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Coming from N. California, I am looking to take a week(ish) long golf trip somewhere in the USA.  I'd prefer not to have to drive too far once I reach a destination via air.  I'd like to get in at least five rounds and pay no more than $50-$100/round.  I'm aware that Myrtle Beach is an obvious option.  Does anyone have suggestions besides South Carolina or Florida?

 

Thanks,

Cantwells

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@cantwells RTJ Trail in Alabama is probably your best bet for that price range.

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I'll second (or third?) the RTJ trail suggestion. Your budget is definitely on the low side for a golf trip so Alabama will probably get you the most for your money. I'm not really aware of too many upscale public courses (outside the RTJ trail) that have green fees <$100 and offer multiple courses. 

 

With RTJ you could spend a night or two in a few different locations and get in a good bit of golf. 

Edited by Abh159
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RTJ might be out as it can require significant travel unless you are interested in the same two or 3 courses in one spot.  My experience has been when the budget is that tight on greens fees, especially right now with how high they are nationwide, it can be more fun to save the travel costs, do a staycation and spend the extra cash on higher end courses at home that you may not usually play.  I have a hard time justifying all the expense to travel to a destination to play some meh courses.  I do think RTJ is the best value.  I would consider increasing the golf budget slightly and pick a place like Pinehurst, or Northern Michigan.

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12 minutes ago, vallygolf said:

RTJ might be out as it can require significant travel unless you are interested in the same two or 3 courses in one spot.  My experience has been when the budget is that tight on greens fees, especially right now with how high they are nationwide, it can be more fun to save the travel costs, do a staycation and spend the extra cash on higher end courses at home that you may not usually play.  I have a hard time justifying all the expense to travel to a destination to play some meh courses.  I do think RTJ is the best value.  I would consider increasing the golf budget slightly and pick a place like Pinehurst, or Northern Michigan.

 

Good point on the travel involved with RTJ. If you use Birmingham as a "home base" the courses aren't too far apart (1-2 hours from B'ham), but the OP would definitely need to rent a car if he wants to play more than 1 trail site. 

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North Alabama is not bad distance wise.  Florence/Muscle Shoals to Huntsville.  I do not know what the airport situation is like in either location.

 

You could do the two courses at The Shoals, The General at Joe Wheeler and then the Hampton Cove courses.  Then there are several courses within driving distance of Huntsville to the southeast, Cherokee Ridge and Eagle's Nest among them.

 

Hampton Cove to Sweeten's Cove in TN is a little more than an hour away.

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For the RTJ Trail if you use Auburn as your home base you can play the two courses at Grand National and then it's only an hour to Capitol Hill which has 3 courses. Fly into Atlanta for Grand National.

 

Shoals to Hampton Cove is about 90min.

 

If I had to pick based on course quality I'd definitely go with Grand National/Capitol Hill of the ones I've played.

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4 hours ago, vallygolf said:

RTJ might be out as it can require significant travel unless you are interested in the same two or 3 courses in one spot.  My experience has been when the budget is that tight on greens fees, especially right now with how high they are nationwide, it can be more fun to save the travel costs, do a staycation and spend the extra cash on higher end courses at home that you may not usually play.  I have a hard time justifying all the expense to travel to a destination to play some meh courses.  I do think RTJ is the best value.  I would consider increasing the golf budget slightly and pick a place like Pinehurst, or Northern Michigan.

Fully recommend the staycation within a few hour drive radius.

 

Unless you have a ton of points to burn, airfare is starting to skyrocket. take the money you would spend on airfare/rental car etc and add it to your green fee budget and you could play some GREAT norcal courses you might not otherwise play.

 

To each their own but i wouldnt be looking to do a golf specific travel trip if my budget is to spend less than $100 on a round. (there definitely could be rounds  that are in that range but my goal is to plan golf trips around 1 or 2 higher end courses and fill the rest of the trip out with what is in the area)

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So yes, I too am under the impression that airfare is starting to skyrocket. However, through summer it appears that Southwest has a boatload of pretty decent round-trip prices. So, I thought I would like to take advantage of that opportunity.   Also, I have heard that  car rental prices have also skyrocketed to outrageous prices.  Regardless, I would like to do something that is not a staycation.

