland, where they’re now taking bookings for well into 2026. But it’s a big planet, and golf has become hotter everywhere in the wake of the pandemic. So if you haven’t already made plans for your 2025 golf getaway, you’ve got a lot of great choices—including some that you may not have considered before. Here are six recommendations for your next big golf trip. All of them offer outstanding golf, each with its own unique climate, culture, character, and vibe.
Costa Navarino, Greece
Greece may not be the first place that comes to mind for golf. But Costa Navarino is a full-fledged destination that’s become one of continental Europe’s preferred golf getaway spots. Situated on the southwest coast near Kalamata, Costa Navarino is a world unto itself—one where visitors can explore the natural beauty, history, and tradition of the region. Guests can choose from four five-star hotels, each with a different architectural style, and each with its own dazzling array of shops, restaurants, swimming pools, and beaches.
You’ll have four very different golf courses to choose from, too—top-quality courses that earned Costa Navarino the title of “Best Emerging Golf Destination” at the 2020 World Golf Awards. The resort’s Dunes Course takes its name from the tall dunes that separate it from a Blue Flag beach. It treks over low hills and through olive groves, offers spectacular sea and river views, and serves up all the challenge you could want—along with the same excellent playing conditions you’ll find at all the Costa Navarino courses. The International Olympic Academy Course and the Hills Course sit on higher ground and offer panoramic views of historic Navarino Bay and the Ionian Sea beyond. Both feature broad, sweeping fairways, penal red-sand bunkers, and imaginative putting surfaces. The Bay Course is the easiest of Costa Navarino’s four, but it’s no pushover. And the views it commands may make it hard to keep your mind on your swings.
After golf, you’ll want to visit one of the property’s two agoras—lively, communal marketplaces where you can sip a craft cocktail, dine on fabulous Greek specialties, shop, or even take in an open-air movie. They’re walkable from any of the hotels, as are the property’s amazing spas, and they give you the feeling that you’re in an authentic Mediterranean village. Costa Navarino
England’s Sand Belt
English golf courses often take a back seat to their Irish and Scottish neighbors in the eyes of club-toting Americans. And that’s a shame. Along with its long list of stellar parkland courses and Open-rota links gems, England offers world-class heathland golf. Like links golf, heathland golf features firm, fast fairways, deep bunkers, and vexing greens. But trees come into play, too. And any fairways not lined by trees are bordered by gnarly, purple heather from which escaping unscathed can require a magician’s trick. Many of the sand belt’s top courses are private, but quite a few do welcome visitors. Among your best choices are the Old and New Courses at Sunningdale—World Top 100 designs both. The historic Old Course at Walton Heath is another World Top 100 titleholder. Site of the 2023 Women’s Open Championship, it’s a Golden-Age standout that stretches to over 7,400 yards and has one of the tougher opening stretches in golf. From the mortals’ tees, It’s endlessly fun to play
Another sand belt members’ club that welcomes visitors is The Berkshire, where the club’s two courses snake their way through corridors of heather and pines and traipse over hill and dale to well-guarded greens with endless movement to them. The Red Course is made up of six par threes, six par fours, and six par fives—so lots of birdie opportunities. The area is also the home of the Wentworth Club, with its three iconic parkland courses. It’s completely private, with a membership that includes Rory McIlroy and Premier League footballers. If you can wrangle an invite, don’t say no.
