Golf trips - ideas of where the friends might enjoy most!

Buddies Golf Trip-favorite places to go with friends

With so many great places in the country and the world for that matter, how do you choose where to bring your buddies on an annul golf trip? Obviously, price factors in, but also weather and for my friends, diversity of the places to play.

Our buddies group has taken trips to Pinehurst, Pebble Beach, Bandon, Kohler, Jacksonville, Orlando, Myrtle Beach, Scotland and several other places. Pinehurst provides 8 courses on property but also Pine Needles and Tobacco Road are near by and should also be part of the itinerary due to their proximity. In some cases, more options might not be the best thing because you may have a rain out and miss the day you were scheduled to play #2. The other courses at Pinehurst don't have the same history so missing out on #2 could be devastating to an expensive golf trip.  Every golf destination for us involves searching for other places in the area that might be part of a "top 100" list from a certain golf publication. There is something to be said for the feeling of checking off one of the top 100 courses. Hopefully, you get to have that feeling over & over. And, by the way, Pinehurst #8 is one of my favorite courses I've ever played.

When it comes to value for your buck, look into the Robert Trent Jones trail in Alabama. They have several different courses throughout the state that are part of the RTJ and the service they provide at each location is excellent. The RTJ is not as inexpensive as the local Muni but compared to some other destination golf locations, the RTJ is downright cheap. All of the RTJ locations I've been to have multiple courses so you can easily get in 36 holes per day. Play 18, eat lunch and head back out and play a different, excellent golf course. Some of the locations on the trail are somewhat isolated so if the after golf action is a priority for your group, you may want to pick the ones located nearer the bigger cities or near a major college.

My favorite RTJ destination is Capitol Hill in Prattville, AL. It offers three 18 hole championship courses and all three are distinctly different. The Judge is one of the more challenging layouts I've ever played so bring your "A" game and lot's of extra golf balls. The Senator course is links style and a completely different type of challenge. The Senator is the most relaxing of the three but it's huge greens offer up some difficult, lengthy putts so make sure you have your putting touch to avoid numerous three putts.

I go on an annual trip to Opelika/Auburn, Alabama and we play both the 18 hole championship courses at Grand National. The staff there is very friendly and helpful and both courses are so different from each other that it feels like you've traveled to another location when you switch from the Links course to the Lake course.

When pricing out your next buddies golf trip, please keep the RTJ Trail in your thoughts. There is something special about playing a "Famous" golf resort, I agree. Sometimes though, people who would like to go, are priced out of being able to attend. You may find that everyone in your group will be able to afford the RTJ prices and the group could get a little bigger which allows for more "action" on the course and not leaving anyone at home feels good.

RTJ has packages available and will work with you in setting everything up. Give it a try sometime. I know you'll be pleased with the RTJ.

Switzerland - there's more to it than just great chocolate

Zurich, Switzerland

Instead of flying into one of my regular cities in Europe, this time I flew into Zurich.  This was my 1st time to Zurich, not my 1st time to Switzerland.  Last time I was in the lake town of Lucerne, very different experience than Zurich.  Why?  Zurich is a much larger city and easy to get around by using public transportation.

Most tourists will stay in the Old Town, but I stayed near the airport for convenience as I only had 1 afternoon and part of the next morning to see the town.  It was easy to take the shuttle to the airport and then a train into town.  The train station is pretty big, but easy to find your way and there were lots of helpful informational booths.  The price of a one day ticket was less than $10, versus a $60 taxi ride from the airport (1 way).  Here's a picture of the outside of the train station.

Leaving the train station, I walked through the modern side of town.  The river separates the city between the modern and the Old Town.  There was lots of high end shopping stores, nice restaurants to enjoy, or cafe's to sit to have a cup of coffee and people watch.

Next, I made my way across one of the bridges to the Old Town.  The Old Town is everything you would think Switzerland would look like. Cobble stone streets, odd shaped buildings, local merchants selling tourist gifts and pedestrian friendly walking areas.

All the streets lead you back to the train station, so it's difficult to get lost.  That's a good thing when you only landed a few hours ago and you're fighting jet lag.

I stopped at the train station to complete the VAT tax forms and back to the airport for my hotel.

