Consider Spam musubi.

A slab of Spam, brushed with teriyaki sauce, seared on a griddle, set on rice and wrapped in seaweed, this Hawaiian-born dish — a staple at golf courses around the islands — is portable, delectable, protein-rich and free of messy condiments.

It’s everything a hot dog wishes it could be. 

And it gets my vote as one of the greatest culinary items in the game.

I cast my ballot for it, anyway, in a recent episode of the Destination Golf podcast, in which my co-host Simon Holt and I got to talking about our favorite clubhouse grub. Other candidates that made my list included the fish chowder at Caledonia Golf & Fish Club in Myrtle Beach. A smoldering red soup with a hint of chili spice, it is worth its weight in gold and yet — get this — it is ladled on the house as you make the turn at one of the region’s finest courses.

At the Olympic Club in San Francisco, the famous burger dog (yet another of my nods) isn’t complimentary. That’s the bad news. The good news, you don’t need any invite to those private grounds to get your hands on one. The very same burger — a lovingly seasoned mix of ground sirloin and chuck on a hot dog bun, traditionally served with onions, ketchup, mustard and relish —  is prepared by the same concessionaire on the North Course at Silverado Resort in Napa, at a snack shack that you pass not once but twice during your round. 

Opinions, of course, are like putters: every golfer’s got at least one.

And Simon had plenty of takes of his own, shouting out such items as the fish tacos at Cabo del Sol in Mexico and the sausage rolls at Sunningdale in England. And if pizza and golf strike you as an unlikely pairing, Simon would like to persuade you otherwise. You can hear about his favorite slice (hint: it isn’t at a golf course in New York) by checking out the clip above or, better yet, tuning into the entire Destination Golf episode here.

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