Golf Vacations: What You Need to Know

By: Matthew Hick

Vacation time is here! Pack up your clothes. Pack up your shoes. Pack up your toothbrush, toothpaste, and some sunscreen. And, of course, don't forget to pack the most important thing of all: your golf bag.

Welcome to Golf Vacation 101. Let's take a look at some things to consider when planning the golf vacation of your dreams. Well, we may as well get the bad stuff taken out of the way first and confront question number one:

How much vacation money do you have saved?
I know, I know... you probably don't have a fortune saved up for your golf vacation. After all, you just finished paying for a new Hybrid club and then there were those Christmas presents you had to buy a few months ago...

But whatever the case - no matter how much money you do or don't have - you can find a golf vacation that's just right for you. If you do happen to have a lot to spend to get away, you would be wise to go where the warm weather beckons golfers from all across the world. How about the southern United States? California? The Virgin Islands? Hawaii?

But if you don't have the funds available for extravagant vacations such as these, (remember, not only do you have to pay golf fees, but you must also cover hotel stay, transportation, food, and other activities) you could take a much cheaper vacation.

If you live on the East Coast of the United States, you could drive yourself and a few friends to a golf club a few hours south to play for a few days. Granted, it may not be a resort-like atmosphere, but if you are there strictly for the golf, that shouldn't even matter!

Are you bringing non-golfers on your trip?
If you are bringing along girlfriends, boyfriends, friends, or family members who don't want to golf but who do want to get away with you, you should try to chose a golf place that is close to other attractions such as shopping malls, amusement parks, movie theatres, or beaches. Many golf resorts even offer packages that allow you and your guests to 'stay and play'.

Most of these resorts offer packages to save you money on room and greens fees. Look at all of the ins and outs and read between the fine lines of the packages you are looking into before making a final decision about which place to choose. This way, you won't be the only one who gets to have fun on the vacation. And, while your family stays entertained, this makes more and more time for you to tee up!

Is your potential vacation course challenging enough for you?
If you are concerned about having an overly difficult or not-difficult-enough course to play on while you vacation, realize that most golf resorts offer a variety of courses available to choose from. After all, these places realize that all golfers have different abilities, likes, and dislikes.

If you are very concerned though, it never hurts to speak with people from the resort by phone, or even talk to past guests that you know stayed in the same place. A little opinion can go a far way!

Finally, make sure that you enjoy your vacation and your golf. Typically vacation time comes around only once a year for most people. So make the most of your fun in the sun!

Challenge:
Perhaps the most basic consideration when choosing destinations and courses is the difficulty level of the courses you're considering. Generally speaking, many fine golf destinations have a variety of courses available, which will allow golfers of various abilities to enjoy themselves, so this factor may impact more which courses you choose rather than which destination you decide upon.

Weather, Seasons, and Related Concerns:
On the flip side, if you or your group eats, sleeps and plays golf while traveling, assuming the handicap and letter of introduction requirements do not pose a problem, traveling to the U.K. during the summer months can be a golfer's dream, since the sun in that part of the world does not set until as late as 10 or 11 p.m. and rises again by 4 or 5 a.m. This allows for 36 holes a day, with daylight to spare for other activities.

Off Season?
Many golf travelers like to save money by traveling off-season. This is a great idea, provided they've thought about the drawbacks as they pertain to them. Some golfers don't mind playing in the rain, heat, or the wind, and their or their companions' age or health is not a factor. For example, prices are down sharply in Florida and Palm Springs during the summer months - for those who can stand the heat (and in the case of Florida, the humidity).

Other Activities:
What else is there besides golf? And does it matter for your purposes? As mentioned above, weather can cause you to reconsider your plans to play, and even the hardiest players are occasionally faced with course closings due to weather. If this happens, you may be stuck with very little to do. Or, you may be traveling with a family, spouse, or others who do not play, in which case you will need to be sure there's plenty for everyone to do.

How Many Courses Do You Need?
Another factor worth considering is the amount of time you have to play, and how many courses you have the time and desire to play. For a weekend getaway, you might consider a destination with only one or a few courses - a destination that otherwise would prove unsuitable for a weeklong excursion.

Bald Head Island, North Carolina, for example, is a wonderful private island destination where the only mode of transportation is golf carts. It's a fine, quiet place to relax for adults or families, with terrific beaches, a couple of restaurants, and nice accommodations consisting mainly of rental houses and a couple of bed and breakfasts.

The island has only one golf course (albeit an excellent one), although you can take the ferry to the mainland (where you will have parked your car) to take advantage of the hundreds of courses in nearby Myrtle Beach, SC and Brunswick, NC - all within about a half hour's drive.

Discover All The Secrets To Planning The Best Golf Vacation Ever!

By: Dane Stanton

Every golfer dreams of the perfect golf vacation. Imagine waking up every morning and strolling out onto freshly cut grass, with the birds chirping and the sky clear and bright. Then imagine if you would, seeing yourself picking up your set and heading out for a round of 18 on one of the most glorious courses in the whole country.

