[Ira Fishman]

Have any of you who have played so many different courses ever totaled the number of miles you have traveled in your lifetime? In any given year? Do you use up your frequent flyer points as quickly as you accumulate them?


Ira

[John Kavanaugh]

Ira,


I don’t think you were here when airlines started charging for golf bags. The melt down built me up.

[Ian Andrew]

Have any of you who have played so many different courses ever totaled the number of miles you have traveled in your lifetime? In any given year? Do you use up your frequent flyer points as quickly as you accumulate them?

I know my lifetime travel with Air Canada just crossed 600,000 miles. It's almost all work miles.
I only work in North America - and mostly in the north-east - so its a decent amount of trips.
I used to combine my work trips with a chance to see other courses.


As for miles, they always were for the family (now just my wife).
We used them to travel annually. No golf ever.

[Ben Sims]

No, I’m terrified to know how many flight miles I have.

[Tommy Williamsen]

It was a bunch this year. I played in Israel. Later in the year, I played in Norway. (Although neither of those was for golf alone) I played in Chicago, Nebraska, Bandon, and flew to Boston just for Fishers Island.

[Tom_Doak]

No, I’m terrified to know how many flight miles I have.

I can feel your pain!


A couple of months ago I had boarded a flight early and one of the flight attendants sat down in the seat next to me and said she rarely got to meet a customer who had flown 2 million miles on Delta.  She wondered what I did for a living?


And that's only on Delta, which didn't carry me on any of my 30 trips to New Zealand, for example.  It also doesn't include several trips on Qantas, or a couple of round-the-world trips via Qatar, etc.  I've probably got at least twice as many miles as Delta has me down for.


Luckily my current workload is mostly in the USA and I'm organized to make fewer and longer trips.

[Ira Fishman]

Ian and Tom,


You travel because it is what your profession requires, and you have made the choice to pursue that profession whether you need to do so or not to put bread on your tables. My inquiry is more focused on those who are not in the business, but travel far and wide just to play wherever and whenever. Talk about passion and logistics.


Ira

[mike_beene]

I am over 2 million but have flown just a few times since COVID. Being free of constant travel is a new and exciting life!

[Pete_Pittock]

Somewhere around 275,000, added central Oregon and Bandon trips.
Includes about 130,000 airmiles to GB&I (x8) and down under (x4), 50,000 in N.A.
and about 40,000 road miles domestically, 2000 international.

That is about 11 times around the world at the equator. spread over 50 years.

[Tom_Doak]

Ian and Tom,


You travel because it is what your profession requires, and you have made the choice to pursue that profession whether you need to do so or not to put bread on your tables. My inquiry is more focused on those who are not in the business, but travel far and wide just to play wherever and whenever. Talk about passion and logistics.

Ira,


With respect, I've traveled a lot of those miles to go see golf courses for the same reasons that you do.  [I just apply what I've learned more than you do.]  At last count I had seen about 1600 of them in 41 countries.  Some of that was work-related, but a lot was not.  Have you played golf in Sri Lanka?  Zambia?  Patagonia?  There were some logistics involved there, trust me.

[John Kavanaugh]

I conservatively drove over 200,000 miles just to play my beloved Victoria National.

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

I dont fly nearly as much as y'all, but what I do is burn up highway miles that I would put up against a lot of folks...   I sat down a while back and went through all of he company vehicles I have gone through over 30+ years of being a salesman/sales engineer/sales rep, and I am over 1.5M miles and counting.  A lot of work, but my clubs have never left my trunk for most of that 30 years.  And the distance would probably be ⅔ of that or less if I subtracted the miles I have gone out of the way for golf.   


But every one of them has been worth it.  And if I am going to get to 3000, I certainly have a lot more ahead of me.

[Ben Sims]

No, I’m terrified to know how many flight miles I have.

I can feel your pain!


A couple of months ago I had boarded a flight early and one of the flight attendants sat down in the seat next to me and said she rarely got to meet a customer who had flown 2 million miles on Delta.  She wondered what I did for a living?


And that's only on Delta, which didn't carry me on any of my 30 trips to New Zealand, for example.  It also doesn't include several trips on Qantas, or a couple of round-the-world trips via Qatar, etc.  I've probably got at least twice as many miles as Delta has me down for.


Luckily my current workload is mostly in the USA and I'm organized to make fewer and longer trips.