What would I recommend to do if you only have 1 or 2 days in Zurich?  Definitely consider taking the train into town and see the sites before you collapse at your hotel.  A couple of others suggestions would be to:

1.)  Take a bus to see Mt. Piatus for gorgeous alpine panoramic views.
2.)  Make an appointment at a spa.  Switzerland is known world wide for their spas.  One that I recommend is The Dolder Grand Hotel & Spa.  Here's just 2 photos that I took while visiting this spa in October.  So lucky that the weather that day was 68 degrees and look at the views!  The level of customer service in the spa was absolutely 1st class.  They made it difficult for me to leave and head back to my airport hotel (affordable, but simple) unlike the options available at this hotel.  Not only did I enjoy a few hours at the spa, I also had dinner and drinks in their "American Bar".  

Happy Traveling!

How do you improve an old classic?

Disneyland - Space Mountain "Ghost Galaxy"

If you have the time and ability to travel to Anaheim before October 31st, I recommend spending some time at Disneyland.  I've been to Disneyland more times than I can count, but never around Halloween.  

I just got back and wanted to share how Disneyland changed an old classic which actually improved the experience!  You can imagine that at this time of year, Disneyland is decorated for Halloween with all the typical decorations and that the Haunted Mansion is updated for the Tim Burton movie, but something I didn't expect was the update to Space Mountain.

They added a new and surprising element to Space Mountain.  For a short time through Halloween they renamed it Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy.  What's different?  Typically Space Mountain has a 70's vibe of what we thought space travel would be like.  You can faintly see the tracks and other rockets because they have florescent lighting that illuminates as you race by each other with beeping noises that supports the 70's theme.

Disney found a way to make the ride completely black, no lighting at all.  They changed the music to a creepy and scary soundtrack.  As you climb up the track in pitch black, a devil ghost is projected on the walls of the ride which makes you feel as if this evil ghost is chasing you.  It's intense as you get distracted on what's the next twist and turn of the ride to ask, "when will that evil ghost show up next?"  As you continue to race in the dark, the ghost's claw tries to grab you, then the evil eye is staring at you tying to see if it can get a glimpse of you....it's thrilling.

At the end of the ride you realized that you experienced something different and thrilling, only to hope that you can get 1 more fast pass to ride it again before the end of the day.

Hope you can make it there and experience it yourself before it converts back to the original.

Happy Traveling!

Why wear the pin?

I would be remiss if I didn't take a minute to talk about Disney's customer service.  I mentioned in the Anniversary blog about the Disney employee who gave us the pin when checking into the Grand Floridian Hotel.  I had already been told by the customer service rep when booking the vacation online that I should take one of the pins and wear it, so I happily explained it was our Anniversary.

What I wasn't prepared for was the level of customer service the employees would show us by wearing the pin.  Such a simple thing that made a typical vacation into something really special.

Everyone who greeted us from the hotel staff, to the theme park staff to all the transportation employees in between would congratulate us on our milestone Anniversary and ask us if we were having a good experience.  Wearing the pin also came with perks.....who knew?

During our meals, the waiter would surprise us with a dessert or glass of champagne.  There was one special event that I really wanted to share.

One night, we ate dinner at the California Grill (top floor of the Contemporary Hotel) around 5 PM.  We went back to our hotel to change and hit some of the rides at the Magic Kingdom at night.  We only had a couple of hours before the fireworks show at 10 PM.  The restaurant had invited us back to see the fireworks from the rooftop facing the Magic Kingdom.  This is something special that they do if you eat dinner at their restaurant, and we didn't want to miss it!

Wouldn't you know that we got stuck in the fast pass line for Space Mountain.  It took an incredible 45 minutes to get through the line and then the ride.  When we stepped out of the building and into Tomorrow Land we could see all the guests lining up in front of the castle to see the 10 PM show.  We had 15 minutes to run through the park, get on the monorail to the Contempoary Hotel, make our way to the 2nd floor to access the elevator to the top floor.  They have an elevator that shoots you straight up to the 15th floor where the restaurant is located.

This would be our one and only chance to see the fireworks show and I didn't want to miss it.  Have you ever gone the wrong way when all the other people are trying to get to something?  It takes a lot of bobbing and weaving to avoid the traffic, not to mention the strollers.  As we made our way through the crowds in the dark, I could hear the employees say, "Happy Anniversary".  We started to laugh that even when we were running past the employees, they would still remark on our pins.

When we finally got from the monorail to the hotel, my heart sank because it was 9:59 PM and I knew that there would no way for us to make the final stretch of the run in 1 minute.  As we made our way around the corner from the escalator to the elevator my breath was taken away by what I saw waiting for us.  It was our hostess in the elevator holding the door open as she said, "I knew you would make it back, I've been waiting for you."  She whisked us up to the 15th floor, escorted us outside the restaurant on the rooftop to an unbelievable view of the fireworks show.  It was if Disney was waiting for us to arrive and then queued the music.  The restaurant has speakers located outside so we could hear the narrator and music.  Here's one of the photos we took that night.