This is a dream that most golfers share and fortunately this dream can become a reality. The question is how? How could you possibly afford such an expensive golf vacation? Well, you'd be surprised at how inexpensive many golf vacations are these days especially if you decide to book in the off season. This is the one secret that is often overlooked and should be considered when planning your next trip.

What's The First Step?

The first step to finding a great golf vacation is search and compare. First you must spend a good week searching around and jotting down quotes of all the possible locations for your holiday. Next, after you have a good list of vacation deals, start comparing. If you notice that one place is cheaper than another and there is no reason for it, give them a call and ask them if they could possibly beat the deal the cheaper package is offering. Most times, they will say no but you might find one place that is willing to reduce the cost or even add in an extra night for free. Whatever the case, it's certainly worth a try.

The Second Step Is To Plan

What does this incorporate? Firstly, how many people are going to go on this golf vacation? If there is a large group of you then you may have the opportunity to get a reduction on your package. Next, when is the best time for you to go? We've already discussed the fact that you are going to save a great deal of money if you decide to go in the off season, however is this going to be the best time of the firstly for yourself personally with work or family commitments and secondly for playing golf?

Once you have decided these two things, you next have to find out the details of the place you are going to for your golf vacation. What's the golf course like? Will you get free buggy hire? Take every factor into consideration before you make a booking.

Time To Go

Get yourself prepared with everything you need to take with you. Make sure you have enough clothes for the time you are on holidays, you don't want to miss out on a round of golf just because you don't have any fresh underpants!

Now all there is to do is grab everyone who's going and jump on the bus, presuming you are taking a bus, which is a great idea if there are a lot of you going.

The Best Golf Vacation You Will Ever Have

Author: Randall Ulbricht

"What If You Could... Have the perfect group golf vacation, save money and have a sensational time setting it up?" Instead of buying "the package", design your own optimum, personalized vacation.

Remember last year?

You waited all year to get together with your friends for your annual golf vacation. It was supposed to be perfect, but you bought "the package" and your outing turned out to be simply adequate. You all had such high hopes, but you had to take what the package provided.

Sound familiar? Have you been on the receiving side of a less than perfect golf vacation? In all fairness, most golf packages are good. Some are great. But they truly are packages designed for the mass market with little flexibility and no individual flair.

A standard golf vacation package provides lodging and one round of golf per day, including a cart. The lodging usually means motel or hotel accommodations with two people per bedroom. In most cases, you can choose from several different courses, and select your advance tee times. They will even throw in a continental breakfast. The prices are fair, but varying from the standard package starts adding cost in a hurry.

Again, "the package" will yield a good to great vacation, but we need to discuss the perfect vacation. Envision this:

-A beautiful vacation house with a separate bed or bedroom for each person.
-Gourmet dining each evening.
-As much or as little golf as you want, where you want and when you want.
-Evening entertainment.
-Maximum camaraderie.

I have been setting up this type of annual golf vacation for my old high school and college friends since 1988. Over those 18 years, we have refined Our Event to what we think is the perfect annual outing. Our first few years were terrific even though we had to keep the costs down. Each new year improves on the last.

We have settled on a full seven days, Saturday to Saturday. In general, we schedule 36 holes per day, and modify that day by day to wind up with an average of about 27 holes per day. Our smallest group was five gents one year, and the largest group was sixteen. The perfect group size is eight, but anywhere from six to twelve works great.

We buy most of the food and beverages the day of arrival to support breakfasts, snacks, sandwiches between rounds, and gourmet evening meals for the entire week.

Your perfect group golf vacation is not going to be identical to ours, but the general organization will be. There is going to have to be a "go to guy" that organizes the event. My guess is that will be you. You will need to:

- Get the ball rolling early.
- Have everyone stay in the same house that has a full kitchen.
- Get the shopping list together ahead of time.
- Have a general schedule and loose assignments.

1. Get the ball rolling. Pick out a window of time and get the word out to everyone you think might be interested AND not interested (next year, they may be). I send a fun, whimsical email about five months ahead of a proposed block of time. It is written such that the wives enjoy the comedy as much as the guys. If you are not a writer, there are examples in my upcoming free Ebook. Additionally, this book will take you through setting up and conducting the whole event from scratch.

Follow up emails get commitments and solicit recommendations and special requests. Armed with all this, you will select the ideal house, set up tee times, and arrange rental vehicles. Further emails from you will ask what food, snacks and beverages they will want for the outing. Here is a good timeline:

-5 months: Announce.
-3 months: Receive all commitments and solicited recommendations.
-3 months: Let everyone know when to fly in to coordinate travel.
-2 months: Arrange house, tee times and rental cars.
-1 month: Receive all food, snack, and beverage requests.
-1 month: Confirm house, tee times and rental cars.
-1 week: Finalize food and beverage list.
Zero hour: Have the time of your life.

2. House with a full kitchen. This allows several things:

- Preparing your own evening meal. Every group has at least one "chef".
- Rehashing the day as a group (yes, this includes an appropriate amount of trash talk and begging for strokes on upcoming rounds.)
- Having evening entertainment as a group. We watch a sports event on TV, watch videos, play cards, tell tales and get caught up, or all of the above.
- Getting sandwiches, snacks and beverages ready for the next day.

