REAL DEALS
Keep your head down, your eyes on the ball, and save

By Richard P. Carpenter, Globe Staff, 3/30/2003

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Thwack! For a golfer there is no sweeter sound than that of club hitting ball. And if the game takes place on an excellent course in a scenic destination, all the better. These days, golf-centered vacations are no more unusual than hook shots into sand traps, but certainly a lot more enjoyable. Among the possibilities:

Pawleys Plantation, on Pawleys Island, S.C., has a Tour Trio package through Sept. 4, costing $294 to $474 a person, double occupancy. The package includes three nights in a golf villa, a daily buffet breakfast, a round of golf at three courses (one of them the plantation's Jack Nicklaus-designed course), range balls, and carts. Pawleys Island is 25 miles south of Myrtle Beach International Airport on the so-called South Strand, where the pace is slower, the area less congested than at Myrtle Beach, and the beaches and shopping are fine. Golf For Women magazine recently saluted the area.

Call 800-367-9959 or visit www.pawleysplantation.com.

The 2,400-acre Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort near Destin, Fla., gives players a shot at a new Robert Trent Jones Jr.-designed course via a Raven Daily Golf Package. Included are accommodations at the Bayside Inn or a bayside villa and daily golf for two or four at the Raven Golf Club. Through April 26, prices are from $166 per golfer. From April 27-May 21, the cost is from $154 each.

Call 866-602-8177 or visit www.sandestin.com/pr.asp.

Guests 60 or older will find 20 percent savings and $100 in "Resort Bucks" at the Sagamore in Bolton Landing, N.Y. Rates start at $167 a night May 1-22 and $215 from May 23-June 30. Those who book a two-night stay get the Resort Bucks, which can be used at the golf course, spa, or the resort's six restaurants and bars. The 18-hole, par 70 course was designed and built in 1928 by Donald Ross, and is known for its undulating greens and fairways lined with white birches and giant pines. The resort itself is on a private island 60 miles north of Albany.

Call 800-358-3585 or visit www.thesagamore.com.

Long known for its beauty, beaches, and lobsters, Prince Edward Island in Atlantic Canada is rapidly becoming celebrated for its golf courses as well. There are more than two dozen courses and nearly three dozen golf packages, which Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine recently called "stunningly inexpensive." Indeed, prices start at about $55 for cottage accommodations and a round of golf off season to about $450 in peak season for three nights in the five-star Rodd Crowbush Golf & Beach Resort and three rounds of golf at courses that include the award-winning Links at Crowbush Cove.

For a 2003 Island Value Vacations booklet, which lists golf and other themed packages, call 88-PEI-PLAY or visit www.peiplay.com. Ask also for the complete visitors' guide.

Eastern Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley has championship courses and a variety of overnight packages beginning at $88 per person, with lodging, breakfast, 18 holes of golf, greens fees, a cart, and all taxes included.

For a Lehigh Valley Stay `N Play Golf Package Guide, call 800-747-0561 or visit

www.lehighvalleypa.org.

Four hotels and resorts on Isla Cozumel, the biggest island in the Mexican Caribbean, have packages centered on Cozumel's first-ever golf course, which opened in late 2001. They are the Melia Cozumel All-Inclusive Golf & Beach Resort (800-33-MELIA or www.solmelia.com), with a three-night, two-days-of-golf package starting at $419; Playa Azul Golf & Beach Hotel (011-52-987-87-20199; www.playa-azul.com), with a three-night package beginning at $327; Presidente Inter-Continental Resort Cozumel (800-327-0200; www.cozumel.intercontinental.com), with a three-night package starting at $405; and the Reef Club Isla Cozumel Beach Resort (888-773-4349; www.reefclubcozumel.com), with a three-night, two-rounds-of-golf package beginning at $420. Prices are per golfer.

The packages include a variety of amenities, and the resorts have several other golf deals as well.

Air Jamaica's four-day, three-night Golf Triple Play vacation starts at $949 per person from Boston. The program includes round-trip economy air fare, accommodations, all meals and drinks, 18 holes of golf per day on any of the island's three championship courses, on-island airport transfers, cart and caddy, advance guaranteed tee times, club storage, unlimited use of the resorts' driving range, and use of the health club and tennis courts.

Call 800-568-3247 or visit www.airjamaicavacations.com.

Hawk's Landing is a par 72, 18-hole championship course, footsteps from the lobby at the Orlando World Center Marriott Resort in Orlando, Fla. The 2003 Golf Package features two rounds of golf per day, greens and cart fees, and deluxe accommodations, and costs $269 per room through April 15, $249 April 16-June 13, and $159 with unlimited golf for two and free play for youngsters June 14-Sept. 12. Pool-view rooms are $10 extra per night.

Call 800-621-0638 and ask for rate code GLFA, or visit www.marriottworldcenter.com.

Three-, five-, and seven-night Le Meridien Golf Breaks are available at 26 Le Meridien resorts in destinations such as Cancun, Mexico; St. Martin, French West Indies; Bali, Indonesia; Sardinia, Italy; Portugal's Algarve; and Dubai. Packages include buffet breakfast, one 18-hole round of golf every day, and any transfers to the course. Prices vary depending on location; for example, Le Meridien La Cocoteraie, Guadeloupe, begins at about $233.

Call 800-543-4300 or visit www.lemeridien.com.

$10 car rentals

Through April 14, Enterprise Rent-A-Car has weekend car rentals starting at $9.99 a day for an economy or compact car at its 4,800 neighborhood locations. Upgrades to other vehicles are available in increments of $5 per day, up to a premium sedan.

(The fine print: Cars must be rented from Friday to Monday for a three-day total of $29.97. Prices are higher at airports and in some metro areas, including Boston.)

Visit www.enterprise.com or call 800-RENT-A-CAR.

Calling home

In troubled times — or any time, for that matter — it's reassuring to know that while you are abroad, you can be in touch with people back home. The Planetfone company rents cell phones that allow you to make and receive calls between the United States and most countries in Europe, Asia, and the Mideast.

Rentals are $40 a week plus air time charges, which vary but, according to Planetfone, are lower than those charged by hotels and pay phones. Renters receive the phones via FedEx.

Call 888-988-4777 or visit www.planetfone.com.

"1-2-Free"

Under Amtrak's new "1-2-Free" offer, one person pays full price, the second half price, and the third nothing. If you're traveling solo, you get 25 percent off if you use discount code H305.

(The fine print: Tickets must be bought by April 30 for travel through Aug. 28.)

Call 800-USA-RAIL or visit www.amtrak.com.