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Where to move for year round golf ?


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So I'm a retired cop that spends about 70 hours a week still working security jobs and other Law Enforcement related jobs (Code Enforcement Officer (armed). My question is I can probably work security anywhere and I'm tired of not playing with these Chicago winters. If I pick up and move where is the best area, in your opinion, that has affordable golf and jobs in the security field (hospitals, casinos, etc)? My first thought was Vegas but I'm not sure what golf runs there. Florida due to the number of hospitals ? I also got suckered into being a ranger part time at Harborside in Chicago while I was a cop so I can probably work a course to cut down on my playing costs. I also hear that Scottsdale is the golf capital of the world but also expensive. I'm getting older and I don't want to get too old to play while suffering through these crappy winters.

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Arizona has the perfect mix of weather, availability, job opportunity, housing cost and traffic. Vegas gets both hotter and colder (depending on the year and time) has less availability to decent courses at decent prices and traffic that blows. San Diego has better weather but the high cost of living will remove a lot of the fun. Houston and South Florida are miserable to me but if you like high humidity, mediocre golf courses (FL) and boatloads of bad traffic with rain, yeah that could work.

 

Outlier is Denver if you don't mind a couple of months of cool.

 

Here's the deal for me. I can live anywhere I want, it doesn't matter for my job. I'm fortunate enough that my income will support my choices as well. AZ is my primary residence and I've owned a residence here for the last 23 years even though I've lived in other places for various reasons during that time. I knew after one visit that this is where I wanted to have a home and I've regretted it for even a second.

 

I know people that have moved here and hated it though. Most of them don't like heat and others don't like dry.

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> @"Johnny Biarritz" said:

> How to you define year-round? I lived in NYC for 4 years (47 months) and I played golf every month I was there.

>

> Usual suspects...Myrtle Beach, Pinehurst, Arizona, Vegas, San Diego, Houston, South Florida.

 

Well you have much better weather than Chicago. If it's in the 40's I'll play. Last year that meant a few days in April, then May thru a limited number of days in November. So November, December, January, February, March and April are pretty much out. This year it rained so much after it started to warm up I don't think we got regular golf going until mid May ? So to answer your question I'd like to play January-December. Which might help with the typical few weeks or months it takes to relearn your swing. I play in two leagues and they go May-September, everything shuts down after that.

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> @az2au said:

> Arizona has the perfect mix of weather, availability, job opportunity, housing cost and traffic. Vegas gets both hotter and colder (depending on the year and time) has less availability to decent courses at decent prices and traffic that blows. San Diego has better weather but the high cost of living will remove a lot of the fun. Houston and South Florida are miserable to me but if you like high humidity, mediocre golf courses (FL) and boatloads of bad traffic with rain, yeah that could work.

>

> Outlier is Denver if you don't mind a couple of months of cool.

>

> Here's the deal for me. I can live anywhere I want, it doesn't matter for my job. I'm fortunate enough that my income will support my choices as well. AZ is my primary residence and I've owned a residence here for the last 23 years even though I've lived in other places for various reasons during that time. I knew after one visit that this is where I wanted to have a home and I've regretted it for even a second.

>

> I know people that have moved here and hated it though. Most of them don't like heat and others don't like dry.

 

Great answer, I appreciate your input. And like you, I don't mind heat but humidity just kills me.

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> @"James the Hogan Fan" said:

> Sf bay area? If you can live with the traffic, and afford it, there is lots of good golf to be found, and I think the tech industry has quite a bit of private security? Certainly a year-round place to play.

 

My daughter finished college and moved to Orange County. Seems crazy expensive. One of my good friends left our agency and also moved to Orange County as a cop. He also lives paycheck to paycheck. I'm afraid California might be a stretch for me...

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I live in Chattanooga, TN. We play year round, chilly in the winter, warm in the summer and fall and spring are absoutely amazing. Also, from here you can drive south a few hour and play in Flordia if we have a unusually cold winter. Also, we have a ton (15+) of golf courses that are within 30 minutes of downtown Chattanooga. Feel free to PM me if you have any other specific questions.

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I'll second the Phoenix-area recommendations. There are many nice areas in Phoenix to live, work, and play, and given the number of professional sports teams and high-profile events that take place in Phoenix, I imagine there will be plenty of opportunities for security gigs.

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I can see Phoenix making a ton of sense, but you do have to think about the better courses all costing an arm and a leg (and being crowded) during the winter. The heat is also something everyone has to decide about on their own. I have fantasized about moving to Phoenix area before, though, so its on my list.

