Golf marketing professionals tend to have a fairly free and easy way with words. Terms like 'championship course' and 'signature hole,' it seems, have no meaning other than what the writer of a press release wants them to mean at any given time. But few words are so roundly abused as the simple term 'links.' Look at a selection of golf course websites, and you would be forgiven for thinking that a links golf course can be built on any old piece of land. Links doesn't have to be by the sea, it doesn't have to have sandy soil, it doesn't have to have dunes. If some golf marketers are to be believed, a links course is defined by the absence of trees: try telling this to a member at Formby!

What began just a short time ago — Summer of 2002 to be exact — has matured into one of the hottest destinations in North America. By the year 2010 it is expected that Puerto Peñasco (known as "Rocky Point" to regular visitors) will have more luxury oceanfront resort rooms than in all of Cancun.

The Wigwam Golf Resort sits on roughly 700 acres of prime real estate in the growing West Valley of Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona. Its several hundred resort buildings, 54 holes of golf and twelve miles of cart and resort paths comprise one of the largest urban golf resorts in the world. While the Wigwam is much larger and far more complex than a new bicycle or a DVR with the TiVo feature, why is it then that the bicycle and the DVR come with an owner's manual, and a major destination golf resort doesn't?

The Wigwam Golf Resort & Spa located in Litchfield Park was among the top winners in Golf Inc. Magazine's third annual Renovation of the Year competition. "We are pleased to honor the industry's leaders in what is a very active, but often overlooked segment of this industry," said Katina Cavagnaro, publisher of Golf Inc. "The quality of nominees were exceptionally high." Magazine editors will honor winners at the annual Development Awards Gala at the Golf Inc. Conference in La Quinta, California, April 10th. Winners of the Renovation of the Year contest, which is sponsored by Syngenta, will be featured in the April issue of Golf Inc.

Bunkers, Pits & Other Hazards , the first golf architecture title to be published about golf course hazards in nearly 100 years, is now available through booksellers. The first book devoted to golf course hazards, Hazards, was written by Aleck Bauer in 1913.

Starwood Hotels has engaged Forrest Richardson to prepare a comprehensive master plan for its Colonial Hotel & Conference Center property in Boston, Massachusetts. The property includes an 18-hole golf course designed by the late William Mitchell.

Readers of T&L GOLF, the acclaimed golf-travel publication of American Express Publishing Group, has announced results of its annual survey of resort-goers. The Wigwam Golf Resort & Spa, located west of Phoenix, Arizona, led the pack of all U.S. resorts with the most rankings Ñ eight in all Ñ in the highly competitive Southwest Region.The Wigwam received top rankings in four categories; "Best Golf Resort for Buddy Trips", "Best Golf Resort for Families", "Most Underrated Golf Resort" and "Most Underrated Resort Course". The historic resort also received a second place award for "Best Resort Golf Course". That award went to the flagship Gold Course, recently restored under the guidance of golf course architect Forrest Richardson.

Many have questioned whether the City of Ventura's recently completed reconstruction of the Buenaventura Golf Course can satisfy the expectations of local golfers and lure visitors from an increasingly shrinking and competitive regional golf market. Our answer is a resounding yes.

Eleven new holes, 18 new greens, a new irrigation system, 18 reseeded fairways, new ponds, a refurbished ClubhouseÉBut the same familiar, classic Billy Bell design.When noted Billy Bell redesign specialist Forrest Richardson was retained by the City of Ventura to rebuild the 73-year old Build Buenaventura Golf Course, many of the locals, including some vocal Men's Golf Club members, were skeptical that the project would amount to anything more than an overpriced solution to the site's many obvious safety problems - and an "overpriced solution" that would likely lop off too much existing yardage and jeopardize much of the old course's charm.

Golf Solutions, owners and managers of the 54-hole Wigwam Resort west of Phoenix, Arizona have begun restoration work on the famous Gold Course and portions of the Blue Course. Using aerial images from the 1960s, when Robert Trent Jones, Sr. completed his transformation of the property from 18-holes to 36-holes, golf course architect Forrest Richardson is leading the effort.