Several people have asked Marilyn and I how we go about planning our two week golf trip. If you are able to take a trip similar to this, maybe some of these tips can help you make your trip go smoothly.
Obviously, the first step is to determine what part of the country you are traveling. This may be determined by a special course you want to incorporate in your trip, a special attraction such as Mt. Rushmore that you always wanted to see, or in our case, a series of Top 100 courses that can be played on a daily basis. Since this is a golf trip, you need to plot all the courses you want to play on a blank United States map to determine what is physically possible to travel and play each day. I have plotted all of the Top 100 courses that I have not yet played and it is surprising how they are somewhat grouped to allow for several different golf excursions.
Our first such trip was through the Upper Midwest states of Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota. Trip two was similar because there were some courses we needed to add and a few we wanted to play again. This trip included courses in Iowa, North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The third trip was through the mid-Atlantic area and included courses in southern Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia. Last year’s trip headed west where we played 5 courses in Colorado, 3 in New Mexico, Karsten Creek (#14 on Current List) in Oklahoma and 3 more in Missouri. Our next trip this summer will begin in Connecticut, continue through Massachusetts, Maine, Nova Scotia, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. (I know that Nova Scotia does not have Top 100 U. S. courses but when it comes to Cabot Links and Cabot Cliffs, you are arguably talking about the two best courses in Canada. Including these courses when we were so close in Maine, was a must.)
Once the courses are determined, they have to be put into an order that makes travel sense and works with course availability. I begin this process several months in advance so once I have a tentative order of play, I will then go to MapQuest to determine the driving time between each course. Once you reach the first course to be played, you will ideally work your schedule so you either drive in the AM and play after lunch or play in the AM and drive to your next destination after you play. I try very hard to arrange the travel so we do not have to drive both before and after golfing. In order to stay fresh and relaxed during this type of trip, try to limit your driving to a maximum of four hours per day and we always try to reach our next destination before dark. One or two exceptions to the above rules may be necessary over the two week period, but more than that would begin to make the trip less enjoyable. This gives us ample time to clean up, have a relaxing dinner and some down time before tackling the next day.
Once you complete this work, you cross your fingers and begin calling the golf course pro shops. You need to determine if the course is available for play on the day you will be there. I will call each course in the order we are playing them to see if they have tee times available for my scheduled arrival day. Since you are playing public courses, you need to work around their tournament and outing schedule. When you explain to the pro shop where you are traveling from and that you will only be in their area for one day, I have found them to be very helpful most of the time. Sometime you will get lucky and they will go ahead and give you a tee time. Otherwise, I will be sure to mark my appointment book as to the first day they will accept calls for tee times. Even though you can schedule most courses online, I prefer to talk to the course itself to be sure all my questions are answered. I have found that many times you can schedule earlier by phone than through the online tee time services. Although this may result in a slightly higher green fee, that should be the least of your worries when you are traveling a long distance to play a particular course. I have also found that some courses will allow you to schedule outside of their tee time window if you pay a surcharge of $10 or $15 per tee time. This is also well worth it to be sure your trip goes smoothly. Be sure to check the web sites of all your courses to learn as much as you can about their facility, rates and tee time restrictions before you call. This information can make your call with the golf shop professional or attendee go smoother as it shows them that you are serious about your plans and you are familiar with their golf course.
I try to lock in the first course and the last course before any of the others. This allows you some flexibility in scheduling the others. Once the first and last are completed, I try to be sure the courses that are the greatest distances from the others are next to schedule as you are normally in their area only one day. Finally, the courses that are grouped more closely are contacted and locked into definite days of the trip. For example, last year Red Sky Fazio (#86 on Current List) is and Red Sky Norman (#79 on Current List) were at the same resort and the days could be interchanged. The three courses in New Mexico were within an hour of one another and could also be interchanged if necessary. The course I was most concerned with was Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Oklahoma as it was many miles and several hours from the previous courses in New Mexico and the next destination in Missouri. We had only one day to make this course work and unfortunately it was the last tee time that we could firm up. They did tell me that at the time of my call a couple of months in advance that the course would be open for outside play that day. It worked out fine as when we arrived, we discovered that we were the only one to book a tee time that day………Seriously. The day we spent at this terrific facility is another whole story which I will tell you about in a later post.
Be sure to check on two other situations. First, many of the Top 100 courses are at resorts and are considered public but you must be an overnight guest at their hotel or resort to have access to the course. Although these are normally the most expensive courses and hotels, they do have two advantages; once you reserve a room, many will allow you to make your tee time even though it may be months in advance. Also, after several days of travel and nights in ordinary hotels, it is good to pamper yourself from time to time at an upscale resort. This is especially true if you are traveling with your wife. She will greatly appreciate this after dragging her several hundred miles and moving to a different location each night. If possible, I try to end our trip at a nice resort. We were able to accomplish this the last three trips by finishing at The Greenbriar, Whistling Straits and Big Cedar Lodge. The last two days of this year’s trip will be at Turning Stone Resort in Verona, New York. We will also be spending two nights at the Lodge at Cabot Links and a night at the Omni Mt. Washington in New Hampshire in addition to 7 other nights in Hampton Inns along the way.
The second thing to be very aware of is the fact that several of the top courses are walking only. We enjoy this nice change of pace by taking in the course and its surroundings by using their caddies. Other courses do not require you to walk but will provide caddies or forecaddies if you wish. We always try to take advantage of this as it helps tremendously in the navigation of a new course and the reading of the greens. This is no doubt the best way to enjoy a round of golf. Walking with a good caddie is hard to beat.
Once the courses, the route and the order are determined, your last step is the easiest. I research the lodging choices that are available near our stopping points and begin to make the room reservations. As you may have noticed, we try to stay at a Hampton Inn as much as possible as we have seldom been disappointed with their service and cleanliness. Once the lodging is complete, organize all your tee times and hotel confirmations in order and place in a folder or binder. I prefer to make my reservations directly on the hotel website since this allows you to make changes or cancellations without charge. Many of the discount sites will save you a few bucks but have to be prepaid. This is not a good idea since you are making these arrangements several weeks in advance It is also a good idea to add all the phone numbers in your contacts to make it easy to call them if last minute changes are necessary or you need a little help with directions. It always seems that despite navigations systems, smart phone directions and a printout from mapquest, there will be at least one course that is hard to locate when you get within the last couple of miles. We ran into this problem trying to locate Quarry Oaks (#55 last ranked 2009) outside of Omaha, Nebraska and also Red Sky Resort near Vail, Colorado.
Here are some final tips regarding packing for this type of adventure. We hang all our shirts, pants, shorts, etc. in the order we will wear them. We place socks and undergarments in a large flat Tupperware container. By doing this, we only have to take in a couple of hangers and a small bag to the hotel each night. You do not want to drag large suitcases in and out of your hotel each night of this trip. We also have a large flat Tupperware containing all of our extra golf supplies such as golf balls, snacks, towels, socks, etc. This makes it very handy to add what you need without toting them around in your golf bag. Try to keep everything simple and as light as possible. Bring along a couple of cloth laundry bags for your dirty clothes. Roll your clothes up each night, place them in the bag and pull the strings up tight. Sweaty golf clothes can get a little strong by the end of the two weeks.
So, there you have it. A plan, a lot of internet research, quite a few phone calls and some patience. Be prepared to deviate from your original routing to accommodate a course that is not available on the day you desire. When that happens you adjust and start over. Have fun being your own travel agent as you will be sure to have the schedule set up exactly as you want. Remember, this is the hard part, the actual journey is very rewarding as every day is a new course and a new adventure. Have fun!
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