Globetrotting Gems 2026
CG and Travel There and Back takes you tee to tee around the world
By Bob Sherwin • CG Staff Writer
Just about everyone who has taken up the game of golf has a bucket list — time-honored or well-regarded courses around the world that one day they dream of playing.
When the day arrives that those folks are willing to go the extra mile or pay the extra buck to realize their golf goals, they might want to speak with Michelle Wicks Cypher. Michelle co-owns the Kennewick-based Travel There and Back agency with her husband Michael. For decades, they have specialized in sending mostly Northwest golfers to far-off golfing dreamlands.
They have the knowledge, contacts and sources that can get their clients on many of the outstanding courses in the world, plus design cool experiences once the clubs are put away.
Here are some of their most requested global golf destinations that Michelle and Michael have been sending golfers, singles, couples, foursomes and beyond: Mexico, British Columbia, Portugal, South Africia and New Zealand.
British Columbia
Many golfers have been sent to the Vancouver and Whistler areas over the years, but Michelle has seen significant golf growth in the Okanagan Valley area, east of Vancouver. It is a much drier area known for more than 200 wineries, fruit orchards, the scenic Okanagan Lake and a few dandy golf layouts.
“It’s really considered a destination, staying at one resort and branching out to a bunch of different courses within a 30- to 50-minute drive,” Michelle said. “It’s like the landscape you’d find in Central Oregon or Eastern Washington. Also, there is a high density of wineries.”
One recommended golf destination is the two-course Predator Ridge Resort in Vernon, B.C., nestled among several lakes. The Predator Course is a links style layout. that has been voted the best public course in B.C. and is the two-time host of the World Skins Game. The other, the Ridge Course, is known for its beautiful granite rock outcroppings, elevation changes and stunning vistas.
The Harvest Club golf course in Kelowna, B.C., “is kind of cool because it’s built into a working orchard,” Michelle said. “If you go north of there, a day trip, there’s Tobiano in Kamloops. It sits on a bluff above the Kamloops lakes. It’s beautiful.”
For non-golfing folks who want to enjoy other Valley delights, she suggests the Sparkling Hill Resort in Vernon, B.C., an adults-only 146-room wellness spa resort. It’s adjacent to the Predator Ridge courses. Pet friendly, too.
Mexico
For years, the agency has sent scores of travelers/golfers to the well-developed Cabo resorts, at the end of the Baja Peninsula. But Michelle said there are two other burgeoning and disparate golf areas: Puerto Vallarta on the West Coast, tight against the Pacific, and Cancun, a resplendent spit of land on the Yucatan Peninsula that reaches out into the Gulf of Mexico.
“We love Puerto Vallarta. They have a lot of really cool courses in the area,” Michelle said. “There are two Jack Nicklaus courses about an hour outside of Puerto Vallarta called Punta Mita, the Bahia course and Pacifico. What’s really cool about that area is the scenery. Just beautiful scenery.”
She said Pacifico has the unique distinction of having the world’s ‘only natural island green.’ It’s an optional par-3 19th hole, 194 yards straight out towards the ocean called “Tail of the Whale.”
“By the way, it can only be played at low tide,” Michelle said. “So, you have to time your golf. For those golfers who have a bucket list of courses they like to cross off, they can say they played there.”
Another course in the area that also has a unique feature is Vidanta Vallarta, a Greg-Norman-design that has hosted the PGA Tour’s Mexico Open. The course, which winds around the Ameca River, has the world’s longest golf cart suspension bridge, over the Ameca.
Norman also designed another elegant course in the Cancun area, Playa Mujeres. The area also features a Robert Trent Jones course, Riviera Maya, just 25 kilometers from the Tulum Ruins. Michelle’s agency can arrange tours to such sites as well as rum runs and tequila trips.
A popular adventure for her clients has been a trip to Jalisco, about an hour and half drive from Puerto Vallarta. It’s the tequila capital of the world, where folks can walk the fields, witness the processing as well as relish the final product.
