First Golf Trip Advice

[bloodredsun]

Going abroad

In about a month, myself and 3 friends will be going on our first golf trip abroad. What do you recommend that we do to make that trip a success?

I can see a number of issues that we need to look at:
Travelling with clubs and club protection; Travel Bags(Hard/Soft)/iron covers/newspapers wrapped around heads/broom sticks in the bag.
Golf specific insurance; is it necessary?
Playing at championship venues for the first time; extra etiquette tips.
We are all reasonably seasoned travellers so the actual travel is not really an issue but how we can travel with golf kit, get there and back while keeping it in one piece and have a good time.

Also, do you recommend any memento's like embroidered shirts/caps without being too corny.

[charlesdupuy]

I decided that ball markers are a pretty good momento because you can pick them up at all the clubs you play back home where you wouldn't want to fork out for a shirt, but you have something from all the courses you've played, then you can get a shirt from your favourite course on your visit.

 

If you don't want to pay for club protectors, all mizuno iron sets get delivered with foam around the heads with club shaped holes, ask your local golf shop if they could save you some before they bin them and that saves you $20. I'd rather save money there and get a top of the line travel bag rather than a discount one with a broomstick in it.

 

One peice of advice for championship courses, if you find yourself in a tricky spot or with a blind shot, just play to where you can see and avoid going in trouble, it might cost you a bogey but it could save you a load of shots from hitting into knee deep rough that you didn't know was there.

 

I don't know much about insurance, I always travel with my Dad, and anything that isn't covered under my standard golf insurance comes under the family travel insurance policy from the company he works for.

 

Have a good holiday and good golfing. Where are you going?

[RagingAardvark]

I traveled from Colorado to Spain with my clubs last year. Used a soft case bag as I'd had problems with the hard-shell and vehicles in the states. It worked really well, especially given that we had to hop a train from Barcelona to Girona.

 

I put iron covers on, and didn't use any shaft protectors (though I did buy my buddy who owns the case a Stiff Arm and will use it next time).

 

I think I wrapped a couple golf towels around the clubs to keep them from getting banged up too bad.

 

As for the tournament courses, the only time I ran into issues was at the TPC Catalunya course, where (even though I was the best dressed of our entire group), they acted like I shouldn't be there, complete with requesting my handicap card. Trust me, there were plenty of guys in the group (a crazed bunch of Danes) that had less business being there than I did :cheesy: While that course was great, the staff was real wankers, complete with following us around mowing, including keeping the mowers running while we were teeing off on some holes. :rolleyes:

[bloodredsun]

Actually I still have the foam that came with the irons so I can use that. When you say iron covers, do you mean neoprene head covers? Are they the best things to use.

 

Ball markers are a nice idea. I tend to use a 50c coin that I picked up in Aus (it's massive!) but a marker would be perfect.

 

A Travel Bag is a must I guess. I'm going to go for a soft one as I've heard that hard cases can be a real pain to travel with unless you have a private jet! I've not heard of a stiff arm. I was going to use a cut down broom stick but I guess they do the same job.

 

We're going from London to Penina in the Algarve (Portugal). It looks fairly swanky so I just wanted a head up before I went so that I didn't look a complete fool :rolleyes: We have 3 rounds on the course so the first one I was going to be ultra conservative, like chipping out where I can see the ball land, on blind tees and the like. I figure that I have 2 more rounds to really cut loose once I know where the hazards are.

[HOGANMAN]

Easy. Take some nice, soft, toilet paper. Trust me. Between the food and drinks, you'll thank me.

[Onebulldogs]

My father his friends a combined 30 trips to Scotland.

 

When I joined them for Ireland, I followed this advice without incident:

1. No hardcases - cars and hotel rooms are small. While offering more protection, Hardcases are not practical for european travel b/c they cannot be stashed easily.

2. I did learn that a "big" bag is a good investment. Golf travel cases make a great way to bring back dirty clothes/souveniers. I got rid of my ClubGlove Burstproof for a larger Ogio Monster and have been happy on many domestic trips.

3. If you are playing every day, take two pair of shoes. one, they might get wet and a full day is needed to dry. even if they aren't wet, letting shoes rest for a day is a good idea. This may seem like common sense - make sure they are broken in. This is no time for the new, pretty shoes.

4. Buy the best raingear you can afford. Paying thousands of dollars to travel to Europe means staying on the course no matter what. Avoid things that are 'water resistent.'

5. Take a first aid kit with basic bandaids with the strongest pain meds you can talk your doctor out of. (Assuming you will be walking). One guy in our group got a horrible blister, used liquid skin and Rx pain meds to walk 18-36 per day.

6. Take a small camera and get lots of flim/memory. Only 1 in 5 will be good. Up your number of keeps by taking more shots.

[mistral]

If you're going to the Algarve, take sun block, lip salve and a hat. Don't know when you're going but starting from March, it can warm up quickly, and with a breeze, you won't notice the strength of the sun.

 

Make sure you take water out with you on the course. Other than that, have fun. Rough won't be too bad at this time of year and there aren't too many blind shots to worry about. Pace of play is the main issue out there.

[bloodredsun]

Pace of play is the main issue out there.

 

In what way? Are they strict about playing a fast round? I'll have to stay on top of this as the other 3 guys, while not novices are all 20+ h.c.

[mistral]

20 hc is OK. The issue is that there are a lot of northern europeans there that don't have handicaps! 6 hour rounds are not uncommon, especially during Spring which is a busy time before it gets too hot. This is the reason for the water, hat, sunblock etc as you may spend a long time on the course!