travelling for golf
It's every golfer's dream to tee it up on a PGA Tour golf course and play a round of golf. Imagine teeing it up on the famed 18th hole at Pebble Beach where the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is played on. The tee box sitting on the edge of the ocean and your tee shot needs to hug the ocean lined fairway. It's either keeping your head down and hitting a good drive or admiring your ball sail into the waves. The long and spectacular par 5 will eat away your nerves but think about the adrenaline that will flow stepping up on tee.
If you're thinking about it or planning a trip to a destination where the PGA pros visit each year, we totally encourage you to do so. It will be a dream vacation to step up on tee where Dustin Johnson or Rickie Fowler had pounded a 300 yard drive. Or where Patrick Reed had cleared the rough or Jason Day had miraculously escaped a bunker surrounding the green. Can anyone with an average handicap play a PGA Tour course? Or do you have to apply with a registar to play on a PGA sanctioned course? Stay tune on this section of our magazine to find out.
If you're thinking about it or planning a trip to a destination where the PGA pros visit each year, we totally encourage you to do so. It will be a dream vacation to step up on tee where Dustin Johnson or Rickie Fowler had pounded a 300 yard drive. Or where Patrick Reed had cleared the rough or Jason Day had miraculously escaped a bunker surrounding the green. Can anyone with an average handicap play a PGA Tour course? Or do you have to apply with a registar to play on a PGA sanctioned course? Stay tune on this section of our magazine to find out.
best pga courses you can play on
Here are some PGA courses that you can play on:
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pga courses anyone can play
Planning a golf getaway may be the thing to do but if you plan to play a few rounds of golf at a PGA sanctioned course then be sure to have deep pockets because each round will cost you close to $200 unless you choose Pebble Beach where the green fee is about $500.
Most PGA courses do not offer onsite accommodations but some do and require you to be a registered guest at their lodge in order for you to play there. One such club is Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill where the course is only for members or guests at his lodge. Stay and play packages are available for $500 to $600 for accommodations and golf. Check www.bayhill.com for information.
PGA West is a popular destination for a lot of golfers looking for championship level golf and to play where the pros play on. The PGA West Stadium Course was the site of the 2016 Career Builder Challenge and is open to the public. PGA West has homes and villas that you can own a house on, but do not offer hotel accommodations for guests. There, you can stay anywhere in the Palm Springs area and still play at the PGA West Stadium course.
Some PGA sanctioned courses are private such as the TPC Boston course where the Dell Technologies Championship is played on. The TPC Boston is not accessible to non-members or for outside play. But luckily there are a lot of courses that are accessible to the public. There are even public courses such as Torrey Pines or Bethpage State Park, municipal level courses where city people play there every day.
Most PGA courses do not offer onsite accommodations but some do and require you to be a registered guest at their lodge in order for you to play there. One such club is Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill where the course is only for members or guests at his lodge. Stay and play packages are available for $500 to $600 for accommodations and golf. Check www.bayhill.com for information.
PGA West is a popular destination for a lot of golfers looking for championship level golf and to play where the pros play on. The PGA West Stadium Course was the site of the 2016 Career Builder Challenge and is open to the public. PGA West has homes and villas that you can own a house on, but do not offer hotel accommodations for guests. There, you can stay anywhere in the Palm Springs area and still play at the PGA West Stadium course.
Some PGA sanctioned courses are private such as the TPC Boston course where the Dell Technologies Championship is played on. The TPC Boston is not accessible to non-members or for outside play. But luckily there are a lot of courses that are accessible to the public. There are even public courses such as Torrey Pines or Bethpage State Park, municipal level courses where city people play there every day.
going to hawaii?
Why would anyone think of leaving their clubs at home when they go to Hawaii? How about when the inconvenience of lugging 20 pounds or more around the airport? With a bad back, 20 pounds can easily trigger pain in the lower back. So what are the alternatives?
I've been to Hawaii many times and every time, we have brought our clubs. We had a bad experience once in San Diego when the airlines misplaced our clubs and couldn't find them for 24 hours. We had to rent clubs and buy new shoes, balls and accessories because the airline said they would cover the costs. After a crappy round with crappy clubs, we were out by $200 because the airline refused to cover accessories like balls, gloves, tees and golf shoes. Bringing your clubs and playing with your own set has its advantages but if one of us had a bad back or cannot carry heavy luggage then what alternatives do we have? Renting Clubs Every golf course in the country (including Hawaii) provides rental clubs to rent. The cost is usually between $20 to $50 per day depending on the quality of the clubs and the golf course. The only way you can justify the cost of rental clubs is if you paid a discounted rate for green fees. For example, if you booked a Deal Time with TeeOff.com and got a 50% saving then renting clubs is ok. In other words, the amount you saved on the green fees went towards renting the clubs. If you plan to do that, I would recommend you call the golf course after booking the tee time to reserve a set for you. You don't want to end up with no golf clubs to play with when you check in. Another thing to do is to ensure you can play with rental clubs before you book a round. You don't want to book a round then find out the golf course only stocks a brand that you can play with. Some people can pick up any stick and hit it well. Others can't. Call or find out the details on their website such as the type of clubs they rent ,how many sets they have onsite and the cost. I just don't want you to be disappointed or surprised when you get there. Shipping Clubs Another alternative if you plan on leaving your clubs at home, is to ship your clubs. If you're staying at a hotel or a timeshare, I don't recommend you use UPS or a local courier to ship your clubs directly to where you're staying. Instead you can use a golf club shipping company to ship your clubs from home to your vacation destination. These companies will require you to drop off your golf clubs at designated golf clubs around where they will pick up the clubs. They will prepare them and pack them accordingly. Then when you arrive at your destination, your clubs will be waiting for you on the other end. When you are done, you bring your clubs back to where you picked them up from and they will ship it home for you, as long as you have bought the roundtrip package. There are a few companies you can check out:
Hybrid Solution If you're heading to Hawaii then you might want to consider a hybrid solution where you bring a subset of your clubs and rent the rest. The subset you will bring will consists of your favourite clubs. In my case, I bring my driver, 4-hybrid, 7-iron, 9-iron, A wedge and putter. In most cases, I can play a decent round with just these clubs. To round off my set, I would rent a 3-wood, 5-iron, 6-iron, 8-iron, PW and SW. If your spouse plays then you can rent one set and share the clubs among the two of you. In Hawaii, check out these providers for rental clubs. They rent clubs out for the week to save you some money but you want to figure out the most cost effective route and how many days do you plan to play. Remember, there's a lot of water sports and places to see in Hawaii. |
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