The place to stay is Pennyhill Park Hotel & Spa, a 120-acre enclave that treats guests like royalty. Its 124 uber-comfy rooms are all different, with luxurious amenities and baths. The 45,000-square-foot spa is state-of-the-art, with 23 treatment rooms, thermal and sensory experiences, swimming, and much more. And the dining—well, if the creative and sumptuous cuisine they dream up at Michelin-starred Latymer isn’t amazing enough, there are two other restaurants, along with relaxing bars, terraces and lounges. Prepare to be wowed. Pennyhill Park Hotel & Spa
The Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic’s beautiful beaches, expansive resorts, and wide range of things to do attract visitors like castaways to fresh water. The golf is superb, too. Home of the world-famous Teeth of the Dog course, Casa de Campo is a mega resort with luxury accommodations (including their exclusive new Premier Club suites), eight different dining experiences, a brand-new spa with a perfect menu of wellness offerings, a beach club, marina, equestrian and shooting facilities, and its own Mediterranean-style village, Altos de Chavón, which could be a tourist destination all by itself. The Pete Dye-designed Teeth of the Dog course, with seven holes running right along the coral-lined seashore, may be the main draw, but the three nines at the Dye Fore course and the resort’s equally challenging Links Course are just as eye-opening. Together, they make for an unforgettable golf escape to an enclave that’s without peer in the Caribbean.
On the D.R.’s east coast, more outstanding golf awaits. Start with the 45 holes at the Puntacana Resort: 27 at the La Cana Course and the championship 18, Corales, site of the PGA Tour’s Corales Puntacana Championship. Both have multiple, dramatic seaside holes that are Instagram posts waiting to happen. For even more seaside drama, venture 15 miles down the coast to Punta Espada GC, a must-play Jack Nicklaus design where more than half the holes have water views, including the thrilling, dogleg-right 17th, where your tee shot plays over a corner of the Caribbean. The place to stay in the area is the Westin Puntacana Resort and Spa, with its modern, ocean-view rooms, beach club, cigar bar, and outstanding food and beverage offerings at the Brassa Grill steakhouse and Boa pan-Asian restaurant. It’s the kind of resort where you’ll want for nothing and wish to come back as soon as you leave. Westin Puntacana Resort
Sensei Porcupine Creek, Rancho Mirage, California
The Palm Springs area is renowned for its mid-century modern architecture, mountain vistas, and wide range of outstanding golf courses, including the well-known tracks at PGA West. Recently, a 230-acre private estate in the Coachella Valley section of Rancho Mirage was transformed into an intimate, ultra-luxury, golf and wellness retreat called Sensei Porcupine Creek. The resort offers luxurious casitas, villas, and Estate House accommodation options; an extensive wellness program headlined by skilled fitness, yoga, nutrition, and mindset practitioners; nutrition-focused dining at Sensei by Nobu—and a magical, desert-oasis golf course that’s reportedly the most expensive ever built in California. The course is only open to resort guests, but those lucky enough to tee it up there after the course reopens for the season in November will marvel at its design, views, and pristine playing conditions. Sensei Porcupine Creek
St. Regis Bermuda Resort
Sun-seeking golfers may be familiar with the 18-hole gems at Bermuda’s Mid Ocean Club and Port Royal GC. But did you know there’s an 18-hole short course in St. George’s that’s every bit as fun to play? Guests at the laid back but ultra-sophisticated St. Regis Bermuda Resort enjoy access to Five Forts GC, named for the five forts that dot the adjoining landscape. Recently renovated, this hilly, mini-masterpiece is routed through lush fauna and along seaside cliffs that serve up scintillating ocean views. You can play it in three hours (or less), and when you’re done, you have the one-of-a-kind sanctuary that is the St. Regis Bermuda to enjoy, with endless creature comforts indoors and a beach club outdoors that’s the envy of its Bermuda neighbors.
St. Regis Bermuda Resort
Northwest Ireland
If you don’t want to wait until 2026 to play some outstanding links golf, make tracks for Northwest Ireland, where their lineup of knockout links courses will be happy to welcome you. The new St. Patrick’s Links at the Rosapenna Resort may top many visitors’ bucket lists, but that’s only the appetizer. At Carne and Enniscrone, you’ll chase your ball amongst the tallest dunes you’ve ever seen on a golf course. They’re as exhilarating as golf gets. Just up the lane there are yet more thrills at historic County Sligo GC and Donegal GC in Murvagh. At Ballyliffin GC, two truly awe-inspiring courses await, including the Glashedy Course, the “links in the sky.” These links courses are every bit as dazzling as any you’ll find anywhere—with green fees that are a fraction of the links world’s big-name courses’. Northwest Ireland