Your perfect golf vacation with your friends starts and stops
with you. Toss the vacation package brochures in a heap and
design your own ideal golf getaway. This is the final of four
articles to assist you in providing an outing for yourself and
your friends that will make you want to do it every year (as we
have for 19 years running).
From the last article, you are now at the minus one month
point. So far you have rallied the troops, picked the dates,
selected the lodging and golf courses and are in the final
preparation stage. You will soon see your friends smiling faces
at the airport baggage claim. The final preps and smoothly
running the whole show are child's play. The tough part was
getting your bunch of friends to buy the tickets to enjoy the
event. Here are a few things you will want to do before the
scream of the aircraft's tires on the tarmac.
1.
Transportation. The limiting factor is arrival and departure
from the airport due to clubs AND suitcases. If you can just
barely stuff everyone in the vehicles at this point, the rest of
the week is gravy. From your experience, you know that when you
pack up four guys to go golfing locally, you will entirely fill
the trunk of a full sized car. With that in mind, you should
plan on a full sized car for every three people. We use one
minivan/SUV augmented with cars for our adventures. Just make
sure you allow for the limiting case.
You need to arrange
these rental vehicles ahead of time, but you can only drive one
yourself. Here is the minus one-month mandatory. When you figure
out your vehicle requirements, contact the group to arrange
among them and you who will contact and rent the remaining
vehicles. There will probably be some in your group that have
existing discounts and can score a great rate. Hash this one out
via email.
2. Entertainment. Unless you are going to the
deserts in Arizona or get exceedingly lucky, you will have a
rain day or two. You will also have a bunch of time at night
after golf (after you have all told your lies). We suck that
time up pretty effectively watching the golf channel, ESPN,
playing cards, or watching videos. The latter is what you can
address ahead of time. We have a guy that is pretty good at
selecting movies to watch and we task him to bring them with
him. Movies like "Gladiator", "Miracle", etc. are big. Some of
your group may even have an adult video you may want to avail
yourselves of. On severe rain days, we also have gone bowling (a
real hoot), done the local movie theater, and toured the area.
3. Checklists. After about ten years of being asked twenty times
per day where we were playing the next day, or when we had to
leave, or what was for supper, or who stole my teddy bear, I
finally started typing out these things. I make a copy of each
and post sporadically throughout the house. I make individual
laminated cards and hand to each golfer. Know what? It reduced
the questions to half and now when asked, I say that I can't
remember, let me walk over to the frig and read it for you. Here
are the things I prepare ahead of time.
- Listing of
course, tee times, course contact number, and departure time. I
base departure time on MapBlast directions and factor in a stop
for ice for the coolers and if we will need to hit range balls.
- Listing of the menu for the evening meals. If this is your
first time, keep the menu simple and make sure you have the
recipes in hand. With any size group, you are going to have a
chef or two and this won't be a big deal.
- Multiple
copies of the "order sheet" for sandwiches. For most of our noon
meals between rounds, we dine on our self-prepared, gourmet
sandwiches prepared the night before. As you saw from the
previous articles, I solicit what the group wants and have that
on the shopping list. What winds up being the least confusing
way is to have some sheet for people to circle or fill in to
specify what sandwiches they want for the next day. You rotate
the preparers (two is best) every night and with that sheet,
they manufacture the gourmet feast. (Don't discount this! The
sandwiches you make will be superior to anything short of the
full meal at the course AND you will not have to wait on it if
you are pressed for time between your rounds.)
- Biggy!
We did not keep a record of our scores for our first few years.
Big mistake. What great history we tossed out. Keep a record! I
prepare a hard copy sheet to fill in as we go. It allows us to
follow who is the overall stroke leader and gives us all ammo to
use in negotiating the next day's bets. I take this home and
plant it permanently on our golf website.
- Expenses. I
pay for everything with minor exceptions. That keeps it simple.
I currently use a spreadsheet to administer this. It works
great. I would provide this for you, but this article format
doesn't allow. Before that, I simply used pen and paper and got
it to within a penny. My point is that from the minute you start
your adventure, keep a tally of what you have spent! Streamline
course check in by paying for everyone, buy all the food and
drink, buy all the gas, etc. If someone pays for anything, log
it in immediately. If you are religious in this, you will have
no complaints, only praise.
4. Things nobody else will
bring but you.
- Several decks of cards, poker chips
-
Cribbage boards
- Screw driver and pliers (you never know)
- Pens, pencils and permanent markers (you will need all)
-
Over the counter pain killers
- Band-Aids
- Game
5.
Arrival. So here you have a rambunctious group of friends
descending on the Mecca of golf. You have motored to the house
your staying in and it is the mad dash to the best room to be
found. NOT. To avoid any hard feelings between the lodger that
got the queen bed and the lodger that got the twin bed, simply
set up a quick draw out of the hat. For subsequent years, do the
same, but use the seniority system. Once a person misses, he
goes to the end of the list.
6. Once you have dumped your
bags in the drawn rooms, it is time to go shopping. With the
template I gave you in the last article, and with your
modifications based on menu and orders, grab one or two
volunteers and get what you need.
This is the conclusion of my recommendations on how you can
have the best golf outing or outings you have ever had. Since I
have folks coming to enjoy my preparations for 19 years should
be testimony to you. At least give it a shot once. It won't be
perfect, but my guess is that it will be superior and more
remembered than anything you can buy as a package. Go for it!
About the Author:
Randall Ulbricht is a retired Nuclear Submarine Officer with a
BA in Physics and Chemistry and an MBA from the Citadel. He has
owned local businesses and works from home sharing information
via several web sites, including:
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