Whether you are planning a golf getaway with some of your golfing buddies or just trying to integrate some golf with a family vacation, it’s good to plan ahead and consider a number of issues to make sure your golf vacation works out for the best.
Where to Play?
There are two basic types of golf vacations; 1) one where golf is the primary vacation objective (i.e. the golf buddies trip) and 2) one where you will be trying to squeeze in a few golf days during a family vacation. In the first case, the strategy should be picking a golf destination area that offers a wide range of great golf courses to play during your stay. In the other case, you would want to find a golf resort that provides great golf facilities as well as other amenities and activities the rest of your family can enjoy.
There are a number of great golf destination areas within the United States that can meet your golf vacation needs. To help you research and find the best golf destination for your next golf vacation you can go to the Golf Destinations section of this website. This section provides information for 14 of the most popular golf destination areas in the United States.
Before picking a destination you need to consider what time of the year you want to plan your trip, since almost all destinations have “off” seasons that are characterized by unfavorable weather conditions (i.e. too hot, too cold, too wet, too windy, etc). For example desert areas like Palm Springs and Arizona may be great places to plan a winter getaway, but are usually much too hot for most tourists during the hotter, summer months. Another consideration, is that if you and your group are willing to schedule a golf vacation during non-prime times, you can usually save some money on green fees and lodging since you won’t be completing with so many other golfers during the “high” season. To better understand the weather patterns of different areas during this planning phase, each listing in the Golf Destinations section includes current weather status for each the area plus temperature and precipitation averages throughout the year.
Each golf destination includes information for all of the most highly rated courses in that area. There are also a couple search tools that can be used to find other courses in an area based upon price and player ratings.
If you are looking for that perfect golf resort the whole family will enjoy looking at the Golf Resorts section. This section includes information for over 100 of the best golf resorts in the US. These resorts are organized by state to simplify your search and research process. Each resort listing includes general resort information, golf course information, plus seasonal weather information that can be used to pick the best time for your vacation.
Most of these golf resorts offer a wide range of activities the whole family can enjoy. If your vacation includes children, you want to make sure the resort you pick offers kid programs/camps during the day so you can enjoy a leisurely round or two of golf during your stay. If your kids also enjoy playing golf, find out whether the resort supports programs for junior golfers. Many of the resorts provide special junior golfer rates late in the afternoon so your whole family can enjoy playing golf together.
Before finalizing your golf vacation plans make sure you inquire about any seasonal golf course maintenance that might be scheduled during your stay, especially if you are planning a vacation in the spring or fall months. Nothing can ruin a golf vacation more than arriving at your golf destination and finding out the greens were recently aerated. Also note that desert courses are closed for several weeks in the fall to overseed, so you also want to also confirm that these maintenance periods don’t coincide with your vacation plans. Some of the resorts publish course aeration and overseeding schedules but it’s best to confirm dates with the proshop, since occasionally this work must be rescheduled due to weather conditions.
Making Resort and Golf Reservations
Most golf resorts and golf destination areas offer discounted “golf packages”. If you are planning a golf-only type vacation, these packages can save you a lot of money on green fees. Many times these packages also include extras such as free daily replays and free breakfast. If you just planning to play just a couple times during your stay it may be still worthwhile to look into these packages. For example if you were planning a stay of 5 days but were only planning to play twice, many resorts will allow you to be on the plan for the days you want to play and just charge you a normal room rate for the other days. Most of the time packages are priced assuming two golfers (e.g. husband/wife), however most resorts will also provide single golfer packages at a reduced price, if you ask. Although most of the time golf packages will save you some money, sometimes the discount is not that significant and may not be worth the trouble. For example, if you are not sure what days you want to play or if you are considering playing other non-resort courses in the area during your stay, the golf package may prove to be too restrictive. When making your reservation, make sure you ask whether you can change your golf package days at the last minute if something comes up so you clearly understand the resort rules. Even if you chose not to signup for a golf package, resorts generally offer discounted green fees if you are staying at the resort. Many times these discounts also apply for replays on the same day. In most cases a one night stay at a golf resort will allow access to their course(s) both the arrival day and the day you leave. You can use this to your advantage if you planning a vacation that includes multiple destinations, some just for sightseeing and others to play golf.
