Care for some golf with your turkey?

By Tim McDonald

National Golf Editor, Golf Publisher Syndications

updated 8:01 p.m. ET Nov. 10, 2006

Thanksgiving is a uniquely American time for families to get together, stuff themselves with turkey and commemorate the country's beginnings.

It is also the focal point of a certain kind of holiday golf vacation. Whether you want to combine your turkey with your tee times or hop on a plane with a bellyful of bird to work it off somewhere warm, here are what some top destinations are serving up this season.

Las Vegas

Las Vegas offers golfers some of its lowest hotel rates of the year Thanksgiving week, and it's not hard to find an appropriate holiday feed. Almost every hotel on The Strip offers a traditional Thanksgiving spread, and plenty of untraditional options as well.

"You can get a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings three or four times," said Scott Bowles of vacation packager Las Vegas Golf Travel.

Don't laugh. Tourists have been known to spend turkey day grazing from one big Thanksgiving casino spread to another.

In addition, there may be no better place to savor the holiday weekend's orgy of football. Even that Detroit Lions-Miami Dolphins game can suddenly get interesting if you have some cash riding on it.

As for the golf, this is your chance to play The Falls, Reflection Bay, Badlands Golf Club, Paiute Resort or some of other high-end tracks without much congestion on the tees. Painted Desert Golf Club is a good value play for a larger group.

If you go Las Vegas tee times and golf package info Scottsdale-Phoenix tee times and golf package info Palm Springs tee times and golf package info Florida tee times and golf package info Carolinas tee times and golf package info Orlando tee times and golf package info

"You have more people coming to Vegas around the holidays in general," said Eileen Crawford, senior sales manager at the Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas.

"Now people decide to have the whole family meet in Vegas rather than all traveling to some cold-weather location to get together. You've got the golf, the spas, the gambling and some decent weather. The secret's getting out."

Scottsdale-Phoenix

Want something a little different this Thanksgiving? Head out to the Raven Golf Club at Verrado in Phoenix's West Valley.

There's only one tee time - a 9 a.m. public shotgun start - and a full-dress Thanksgiving feast waiting in the large clubhouse restaurant. You get your turkey and a round on a course that can contend for the Arizona top 10 for less than $100.

Slide show   Top 10 ‘accessible’ golf courses From California to Florida, these amazing greens are open for anyone to play. more photos

Many of the major Scottsdale golf resorts also offer holiday meals. Remington's at Scottsdale Resort Plaza adds some elegance to turkey day with live piano music in the evening. The Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa has three nines of golf and different meal options in each of its three restaurants.

For the truly decadent Thanksgiving weekend, though, it's hard to beat a round at Troon North followed by a meal at the linked Four Seasons Resort's Acacia restaurant.

MORE FROM WINTER TRAVEL

Winter Travel Section Front

Mountain resorts redline the fun meter Top 10 black diamond ski runs Amazing adventures America's most dangerous slopes Celebrity winter hideaways Top 10 cities for shopaholics Winter Travel Section Front   Add Winter Travel headlines to your news reader: