How long to drive before staying overnight?

[JuniorGolfParent]

For multi-day tournaments, how long are you willing to drive vs staying at a nearby hotel?

 

Seems like driving back and forth more than 1.5 hours each way is quite taxing (on both parent and child competitor) and potentially counterproductive?

[Pinewood Golfer]

> @JuniorGolfParent said:

> For multi-day tournaments, how long are you willing to drive vs staying at a nearby hotel?

>

> Seems like driving back and forth more than 1.5 hours each way is quite taxing (on both parent and child competitor) and potentially counterproductive?

 

Kind of depends on the tee times too. I’ll drive up to maybe 2 hours if teeing off from about 9:30 to 1:30. But 1.5 is a pretty good rule of thumb for me

[LeoLeo99]

There is something to be said for sleeping in your own bed at night and eating home cooked meals. My commute to work can be 1.5 hours if there's traffic so that's not a long time to me. Depends on what you're used to. Plus, I'm too frugal to spend money on a hotel when I'm only 2 hours from home.

[mrshinsa]

1.5 hours for two-day tournaments.

Gas in California hit a high again, at 4 bux/gallon.

90 mile round trip on a 16mpg SUV costs about 50 bux, plus the wear and tear on your car, and of course the 3 hours of your life you'll never get back.

I use a hotel CC and can get about 5 nights free, which is enough to get me through a golf season.

[yellowlover519]

Agree - 1.5 hours seems right for a 2-day tourney.

[BloctonGolf11]

Yep, hour to an hour and a half is the tops for us, beyond that the drive is going to really suck up your energy. Maybe my kid is weird, he plays better when we are hoteling it anyway, feels like an "adventure" to him I guess.

[heavy_hitter]

Less than two hours we drive, more than two hours we stay. It also depends on tee times. FJT events usually start in the afternoon on Saturdays and Morning tee times on Sunday. He played this last weekend an hour away and I was up at 4:45 getting stuff ready. He was up at 5:30 and out the door by 6.

[kekoa]

Anything more than an hr and a half, we will get a hotel room. Also depends if we need to do a practice round and the first days tee time. We have a tourney this weekend that's only 1:15 away, but we need to stay given that we are doing a practice round friday and saturday tee times are at 9am. Golf is expensive.

[heavy_hitter]

I will also add that we NEVER do a practice round for a one day Tournament. It is a waste of time as a one day tournament doesn't mean anything and basically just practice for 36-54 hole tournaments.

 

My kid played with a young man this past weekend that is one of the best players he has ever played with. Nice young man that popped it out there 290 and will become one of the best players in the country. Last year this time was a relatively unknown. He shows up to the course on Saturday, with no practice round, and puts up a 69 from 6700 yards with a stiff breeze. On Sunday he puts up a 68 (was 5 under on the front 9), rain and wind picked up a lot on the back. Point being.... no practice round.

[Pepperturbo]

More than a few times during younger years I drove 350 miles (4+hrs) to Phoenix, played 18 holes and drove home the same day. Stupid but had to be. Here in SOCA, most of the time up 45 mins one way. Once every few months I'll drive up to 1 1/2hrs one way for 18 holes and drive home after. Depends on if it's a tournament or not.

[tiger1873]

> @heavy_hitter said:

> I will also add that we NEVER do a practice round for a one day Tournament. It is a waste of time as a one day tournament doesn't mean anything and basically just practice for 36-54 hole tournaments.

>

> My kid played with a young man this past weekend that is one of the best players he has ever played with. Nice young man that popped it out there 290 and will become one of the best players in the country. Last year this time was a relatively unknown. He shows up to the course on Saturday, with no practice round, and puts up a 69 from 6700 yards with a stiff breeze. On Sunday he puts up a 68 (was 5 under on the front 9), rain and wind picked up a lot on the back. Point being.... no practice round.

 

I would love to do practice rounds for every tournament. But once you start traveling it gets harder and harder to do unless they are built into the tournament schedules like AGJA events. For farther away ones we tried to do them the day before but honestly the course is usually overcrowded and very slow.

 

We are actually finding out with google maps and planning correctly with information about the course practice rounds that practices rounds are not always needed unless the course it is just a weird layout.