WHEELING, WV - From my mountain-top vantage point outside the charming Oglebay Resort and Conference Centre, I watch the smoky morning mist slowly rise from the belly of the lush valley below. Off in the distance, I see deer grazing in the sweeping pastures that drift off into a forest thick with giant pines. Above my head a hawk soars — it’s honed in on the small prey rustling in the tall grass nearby and oblivious to my presence. I suck in the dewy air and watch in awe as the sun pops up fro...

PANAMA CITY - When a country is shaped like the 13th hole at Augusta National, and its most famous landmark is a “water hole,” chances are it has some pretty good golf courses.

TORONTO - With Christmas fast approaching, you’re probably wondering what to put under the tree for that golfer in your life, who probably already has every gadget and club imaginable in their bag. Does he or she really need another driver that takes them 40 yards deeper into the woods or fescue?

KEMBLE, ON - The road that winds along lovely Georgian Bay and past the rolling countryside known as Georgian Bluffs, reminds me of the seaside Massachusetts highways I normally travel on vacation -— before the Canadian dollar became a Third World currency, that is.

MYRTLE BEACH, SC - The man with the devilish grin who welcomes me to America’s golf mecca says he’s taking me to see a Wizard and a Witch and later we’ll tackle a Man-O-War. Now he’s got me wondering: Is this the golf vacation I signed up for or the Harry Potter tour.

CORONADO ISLAND, CA. - It’s early morning — the sun is just beginning to show itself on the horizon — but already the parking lot at Coronado’s Municipal Golf Course is packed with cars. The starter, a small, elderly man with lots of tattoos painted on his muscular arms — “souvenirs of my Navy days” — is expecting another busy day.

JASPER, AB - Cleopatra never looked more radiant. Spread out in front of her “Pyramid,” with the mid-day sun highlighting her curvaceous shape, the men standing before this natural beauty quiver with excitement as they get set to approach her.

JACKSON, MISS. - The sun broke through a cluster of tall pines as we made our way up a winding road in the direction of a Mississippi golf resort nestled in the rolling hills area of the state’s idyllic east central region.

MEADOWS OF DAN, VA. - Primland Resort’s Highland golf course sits atop Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains like a crown on green velvet.

MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA - The traffic on normally hectic High St. has all but vanished as we stroll along the main downtown thoroughfare on a delightful summer’s evening in this charming home of West Virginia University.