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38 year old looking for ideal 3-4 month winter golf destination


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I work from home up in Michigan, I have no responsibilities outside of getting my handicap down from the 3.5 I am now, and am looking to make golf season last longer! I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions for places that might be worth looking into. And not necessarily just cities, but might there be a course in Arizona somewhere that offers decent monthly dues?

 

I know there are a ton of retirement/snowbird places but I am hoping for something reasonable where its less than 80% retirees. I'm sure Scottsdale is a good option or south Florida somewhere but thought I would ask this community for any general or specific advice.

 

Thanks!

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It might not meet your qualifications in terms of demographics (retirees) but Palm Desert or Palm Springs are worth considering. Just a beautiful area November through March and 100+ golf courses.

 

Edit: Also Las Vegas if you want a younger/night club type environment. . . you could stay off the strip in Summerlin and go to the Strip when you need entertainment.

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What are you looking for? If you're willing to deal with a few days of relatively bad weather, I'm sure there are dozens of courses in southern Virginia, Pinehurst, Myrtle Beach, etc., that would give you some sort of 4 month membership. If you wanted to go to Alabama, the RTJ Trail does a range membership, it's $475 for the entire year for unlimited balls...you could surely get value out of that over the course of 4 months. Plus, when I had that pass/membership, it included unlimited use of the par 3 course, though it's not apparent if it still does. Those courses have incredible practice areas, especially for the cost.

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What’s wrong with retirees. Some can really play and usually tell great stories. It’s all I mostly play with. Wait I am one.

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How warm do you want your golf days to be?

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Thanks a lot everyone! I am not anti-old people or anything but I already go to bed around 9:30pm so I need to stay young :)

I am not exactly a weather snob so as long as it's 50+ I am all good. I just love the game and want to play as much as possible without going broke! I enjoy practice too so getting some sort of range membership sounds perfect.

 

Palm Desert/Springs is awesome it just seems like all those courses are too expensive to play 20-40 rounds at. Really love that area though!

 

I do have family in Durham, but the NC winter doesn't seem worth it. I definitely visit a lot in April.

 

I'll have to look closer at Vegas too. Hadn't thought of that but there must be reasonably priced golf somewhere around there.

 

Thanks again and keep em comin!

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I'm going to suggest Monterey CA.

 

Specifically, look at the pricing on memberships at Bayonet/Blackhorse. Use those as your home course and play all of the other great courses in the area.

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If i were a guy in a fantastic position as yourself OP. Id try to complete as much of the Robert Trent Jones trail as i could. Not sure what your budget is though it being off season it might not be too bad price wise. Might want to double check that before heading down if you did. If you got bored with that (not sure how you could) there are TONS of options down here in the south.

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Indian Bayou in Destin Florida has a January-March membership for around $800. It includes range balls and a short game practice area. Nice course, not too busy in the winter, and Destin is great in the winter--it's the off season so the restaurants and bars aren't crowded but still open. Long term rentals are reasonable that time of year.

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> @Sam3000 said:

> Thanks a lot everyone! I am not anti-old people or anything but I already go to bed around 9:30pm so I need to stay young :)

> I am not exactly a weather snob so as long as it'**s 50+ I **am all good. I **just love the game and want to play as much as possible** without going broke! I enjoy practice too so getting some sort of range membership sounds perfect.

>

> Palm Desert/Springs is awesome it just seems like all those courses are too expensive to play 20-40 rounds at. Really love that area though!

>

> I do have family in Durham, but the NC winter doesn't seem worth it. I definitely visit a lot in April.

>

> I'll have to look closer at Vegas too. Hadn't thought of that but there must be reasonably priced golf somewhere around there.

>

> Thanks again and keep em comin!

 

does not compute ... 50+ rules out the South ... i play if the course is open, so that's 33 or above ...

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If you go to the nicest warmest places, like AZ + FL, that are in season for winter tourists, you will find high rates and crowds, seniors or not.

Myrtle Beach has a "snowbird Passport" that offers good 48 hour rates at a lot of courses. Weather is up and down, but if you want it warm the entire time, see sentence #1.

 

I don't think it's much fun to play the same course or two the entire time, but you could do that. In MB, courses that offer monthly memberships are usually among the lowest rated courses.

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Not sure what "reasonable" means to you. $20 per round? $40 per round? $60 per round?

 

As for getting the most for your $, I think you will have considerably more playable days in places like PHX or Tuscon than coastal /southern Florida. Consider high winds vs. an occasional chilly 40* morning.

 

A wildcard choice might be the Emerald Coast. Winter is the off-season there, so golf is plentiful and relatively inexpensive. It isn't a metropolis by any means, but the military has a big presence there, so finding people your age to socialize with won't be that difficult. You will have some cool/wet days, but not many... might be worth the compromise for quality and quantity of affordable golf.

 

Good Luck!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I would consider St. George, UT. Average temperatures during the Winter hit that 50* mark with low humidity and very little precipitation. House rentals are reasonable that time of year, although it helps to reserve in advance and golf is affordable. My wife and I are spending a month there this coming Winter and excited about all the activities and parks around the area for those days when golf isn't on the schedule.

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Hilton Head SC. Averages 60+ in Dec and Jan and we have some awesome golf in the area with outstanding practice facilities.

