6 questions to answer when planning your golf trip

Good information, everybody: Summer golf is true across the nook, and our summer season journeys bundle has you coated. Over the following week, our specialists will title their favourite programs and resorts, we’ll have a look at the most recent model developments, enable you to plan your subsequent buddies’ trip, introduce you to individuals who can assist you propose your golf getaways and extra. The objective right here? To educate and inspire you for your subsequent golf trip. So learn up, then seize your golf equipment and baggage.

MORE: 8 superb family-friendly golf resorts price visiting this summer season | 20 of our staffers’ favourite summer season golf programs | 8 sensible necessities to stash in your golf bag this summer season

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Planning a golf trip is like prepping for a golf shot: there’s so much to ponder. But not like your swing, a golf trip isn’t one thing you may actually overthink — as a result of the main points you dial in now are just about assured to repay later. Here are six questions to take into account as you map your getaway.

Who’s your crew?

Traveling with your buddies is by no means the identical as touring with your colleagues, which is completely different from touring with your partner. The relationships you might have with the individuals on the trip, and the seriousness of the golf they play, are like your stance and your grip: they affect each transfer that you just make subsequent.

What’s your price range?

Golf journeys vary of their extravagance from helicopter rides to your subsequent tee time to packaged stay-and-plays in Myrtle Beach. Prices fluctuate with them. Do a breakdown of the prices and ensure everyone seems to be comfy with them. That accounting shouldn’t finish at tee instances and lodging. It ought to embrace add-ons akin to post-arrival transport and meals, together with an understanding of how they’ll be divided. Things can get awkward when, as an illustration, one individual in your celebration desires to drink Two Buck Chuck and one other retains ordering Cult Cabernet.

How golf-y is the trip?

Is this a week-long, dawn-to-dusk demise march that doesn’t actually finish till somebody slips a disc or suffers cardiac arrest? Or a leisurely escape with a single spherical per day and spa therapies earlier than dinner? Do you propose on taking carts? Hiring caddies? Different golf resorts have completely different goal markets, with facilities to match. Pinpointing the priorities of your group will enable you to choose a vacation spot that fits you greatest.

How aggressive will or not it’s?

The golf-y-ness of a trip is commonly associated to gamble-y-ness. Will you be taking part in cash matches? Competing for satisfaction? Keeping it to no-stakes hit-and-giggle? Not everybody in your group has to be on the identical web page (there’s virtually all the time somebody who’s extra cutthroat than the remainder) however it’s best to all be working from an analogous playbook.

What sort of journey are you up for?

They say that it’s the journey, not the vacation spot. But let’s get actual: the vacation spot issues, partially as a result of it shapes the kind of journey you might have to make. A brief drive? An in a single day flight? Time and price are essential issues. So are logistics, like the benefit of bringing your golf equipment alongside (you may want to ship them, or lease on the course). And getting there’s solely half the battle. When the ultimate putt drops, you continue to have to get again. 

What are you packing?

Balls. Gloves. Sunscreen. Extra socks. Those are simply a number of the fundamentals. But it’s greatest to transcend them. Lip balm. Advil. Bandaids. Rain gear, too, except you realize that you could rely on dry situations. Maybe a flask. Books could possibly be written (and, in reality, they’ve) on how to pack. Many complete articles on packing for a golf trip have been printed, too.

Josh Sens

Golf.com Contributor

A golf, meals and journey author, Josh Sens has been a GOLF Magazine contributor since 2004 and now contributes throughout all of GOLF’s platforms. His work has been anthologized in The Best American Sportswriting. He can also be the co-author, with Sammy Hagar, of Are We Having Any Fun Yet: the Cooking and Partying Handbook.