When you make your resort reservation, you are usually asked to make golf reservation tee times. It’s always good to make your tee times as early as possible since courses can get crowded during “high” season. If you wait to make golf reservations just before your trip, you may find that all the good times are already taken. Also, some resort courses may have restricted access on some days due to member days, so planning ahead can guarantee that you’ll get to play the course you want. So the best tip is to make you tee time reservations as early as possible. You can always change the tee times later, but at least making early reservations guarantees that you have good times on the courses that you want to play.
It’s always good to confirm these times with the golf proshop to verify that the course is aware of your tee time requests. If possible, have the resort send you a confirmation for your tee time reservations.
If your golf trip consists of playing golf at different courses each day, discount golf packages may not be available on all the courses that you want to play. If this is the case you should investigate other golf reservation services, like GolfNow.com, that provide discounted green fees for courses throughout the United States. In addition, in many popular golf destination areas there are golf tee time brokers that offer tee times at significant discounts when reservations are made the night before play. The hotel where you are staying can usually provide the phone number for these local services.
Travel Tips
Clearly, the worst part of a golf vacation is lugging your golf clubs around through the airports and worrying that clubs will be in pieces when they come off the plane (if they arrive at all ....). You can eliminate some of these worries by investing in a good golf travel bag for your clubs. Since the airlines will not assume any responsibility for the condition of our clubs, there is a temptation to buy a hard travel case for your clubs. The trouble is that when you arrive at your destination, you are going to have a big problem fitting travel case into your car along with all of the other travel bags. The best solution is to buy a very durable, but soft, travel bag. Since these travel bags are much lighter and many include wheels, they are much easier to move around. And when they aren’t being used, they can be rolled up so they can be easily stored.
The number one travel bags on all the professional tours and college golf teams are those made by Club Glove. Their bags are rugged, well padded, light, and include wheels. They make 3 different sizes to accommodate 3 different bag sizes; carry bag, cart bag, and tour bag.
Even with the best travel bag, it’s best to provide as much protection for your clubs as possible. This means making sure all of your club head covers are on your clubs and wrapping the heads of your woods in one or more towels. Even when your clubs are properly packed in a travel bag, your clubs can sustain damage if they are accidentally dropped directly onto the club heads. This damage can be easily prevented if some type of pole is put into the bag that is longer than your longest club. Now if the clubs are dropped, this pole will absorb the force instead of your favorite driver. The simplest solution is to cut an old broomstick the appropriate length and stick it in your bag, next to your driver. A slightly more elegant and expensive solution is to buy a “Stiff Arm” from Club Glove which is simply a collapsible “broomstick” with a cap at one end to better protect your clubs. Either solution will work fine and should provide adequate protection for your clubs.
The one nice thing about a golf travel bag is that you now have some supplemental travel storage space that is not weight limited when you checkin your luggage at the airport. Storing some of your heavier items (e.g. shoes, etc) in the golf travel bag lets you pack a few more clothes in your normal luggage without worrying about overweight penalties. When you return home you can pack all your dirty laundry in the golf travel bag which provides some extra room for those items you bought on the vacation. The dirty laundry also provides a little more padding for your clubs so they make it home safely.
Although you can’t do much about preventing the airline from losing your clubs, you can protect against someone picking up your clubs by mistake by buy a travel case in a distinctive color. Since most people’s golf travel bags are black, having a bag in a different color should avoid this problem. Note that Club Glove bags come in over 15 different colors, so you should be able to find something to your liking.
Where to Eat?
After playing golf all day, you're ready to find a good place to relax and get a good meal. You can try do this on the spur of the moment, but you'll probably end up at some not-so-exciting chain restaurant. A better plan is to do a little homework before your trip and make a list of good restaurants at your vacation destination. The easiest way to do this is to research restaurants on Zagat.com. Although this is a subscription service, for $5 you can signup for a month's subscription, which should give you plenty of time to create a good list of restaurants.
