By Bernard Burt
Golf & Spa What happens when your spouse is an avid golfer and you aren’t?
Becoming a golf widow used to be the answer. Now, many golf resorts feature spas that offer the best of both worlds: sport-specific therapy to get you in shape and facials to repair damage after the game. The ultimate destination is Scotland, the birthplace of golf, where the Old Course Hotel in historic St. Andrews sports a new Kohler Waters Spa.
Kohler’s first foray outside America builds on ancient tradition.‚ But there is much more to St. Andrews than golf. Walking the windswept beaches of the Atlantic Ocean, you discover cultural treasures of the ancient town that gave birth to golf. Plus in Scotland, you’re also sure to find delicious organic food, wild salmon, afternoon tea, Scotch malt whisky, and vintage French wines.
Like the original Kohler Waters Spa at The American Club in Kohler, Wisconsin, its Scottish sister reflects today’s lifestyle. Bagpipes and kilts mix with blazers and sweat suits. The hotel’s authentic pub overlooks the 17th hole on the Old Course, and an upscale brasserie offers panoramic views of the gorse-edged links within sight and sound of the sea.
With glorious views of the links from a fitness center full of Precor cardiovascular equipment and strength-training units, Kohler Waters Spa mixes intimate spaces with airy atriums and a rooftop whirlpool. Water sets the mood, from the mosaic waterfall wall to experiential showers, wet rooms, and marine treatments by Thalgo and Phyto-ceane. Swim laps in the glass-roofed pool, or relax in the thermal suite saunas and bubbling pools.
The spa’s salon menu ranges from Jane Iredale mineral cosmetics and Jessica nail care to Phytomer’s Fleurs skincare. Kohler’s exclusive men’s line JMK ( John Michael Kohler for Him ) also debuts here.
Signature treatments harness the healing power of the sea, blending minerals from seaweed and algae. Soak in Kohler’s overflowing infinity bath, called SOK, as chromatherapy enhances your mood with seasonal colors. Relax as contrasting waves of warm and cold water increase circulation throughout your body. The finishing touch is a soothing application of heather-infused oil.
The Old Course Golfer’s Tonic includes a relaxing massage of the back and your leg muscles to ease tension, followed by a soothing foot exfoliation, deep massage, and heated masque. For anyone feeling below par, this is a true tonic for body and spirit.
For more information call 011-44 (01334) 474371 or visit www.oldcoursehotel.co.uk
Scottish Links, American Style
The original Kohler Waters Spa links American and European traditions: golf on two Scottish-style links courses over rolling terrain, elegant accommodations in the Tudor-style hotel, and luxurious and unique spa services. Welcome to Wisconsin and the Village of Kohler, home of The American Club.
Destination Kohler began with the opening of The American Club in 1918 to house the company’s immigrant craftsmen. Language lessons and an introduction to American lifestyles classes were offered to help factory workers qualify for American citizenship. Now the former dormitory is part of a posh 240-room hotel with the best bathrooms in America and a restaurant called The Immigrant. Visit the museum of bathing to learn how to build a home spa at Kohler Design Center; shop for bathtubs, furniture, and gourmet food at The Shops at Woodlake; and tour workshops of Kohler Company. Escape to River Wildlife for lunch in a rustic lodge featuring seasonal game, or sign up for trap shooting.
Kohler Waters Spa launched a new tradition in 2000. The central atrium reflects the Roman origins of today’s bath rituals. Swim laps in the thirty-six-foot pool; relax by a mosaic tile waterfall wall; and experience the latest in hydrotherapy. Mood-enhancing chromatherapy tubs, a slipper-shaped copper bathtub, and the Highland Fling (a traditional Scotch hose treatment) stimulate the senses in twenty-one water-themed treatment rooms. With a rooftop whirlpool warmed by a stone fireplace, the Kohler Waters Spa takes bathing to new heights.
Romantic hideaway packages include accommodations in eleven new Immersion Suites with in-room spa services, sumptuous showers (featuring multiple shower heads), and a deck with a two-person whirlpool bath. Spa guests also have access to Kohler’s Sports Core fitness facilities, tennis center with Peter Burwash pros, and hiking trails in a nature preserve.
For more information call (920) 457-8000 or visit‚ www.americanclub.com‚
Virginia Links at The Homestead
Playing golf at one of America’s oldest health resorts, The Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia, links you to the Old Course in Scotland. Designed by Donald Ross, who apprenticed as a groundskeeper in St. Andrews, the Old Course at The Homestead was built in 1912. The transplanted Scotsman’s intricately shaped greens, set at slight angles, define strategic lines of play on this hilly, par 72 mountain course. Only here you can enjoy the hotel’s spring-fed pools. Dating from 1766, The Homestead still has a clothing-optional policy in the domed Jefferson Pools designed by our third president. (Suits are required during family hours, 10 to 12 each morning.) The Bath House spa provides therapy and beauty treatments, plus a state-of-the-art fitness center.
For more information call (540) 839-1766 or visit www.thehomestead.com
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