In the past I wrote about short golf trips you could take. Check that out here. What I want to do with this post is go over some of my past trip summaries related to the Top 100 quest (some will repeat). In the future, I plan to give a trip report similar to the ones below on each trip if it is involved enough to warrant it.
Some details I will cover include when I went, the courses played (bolded one is my favorite of the trip), travel time to the destination (based on Google since I didn’t do this at the time), trip overview, possibly a suggestion, and an interesting tidbit about the trip.
Let’s go!
Florida – Ponte Vedra Beach Area
- Time – 2012
- Courses Played – King & Bear at World Golf Village, Sawgrass Country Club, TPC Sawgrass (Stadium Course)
- Distance – Approximately 406 miles from home with a drive time of 5 hours and 48 minutes
- Overview – This trip was part of a weeklong stay in the area. The wife and I toured St. Augustine as well.
- Suggestion – Play the TPC. It’s awesome and so exhilarating. I don’t love parting with the cash, but it was worth it for this round.
- Tidbits – I made par on 17 after lipping out my birdie putt! The guys we were paired with were from Orlando and couldn’t have been more fun to play with. The forecaddie had no problem with letting my wife try a few shots at 17 even though she was just walking. Great customer service all around including the engraved bag tags they have us both after the round.
California
- Time – 2013
- Courses Played – Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pasatiempo Golf Club
- Distance – Over 2,500 miles from home so we flew
- Overview – A friend’s wedding was in Escondido so we decided to make a vacation of it. We traveled the Pacific Coast Highway up to Monterey and San Francisco.
- Suggestion – Pebble lived up to the hype. Play it at least once in your life.
- Tidbits – The drive up the coast was stressful but beautiful. Monterey is such an awesome town.
Richmond
- Time – May 2014
- Courses Played – Kinloch Golf Club
- Distance – Approximately 408 miles from home with a drive time of 6 hours
- Overview – This was a one-off trip to play a private Top 100.
- Suggestion – N/A
- Tidbits – This was the first private Top 100 I played after I started the blog. It was the start of something crazy!
Myrtle Beach
- Time – Mid May 2014
- Courses Played – Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, TPC Myrtle Beach, Barefoot Resort (Love)
- Distance – Approximately 252 miles from home with a drive time of 4 hours
- Overview – This was an easy weekend getaway for the wife and I. South Carolinians don’t usually do Myrtle, but I had golf to play and we made the best of it and had some great seafood.
- Suggestion – Plan out your seafood dining and get recommendations. Check the conditioning at TPC Myrtle Beach. I didn’t think it was up to snuff, but the green fee was reduced.
- Tidbits – We were there the same week as Bike Week! So that was fun!
West Virginia/Ohio
- Time – June 6-7, 2014
- Courses Played – Pete Dye Golf Club, Scioto Country Club
- Distance – Approximately 441 miles from home with a drive time of 6 hours and 40 minutes to Pete Dye. Additionally another 198 miles and 3 hours and 14 minutes to Scioto.
- Overview – This one was purely for golf. We drove partway Friday night and booked it for a Saturday time at Pete Dye. Then we headed over to Columbus for a round with @CBusGolfers.
- Suggestion – Be alert for the drive and definitely do this double-dip if you can!
- Tidbits – It rained for 15 holes of our round at Scioto, but I couldn’t have had more fun. A phenomenal course and great company. Soaked but satisfied.
Maine
- Time – July 2014
- Courses Played – Sunday River Golf Club
- Distance – Approximately 1,106 miles from home with a drive time of 17 hours
- Overview – This one was a quick jaunt up from my grandparents. It’s always nice to get a quick Top 100 in on an otherwise laid back vacation.
- Suggestion – Enjoy the beautiful drive up and get yourself some maple syrup.
- Tidbits – Played with a lovely couple from Quebec and the wife got to ride along.
New York
- Time – August 14-17, 2014
- Courses Played – Pound Ridge Golf Club, Bethpage State Park (Black)
- Distance – Approximately 725 miles from home with a drive time of 11 hours
- Overview – We were in the city for a friend’s wedding. It was a bonus to sneak two courses in on a four day weekend.
- Suggestion – Give yourself time to get places. I missed the ceremony due to NYC traffic. Luckily, we got to the reception to partake in the festivities.
- Tidbits – Played my round at Bethpage with Danilo, one of my fellow online golf personalities. It beat us up, but we enjoyed it so much!
Chicago
- Time – September 19-22, 2014
- Courses Played – Cog Hill Golf & Country Club (Dubsdread), Olympia Fields Country Club (North)
- Distance – Approximately 709 miles from home with a drive time of 11 hours
- Overview – The wife got me the round at Olympia through a rewards program! So I decided to add Cog Hill for the twofer.
- Suggestion – N/A
- Tidbits – We got a private clinic from Dave Stockton and Dave Stockton, Jr. It was awesome and very informative.
Myrtle Beach Round 2
- Time – November 2014
- Courses Played – The Dunes Golf & Beach Club
- Distance – Approximately 252 miles from home with a drive time of 4 hours
- Overview – Yet another friend’s wedding and luckily her pastor could get me on to this course. It helps that he used to be at our church. It’s all about connections!
- Suggestion – N/A
- Tidbits – Played as a solo and motored around the front nine until I hit a large group. I couldn’t complain though about the great weather.
Las Vegas
- Time – December 3-5, 2014
- Courses Played – Shadow Creek
- Distance – Over 2,100 miles, but I flew since it was a conference for work
- Overview – It’s Vegas for work and golf, can’t complain.
- Suggestion – To play you need to stay in an MGM property.
- Tidbits – They pick you up in a limo and chauffeur you to the course. You feel like a big deal!
Indiana
- Time – August 2-5, 2015
- Courses Played – Donald Ross Course at French Lick, Pete Dye Course at French Lick, Crooked Stick Golf Club
- Distance – Approximately 485 miles from home with a drive time of 7 hours and 35 minutes to French Lick. Additionally another 101 miles and 2 hours to Indy.
- Overview – The beauty of technology is that you can work from anywhere. I loaded up the computer and headed to my cousin’s apartment in Indiana. She provided a great base for me to work and travel to these courses.
- Suggestion – N/A
- Tidbits – Got to play Crooked Stick with @CBusGolfers and we had a great time. The caddies were great and we had an awesome time.
Those are some great trips, Jimmy. With many more to come!
Cheers
Josh
Thank you Josh. It was fun to relive them. I think it will be a good addition to the blog to give some context to the course tours. Plus it can show some people just how much I will do to get somewhere haha!
Jimmy
I hope you get frequent travel miles or something! Your trips sound amazing.
Cheers
Jim
I wish Jim! Glad you enjoyed it.
I am doing the golf digest top 100 public courses 2013-2014. I think it would be fun if you post where you are going next so if we are in the area we can golf with you!! I’m having a blast trying to complete the list! Next year I will complete the Hawaii portion of my list!!!
Not a bad idea Lori. Sometimes these things come together at the last minute. Let me know if you are going anywhere this year and I will see if something can work. I have Florida, CA, and New England on my list.
Very cool, Jimmy
The ‘short trip’ option is always an interesting one. A great post with good ideas to play and, for me, to start writing about the quick getaways. Nicely done and I look forward to reading more!
Thanks, Mike
Thank you for the kind words Mike. Thanks for reading.