After weeks, months, or even years of stressing over the details and reading countless tips for planning your overseas golf trip, the time has finally come to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
But your average overseas golf trip requires the planning and execution of 40-50 individual reservations, tee times, and other arrangements.
With that comes plenty of opportunities for stress to creep in and attempt to take hold of your trip.
Juggling all of those moving parts and delivering an experience that exceeds expectations is what we’ve spent over 30 years doing each and every day for our members.
With that expertise comes a few best practices to ensure a smooth, memorable, and stress-free golf trip across the pond.
Choose your Travel Companions Wisely
Nothing will add stress to your golf trip across the pond more efficiently than friction within your group.
Although it might seem like a straight-forward decision, sometimes invitations find their way to someone capable of draining the life out of your trip.
For everyone’s sake, be selective with your invites.
This decision is so important, we put together this guide covering who to invite on your golf trip across the pond.
By the end, there’s a good chance that someone you planned to invite no longer makes the cut.
Hire a Driver-Host
Without a doubt, the most effective way to avoid stress on a golf trip is to hire a Driver-Host.
Why do we call them “Driver-Hosts,” you might ask?
Because their duties go far beyond getting you from Point-A to Point-B during the trip.
You can expect your driver host to offer a wealth of local knowledge and insight. They truly are your “host” while across the pond, serving as concierge, wise-crack supplier, tour guide, and shoulder to cry on after a hard day on the course. It’s also worth noting their role as designated driver, particularly in Scotland where the average size man would be over the limit after a single pint.
The stories shared with us each year of above and beyond service from our Driver-Hosts are simply too many to count.
From late night journeys to the airport for lost luggage, to little things like favorite beverages waiting on the coach at the end of the day, our Driver-Hosts are immensely passionate about ensuring their guests enjoy the trip to its fullest.
Limit the Windshield Time
The great golf courses of the U.K. and Ireland are spread across every corner of the map. Unless you have a month or better at your disposal for each country, checking all of them off your list in a single trip is basically impossible.
But that doesn’t stop a lot of golfers from trying.
In the process, their trip is turned into a time-crunched slog from one golf course to the next, seeing nothing but the inside of a windshield in-between.
The easiest way to avoid this stress is to divide and conquer… Base yourself in a single region for a few days and play the marquee courses in that area.
And if you’re unsure what regions to choose, we’ve covered the pros and cons of each region in these guides:
Where to Play Golf in Scotland
Ship the Clubs
One of the most stressful parts of any trip is the dreaded airport arrival. The luggage, the crowds, the TSA, all combine for an experience that’s anything but pleasurable. Never mind the fact that on a golf trip, the nerves may be a bit rattled because our most prized possession is typically in tow: the golf clubs.
To alleviate this stress, we have always suggested that golfers ship their clubs ahead.
The downside to shipping is you’re without your clubs for roughly a week leading up to the trip. But the benefits, as explained in our guide to shipping golf clubs for travel, far outweigh the extra practice time at home.
Plus there’s the additional peace of mind in knowing you won’t experience something like this…
Play 36-holes Sparingly
With so much great golf and so little time available, the urge to play as many rounds as possible is an understandable one.
The long hours of daylight and the pleasant temperatures during the summer make 36-hole days rather easy across the pond.
It’s also easy to overdo it.
To cut down on some stress to both the mind and body, we suggest limiting the number of 36-hole days in your itinerary.
That doesn’t mean, however, that we are opposed to them entirely. In fact, here are the best places to enjoy a 36-hole day in Scotland, Ireland, and England.
But when that day is done, you may want to take our next piece of advice…
Plan a Day Off of Golf
One of the best ways to reduce stress during your golf trip is to put the clubs away for a day.
Most people will play more rounds during a typical week-long golf vacation than they might in two months back home.
Our suggestion is to plan a day off the golf course in the middle of your trip.
Your body and mind will both appreciate the chance to rest and recharge.
Perhaps most importantly, it will give you some free time to explore the famous sights of your destination. Here are a few additional reasons to plan a day off during an overseas golf trip.
As an added bonus, there’s also a good chance your game will improve after the day off as well.
Ask the Concierge… Yours
A common mistake many travelers make in planning their golf trip is putting nearly 100% of their efforts into golf, but not much else. The Good Life, as we call it, is an equally important part of any overseas expedition and oftentimes delivers some of its most lasting memories.
Towards this end, Major Haversham has dispatched his faithful concierge, Jenn Eckles, to the disposal of our members.
From simple dinner reservations and sightseeing tips, to more detailed requests like chartering dinner aboard the Royal Yacht, Britannia, Jenn is here to ensure that no stone of the Good Life is left unturned.
Prepare Your Game
Golf trips are supposed to be relaxing. But when your game is not up to par (excuse the pun), they can be quite the opposite.
Even if you’re in good form, links golf is a very different type of game.
Unless you have the uncanny ability to not let poor play put a damper on your day, we suggest practicing how to play links golf before your trip.
Your scorecards and your stress-level will both appreciate it. Although, no amount of preparations will outweigh the value of our next tip to your performance on the course.
Take a Caddie
For many, the first experience with links-style golf is something of a culture shock.
Blind tee shots, hidden pot bunkers, dome shaped greens, and rough that has never seen the edge of a mower blade all provide a warm welcome to the inexperienced links golfer. And then there’s the weather…
Even seasoned travelers and jaded professionals can find adjusting to the links game to be a challenge, at best.
Thankfully, most clubs have a caddie program of some form to help ease the transition.
Depending on the destination, your caddie might be a full-time professional or simply a member of the club enlisted to show the course they love to visiting Americans.
Either way, if given the choice between going it alone or having an experienced local on the bag, we choose the latter every single time.
To ensure you’re prepared for the experience, here’s everything you should know about caddies across the pond.
Call the Batphone
Over the years, we’ve observed one rule of travel that’s always remained constant: stuff happens.
Once in a while it’s big stuff, but for the most part the trials and tribulations of travel turn out to be nothing more than momentary blips that fail to make their way into our scrapbook of memories.
Our Batphone is on call 24/7 for those stressful moments, big or small, that may pop up along the way.
A good way to avoid stress during your trip… Don’t leave home without it.
The title of this blog post aside, stressful moments both on and off the course are all but inevitable on any golf trip across the pond. For those, there’s one tip that rises above them all…
Be in every moment, every shot, and don’t sweat the small stuff.
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For more insight on planning your golf trip across the pond, visit the pages below, read our reviews, or have a look through our Yardage Book, where you’ll find answers to many of our most frequently asked questions.
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