South Africa
The latest focus for golf in South Africa is the Paarl-Franschhoek area, east of Cape Town. It is one of the more well-to-do regions with a ton of golf and non-golf activities.
Nicklaus shows up again — the Pearl Valley Signature Golf Course. It’s in a pristine valley surrounded by the Simonsberg Mountain range. Nicklaus has said “it is one of the most spectacular settings in which I have designed a golf course.” It was ranked the third best course and one of its most popular destinations in the country.
Another top course is Steenberg Golf Club in the Constantia Valley, winding through vineyards. The distinctive Table Top Mountain is its backdrop.
Besides plenty of destination golf courses in the region, Cape Town has travel bucket lists as well. Safaris, for sure. You can drive to nearby game farms or take a short flight to Kruger National Park, where just about every African species can be spotted. There is even a golf course just outside the park gates, Skukuza Golf Club, where play can be held up at times by crossing creatures.
There’s a penguin habitat in the region. Robbins Island, where Nelson Mandela served decades of confinement, is just a short boat ride off Cape Town. Another boat can take you to an encounter with great white sharks. Table Top Mountain has a cable car to the summit and vineyards/wineries can be found in every direction.
Portugal
This is a country that has not only drawn increasing interest in golf but, for many Americans expats, it has become a ‘safe harbor’ for living a robust European lifestyle.
Michelle recommends the Algarve region, the southernmost point of Portugal, about 100 kilometers south of Lisbon along the Atlantic Ocean west/south coastlines. There are dozens of quality courses along the southern edge. She likes the Old Course in Vilamoura, the ‘Grande Dame’ of the region.
“It’s a challenging, world-class golf experience. It’s on people’s bucket list,” she said.
Another one that should be on many golfers’ list is Quinta do Lago, an eight-time host of the Portugal Open.
Jack Nicklaus also has a design there, Monte Rei, a splendid course more inland, near the town of Tavira. It is consistently ranked No. 1 in Portugal.
“And especially for those golfers who have that checklist, another course (Vale de Lobo) features the most photographed hole in Europe (Vale de Lobo 16th hole at the Royals Course),” Michelle added.
“For the 16th hole, your shot needs to carry over a red sandstone cliff.”
The best shot on this hole, for many, might be the one with their phone camera.
New Zealand
There are few places on earth that have more spectacular golf vistas than New Zealand. The views are stunning, and the golf ain’t bad.
“Kauri Cliffs is consistently ranked as one of the world’s top courses,” Michelle said of the North Island gem. “It’s perched on a cliff top. Six of the holes are played alongside a cliff, 500 feet down. I don’t think you’re getting your ball back if that shot goes wide.”
Another course probably represented in every coffee table golf photography book is the Tom Doak-designed Cape Kidnapper, also on the North Island. It is carved out of a mountain edge where you basically hit from cliff top to cliff top.
“You’re hitting to fingers of land going out into the ocean,” Michelle said. “It’s just a modern marvel. How they can make a golf course there kind of blows your mind.”
Te Arai Links is another North Island two-course set hugging the ocean. The North course was fashioned by Doak, while the South course was designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.
The South Island’s most noted course is Jack’s Point, more inland between the Remarkables Mountain range and Lake Wakatipu. It is picturesque to a mind-numbing degree.
The ‘Jack’ in the name is not Nicklaus. It’s actually named after a local Maori man, Jack Tewa, who bravely saved a gentleman (and himself) from drowning when their boat capsized in 1862.
Just a few miles away (everything in New Zealand is just a few miles away) is a unique layout, The Hills Golf Club. It is famous for its large-scale metalwork sculptures.
“You’re kind of playing through an art gallery,” Michelle said.
Another quality South Island course is Millbrook, with two 18-hole courses and the host of the annual New Zealand Open. It was designed by Sir Bob Charles, the legendary lefty PGA Tour icon.
New Zealand also offers an abundance of non-golf reasons to travel there. Among them, as Michelle points out, “Of course, New Zealand, wine. Hello.”