BRAINERD, MN. – Championship golf course, The Pines at Grand View Lodge Resort, will be host to the first golf outing to support Central Minnesota Teen Challenge on Sunday, October 9^th. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Minnesota Teen Challenge campus in Brainerd, a provider of addiction treatment and recovery services for teens and adults struggling with drug and alcohol addiction.

By JD Latorre

French Lick, IN  - French Lick Resort, located in southern Indiana, invites golf aficionados to experience one of the premier golf destinations in America this summer and book one of the new summer golf package opportunities now available.

French Lick, IN - French Lick Resort, located in southern Indiana, invites golf aficionados to start planning and booking their 2011 golf trips now and experience an early season golf getaway with one of the resorts spring golf packages.

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. – The Lake of the Ozarks formed between 1929 and 1931 with the construction of the Bagnell Dam on the Osage River. Not long after the largest man-made lake in the Midwest came into being, vibrant tourism emerged along its shores. The first major vacation spot built on the lake, Tan-Tar-A Resort, turned 50 years old in 2010 and continues to go strong.

How did you get into golfing?

My older brother Bernie, who is ten years older than me, was an avid golfer during the days when there weren't any driving ranges around where we grew up in South Dakota.  So, everyone had their own "shag bag" and you would go to a fairway and hit your own balls, pick them up and start over. I would "shag" for Bernie, and the deal was that every time I shagged a bag, he would let me hit a few balls on my own. I think what this instilled in me was that hitting golf balls was a great privilege, something to cherish, and to this day, I cherish my time on the range.

Golfing destinations abound in the Columbus, Ohio area. The Buckeye State I'm told as a whole has fantastic golf. But if you have the opportunity to travel to Columbus, there are three courses you should make sure to visit.

WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. - The Wisconsin Dells area has been known to the residents of the upper Midwest as a great summer vacation destination for about 150 years. Since 1979, when the first water park opened here, The Dells has been known for both outdoor and indoor aquatic fun.

Perhaps couples golf trips are on the rise. Maybe more wives are accompanying their husbands on what were formerly guys-only golf junkets. Possibly the aging Baby Boomer population needs to work out the kinks caused by the 36-holes-a-day golf regimen, in concert with ever-increasing travel hassles.

Next time you pull out a Post-It Note to jot down a reminder for your upcoming tee-time, think about Minnesota. The land of 10,000 lakes (actually there’s 11,842) is the birthplace of that little square of yellow paper, and home to some travel golf opportunities you might not have heard of. The state has hosted all 13 sanctioned USGA championships and has 703,000 golfers – more per capita than any other state in the USA.

When Paul Schock first laid eyes on Cleve Trimble’s 2,500-acre stretch of land situated along the Snake River Canyon in the heart of Nebraska’s Sandhills region, a tingle ran up and down his spine and an obsession gripped him almost immediately. Where most people would see rolling hills carpeted in prairie grass and scrub brush, dotted with enormous sand dunes, Schock saw a place where he could completely lose himself in a passion that has engulfed him since he was a young man growing up in South Dakota.