Golfing Holiday 2013 – Advice!!

Hey Guys,

This year (2012) I have missed out on a lot of golf due to work and other commitments and I have decided to plan an annual (if my finances let me) "Golfing Holiday" starting in 2013. Obviously I would like to do a little more than golf but would love to ensure I see the best courses and meet some cool people/golfers on my trip.

That said, I am from the Gold Coast in Australia where it is golfing season all year round which I know is not the case around the world (sorry to rub it in haha)

I was initially thinking UK and Ireland for 2013 which as far as google tells me the best time is July/August...

Has anyone been on a "Golfing Holiday" or could recommend somewhere different? The other scenario I was thinking was it would be cool if I organised it to coincide with a Major Tournament or Event that I could go to or something...

Anyways, let me know your thoughts so I can make the most of it!

Thanks

How long of a "golfing holiday" are you talking about? Because I can give you a fairly ready-made itinerary for England and Scotland depending on how much time and/or money you have. If you want to come to America, I can give you some pretty solid advice in a few different regions.

But just give me/us some limiting factors:
1. How much time do you intend to spend on your "holiday" or vacation, as those of us in the Southern United States would say?

2. How much do you intend to spend?

3. How far are you willing to travel away from either your arrival airport (or seaport if you desire to take a cruise) or a central location?

I always thought going to the Hyundai Tournament of Champions on Maui would be a fantastic vacation/golf trip. You get to see the kickoff tournament of the PGA season in as pretty a locale as can be found and, from what I can see on TV, it doesn't look terribly crowded - so you can actually get closer and see more. Oh, and you get a vacation in Hawaii. :-)

So, just to go ahead and give you an idea for a trip...you could plan this at any time around the tournaments in England/Scotland.

Based on US travel times and such, you might need to adjust as needed

Saturday: Depart, overnight flight, arriving Sunday morning
Sunday: Land in London, get checked into hotel, rest a bit, play [b]Stoke Park[/b] in the afternoon
Monday: [b]Sunningdale Old and New[/b]
Tuesday: [b]Royal Worlington & Newmarket [/b]and[b] Woodhall Spa[/b]
Wednesday: [b]Ganton [/b]and [b]The Northumberland[/b]
Thursday: [b]MUIRFIELD[/b] if available. Otherwise, [b]North Berwick[/b], [b]Golf House Club [/b](Elie), and late afternoon round at St. Andrews [b](E[/b][b]den, Jubilee, New[/b])
Friday: [b]Kingsbarns[/b], [b]Crail (Craighead), [/b]and another late afternoon round at St. Andrews
Saturday: [b]THE OLD COURSE, [/b]plus several additional rounds at the St. Andrews Links courses.
Sunday: Late flight out of Edinburgh (flights to USA leave around 2pm) and play [b]Old Musselburgh [/b]in the morning

That's a really solid trip right there. What do you think?

*Notes* Muirfield is not available prior to September 2013 and can only be booked on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Keep that in mind if you want to book Muirfield. The Old Course, you might want to attempt to play on Friday as well, just to be assured of playing. But that depends on if you book in advance or need to walk-up.

Bro - if herself has you on a short leash, my adivce is to stick close to home. make it a 3 day excursion max, with lots of phone calls in between... at that point, the trip becomes a compromise on her terms, not so much a true boy's junket. ...sadly, at least that's to which many married fellows have been forced.