Destination Trips

[Tommy Williamsen]

While I have yet to get to Australia, it is on the list! It is a long haul for me since I’m on the east coast. East coast folks can be in the isles in 6-7 hrs, more or less. Easy trip. Australia, on the other hand, is full day. That is a real hurdle for Americans regardless of your location. May be a little less if located on the west coast, but the trip is still very long. Like others have mentioned, 2-3 days are completely wasted on time in the air. I can leave Delaware in the morning and be on the first tee in the isles later that day.

My one trip to Australia (from Kentucky), I was gone for ten days, playing golf on seven of them and sightseeing another. A trip to Australia does require two days of travel, but shouldn't need three. I would love to go back, but it is tough setting aside ten or more days.

I agree that travel to the UK or Ireland is much simpler, but I'm not clear on how you fly to the UK from Delaware and play later that day. It's a 6+ hour flight and 5 hour time difference. If you leave at 7am, you're not through immigration before 7pm at best. I know there's a lot of daylight in the summer, but you would seem to need a lot of travel luck to play the same day.

I assumed he meant 24 hour period or still using east coast time rather than destination time.


Ciao

Most flights to the UK and Ireland leave in the evening and arrive early in the morning. I normally get on the course before noon on the day I arrive.

[John Mayhugh]

Using "later that day" to actually mean "later in the same 24 hour time period" is a new one on me.

I'm plenty familiar with flying overnight and playing on arrival the next morning. I've just never considered that the same day since it's not.

[Cal Carlisle]

I see more Millennials and Generation Z consumers spending the bulk of their golf budgets on these types of trips while eschewing private club memberships.

I don't think they're eschewing them. Very low on the list of priorities at that age. Not a lot of time or money, but they do get vacation time and trips can be taken while still falling in their limited budgets. This coupled with the fact they probably can't get into a club right now anyway.

[Adam Lawrence]

While I have yet to get to Australia, it is on the list! It is a long haul for me since I’m on the east coast. East coast folks can be in the isles in 6-7 hrs, more or less. Easy trip. Australia, on the other hand, is full day. That is a real hurdle for Americans regardless of your location. May be a little less if located on the west coast, but the trip is still very long. Like others have mentioned, 2-3 days are completely wasted on time in the air. I can leave Delaware in the morning and be on the first tee in the isles later that day.

My one trip to Australia (from Kentucky), I was gone for ten days, playing golf on seven of them and sightseeing another. A trip to Australia does require two days of travel, but shouldn't need three. I would love to go back, but it is tough setting aside ten or more days.

I agree that travel to the UK or Ireland is much simpler, but I'm not clear on how you fly to the UK from Delaware and play later that day. It's a 6+ hour flight and 5 hour time difference. If you leave at 7am, you're not through immigration before 7pm at best. I know there's a lot of daylight in the summer, but you would seem to need a lot of travel luck to play the same day.

I assumed he meant 24 hour period or still using east coast time rather than destination time.

Ciao

Most flights to the UK and Ireland leave in the evening and arrive early in the morning. I normally get on the course before noon on the day I arrive.

It's not 'most', but 'almost all'. In all the years I've been visiting the US I have never come home on a flight that was not a redeye. And as someone has already said, if you did get on a day flight you'd arrive so late that it would be impossible to play golf that day.

[Sean_A]

Using "later that day" to actually mean "later in the same 24 hour time period" is a new one on me.

I'm plenty familiar with flying overnight and playing on arrival the next morning. I've just never considered that the same day since it's not.

Just guessing dude. 😎

Ciao

[Mike_Trenham]

Private clubs in the US have never been more expensive than they are today and the clubs are in an unending arms race of amenities and service levels that are of low value added.


People seem to be demanding a members’ experience that is more like going to a resort than going away every weekend to your lake house.

