Snowbirds on the Green: The Winter Golf Trip

Depending on which part of the country you’re in, winter evokes totally different emotions and mindsets. In the warm-weather states, winter is a welcome relief: a break from the often sweltering summer temperatures and humidity and an opportunity to actually enjoy the outdoors. For those in the northern part of the country, winter is often associated with cozy nights by the fire and frolicking in the snow. And for avid Northern golfers, winter holds another allure: the promise of escaping to warmer climates for a golfing adventure like no other. 

For those golfers without an “off-season” in the winter (I can hear you southerners now: "what off-season? *snicker* giggle"), you may not resonate with this and are excused. (I’m kidding, please keep reading.)

But for us northern golfers, the dropping temperatures and shortening days mean only one thing: it’s time to plan a winter golf trip.

Fortunately, there is an abundance of perfect trip locations for any type of winter golf trip. Do you want to maximize warmth and try to thaw your frozen body? Head to Miami. Want to take in a PGA Tour event during your golf trip? California or Phoenix is for you. Looking for a place where you can play as much golf as possible and playing the “big name courses” isn’t as important as getting some swings in with the gang? Myrtle Beach is there with open arms. 

Winter is tough for the northern golfer. Yes, there are indoor simulators and sometimes we’ll brave the cold and the elements and head out to the course (assuming it’s even open). But our swing reps are limited and we lost any touch and finesse around the greens - assuming we had any - from the summer.

So it might make sense to go to play golf courses on a winter trip that are a little easier and a place where we can just be happy we’re swinging the club. Courses where you might be able to score well and play to whatever severely diminished expectations of our game may be.

Or you can do what I did and go to Pinehurst. You know, the course hosting the U.S. Open this year? The place with the famous turtleback greens? The place with no rough and just natural sandy areas with wiregrass along the fairways? Yeah, that Pinehurst.

When I called the resort to book the trip, the very friendly agent answered the phone and said, “It’s a beautiful day in Pinehurst.” As I looked at the cloudy, drab November day outside my window of my New Jersey apartment, I believed him. It had to be better than here. (Apparently, it’s always a “beautiful day” in Pinehurst.)

When booking tee times, the agent offered a tee time on Course No. 2 the first day. I may be stupid, but I’m not an idiot so I asked if the day I play the course hosting the U.S. freakin’ Open later in my extended weekend trip. So, I opted for Course No. 4 instead; a course related to the venerable No. 2, but a little friendlier. Apparently, it didn’t matter, because I still stunk. 

A winter golf trip may still require layers (as it did during my recent trip), but at least it's better than northern winter golf!

During winter golf trips, for us golfers with off-season, our northern roots often appear without regard for (almost in distain of) our love of the game. The warmer weather and soft turf are a welcome change from the frozen tundra of home, but that doesn’t mean our games are in mid-season - or any sort of - form. Balls can soar off into the rough with alarming frequency. Chips are chunked and left well short or skulled and sent screaming across the green. Putts are pushed or pulled off line or left embarrassingly short of the hole.

On a winter golf trip, golfing glory must wait.

But golfing glory isn’t the point of a winter golf trip. The point of the winter golf trip is to get some swings in, have fun with friends, and have an excuse to escape the cold and snow. Golf is supposed to be fun, regardless of the season you’re playing in or the courses you’re walking and chasing a ball around.

Everyone on a winter golf trip is on the pilgrimage together. The clubhouse bar is full of golf groups laughing off missteps and enjoying the camaraderie of fellow golfers who venture south in search of a winter golfing paradise.

Sure, during the winter golf trip, the game is definitely (bad pun incoming) not up to par, but the memories made and the escape of the cold weather in search of warmer weather golf are worth every missed putt and errant drive.