Hitting Some Fishing Holes Along With Golf Holes on Your Next Vacation

Great golf and great fly fishing are possible on a single trip. Here are a few resorts that cater to both.

It’s not a coincidence that many of the best and most appealing golf courses have a creek running through it. Not only can streams provide a lot of strategy, but they’re aesthetically pleasing, too.

But why stop there? If you love being out in nature, why not spend some time fly fishing? Because wherever there is great mountain golf, chances are there are some great trout streams nearby—but the two sports share more than geography. Both are solitary pursuits that require patience and skill. Even the motions are similar with a smooth back-and-through yielding the best results. It’s worth noting that some of the greatest golfers in the world are also well-known fly fishermen.

I know what you’re thinking: Oh, great. That’s all I need, another expensive, time-sucking sport. But fly fishing is not that. For one, all you need is one stick, not 14, and fly fishing doesn’t have to take four or five hours to enjoy. You might not catch anything because trout are notoriously wary creatures, but that’s what makes it a challenge. Plus, as Zen as golf can be, fly fishing in a babbling brook is inherently meditative, save for when you back-cast into a tree branch perhaps. (Note: fishing licenses are typically required but are easy enough to buy online.)

One of the best golf course-trout stream combos is at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Howard’s Creek, which the resort stocks regularly, flows through The Old White course. On a recent trip there in September, I caught two nice-sized brown trout right along the par-4 13th hole one day after playing the historic course, which was designed by the father of golf course architecture in America, C.B. Macdonald.

Hall of Fame golfer Sam Snead loved fishing and caught plenty at The Greenbrier / Courtesy of The Greenbrier

Two of the best things about fishing Howard’s Creek is that it’s right on property and the fish aren’t as skittish at the sight of people as those in more remote areas. There’s a fly-fishing shop in the main hotel with knowledgeable staff who can tell you what kind of flies or nymphs are biting (dry flies, which float, are better when there are shadows on the water so the fish can see them, compared to nymphs, which sink). Guests can just go it alone or book two-hour guided trips on property or three-hour trips off-property with rod, reel, tackle and waders provided. There’s even a fly-tying class that combines an introduction to local craft beers, bourbons or other spirits.

On the west coast, few places are better than Sunriver Resort near Bend, Oregon, for golf and fly fishing. Two rivers, the Big Deschutes and Little Deschutes, flow through the aptly named Crosswater course, an incredibly scenic and challenging Bob Cupp design. As good as the golf is (like at The Greenbrier, there are three championship courses and a nine-hole par-3), the fly fishing might be even better.

With prolific bug hatches, central Oregon is usually responsible for record brook and brown trout catches. Combing the two pastimes at Sunriver is so popular that they even have a name for it: “Fins & Skins.” The resort offers one-and-a-half and three-hour float trips right on property on the Deschutes, although you need to have your own gear. Guests can also fish at one of the stocked lakes in the residential resort community of Caldera Springs.

Plenty of visitors to Oregon's Sunriver Resort tee it up in the morning and fish in the afternoon / Courtesy of Sunriver Resort

For those new to the sport, it’s best to book a trip through Sunriver's Hook Fly Shop, which can provide all the gear and instruction you need. A lot of golfers will play in the morning and then spend the afternoon wading the Fall River, a fly fishing-only, catch-and-release river just 15 minutes away. Hook Fly Shop also does four-hour float trips on the Big Deschutes as well as a couple of lakes in the area. “On the river you get more quantity, and on the lake you get more quality because they grow a little faster,” says Hook Fly Shop co-owner Josh White. “A lot of golfers get introduced to fly fishing when they come here because it's just so convenient, easy and fun.”

If there’s one golf resort where golf and fishing are inextricably linked it’s Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale, Missouri. Not only do the Ozarks have some fantastic fly fishing, but the resort is owned by Bass Pro Shops owner Johnny Morris. The lodge overlooks giant Table Rock Lake, which is known for great bass fishing. Two marinas can accommodate any golfers looking to set out on a boat on one of the best fishing spots around. With five courses the golf is pretty good, too, including the first public course by Tiger Woods, Payne’s Valley.

With miles of crystal-clear creeks, Dogwood Canyon Nature Park, about a 25-minute drive down a scenic highway, is the place to fly fish. The resort offers guided trips with all the necessary equipment, as well as a short tutorial for beginning fly fishers. The four-hour excursions are usually in the morning when the park first opens, so fishing and golf on the same day are not recommended. You can also fish on your own in the park and rent rods and tackle at the General Store in Dogwood Canyon.

Among the five golf courses at outdoorsman's paradise Big Cedar Lodge is the Tiger Woods-designed Payne's Valley / Courtesy Big Cedar Lodge

Given that fly fishing originated across the pond, it’s only fitting that we include one from the U.K. But at Gleneagles in central Scotland, you won’t be fly fishing for trout, but salmon. During the fully guided adventure on the River Tay just a short drive from the hotel, guests will learn how to read the water, choose a fly based on river conditions and finally how to hook, play and land the iconic Atlantic salmon. The biggest differences fly fishing for salmon is that you use larger, more colorful flies and longer rods designed to cover larger rivers Atlantic salmon like to inhabit.

After a morning on the river, guests will also get to indulge in a wonderful lunch inside an authentic salmon fishing “bothy” with picturesque views of the river. It’s possible to fish and golf on the same day, says country sports manager Yuri Janssen, but it’s best to separate the two. The renowned golf resort, which hosted the 2014 Ryder Cup, has three highly touted courses.