[Charles Lund]

I've had a membership at The National Golf Club in Australia since 2014 and was a member at Ballyliffin Golf Club in Ireland from 2014 to 2019.  I'm leaving on my 19th trip to Australia later this week and usually traveled to Ireland twice a year when I was a member at Ballyliffin.  With trips before and after the time I was a member at Ballyliffin, I've been to Ireland 14 times. I've also traveled to Scotland, England, Spain, Portugal, and Sweden to play golf, as well as many countries in Asia.  I've had the good fortune of playing close to 200 different courses outside of North America, some with dozens of rounds and about 200 different courses here i the U.S.  I've played at many of the destination resorts and golf areas here at home, along with occasional access at some of the more desirable private courses.


I haven't been a member of a private course here since 2006.  I opted for overseas travel because many well known courses in other countries have been relatively accessible compared to here in the U.S.  I made a financial decision based on finding ways to travel at lower cost and accepted the tradeoff as suited to my situation.  I retired in 2008 and began overseas travel in late 2007 with a first trip to New Zealand and Australia.  My permanent home is in the Pacific Northwest where winter play is limited due to weather, so I made the decision to travel and play golf in other parts of the world.


I can't speak to trends here that relate to this thread or demographics as the game has grown in popularity.  But I do think I am an example of someone with a couple of decades of quality golf experiences that were possible by cutting the cord with a costly private membership.  I have no regrets and what I missed traveling on this road has been offset by lots of high quality golf experiences.


Charles Lund

[John Kavanaugh]

Charles, do you have many friends that don’t golf? Seems like private membership lifestyle can doom one to a “golf centric” world. Sounds like you hit a home run!

[Pete_Pittock]

Charles,
Hopefully you have a set of clubs stored at The National to cut down on the hassle of travelling with extra luggage.
I made the decision to international travel for golf in the mid 70s, a joined a private club at the same time. Most of my travel from the west coast was to GB&I, but switched to Australia, then added NZ as more clubs opened. In the last 20 years my golf swung towards destination clubs and I dropped the private as it became too expensive.

[Charles Lund]

Reply to John and Pete


In the peak travel years before Covid, I was out of the country about five months a year on five different trips, so friendships became global and multicultural for close to a decade.  I made friends in various places in Australia and Ireland through golf.  I also had a hobby interest at home in gardening and landscaping and started doing non-golf stops in Japan to see gardens.  I tend toward solo pursuits and virtually all of my travel which numbers now 51 overseas trips, mostly involving some golf, other than the Japan trips which involved pursuing gardening interests. I followed some travel blogs involving mileage programs and developed a fondness for flying, enhanced by being able to access better seating and having a flexible schedule where I could fly based on available fares that were within a range that made them better values.


The culture of private clubs in the U.S. wasn't my cup of tea.  I've liked the clubs I've played at overseas which tend be be egalitarian with the primary emphasis being golf.  The two clubs I have played at most have courses laid out in natural settings with minimal encroachment by residential development.


So what started out on a first trip to New Zealand and Australia in late 2007 as an experiment evolved into a really enjoyable lifestyle.


To Pete's question, I have always had a lot of extra equipment and took an old set of 690 MB irons, Vokey wedges and Titleist metal woods and hybrids to Ireland and stored them in a locker for many years.  in 2014, I started accumulating multiple sets of AP2 710s with the same shafts and more modern Titleist drivers, fairway metals, and hybrids, so with extra sets, I left one set in Australia and had other sets in a couple of locations in the U.S.  I had the same holiday rental on the Mornington Peninsula for many trips and the owners stored my clubs for me, including the two year period when Australia was closed to entry.  When Australia opened up in March of last year, I cashed in miles and went back. I returned later in 2022 and will go back again later this week, with one light checked bag and a couple of carry ons.  I liked my time in New Zealand but the abundance of accessible courses concentrated in a few areas of Australia contributed to returning to Australia a lot.  [size=78%]  [/size]


Charles Lund

[John Kavanaugh]

At my wedding none of my groomsmen played golf, now I don’t know a soul who will be unpaid pallbearer that doesn’t.

[Mike Hendren]

Having been blessed to see just about all I ever wanted to see I’ve settled back into club life, playing 3 times weekly with best buds.  Haven’t played anywhere new in a couple of years.  Buda will be my traveling swan song. Club is 10 minutes from the house and the two Cupp/Kies are good enough.  I’m a golfer again.