Travel Insider: Best muni for the money, Mount Airy

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Courtesy of Pinion Hills Golf Club

Each week, LINKS Magazine will provide travel news and notes. For more information from LINKS Magazine, please visit the official website.

TRAVEL INSIDER

Huge Hefner's wedding may be off, but the Mount Airy Playboy Golf Scramble will take place July 18 at Mount Airy Casino & Resort in the Poconos, the famed honeymoon capital in eastern Pennsylvania. The inaugural event, said Gary Shea of Playboy Golf, will be "a first-class tournament that includes Playmates, parties, and putts!" Included is a pre-tournament party at the resort's Gypsies Lounge & Nightclub on July 17. The Playboy Golf Tour, which will make 15 stops around the nation this year, is open to all amateurs. No USGA handicap is required. Mount Airy's golf course, modeled after the "Best 18 Holes in America," features come-hither blind shots and 10 water holes. Click here for more information

Vermont's Woodstock Inn & Resort, home to one of the testiest pint-sized courses in New England, has teamed with the Quechee Club to offer an enticing golf package. The Quechee Club, a private facility, features a pair of solid layouts by Geoffrey Cornish. The resort's own course, an antique links rebuilt by Robert Trent Jones in 1969, is short on the card at 6,052 yards (par 70) but calls for numerous forced carries over a winding brook. The package includes two nights' accommodations, two rounds of golf with cart, breakfast daily and other extras. Through Oct. 31, rates start at $458 per person, per night based on double occupancy, minimum two-night stay. Click here for more information

Golf and big-game viewing on your bucket list? South African Airways now offers nonstop service in both directions between New York's JFK Airport and Johannesburg, South Africa. SAA's Premium Business Class flyers can enjoy fully-flat 180-degree seats, on-demand audio and visual entertainment, gourmet meals and award-winning South African wines. Click here for more information

Feeling lucky? Golfers who travel south of Dublin, Ireland, to play either Druids Glen or Druids Heath from Monday to Thursday through Aug. 31 will be entered into a draw, from which daily winners will be invited back to play in the Druids Glen Shot in a Million competition on Sept. 16. On that day, roughly 75 players will have an opportunity to win 1 million euros by making a hole-in-one on the par-3 12th hole. Click here for more information

It's never too early to plan to attend the Masters -- especially if you've never been. Scottish native Ian Jack of SGH Golf has been arranging trips to the world's most exclusive golf tournament for nearly 30 years. He gets his tickets directly from patrons, so there have never been any problems like there have been with other tour companies. Click here for more information

BARGAIN AND A... BINGE

BARGAIN

You'll have to top off the tank to get to Farmington in the remote northwest corner of New Mexico, but the reward is Pinon Hills, the best muni for the money in America. Sculpted from a high desert plateau in the Upper Sonoran zone, this stunning mile-high layout, designed by Ken Dye, is creased by long arroyos and surrounded by red-rock mesas, sandstone cliffs, and pinon-cloaked hills, with tall peaks in Colorado's La Plata Mountains in view to the north. Non-resident rate for walkers is $41 weekdays, $47 weekends. Or opt for the summer afternoon and twilight specials. Green fees from noon to 3:50 p.m. are $35 with cart; green fees after 4 p.m. are $25. Stay-and-play packages are available at several budget and mid-priced hotels nearby, including Holiday Inn Express, Courtyard by Marriott and Best Western. Click here for more information

BINGE

Kauri Cliffs and Cape Kidnappers, ranked among the finest courses in the Asia-Pacific region, have issued the Ultimate New Zealand Golf Package. The nine-night program features three nights' accommodations at The Lodge at Kauri Cliffs and The Farm at Cape Kidnappers, with two rounds each at their respective courses. The program also includes three nights at Matakauri Lodge, a new sister property in the adventure sports mecca of Queenstown, with a round each at Hills Golf Club and Jack's Point. Per person pricing ranges from $8,197 NZD (May through August) to $12,742 NZD (November through March). The NZ dollar = approximately .80 USD. Click here for more information