Well, after crunching the numbers and looking at my dwindling bank accounts after last year’s flurry of uninhibited golf adventures, I am starting to rethink my “big” trip plans for this year.
I was planning to visit the world-famous Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, along with two other exceptional golf resorts in Virginia and West Virginia. Unfortunately, all three resorts are “stay and play” only, which adds up real quick. Normally, I’d prefer not to stay at the resort if I don’t have to so I can save a few bucks on lodging. This trip is still in the works, but may have to wait until next year or later this summer so I can save my pennies a bit more first.
With that in mind, for my Spring trip I have tentatively decided to go back to my “original” plan for a beast of a road trip through America’s Southwest and Midwest states. Originally, I thought of doing a two-week thing that would take me as far as Indiana. But I decided to cut it down to about a week-and-a-half. Now I’ll get as far as Kansas City, which is still pretty damn far.
I have picked out most of the courses, but will wait to detail those if/when plans become more final as we get closer to May. I can say the ideal plan is to go through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah and Nevada. I’ve played in AZ, UT and NV previously, but the other six states would be new to my list. So it’s a real good “checklist” trip for my 50-state goal that would take me up to 21 total and only cost half as much as the Pinehurst/Greenbrier/Homestead trip would.
Biggest concern is weather as that’s still a pretty early part of the season in some areas (Colorado worries me a bit in early May). Also, that appears to be the peak of the tornado season in the Midwest, so hopefully I don’t get swept away by a twister when driving through Kansas. Luckily, I am not playing any major “resort” courses, so lodging will be super cheap (can you say Motel 6?) and most of the courses aren’t too pricey. That said, several are ranked in Golf Magazine’s bi-annual “Top 100 You Can Play in the U.S.” list and all are in listed in the top five of their respective states (also according to Golf.com).
So I should get to play some excellent courses while also enjoying a very wide variety of environments and design styles (desert, mountains, plains, forests). Very excited, even though it will be a ton of driving. But hey, I don’t call myself the “Golf Nomad” for nothing!
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