As 2025 winds down, a new kind of golf travel is taking centre stage.

It’s been a year of rediscovering the joy of being out in the world — teeing off in new places, meeting people, collecting stories around dinner tables, and finding yourself somewhere that feels different from home in all the best ways.

But something deeper has happened too. Golfers aren’t just choosing destinations; they’re choosing experiences. They’re chasing the feeling a place gives them.

Because the best golf trips aren’t defined by scorecards — they’re defined by something far more powerful:

By the people you meet.

By the moments you didn’t see coming.

By the way a landscape makes you breathe.

By the atmosphere you step into.

By the memories that stay long after the suitcase is unpacked.

So here it is — not a list of destinations, but a guide to the best places in the world for the feelings golfers crave most.

A celebration of the places where golf meets something bigger — joy, beauty, rhythm, indulgence, stillness, awe.

Let the journey begin.

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The Best Place in the World for Golf as a Ceremony of Moments

Winner: Japan

Golf in Japan isn’t simply a sport — it is a ceremony, shaped by cultural rhythms that feel both grounding and quietly profound. From the moment you arrive, the tone is set. Golfers step out of their cars neatly dressed — men in jackets, women in polished attire — because here, presentation is a form of respect. You check into the clubhouse as though your checking into a 5 star resort. Then you’re guided through a locker room so immaculate you instinctively slow your steps. Timber. Warm light. Order. Calm.

You change into your golf clothes there — never rushed, never chaotic.

Japan invites you to prepare with intention.

On the course, the experience feels choreographed. Caddies move with grace, offering gentle encouragement and reading both the greens and the emotional tempo of your round. After nine holes, play pauses — not because you’re hungry, but because Japan understands the beauty of a deliberate break. You head inside to steaming curry, hand-prepared noodles, or a seasonal bento set. A meal, not a meal break. A moment, not an interruption.

Once you surrender to this rhythm, everything else in Japan begins to make sense.

The punctuality. The cleanliness. The reverence in a bow. The pride in every detail.

Japan’s culture doesn’t sit beside the golf — its culture is the golf.

This is a destination for the golfer who wants more than a round.

It’s for the golfer who wants to feel transformed by a way of life.

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The Best Place in the World for Life’s Pleasures — Wine, Food, Natture, Golf, and Luxurious Comfort

Winner: South Africa

South Africa is indulgence with soul — a place that invites you to savour, slow down, and stretch out each moment. Courses here are framed by sweeping mountain ranges, rolling vineyards, and coastlines that glow gold in the late afternoon light. They’re beautifully maintained, among the best in the world, and always paired with views that feel like paintings.

But the real essence of South Africa is found after the final putt drops.

It’s in the world-class wines poured with generosity.

In the meals that taste like stories.

In the hotels designed for deep rest and slow mornings.

In conversations that drift long into the night beneath star-filled skies.

Safari adds a heartbeat all of its own, but South Africa’s magic lies in how comfortable, warm, and looked-after you feel.

It’s luxury without pretence.

Beauty without effort.

A journey for travellers who want to indulge in all the good things — with golf simply enhancing the experience.

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The Best Place in the World for Pure Golf Leisure & Feel-Good Days

Winner: Thailand

Thailand is joy in its purest form — warm, vibrant, generous, and unmistakably welcoming. Step onto any tee box and your caddie will greet you with a smile that dissolves tension instantly. Thai caddies are famous for their spirit: part guide, part coach, part comedian, part cheerleader. If your round unravels, they’re the first to say “su su!” — keep fighting.

It’s impossible not to feel lifted.

But Thailand’s magic goes far beyond the fairways. After your round, you can enjoy a foot massage, an ice-cold drink, and a delicious meal — all for under $50. It’s escapism wrapped in hospitality, a kind of carefree leisure that the rest of the world simply cannot replicate.

Thailand is where golf becomes joy.

Where days stretch long and laughter comes easily.

Where the simple pleasure of being looked after becomes the heart of the journey.

It’s no surprise golfers return here year after year — not out of habit, but out of love.

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The Best Place in the World for Transformational, Heart-Opening Travel

Winner: Kenya

Kenya is Africa in its purest, rawest, most emotional form. You don’t just travel here — you feel it. You feel it in the rhythm of the music that greets you when you arrive. You feel it in the dancing, the colour, the warmth. You feel it in the profound generosity of people who may have very little, yet give everything.

Depending on the metric, Kenya might be seen as ‘first world’.

But in spirit?

It is one of the most developed.

You will find happiness here in places where people have almost nothing — a happiness rooted in community, gratitude, and an unshakeable connection to the land. And that moves you. It shifts something inside you.

Then there is the Masai Mara — a landscape so vast you lose your breath. Standing on its edge, with the sky stretching endlessly above you, you feel small and ancient and deeply human. Nature becomes a teacher again. The world feels wider, older, wiser.

Golf in Kenya isn’t about the score.

It’s about returning to something primal.

Something essential.

Something beautifully real.

This is a destination that reconnects you with Mother Nature — and with yourself.

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The Best Place in the World for Epic, Cinematic, Breath-Stealing Golf

Winner: New Zealand

New Zealand is epic in every sense — dramatic landscapes, cinematic vistas, air so pure it feels like a tonic, fairways perched on the edge of the world. This is a place built for the golfer who feels most alive in nature.

You stand on a cliff at Jacks Point, lake Wakatipu spanning till the horizon beneath you.

You aim across lakes so glassy they reflect the sky.

Snow-capped mountains frame your line of sight.

Every hole feels like a postcard you’ve somehow stepped into.

New Zealand inspires hero shots.

It whispers, “Go on. Take the risk.”

It makes you breathe deeper — but be careful, it may also take your breath away altogether.

This is a pilgrimage for golfers who want their surroundings to shake them awake.

Who want awe.

Who want scale.

Who want to feel like the world just expanded around them.

2026: The Year Golf Travel Becomes Transformational.

More and more golfers are choosing journeys that offer something deeper than a famous course. They want connection — to people, to landscape, to food, to rhythm. They want to feel something. They want moments that stay alive inside them, long after the final putt.

Golf is the thread.

Connection is the experience.

In 2026, the world is inviting you to explore both.

Choose the Journey That Makes You Feel Something

As you look ahead to the coming year, don’t ask yourself merely where you want to play.

Ask yourself what you want to feel.

Joy.

Stillness.

Wonder.

Connection.

Indulgence.

Transformation.

Awe.

Freedom.

The world is ready.

The fairways are calling.

And the stories waiting for you in 2026 are already beginning to unfold.

Whenever you're ready to explore them — we’ll help guide the way.

P.S. Thanks for reading this far. There are a few more destinations that truly deserve a place on this list—but we’re saving them for 2027. Think rugged coastlines, island paradises, alpine courses, northern lights, and golf  at the foothills of the alps. Stay subscribed and keep your passport ready… the world is calling.