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Apr 10, 2007 - Golf Stories >>

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Get to Know a Few Courses When You Travel - by Rick Hendershot

This is on-going debate I have with my golfing buddies, and even with myself. When travelling to a distant place to play golf is it better to focus on one or two courses a number of times, or play a different course each day to see more variety?

I understand the temptations of traveling around to a different course each day, but after quite a few trips here and there, I'm definitely in the "stick to just a few courses" camp.

Why? Because you cannot properly appreciate the distinctive character of a golf course by playing it only once.

One of the most vivid examples of the multi-course approach was a trip Fritz and I took to Myrtle Beach a few years ago. We had a limited amount of time and decided to play a number of courses so we could get a good sampling of what the place had to offer. When the trip was over I could remember virtually nothing about any of the courses, and since then I have been completely uninterested in returning to Myrtle Beach.

I contrast that with the many times I've traveled to Florida where I would often play the same two courses five or six times over the course of a two week stay. I have fond memories of playing #18 many times in the dark at Port Charlotte, or playing over the stand of trees to the sheltered green on #10 at Deep Creek, or laying up over the creek on #17.

Or there was our trip to Ireland in 2004 when we played Donegal about 12 times. I can vividly recall the short par 3 out by the water with the wind whipping in a different direction every day. I didn't hold the green once in the whole trip. Or the blind second shot on #16, the ridiculously quirky fairway on #12... along with many, many other subtle details of the course.

Of course I know this is contrary to our general inclinations and most of the golf marketing hype we are subjected to. But if I had my choice of playing a good course ten times or ten good courses once, I wouldn't hesitate to go with the former.