I would also mention San Antonio. My sister lives there and I will go there in the winter to play some golf with y brother in law. They come here too in the winters and it's a close call for the best golf/weather between the two areas.

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> @Sam3000 said:

> I work from home up in Michigan, I have no responsibilities outside of getting my handicap down from the 3.5 I am now, and am looking to make golf season last longer! I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions for places that might be worth looking into. And not necessarily just cities, but might there be a course in Arizona somewhere that offers decent monthly dues?

>

> I know there are a ton of retirement/snowbird places but I am hoping for something reasonable where its less than 80% retirees. I'm sure Scottsdale is a good option or south Florida somewhere but thought I would ask this community for any general or specific advice.

>

> Thanks!

 

Goto southern Scotland or southern England. Weather is like Michigan fall golf all winter. Cheap cost of living if you go to the right place and very cheap golf memberships. Definitely not warm like Arizona but if that's not your main concern its worth considering. Don't need a visa unless your there more than 6 months.

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  • 4 weeks later...

> @Sam3000 said:

>

>

> I'll have to look closer at Vegas too. Hadn't thought of that but there must be reasonably priced golf somewhere around there.

>

>

Not a lot of cheap courses near Vegas if you're not a resident. The price can double or more for a tourist. There's a few but conditions go way down. I've actually wondered if I could get a fake drivers license showing me as a Vegas resident so I could get resident rates. Love desert golf though.

 

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> @jvincent said:

> I'm going to suggest Monterey CA.

>

> Specifically, look at the pricing on memberships at Bayonet/Blackhorse. Use those as your home course and play all of the other great courses in the area.

 

If you can keep your 3.5 hdcp playing those two courses you will be doing great! They are tough tracks

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Like Sunbelter - St. George is a great place for year round golf. There are a lot of geezers (me included) here though, but there are several leagues that have younger guys in them.

 

You do know the reason there are a lot of retirees in resort destinations right?

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What is your budget per month for rent (or are you buying) + golf?

 

Thinking outside the box here, you can go to just about anywhere in California and have a relatively mild winter. If you want cheap cost of living (for California) and relatively inexpensive country club golf experience, you could look toward Fresno in the Central Valley. There are numerous country clubs in the city (Fort Washington, San Joaquin, Sunnyside, Belmont, Dragonfly etc.) with membership dues under $400/mo. You can get a house with a yard for less than I'm paying for my apartment in San Diego. I had a friend inquire about a junior exec membership at Sunnyside this past summer. For someone aged 35-40 the initiation was $250 (yes two hundred fifty) and dues were $300/mo. Wouldn't be surprised if some of these other clubs would work with you on their initiations since you'd only want to be there in the winter and course condition wouldn't be as prime as summer since many of these courses allow their bermuda to go dormant rather than overseeding. I think if you want a to go somewhere "warm" (still cold, 40-55 during the day) then you should look at places like this. Probably some places in Nevada, Arizona, NM, Texas, etc that will be similar. Nothing special about Fresno, but a big enough city where there's things to do and plenty of golf to be played.

 

I saw someone comment about going to Monterey. If that is within your budget, I'd go there.

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If you wanted to do AZ, there’s solid places you can play for under $50 prime especially if you play weekday golf and enjoy walking when you play. You just need to stay away from Scottsdale.

 

 

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Florida is a great choice because the weather is best and it’s the most affordable, not only from a golf perspective, but a living expense as well.

 

Your best places to look at are Palm Beach, Melbourne, Orlando or Ocala. I love the city of Tampa, but they just don’t have the quality of golf.

 

The positives of Palm Beach is there are a ton of great private courses that offer winter memberships. I think Bear Lakes (36 holes) offers a very good winter membership. And as far as Florida goes, that’s where most of the Tour players and mini-Tour players reside. The negatives of Palm Beach is that it’s more expensive to live there than most places in Florida and there’s a shortage of good, cheap public golf if you don’t want to do the winter membership thing.

 

Melbourne area is pretty cheap to live, but there’s a dearth of good golf courses nearby. You have Suntree CC and Edgewater which are private clubs that I believe offer a winter deal. They’re just not overly awesome courses. Duran is a public course that has a lighted range and offers winter deals, it’s just a very boring course. But the other positive is that you’re pretty close to the beach and only about 40 minutes from Orlando for good public golf.

 

Orlando’s positives is that it has a ton of good public courses and it’s close to the airport and is not overly expensive to live there. The negatives is that it has a lack of truly private clubs. I don’t even know if my club, Orange Tree, offers a winter deal. You can get a good range deal at Dubsdread and if you’re looking to not get a membership and play public golf, Orlando is the place to be.

 

Ocala may be the most inexpensive of them all. And as far as public and private courses available, it’s a hidden gem in Florida between Candler Hills, Stone Creek, Juliette Falls (awesome course), Ocala CC, Ocala National, Royal Oak, Golden Ocala, etc. The negatives is that there’s just not much going on in Ocala and you’re a bit away from the beach if you like to occasionally go there.

 

Weather-wise it will usually stick around the 70’s in Orlando. Cold days are usually around 50-55 degrees. The neat thing is that usually a cold day is followed by another cold day, but 5 degrees warmer and then another one and then it will get back to 70-80 degrees every day for the next couple of weeks.

 

 

 

 

RH

 

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