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Definitely check out rental car prices before you book your flight. You might find a cheap airfare, and then get socked with an outrageous rental car fee. 

 

Birmingham usually has reasonable airfares and rental car prices. Plenty of RTJ courses within a few hours if you don't mind the short drive. I've done the Ross Bridge, Capital Hill, Cambrian Ridge, Grand National loop on one trip, and the Oxmoor Valley, The Shoals, Hamption Cove loop on another trip. You should also play FarmLinks.

 

 

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On 5/26/2021 at 6:56 PM, cantwells said:

Coming from N. California, I am looking to take a week(ish) long golf trip somewhere in the USA.  I'd prefer not to have to drive too far once I reach a destination via air.  I'd like to get in at least five rounds and pay no more than $50-$100/round.  I'm aware that Myrtle Beach is an obvious option.  Does anyone have suggestions besides South Carolina or Florida?

 

Thanks,

Cantwells

skip air fare and drive up to bandon ... air fare to b'ham from cali is going to be, presumably, at least $500, if not considerably more ... car rentals are not cheap anywhere, right now ... won't be much better in late summer ... 

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47 minutes ago, tiderider said:

skip air fare and drive up to bandon ... air fare to b'ham from cali is going to be, presumably, at least $500, if not considerably more ... car rentals are not cheap anywhere, right now ... won't be much better in late summer ... 


bandon is the perfect place for someone looking to play 5 rounds that cost 50-100 bucks.

 

Great budget trip advice.

 

if it doesn’t work out he could also drive down to Pebble for a cheap little week long stay there.

Edited by Ryan3773
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1 hour ago, Ryan3773 said:


bandon is the perfect place for someone looking to play 5 rounds that cost 50-100 bucks.

 

Great budget trip advice.

 

if it doesn’t work out he could also drive down to Pebble for a cheap little week long stay there.

 

when you factor in the airfare and car rental the total trip cost could be pretty close to a wash.

 

i think 99% of us would take bandon or pebble over the RTJ trail

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2 hours ago, Ryan3773 said:


bandon is the perfect place for someone looking to play 5 rounds that cost 50-100 bucks.

 

Great budget trip advice.

 

if it doesn’t work out he could also drive down to Pebble for a cheap little week long stay there.

if he foregoes flight & rental (assuming he drives his car), then he could save quite a bit ... $1500 or so, probably ... that's plenty of golf at bandon ... didn't mean to trigger anyone ... 

Edited by tiderider
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1 hour ago, Ryan3773 said:

5 rounds of golf and a week of lodging/food at bandon is gonna be like 4,000 dollars. 

$240 a night in October for a room ... golf w/2nd 18 is about $400 a day ... 4 nights gets you arrive/36/18/36/leave ... five rounds, five days ... it's very comparable overall to flying into b'ham or somewhere else, renting a car and paying for lodging/golf ... pinehurst in late summer/early fall is going to be more expensive than bandon ... late summer/early fall is football season, something most people missed last year ... travel costs will be comparable to what they are now ... my suggestion stands, and is, in fact, quite logical ... 

 

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Spokane, WA - great local courses that are around $50 to play and in great shape, with Coeur d'Alene (amusing, pricy) and Circling Raven (cheaper and better) about an hour away.

 

Grand Rapids, MI - 3 awesome courses designed by Mike DeVries (Diamond Springs, Mines, Pilgrim's Run) plus others in the area, all within your budget.

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On 5/26/2021 at 9:41 PM, cantwells said:

Yes, I suppose that is very helpful info to include.  Late summer, early fall

 

If you can put up with the heat, fly to Phoenix and play nice courses in the summer and cheap rates.  You have a ton of options for hotels or AirBNB and tons of courses that will be cheap in the summer and not too busy.  If you tee off early, like 7 am, the heat is not too bad and you're in a cart and of course, it's a dry heat. 

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On 5/28/2021 at 12:58 PM, tiderider said:

skip air fare and drive up to bandon ... air fare to b'ham from cali is going to be, presumably, at least $500, if not considerably more ... car rentals are not cheap anywhere, right now ... won't be much better in late summer ... 

Bandon green fees are WAY over his budget.   And staying there is quite expensive unless you go in the off season.

Edited by Golferpaul
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