Eight years in the making and 352 pages later, the coffee table book Terroir of Golf – A Golf Book For Wine Lovers has emerged. With each section of prose and stunning photographs, the book, authored by Taba Dale, serves as a reminder of the immense connection that many have with golf and grapes.
Terroir is a French word that derives from the Latin terra, meaning earth, land or soil. Dale, who has also penned the travel books A Summer in Ireland and Golfers, Scotland Is Calling, says she regards wine and golf courses as living works of art.
“Golf and the wine culture were kind of screaming at me,” Dale says of why she spent almost a decade traveling and researching the book. “And it is totally cool to travel to these places and then discover the wine aspect of each golf destination. You went for the golf and then found there is an amazing wine component that is delightful to experience as well.”
Dale’s last of five chapters in the hardback book is entitled “Golf Clubs and Resorts with a Strong Wine Culture.” It highlights such locations as Adare Manor Resort in Ireland, Real Club Valderrama in Spain, The Course at Wente Vineyard in California and Whistling Rock Country Club in South Korea.
She provides some amazing details of her visits to several of the clubs, which should be on every avid golfer’s bucket list.
“When we went to Adare Manor, the head sommelier took us into the wine cave and showed us how port tongs are used to open an old, expensive bottle of wine,” Dale says. “The day we played Valderrama, I was fascinated by the gnarly bark of what turned out to be cork oak trees. This is where cork for wine bottles come from and the bark can be harvested and then regenerates itself. And at Whistling Rock in South Korea we were shown the 30,000-bottle wine cellar and 10,000-bottle tasting room. That blew me away.”
Want some inside info of professional golfers with their own wine labels? Dale provides close to 60 pages on how some of the greats of golf have made an impact on wine culture and its connection to the game. The list of pro golfers Dale highlights includes Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Gary Player, Annika Sorenstam, Cristie Kerr and Jan Stephenson.
“I think the wine aspect marries so well with golf because the game is a social one and we love spending time with our golfing friends, sharing our on-course experiences, often with dinner and that is when the wine flows,” Dale says.
Terroir is $95, including FedEx three-day shipping in the United States. .
PALMETTO DUNES TAKES TOP HONORS
The 2,000-acre Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, has been named a 2024 Golf Resort of the Year in the United States by the International Association of Golf Tour Operators.
Voted for by tour operator members of global golf tourism industry organization IAGTO, the awards recognize the outstanding service provided by golf resorts and golf destinations during the past year.
Nemacolin, an expansive resort in the Laurel Highlands of southwestern Pennsylvania, shared the North America honor with Palmetto Dunes.
“It is an honor for us at Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort to be recognized as one of two Golf Resorts of the Year in the USA by IAGTO,” says Brad Marra, the resort’s chief operating officer. “This means a great deal to us considering all of the other spectacular golf resorts, not only on Hilton Head Island, but across the entire state of South Carolina and beyond. We value the life-long relationships we have built with others in the industry and appreciate the willingness to work together to make the love of golf the strongest it’s been in history.”
Palmetto Dunes is bounded by 3 miles of Atlantic Ocean beach on one side and a sheltered Intracoastal Waterway marina on the other. The resort features vacation home and villa rentals, a trio of world-class golf courses, an award-winning tennis and pickleball center, and an 11-mile inland salt-water lagoon system for kayaking and fishing.
The South Carolina resort has also been named one of the 25 World’s Best Family Getaways by Travel + Leisure magazine.
Meanwhile, Nemacolin features two Pete Dye-designed golf courses, a renowned golf academy, a rod and range club, and a casino. Forbes Travel Guide honored Nemacolin with its prestigious Five Star-rated Award in 2023.
GOLF TRENDING IN POSITIVE DIRECTION
Golf rounds in the United State are trending 2% ahead of the midyear total from 2023 — a year during which more rounds of golf were played than any time in history, according to the National Golf Foundation.
It might seem like a modest year-over-year change, but the bigger picture reveals the demand for recreational golf continues to reside in record territory. And the numbers continue to reinforce that the industry is enjoying a “new normal” when it comes to play.
In the 49 months since pandemic-related restrictions on golf were lifted, only three failed to outperform their pre-pandemic equivalents — using 2017-2019 monthly averages as the basis for comparison. In all three instances, April was the underperforming month. The reason? The month is statistically the most volatile month for rounds due to weather unpredictability.
The NGF reports that golf is thriving May through September — up a minimum of 13 percent in every peak season month dating back to 2020 when viewed using pre-Covid comps. Rounds are up an average of 17 percent during the 22 peak season months over the past five years.