Leave it to Disney to continue to raise the bar on what makes excellent customer service really outstanding.  

Happy Travels!

Walt Disney World - gain special access

Have you heard about the new wrist bands available at Walt Disney World?  Here's a picture of what they look like.  

What makes them so special?  Everything if you're a Disney fan, an organized planner and travel veteran or just a person who likes to save time & money.  Who doesn't like that?

This year we took advantage of these new wrist bands offered at WDW and wanted to share what makes them so special.  Before you even leave your house, the wrist bands arrive customized with the color you've pre-selected and your name.  You can go online and load them with the following information:

• Flight information - the Disney shuttle is waiting for you to transfer you from the airport to the WDW hotel.  No need for a rental vehicle that will only sit in the hotel parking lot.
• Hotel reservations - When we arrived at the Grand Floridian the bands contained our hotel reservations.  They scanned our credit card and this allowed us to use the band to charge anything and everything back to our hotel bill.
• Hotel room key - we didn't have to carry a separate key for the room.  The band was our room key.  We just put our wrist in front of the door pad and it unlocked our room.
• Park passes - no need to have a park pass/ticket.  The band was loaded with our hopper park passes - we just went directly to a special line to enter and leave the park.
• Fast pass to rides:  We pre-selected 3 fast pass rides a day.  We got to ride all the new rides along with our favorite rides that we didn't want to miss.  We literally ran past 2 hour lines of guests to jump directly on the ride.  No wait time!  During the Summer months and Florida heat, why would you want to waste time standing in long lines?
• Meal plan:  We purchased the deluxe meal plan so the band contained our restaurant reservations.  We jumped from park to park to enjoy lunch at one place and dinner somewhere different.  From the Brown Derby for lunch to dinner at Epcot's Monsieur Paul's restaurant in France.  Don't want to carry a wallet or purse?  Great - because you don't have to!  We just scanned our wrist band and the restaurant had our reservations, deducted our meal from our plan and we charged the drinks to our hotel bill.  The meal plan gave us a crazy number of "snacks" which we used for cold bottled waters throughout the parks at the kiosks.  The employee just scanned our band and deducted the water - no need to have anything else with you.
• Photos:  no need to take a camera.  When the employees took our photo throughout the parks they scanned our bands and added the photo to our Disney plan.  When we got home all the photos were available to us online.
• Buying souvenirs:  Anything we purchased - we charged to our bands and had them deliver the items to our hotel room.  No extra charge!  We didn't have to carry bags of stuff around with us, loading and unloading them from each ride.  Hands free - no stress - JUST FUN!!! 

These bands made everything easy & enjoyable.  Question is..."When will the other Disney Parks get them?"

Happy Traveling!

Celebrating a milestone anniversary?

Like most modern couples, it's difficult to come up with new ideas on ways to celebrate a milestone anniversary.  It's not like generations past where you give each other paper, silver, crystal, etc.  Now days we like to travel - to get away from the hustle and bustle of our regular working lives and find a way to reconnect.  What better way to do this than travel?

This Summer we decided to take advantage of Walt Disney World's 30% resort stay discounts.  It had been over two decades since we stayed on property and thought why not take advantage of the discounts.  

Here's what we recommend if you plan to travel to WDW in 2014 - 2015:

1.)  Stay on the property - why?  

• They have a Disney Destinations airport transfer system in place.  They bused us directly from the airport to the Grand Floridian.  No extra stops - directly from the airport to the hotel check in.  No need to a rental car - saving you money and time.
• We got extra park hours.  They allow you to get in early or stay later than the other guests.  For us - getting into Animal Kingdom an hour early meant we got on all the rides during the first 1 - 1 1/2 hours of the park opening up to us.
• Convenience:   When it started raining, we jumped on the monorail and went back to the hotel to rest and try again in an hour.
• Modes of transportation: We took the monorail into the parks in the morning and then a boat back to the hotel.  On one morning we took a bus to the Animal Kingdom directly from the hotel lobby to the park.  No extra stops!!  Saving travel time means more time in the park!

2.)  Wristbands:  WDW now offers a customized wrist band.  For the organized traveler, it's the way to go.

• These wristbands can be loaded to include your hotel room key, contain your meals plans, restaurant reservations, fast pass rides and so much more.  Next blog will contain everything you need to know about the wrist bands.

