Last month we touched on planning for a golf trip to Ireland and shared out #1 tip for a successful trip:
Plan and book early – much earlier than you might think necessary!
In last month's newsletter we highlighted how more and more golfers are making the pilgrimage to the golf mecca of Ireland and how this influx of golf thrill seekers is making it critical you think ahead to get everything you want out of your Irish experience.
This is great advice for not only Ireland but quite frankly for any of your dream golf destinations.
Remember, if you consider it a dream to play Pebble, visit St Andrews, the home of golf, or escape Canadian winter to play Teeth of the Dog it is likely there are thousands of others with the same dream as you.
This leads to our #2 top tip for planning a successful golf escape:
Plan and book early – much earlier than you might think necessary!
In last month's newsletter we highlighted how more and more golfers are making the pilgrimage to the golf mecca of Ireland and how this influx of golf thrill seekers is making it critical you think ahead to get everything you want out of your Irish experience.
This is great advice for not only Ireland but quite frankly for any of your dream golf destinations.
Remember, if you consider it a dream to play Pebble, visit St Andrews, the home of golf, or escape Canadian winter to play Teeth of the Dog it is likely there are thousands of others with the same dream as you.
This leads to our #2 top tip for planning a successful golf escape:
 |  |
Plan and book early – much earlier than you might think necessary!
Yes, it is just like Location, Location, Location in real estate – planning early let’s you design and book the trip that meets your specific needs with no compromises. Royal Portrush and Royal County Down are starting to book 2021 times on May 1, 2020 and, as always, St Andrews Old Course lottery is in August 2020 for 2021 times. We are seeing more top courses open their bookings earlier and earlier making it critical you get in early to get the best (or any) tee times.
Yes, it is just like Location, Location, Location in real estate – planning early let’s you design and book the trip that meets your specific needs with no compromises. Royal Portrush and Royal County Down are starting to book 2021 times on May 1, 2020 and, as always, St Andrews Old Course lottery is in August 2020 for 2021 times. We are seeing more top courses open their bookings earlier and earlier making it critical you get in early to get the best (or any) tee times.
| With the Covid-19 pandemic many 2020 trips are being postponed and rescheduled to 2021 with courses giving guarantees of tee times to those who have 2020 tee times they need to re-schedule. This is a great service these golf courses are offering however the result will be even fewer times available for new trips in 2021. Remember, plan and book early and you'll get everything you want for you trip - we think you get the point!!! |  |
Ok we get it, plan early. So, what do we need to do?!?!?
The first key step in successful trip planning is getting the group together and settling on a group leader, location and a time of year. The location and time of year makes sense but why a group leader?
Our experience, and the experiences of our clients, is that having a single point person who can "herd all the cats" (get everyone's opinions and then make a decision on behalf of the group) makes the most successful trips. Everyone's opinions need to be taken into account but trying to get everyone to agree to everything is an impossible, slow and painful process that experience has shown leads to a less
Once you get the group together and a group lead in place you can then make sure you all have the same golf travel expectations (you don't necessarily want someone expecting to play 2 rounds a day if the rest of the group is a 1 round a day and late night dinners and drinks group).
You can then discuss everyone's musts have, like to have but don't need and absolutely don't want requirements and the group led can pull all the thoughts together into a group consensus.
A key decision you will need to make is:
The first key step in successful trip planning is getting the group together and settling on a group leader, location and a time of year. The location and time of year makes sense but why a group leader?
Our experience, and the experiences of our clients, is that having a single point person who can "herd all the cats" (get everyone's opinions and then make a decision on behalf of the group) makes the most successful trips. Everyone's opinions need to be taken into account but trying to get everyone to agree to everything is an impossible, slow and painful process that experience has shown leads to a less
Once you get the group together and a group lead in place you can then make sure you all have the same golf travel expectations (you don't necessarily want someone expecting to play 2 rounds a day if the rest of the group is a 1 round a day and late night dinners and drinks group).
You can then discuss everyone's musts have, like to have but don't need and absolutely don't want requirements and the group led can pull all the thoughts together into a group consensus.
A key decision you will need to make is:
| What time of year / dates?
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Some specific things you need to tell us to help plan the trip
 | How many in the group?
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Where do you want to go?
- Is it Scotland or Ireland? Maybe Cabot? How about something really exotic like Asia?
- There are so many great choices and we would be happy to discuss them with you but in general, you probably want to narrow your options down to 1 location or possibly 2 options. Any more than that and you will just make the final decision even harder.
- Do the talking up front with the group and decide on your location – we can make it happen for you!
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 | Dates:
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- We recommend giving preferred dates you specifically would like to go and, if possible, allowing us to look at 1 or 2-week pre and post those dates to help get exactly the specs you want for the trip.
- If it a very specific dates you need to travel on, we will do everything we can to get you everything you want but we may need to work with you on some small itinerary tweaks depending on availability (although maybe not if you plan and book early enough!!).
Once you settle on these 2 key things, it is time to move on to some of the finer details like hotels, transportation and, of course, course selection. Click here to read more about that.
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