 

I would consider the D/FW area (with a focus on the Ft Worth side ... or at least staying west of Dallas proper). Cost of living is really affordable (or was 10 years ago); there are plenty of golf courses (both public and private); and you can definitely play year-round. You'll have cold days and inclement weather sporadically in the winter, but my saying about the winter weather there used to be, "you're never more than 10 days away from a 70 degree day" and if 40 degrees is your on-off point you're probably never more than 3 days away from a day you'd play golf.

Another area I would investigate (though i can't speak from any real experience other than sporadic visits) is the outlying areas around Austin and/or the Hill Country (SW of Austin / NW of San Antonio). I hear traffic can be pretty bad, but the weather is even more playable than D/FW. Not sure on the availability of public golf.

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> @nuttinbutapeanut said:

> > @"Johnny Biarritz" said:

> > How to you define year-round? I lived in NYC for 4 years (47 months) and I played golf every month I was there.

> >

> > Usual suspects...Myrtle Beach, Pinehurst, Arizona, Vegas, San Diego, Houston, South Florida.

>

> Well you have much better weather than Chicago. If it's in the 40's I'll play. Last year that meant a few days in April, then May thru a limited number of days in November. So November, December, January, February, March and April are pretty much out. This year it rained so much after it started to warm up I don't think we got regular golf going until mid May ? So to answer your question I'd like to play January-December. Which might help with the typical few weeks or months it takes to relearn your swing. I play in two leagues and they go May-September, everything shuts down after that.

 

Sorry, my sarcasm came out. I just find the "all-year golf" to be odd. Like I said, I played 47 consecutive months in New York City, most of the public courses stay open and will gladly take your money as long as grass is at least partially visible. I had an acquaintance who'd played something like 72 consecutive months in Chicago before he deleted his Facebook and I lost touch.

 

Here's the realest thing I can say...remember, the better weather you have in the winter, the worse weather you'll have in summer. I've lived in Pinehurst, Tidewater Virginia, and South Alabama...in all those places we legitimately had 360 golf days per year. Very rarely did it get cold and ice over the course or it rained so significantly that the course was closed for a day. So you can play 12 months...if you can survive the summer. Today was 93 in Norfolk, VA with a very high relative humidity. I've seen it over 100 degrees in Alabama multiple times. I've see it over 100 in Pinehurst multiple times. Vegas and Phoenix have months where the AVERAGE temperature is over 100 degrees.

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> @nuttinbutapeanut said:

> > @"James the Hogan Fan" said:

> > Sf bay area? If you can live with the traffic, and afford it, there is lots of good golf to be found, and I think the tech industry has quite a bit of private security? Certainly a year-round place to play.

>

> My daughter finished college and moved to Orange County. Seems crazy expensive. One of my good friends left our agency and also moved to Orange County as a cop. He also lives paycheck to paycheck. I'm afraid California might be a stretch for me...

 

I'm in San Diego. If your buddy made a lateral move to an Orange County agency and is living pay check to pay check, something isn't right...

 

As for San Diego - it's becoming the new LA. Population is becoming burdensome, and traffic is retarded now.

 

AZ is where it's at... trying to convince the wife... lol.

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> @hybrid25 said:

> I think a person should remember how hot it gets in the summer months in some of the prime winter golf locations.

 

I live in Gilbert Az (phx suburb). Last thursday I was done with work at 12:15. Got a haircut, stopped by the course 109 degrees, played 18 holes wet towel, ice cold water, was home with my feet up by 3 pm (actually closer to 2:45). With the exception of the poorish greens summer/ early fall are my favorite time to golf. May not be for everyone, but as long as it is under 110 im good to go. (The reality is that it is over 110 very infrequently, regardless of the 120 degree norm bantered about)

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> @vallygolf said:

> > @hybrid25 said:

> > I think a person should remember how hot it gets in the summer months in some of the prime winter golf locations.

>

> I live in Gilbert Az (phx suburb). Last thursday I was done with work at 12:15. Got a haircut, stopped by the course 109 degrees, played 18 holes wet towel, ice cold water, was home with my feet up by 3 pm (actually closer to 2:45). With the exception of the poorish greens summer/ early fall are my favorite time to golf. May not be for everyone, but as long as it is under 110 im good to go. (The reality is that it is over 110 very infrequently, regardless of the 120 degree norm bantered about)

 

To piggy back off this, heat in the AZ desert is _vastly_ different than heat in humid areas like Houston/San Antonio/Austin/DFW. For instance, when I was in the Corps, we had a flag system that was used to determine what type of physical activity would could perform, where black flag essentially meant no strenuous work outside. The flag system used back then (and apparently still in use today: https://www.ready.marines.mil/Stay-Informed/Natural-Hazards/Extreme-Heat/Flag-Conditions/) is based on the Wet Bulb, Globe Temperature used by the National Weather Service (see the image below).

