Depending on how you feel about my annual Florida trip profiles, you may or may not be happy to learn that this will likely be my last Florida trip write up for a very long time.  The reason being that we are moving to Florida in October, and I will likely not be doing lengthy trips within my home state.  This trip served as a scouting trip for potential places to live, as well as the usual task of playing lots of golf.   The Backyard Course at McArthur. My favorite course played on the trip One thing I found kind of funny is that looking at apartments without your ..read more

I say this every year, but 2023 was a great year in golf for me.  It was my second full year as a resident of the Charleston area and I took full advantage of the area and my extended breaks from work.  This year my wife and I would leave the country in search of great golf, and return to our favorite place on earth after a long absence.  I also took memorable trips to Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as my customary trip to Florida.  The end of the year provided a very unexpected highlight that I never thought I would get to experience as well.  Cabot Cliffs, my ..read more

It seems like every year I end up taking one trip I hadn't planned on at the beginning of the year.  This is a very good thing, yet it's also challenging for me.  I'm a meticulous planner, and taking a trip I didn't have as much time to plan for can stress me out.  Luckily the trip I ended up taking to Wisconsin in October of 2023 was not as stressful or hard to plan as I had feared.  The entire trip was built around playing in The Renaissance Cup, an annual gathering at a course designed by one of the greats, Tom Doak.  My partner and I had last played in a Renaissanc ..read more

Michigan is one of the best golf states in the United States.  Northern Michigan has amazing places like Crystal Downs and The Kingsley Club along with many top notch public courses, and Detroit has one of the best championship courses of all time at Oakland Hills South course.  My trip to Michigan in 2023 focused on playing all the Ross courses I had left to play in Michigan, as well as many other great courses in Detroit, Grand Rapids, and a few in between. Meadowbrook Country Club One day one in Michigan I landed in Detroit and drove about an hour west to the town of Bat ..read more

Nebraska might prove to be the hottest state in golf in the next few years.  With new courses that just came online, and more planned that will open in the future, people are realizing that the land in Nebraska is ripe for great golf.  We returned to Nebraska for the second year in a row, to finally re-visit our favorite place on earth where we spent our honeymoon thirteen years ago.  We also discovered some great new courses, and a few old ones with a ton of character. Sand Hills, my favorite place on earth! We landed in Omaha on day one and began our trip at a very c ..read more

My wife and I spent two wonderful weeks in New England and Canada in July of 2023.  Due to the amount of courses played, I have decided to split the trip into Canada and the US.  This is the story of our wonderful multi-state adventure through New England. Brae Burn Country Club Our time in New England began in Maine.  Before we tackled the main reason for our being in this part of Maine, we had a warm up round to kill time at Fairlawn Golf course in Poland, Maine. Fairlawn Golf Course, Par three 2nd hole We made a short drive to Poland Springs resort after ..read more

My wife and I spent two wonderful weeks in New England and Canada in July of 2023.  Due to the amount of courses played, I have decided to split the trip into Canada and the US.  First up is our time visiting our neighbor to the North. Cabot Cliffs.  One of the best courses in the world Our time in Canada began in Saint John, New Brunswick.  We drove up from Maine and headed to Riverside Country Club which was designed by Donald Ross, and therefore was a mandatory stop for me.  The course is implementing a restoration master plan a few holes at a time and the ..read more

As anybody who reads these things can see, I am always in search of new golf courses to play.  This trip was a little different, as I built it around playing a course I played seventeen years ago, but was anxious to see again.  I'm starting to get the itch to return to great courses I saw a long time ago and plan on doing more of that this year.  This trip evolved into an opportunity to play a course in Pittsburgh I had been desiring for years, and to knock off some Ross courses in Western Pennsylvania as well. Pittsburgh Field Club Day one of the trip began with a dr ..read more

I last visited the Dallas area four years ago.  It was a brief visit as I flew into Dallas but spent most of my time in Houston.  This visit would be different as I would be spending pretty much all of my time enjoying the courses in the Dallas area, with one side trip to Oklahoma to see a Perry Maxwell gem.  The motivation for the trip was a course I had been trying to play for fifteen years, and which I now consider the best course in Texas. More on that later. Brook Hollow Golf Club, the best course in Texas IMO. The trip began at the well known TPC Las Colinas, for ..read more

As many times as I've done blog posts about trips to Florida, this one was different.  This was probably my last trip to central Florida for a very long time.  My good friend who I have been staying with is moving on to bigger and better things in another part of the state, so I tried to make this trip about hitting courses in Orlando and Tampa that I haven't had a chance to play over the past twelve years I've been going down to visit him.  Streamsong Blue, 4th and 5th holes The trip began with a stop just south of Jacksonville to check out the newly opened Stillwater ..read more