Late next spring I will be departing Fantasyland in Orlando and traveling overseas for the first time to two of my Fantasylands: Paris and London. I've been doing some searching on courses in the areas and of course there are too many courses for a brief golf itinerary. Now that I am familiar with the geography and courses (thanks again for the guide Mark Rowlinson!), I thought it would be best to turn to the treehouse for advice.
Here's the skinny: my non-working time will span about 10 consecutive days. I'll be stationed in Paris, but want to spend some time in London as well (but no more than 5 days away from Paris). Since I've never been overseas, I originally thought heading to Scotland or Ireland for a few days was the ticket...but after reading up on the Southeast UK courses I have scrapped that idea.
One key consideration...my wife will come over for the trip & also has not seen London or Paris, and I still enjoy my marriage!
Let's say that golf will happen 4 or 5 days in that span and the rest will be spent sightseeing...but the golf days can (probably should!) consist of 36 hole days. She is about a 30 hdcper who could drop a few shots - she would put time into her game - at one time she broke 100 with some regularity but has only played 2 games this summer. This should be good enough for most, but not all clubs as I understand.
For my experience I would love to see a good mix of links and heathland courses. I'd like to play some of the more famous courses but they don't all have to be the elites as long as they maintain the unique UK flavor. Greens fees are a small consideration (we will avoid Wentworth) but most of the other courses seem to have reasonable fees...I think 100£ or less for 1 round and 150£ or less for 2 rounds will do (an exception would be made for special places like Sunningdale). Lately I have been leaning towards 1-2 days in the southest UK area (try for Rye, Deal, RSG, etc.), 1-2 days on heathland courses (Sunningdale, Walton Heath, etc.), and 1-2 days at courses around Paris (Chantilly, Fontainebleau, Morfontaine if possible, etc.). What would you all recommend? I don't have club connections here in the States; its possible some of my coworkers in Paris could work something out but at this point let's assume not.
Anything that could help on the logistics would be great as well! Can we do this without renting a car and just taking the trains? Could we just rent a car for one way between Paris and London and hit the southest UK area with the car, and the others by train? We are considering flying into one of the cities and flying out of the other to only do the trip once. Since I have not visited any of these courses previously ease of logistics will be a factor in choosing courses. How far in advance do I need to write the clubs? My dates are not firm yet. Of course I would love to meet up with other GCAers if possible.
Thanks in advance!
Pete