For reference, I did some napkin math. I’ve flown ~300k miles…in 2022. This is all domestic flying with maybe a half dozen trips total to Liberia, Cabo, and Cancun. In a former life I was flying a lot more internationally and often around the whole damn planet on a monthly basis, as you remember.


But the point I’m making is that even as an airline pilot, you would probably give me a run for my money in miles flown per year. Particularly when you use those heavy NZ years as a benchmark. Which blows my mind that someone building golf courses for a living somehow flies as many miles as someone that flies for a living.


Here’s another number…750. That’s how many hours I’ve flown in the last 365 days. I’d be curious how many hours your associates spend in a dozer or excavator cockpit per year.

[Tom_Doak]

For reference, I did some napkin math. I’ve flown ~300k miles…in 2022. This is all domestic flying with maybe a half dozen trips total to Liberia, Cabo, and Cancun. In a former life I was flying a lot more internationally and often around the whole damn planet on a monthly basis, as you remember.


But the point I’m making is that even as an airline pilot, you would probably give me a run for my money in miles flown per year. Particularly when you use those heavy NZ years as a benchmark. Which blows my mind that someone building golf courses for a living somehow flies as many miles as someone that flies for a living.


Here’s another number…750. That’s how many hours I’ve flown in the last 365 days. I’d be curious how many hours your associates spend in a dozer or excavator cockpit per year.

Nah, I didn't fly that many hours.  The only year I kept track was 2003, when I made six trips to NZ and Australia, and at the end of the year I was at 600 hours of traveling, door to door.  Which, normal people could also think of as spending fifteen, 40-hour weeks just to GET TO work.


But I suppose there are plenty of people in Los Angeles that spend that much time commuting every year.


As to your last question, I'd guess the number for my associates is similar to yours.  They are on the road 150-180 days a year; and maybe spend half their day in the cab. But they're kind of spoiled; there are certainly full-time shaper guys that work 10 hrs a day for 200+ days in the machine.

[Dónal Ó Ceallaigh]

Haven't any of you heard of "flygskam"     
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_shame

[Jeff Schley]

I discovered flyertalk about 13 years ago and so glad I did.
I'm a United flyer and at 1.5 million miles, and another million probably in redeemable travel. I keep a healthy balance of miles to use. Stopped chasing the miles and status during covid and just burning now for a couple years.

We all pale in comparison to Tom Stuker, look him up. Met him a couple times and wow, not sure how he does it.

[Forrest Richardson]

> 2 million w/ American as of 2021. We figured out that, previous to 1981 when America West began (absorbed US Air and eventually American); I had about 1 million. As a 4-6 year old, I flew back and forth to Arizona from LAX because my parents argued over where I should live! Continental, Western, United and American...well before FF numbers! Then, there is Southwest and my Misc. miles on others, including Aeroflot. We came up with about 4 million. Like Tom D., I'm not sure it's a badge of honor as much as a way to calculate what you missed while your family was busy grown up

I do think it's an often overlooked sacrifice of golf architects!

[cary lichtenstein]

My American Airlines card says 4 million miles

[Matt_Cohn]

My American Airlines card says 4 million miles

Some quick math suggests that 4 million miles is right around one year airborne.

[Duncan Cheslett]

In stark contrast I’ve yet to take a flight this century!


There are definite advantages to living in the geographic centre of a small island containing a high proportion of the world’s best and most accessible golf courses! 👍

[Sean_A]

My American Airlines card says 4 million miles

Some quick math suggests that 4 million miles is right around one year airborne.

I was thinking the same...no bueno for me.

Ciao

[Jeff Schley]

> 2 million w/ American as of 2021. We figured out that, previous to 1981 when America West began (absorbed US Air and eventually American); I had about 1 million. As a 4-6 year old, I flew back and forth to Arizona from LAX because my parents argued over where I should live! Continental, Western, United and American...well before FF numbers! Then, there is Southwest and my Misc. miles on others, including Aeroflot. We came up with about 4 million. Like Tom D., I'm not sure it's a badge of honor as much as a way to calculate what you missed while your family was busy grown up

I do think it's an often overlooked sacrifice of golf architects!

Forest totally agree for work related travel, not enhancing your life much to earn your paycheck really. But for leisure travel it is how we get to see the beauty of the world.  I'm talking outside of golf really, although golf is a part of it for us, really international travel is something I would encourage as many as I can to save up for.

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