England Golf Trip

[Brian Finn]

Leaving before Labor Day for a great trip to England.... Our itinerary is as follows:

Day 1 Land in London, play in the afternoon (2:50) at Royal Lytham
Day 2 Fornsby (36)
Day 3 Royal Birkdale
Day 4 Sunningdale (Old/New)
Day 5 Swinley Forest / St. George's Hill
Day 6 Royal Cinque Ports
Day 7 Walton Heath

I literally put this together 30 days ago and the only places we really wanted to play and couldn't was Royal St. George, which has a tournament and wouldn't have been available anyway.    For hotels, we are staying at the Vincent in Southport (walking distance to Birkdale) and the Marriott Twickenham.   

Thoughts? Advice? Criticism?

Thoughts - This itinerary is aggressive.  You will literally be in the car for more hours than on the golf course. 

Advice - cut the northern portion of your itinerary, eliminating at least 50% of your driving.  Days 1-3, play anywhere from 54-108 holes on a combination of The Berkshire (2 courses), West Sussux, Woking, Worpelsdon, West Hill, et al.

Criticism - either post a brag post (Look where I get to play!), which most of us have done, or accept constructive, helpful feedback, which you supposedly wanted.  You've rejected everyone's suggestions after asking for them.  Odd.

[Duncan Cheslett]

Note to anyone planning on covering the whole of England in one golf trip;


Fly into Manchester and out of Heathrow. Or vice versa.


The drive between northern England and London will rip your heart out. You don't want to do it twice.


There's not much to see (or play) along the way, either.

[Sean_A]

Note to anyone planning on covering the whole of England in one golf trip;

Fly into Manchester and out of Heathrow. Or vice versa.

The drive between northern England and London will rip your heart out. There's not much to see (or play) along the way, either.

There is actually a fair number of courses worth playing between London and Manchester.  There are so many that it is easy to pick one or two to break up the journey.

This thread is perplexing.  Jon said he doesn't mind the driving.  He has his reasons for the other decisions.  Maybe none of the suggestions were compelling enough to alter the itinerary.  Just let it go. 

Ciao

[Jon Wiggett]

As it appears driving is no problem but checking in and out of hotels is why not hire a decent size mobile home/campervan that will sleep all 4 of you. Many of the courses will let you park onsite overnight and will have decent washing facilities. For the few that won't there will certainly be a good caravan site near by.


Just a thought.

[Duncan Cheslett]

If you arrive at Heathrow at 8.30 in the morning it is likely to be 10am before you are leaving the parking lot in your hire car.


Google Maps gives your arrival time at Royal Lytham as 2.50pm. Your tee time is 2.50 pm.


That is cutting it fine. Just sayin'...




https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Heathrow+Airport+(LHR),+Longford/Royal+Lytham+%26+St+Annes+Golf+Club,+Links+Gate,+Lytham+Saint+Annes/@52.6173011,-3.9458061,7z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m18!4m17!1m5!1m1!1s0x48767234cdc56de9:0x8fe7535543f64167!2m2!1d-0.4542955!2d51.4700223!1m5!1m1!1s0x487b412363c2b169:0x705375311114ea88!2m2!1d-3.017807!2d53.7495721!2m3!6e0!7e2!8j1567504800!3e0

[Jeff Schley]

If you arrive at Heathrow at 8.30 in the morning it is likely to be 10am before you are leaving the parking lot in your hire car.


Google Maps gives your arrival time at Royal Lytham as 2.50pm. Your tee time is 2.50 pm.


That is cutting it fine. Just sayin'...

I used Ship Sticks to Sunningdale this year and took a carryon.  With the electronic immigration kiosks now for many nationalities, that speeds it up.  Granted we were one of the first planes to land, but I landed at 6:40 and was in my uber to Sunningdale by 7:15. Was a single and played as the first tee time off the New at 8:04 and then 12:40 after a lunch at the Old.
It was the only tee time arrangements to get 36 in that day and had to pay the additional expense of Ship Sticks, but was the only way I could have made it. Landing early helps and 8:30 landing will be a glut of flights, possibly using Ship Sticks and packing some clothes in there would help cut down on the stress to bypass baggage claim.  In any event I hope your trip goes splendidly and you enjoy the countryside driving.

[Mark Pearce]

enjoy the countryside driving.

LoL  You are obviously familiar with the M4 and M25.  I can assure you that the M6 and M20 aren't much different!

[Scott Warren]

Can we at the very least get a GoPro on the dash for the journey north?