If you have followed our previous articles then you are at minus one month point now. This means that up till now you have gathered the group members, selected the dates of vacation and the golf courses and lodging place. Now you are in the final stage of preparation.
This is the time when you will be able to meet your friends at the airport baggage claim and see their smiling faces. The final preparation stage is very easy and will go on smoothly.
The toughest part of arranging this vacation was to agree your friends to buy the tickets for this event. Below are given few things that you should arrange before the aircraft of your friends land on the runway.
1. Transportation:
Here the problem that you will face is the arrival and departure from the airport due to club and suitcases. If you handle this thing then the upcoming week will be easy for you to handle.
From past experience you know that if you will pack four guys to go golfing locally, you will fill the trunk of a full sized car. Keeping this in mind, plan a full sized car for every three people. We always used a minivan/SUV for our vacations.
To avoid any mishaps, arrange these rental vehicles ahead of time but you can only drive one vehicle by yourself. This is mandatory for minus one month point. First you should know that what type of vehicles you will need and the number of vehicles that would be required.
The next step is to contact the group members who can arrange the rental vehicles. There might be some people in your group who can arrange the vehicles at discounted rates which will help you to save a great deal of money. You can email this to your members.
Most probably you will have a rainy day unless you are going to the deserts of Arizona. After playing the golf you will have a lot of time at night. We used to spend this time by watching golf channel, ESPN, playing cards, telling tales or watching movies. Most of us liked to watch movies.
You can arrange the movies that you will watch ahead of time. Tell your friends to bring good movies. We had a friend who was very good at selecting movies and he also had a good collection of movies, so we used to tell him to bring movies to watch at night time during the vacation.
Movies like “miracle” and “gladiator” are always good to watch. Some of your group members might have adult movies that you would like to watch. On the rainy days, we used to tour the area or do a local movie theatre.
3. Checklists:
I became very irritated when people asked me silly questions about twenty times per day. Questions like, where are we playing the next day or what we have for supper and who stole my teddy bear irritated me a lot. Since then I started to type these things.
Now I make a copy of the schedule and post it everywhere in the house. I started giving laminated cards to every golfer. Because of this the number of questions has reduced to half and even if somebody asks me, I tell them I don’t remember but I can read it for you if you want. The things for which you should prepare ahead of time are given below:
• Make a list of course, departure times, tee times, and course contact numbers. My departure timings are based on MapBlast directions.
• Make a list of menu for evening meals. It is better to keep the menu simple if you are doing it for the first time. Keep the recipes with you in hand. Remember that you should have one or two chefs with any size group. This is not a big deal.
• You should have multiple copies of order sheet for sandwiches. We used to prepare the gourmet sandwiches for our noon meals on the night before. As I have also mentioned in my previous articles that I always ask people about the sandwiches and food that they would like to have. The best way is to give sheets to the people where they can write down the type of sandwiches that they would like to eat the next day. Give the sheet to your chef every night. They will prepare the gourmet feast according to the requirements of people.
• We made a big mistake in the initial golf organizing years. The mistake was that we did not keep a record of our scores. It is better to keep a record of every year. Now I have made a hard copy sheet which I fill in every year. Take the records with you at home and post it on your golf website. This will also help to attract other people towards your golf vacations.
• I pay for almost everything. Now I have started using spread sheet to keep a record of my expenses and to manage my expenses. I would have provided you the spread sheet but the article format does not allow me to do that. Before I started using spread sheet, I kept a record of everything by simply using pen and paper. The message which I am trying to convey you here is that the minute when you start to plan your adventure, keep a record of every single penny that you have spent. If someone is making the contribution then record it immediately in your log book.
4. Things nobody else will bring but you:
• Cribbage boards
• Pliers and screw drivers (you might need this)
• Several decks of cards and poker chips
• Pencils, permanent markers and pens to keep a record of everything
• Band-Aids in case if someone gets injured
• Over the counter pain killers
• Games
5. Arrival:
This is the time when all your friends would be coming to the house that you have chosen. Do not indulge yourself in things like who got the master bed and who got the twin bed.
6. When you have reached the location, this is the time to go on shopping. You have the list in your hands and you have books everything. Now the only thing that you have to do is to go and grab the things.
This is the conclusion of all my articles. I would recommend you to go for it. I have been doing this since 19 years and it has been fun for me. Give it a try and enjoy your golf vacations.
