I've certainly been a party to some of the craziest golf trips no normal sane individual would ever attempt. Of course starting with Matt there appears to be an inordinate amount of "insane" golf obsessive individuals populating this group – which is why I feel right at home.
Under the farthest traveled and most golf in one day a recent trip of mine included rising at 3:30 AM flying from Toronto to Los Angeles playing LACC North at 11:30 AM driving north for a twilight round at Lost Dunes and hauling back to LAX to catch the redeye to Toronto arriving home at 6:30 AM. Unfortunately that exceeds 24 hours but without a Citation X I don’t see how else one could hope to get in more golf over 2500 miles away and be home the next morning for breakfast. Of course I’d do it again in a heartbeat for LACC. Add in a couple of buddies and it could be the local muni – who cares it’s all of about the experience.
Under the “what were they thinking” category, two years ago myself and three buddies left Toronto at 4:30 PM and drove straight to Pinehurst arriving the next day at 5:00 AM. Unfortunately somebody (um, me) forgot to ensure our key for the condo would be available at that time of day. So despite several reassurances (yeah, again by me) that we would have time to shower, shave, and iron our clothes for what is certainly one of golf's great experiences in Pinehurst #2, we were stuck in a not so nice smelling van wrinkled to hell sleep deprived with nowhere to go and nothing to do till our 7:30 AM tee time. Fortunately we found a diner where our resident insomniac closed his eyes for all of five minutes for the first time since we left. Not to be out done by a crusty condo manager, I proceeded to find an open door to the private men’s locker room at the Pinehurst clubhouse (at the time I didn’t know it was the private one) and all was well again as we groomed ourselves back into a respectable appearance. One great experience followed another as we played No.2 and Pine Needles that day, Forest Creek North and South the next, 36 at the CC or NC the third day, and finished it off with a round at the unforgettable Tobacco Road on our way back – arriving home at 4:00 AM the next day.
In the “greatest golf trip ever” category my brother and I flew to SFO on a Friday, played Pasatiempo on our way down to Monterey. Got up for the first tee time at Pebble Beach on the Saturday, and then drove all the way back up to San Francisco for a round at The Olympic Club in the afternoon. Sunday morning started with the pinch yourself experience of the San Francisco Golf Club, followed by an afternoon round at the ever-challenging Mayacama Golf Club. Monday morning we played The Course at Wente Vineyards followed by a hasty drive down to Spyglass Golf Course for our afternoon round. And as if this wasn’t enough, we were fortunate enough to make our final round Tuesday morning at the Cypress Point Club. I could blabber on but you’re probably already thinking “what a jerk,” so I will leave my recent NY area trip for another time.