3.)  Have fun:  Try to hit the parks in the morning to enjoy the rides before it gets too busy.  Make dinner reservations for somewhere nice where you can get dressed up and celebrate.  At night, go back to the parks and see it in a completely different way!  The rides feel different when it's dark.  

Build time to enjoy the amenities at the hotel.  Each of the WDW resorts are different.  Find the one that fits you best and what you like to do!

4.)  Consider purchasing the meal plan:  I know, I wasn't sure about doing it either.  Would there be restrictions so I couldn't use it the way I wanted to?  There wasn't!  We enjoyed fantastic lunches and dinners each day.  We ate at some of the best restaurants Disney had to offer with all the perks of staying on property.  

When we checked into the hotel they asked us if we were celebrating anything special.  In our case it was our anniversary.  They gave us each a pin and encouraged us to wear it.  Why?  Disney employees went out of their way to congratulate us and make our time a special one.  The customer service was really special.  Blog worthy to mention.

What if Disney isn't your ideal way of celebrating an anniversary?  My suggestion is to set planning time aside to select a travel destination that's right for you and your partner.  Just spend time planning it before you get there, so when you arrive all you have to do is relax and enjoy each other.  

Happy travels!

Great buddy golf trips

Las Sendas Golf Club - Mesa, AZ

If you're a golfer like us (and you probably are if you're taking time to read this) you've seen the Top 100 course lists by the big golf magazine's that come out every year. I'm going to add our two cents worth and make some suggestions for buddy golf trips to take and provide some "birdies" and "bogey's" about the different places we've played and hope you'll be able to take the information and pick the best golf trip for you and your buddies.

1st destination...Phoenix AZ.
Each year the lists hit the news stands, I'm always surprised when I don't see two or three courses from Arizona on a list. Always considered a great golf destination, there are several, and I'm talking 30 to 40 courses within an hour and a half of downtown Phoenix, that are flat out great courses. There are a few that are at the top of the list.

 1) Troon North. Two extremely nice courses, great staff, food and 19th hole. With all the golf trips I've been on I can't see how it doesn't rate a top 50 public course in the US? It's in North Scottsdale and runs in the mid $250 range during winter and early spring so that could be a drawback. If you can stand the heat, summer rates go down to a much more reasonable price at all the courses in Arizona. Some are less than half the winter rates. Tee off early and drink a lot of water if you're going there during summer.

2 ) We-Ko-Pa, Just east of Scottsdale. All the best of desert golf! No homes on either of the 2 courses and some stunning desert views, very challenging, great design and layout. All the best things about golf and there is a hotel/Casino next to the course. Don't be fooled, these courses are not "resort" courses that have giant fairways and flat greens. They are very challenging and really give you a "fix" for desert golf. Around $225 during peak winter season. Again, summer discounts are great but be wary of the heat. Lot's and lot's of water and try and get a very early tee time.

3) TPC Scottsdale. I find it a "one time" must because if you've watched the Waste Management tournament on TV, playing 15, 16, 17 and 18 is a pretty cool experience. The course itself is not so much desert golf and the fairways and greens are not all that difficult but for a one time thing, it's worth a $300 investment to play the last four holes. Again, once, then try some of the other great courses in the area once TPC is off the "to do" list.

4) So many other great courses. Get online and check out Las Sendas, The Boulders, Gold Canyon, Grey Hawk, Wildfire and, well, you get the point. My favorite outside the above three is Las Sendas Golf Club. A Robert Trent Jones Jr course in East Mesa (Less than a half hour from the airport) that is beautiful, well maintained, has a very nice 19th hole with a nice menu, happy hour and great staff. The peak season rates are about $140 per round and they have crazy good prices in summer and early fall. The farther away from Scottsdale the more likely to find decent prices but again, it gets really hot...And, I mean really hot starting the end of May through end of September.

Where to stay? If you're flush, stay in Scottsdale at one of the resorts. They have everything from expensive to really, really expensive. If it's just a bunch of dudes doubling up in a room to save some money for after golf activities, then find a national chain close to where you're going to play and go that route. If you can afford it, stay at a Scottsdale resort...They're quite nice.

After golf activities? If you're young or young at heart, there is a nice bar/restaurant scene near Arizona State University when school is in session. If you're tastes are a little more mature (but not much) check out Old Scottsdale. Great food scene and nightlife with free golf cart rides to keep things safe and help you get back to the hotel after a night of fun.

Catch a late flight out of town and play The Phoenix Raven. Once done, it's only about 10 minutes to get to the airport on a weekend.

Next up for buddy golf trip suggestions...This year US open site, Pinehurst, North Carolina.