 

What this chart tells us is that in a place like Houston, where the average relative humidity is easily 75% during the summer months, you get a black flag day at 86 degrees. In Phoenix, though, where the average relative humidity is around 25%, you don't get a black flag day until 100 degrees. Sure, you'll definitely get black flag days in Phoenix, but there will be fewer and those days will be lower on the black flag scale than those in Houston. As an example, to get close to a 98 rating (high black flag) in an area with 20% relative humidity (e.g. Phoenix), the temperature would need to be around 115. These days happen, for sure, but _rarely_. Per the National Weather Service, Phoenix averages only 18 days per year where the max temperature on a given day tops 110. On the flip side, to get a 98 rating in an area with relative humidity near 80% (like the aforementioned major cities in Texas), the temperature would only need to be around 93 degrees, which happens pretty much every day in the traditional summer months. And, per NOAA, Houston averages 106.5 per year where temperatures top 90 degrees.

 

v35x31vjya8f.jpg

 

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> @Buzzkill said:

> Colorado Springs works for me - I play 300+ rounds per year! I've been here for 5 years and the longest I've gone without play is 16 days.

 

Having lived in Denver for 4 years, this doesn't surprise me. The weather there really is quite mild. Only problem is the golf is just ok, and courses were often crowded. I did enjoy my time in CO.

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This and the other thread with a similar topic show that the "right" answer will depend on the person. I spent 3 years in the PNW and did not like the weather. The ground is soggy for 9 months of the year, there is hardly a real summer. You could probably get away with not owning shorts. Some people love how temperate it is, but I did not. Now I'm in Texas and it's a million times better FOR ME. Yeah it's hot (and there are some interesting Texans...) and it's more humid than I would have thought. It's been 100-105 the last week or so, but you can still play. But for some people this would be awful.

 

I think the real answer is to ask yourself what matters for your life? Do you want to be in a certain time zone? Is a major airport important? Even though you want year round golf, do you want some seasonal variation? Etc. Literally any city could be the right answer with a certain set of conditions. And honestly most cities could work with a few compromises.

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Also, along with the summer heat issues, the OP said he is retiring to a particular area, which means he is getting up there in age where his tolerance to heat may not be as adaptable as a younger person's. I am in my mid-60s and don't really enjoy playing golf when it approaches 90 degrees, I just can't take it like I could when I was younger.

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mentioned this in the thread for the kid looking where to move after college but Flagstaff might be a decent option. not sure how good the golf scene is but i know theres a handful of courses in the area no where near as hot but only a 2 hour drive from phoenix to take advantage of courses down there as you see fit. Weather is great there all around pretty mild.

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> @"Hack Daddy" said:

> > @nuttinbutapeanut said:

> > > @"James the Hogan Fan" said:

> > > Sf bay area? If you can live with the traffic, and afford it, there is lots of good golf to be found, and I think the tech industry has quite a bit of private security? Certainly a year-round place to play.

> >

> > My daughter finished college and moved to Orange County. Seems crazy expensive. One of my good friends left our agency and also moved to Orange County as a cop. He also lives paycheck to paycheck. I'm afraid California might be a stretch for me...

>

> I'm in San Diego. If your buddy made a lateral move to an Orange County agency and is living pay check to pay check, something isn't right...

>

> As for San Diego - it's becoming the new LA. Population is becoming burdensome, and traffic is retarded now.

>

> AZ is where it's at... trying to convince the wife... lol.

 

He bought a house with a mortgage of something like $4000 or $4500 a month......

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> @chbrake said:

> I live in Chattanooga, TN. We play year round, chilly in the winter, warm in the summer and fall and spring are absoutely amazing. Also, from here you can drive south a few hour and play in Flordia if we have a unusually cold winter. Also, we have a ton (15+) of golf courses that are within 30 minutes of downtown Chattanooga. Feel free to PM me if you have any other specific questions.

 

Two guys on my PD are retiring to TN when they are done. Only one is a golfer but they love the area.

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