3. Shopping List. In my free Ebook I provide a sample shopping list and sample emails to send requesting input. Your various emails to the group should provide a "fill in the blank" type of requested reply. You will ask what they want for breakfast, what they want for sandwich lunch, what they want to drink for the week, and any snacks they like.

4. General Schedule and Assignments. Your first year will be a terrific learning experience. Your "chef" will emerge and others will gravitate to where they are needed. Putting together a list of what needs to be done and having volunteers will work just fine. Over the years, you will find what works best.

Think about bringing a laptop and uploading each day's results on your website so that the unfortunate people that did not make the trip can live vicariously by following the daily action. If you don't have a website, a free blog will work about as well and will be much easier to update. An idea that our group has not yet acted on is having a masseuse come in one evening later in the week to help our aging muscles.

You will have almost as much fun setting up this event as you will have during your vacation. I set up a little eight page website with history, photos, schedule, past scores, etc. to hold everyone's interest and attention throughout the year. An example is in my free Ebook.

Building your own special vacation not only allows you to really tailor your outing to your group's tastes, but also allows you all to get together as a true group for a great week of camaraderie. As a bonus, it should wind up being less expensive! Once you set your own up, I doubt you will ever buy "the package" again.

Hilarious video about Myrtle Beach golf.

Golfing In Maui

Author: Chris Sutton

Anyone who is planning a trip to Maui, Hawaii probably has a plan in mind for what they want to see and do on this magnificent island. There is history, beaches, mountains, biking, volcanoes and more all on the second largest island of Hawaii. There are water activities, land activities and even activities from the air. You can tour the island in a bi-plane, go whale watching or snorkeling in a coral reef and much more. However, one of the most favorite activities to see and do in Maui has always been golf.

If you are a golf fan, you will absolutely love Maui. There are so many great places in Maui to enjoy golf. Maui is home to some of the best courses in Hawaii and even in the world. You have likely never seen courses as beautiful and amazing as those that you can find Maui, even if you are a seasoned golfer. If you want a great golf vacation getaway, then you are sure to love and enjoy the many options that Maui has for you. It is literally a golf lover?s paradise.

Before you pack up your bags and set off to Maui, you might be wondering what exactly this island has to offer and where you will stay and play. There are many different resorts all over the island of Maui that offer you the finest in accommodations as well as some fantastic golf courses and package deals. In fact, you can see that these are some of the best places in the world to go play golf. If you are traveling with someone who is not a golfer, there are many resort packages that also have spas and other options for the non-golfer you bring along.

Maui is home to lush green oceanfront courses, mountainside links and much more. You can even golf while taking in the view of a volcano! Maui is referred to as the ?valley Isle? because of the two volcanic mountain ranges that for the east and west of the island. Here in the middle of these mountains is the Valley which makes up most of the island?s activity and this is where you can find the many great golf courses to choose from.

The weather is always mild and nice and with over 20 golf courses on the Magic Isles, you can choose from the best in the country. Whether you are new to golf or has been doing it for a lifetime, you will love the many options you have in Maui.

There are even many discount golf locations to choose from. There are places where you can enjoy golf on the greatest island in the world without spending a fortune. If you are planning a great golf adventure but you are on a tight budget, you might want to look into cheaper, affordable golf locations in Maui.

Maui Golf Courses

Below are some of the golf courses you have to choose from. If you are taking a golf vacation, looking to get in a few holes while on a family vacation or you want the ultimate golf resort getaway, you can find something that will meet your needs. You might want to contact the courses to find out more information about them as well as exactly where on the island they are located.

Bay Course
Course characteristics: rolling and hilly terrain; 68 bunkers total; 8 water hazards total; picturesque fifth hole has golfers at the edge of the Pacific.

Kaanapali Resort South Course
Beautiful ocean views, rolling fairways, premium on accuracy not distance.

Kaanapali Tournament North Course
Scenic fairways, sweeping views of the ocean and mountains.

Makena North Course
Located on 1,800 acres of unspoiled, natural beauty; both the North and South Courses at Makena will whet any golfer's appetite.

Makena South Course
Sharing the spirit that embodies the Makena Resort, the South Course provides the serenity and tranquility many golfers are looking for.

Plantation Course
Course characteristics: large-scale terrain features; deep valleys; expansive greens and fairways; Home to the Mercedes Championships; the start of the PGA Tour season.

Village Course
Course characteristics: hilly terrain; links-style playability; 61 bunkers total; 4 water hazards total; panoramic views of Molokai, Lanai, and the Pacific Ocean.

Wailea Blue Course
Scenic resort golf course that has great ocean and mountain views and great family rates.

Wailea Emerald Course
Picturesque resort golf course. Wailea is the most women-friendly award winning golf course.

Wailea Gold Course
Award-winning golf; host of Champions & LPGA Skins Games.

You should now have a better idea of some of the many places to golf in Maui. If you are looking for more information on a specific resort or others that we don?t have listed above, there are many websites that offer pictures, full information including prices and reservations and more all from their site.