A Weekend Golf Trip with the Boys 2.0

Published date:  November 2, 2024

C2.1 – Planning a Weekend Golf Trip with your Local Golf Group

I was recently commended for the blog postings on my trip to St Andrews to play the Old Course and asked, how do you top that?  My answer was….” I probably won’t, but never intended to." The mission of my blog was to provide my readers with helpful tips on how to plan and enjoy a golf trip on a budget. 

A golf trip doesn’t have to be a trip for one guy to play the most famous course in the world, as my first post was.  A golf trip can be a weekend of golf with the Boys (or girls).

As previously reported, I have planned many golf trips over the past 50 years.  I also run/manage a local golf group of about 40 guys in Jacksonville Florida.  Our group plays a different course each Saturday, which works out great, as the Jacksonville area has about 50 courses to choose from.

Many of us have been past members of private country clubs over the years which tends to force you the play the same course week after week to justify that $500+ bill you get every month.  I was a member of my last CC for about 15 years and must have played that course a thousand times.  Today I find I much more enjoy playing different courses with different guys in the group each week.

Typically, about twice a year I try and plan a weekend golf trip for our group.  Our golf trips vary from locations to stay & play one course at one location to multiple courses and or locations.  Trip dates can vary but as many of our group still works for The Man, long weekends with Monday Holidays seem to work best.  Memorial Day Weekend is our favorite trip date, as the temperature is usually just perfect golf weather anywhere in the Southeast United States.

For my next post, I will provide you with the details of my latest golf trip with our group, known as The Brew Crew. We have our own logo (see photo above) and even golf shirts for when we play our annual Ryder Cup matches against our rival group The Hack's.

Planning a weekend golf trip for just yourself or with the boys, starts just like planning any other trip or vacation.  First you must answer the question…..where are we going?  For a weekend golf trip, the ultimate location can start with a map.  As weekend golf trips are those you can drive to and from on a weekend, put a map pin in your location and draw a circle for 400 miles driving distance. 

Driving 400 miles will take you 6 to 7 hours.  Any distance over 400 miles should not be considered as a weekend trip.  For our golf trips we usually leave early by 6:00 AM, arrive by noon and play an afternoon round that day.  Yes, that makes for a full day but most of our trips don’t include a 7-hour drive.

For my Chapter 2 Post, I will share with you my proper planning for our recent October/2024 trip to visit and play Kinderlou Forest CC in Valdosta, Ga. Valdosta is exactly a two-hour drive from Jacksonville.  Kinderlou is a semi-private course recommended by a friend last year and we made a day trip over to play the course and check it out.

The Kinderlou course and development was built on the site of an old South Georgia Plantation. The original plantation owner and his wife had 4 children and both parents died before the children were grown. After their mom and dad passed, the children were raised by their Aunt Lou. Being of German descent, the children later named the plantation Kinderlou in honor of their aunt. Kinder in German means children, so to them, Kinderlou meant "children of Lou." Only the original plantation chapel remains today and was retained for worship & weddings. The Chapel sits facing the 10th green. (see photo below)

The golf course is exceptional!  On the Larry Course Rating Scale, it ranks an 9.  Perhaps I should first explain my course rating scale.  I only rate courses I have personally visited.  I use a scale of 1 to 10 to rate courses with 1 being the rattiest old muni cow pasture you have ever played, to a 10 being the best I’ve ever seen/played.  I further divide the scale into A courses which includes all courses in the US and B courses for just those courses located in my home area.

For example, on the Larry Scale there are only two A-10 courses in the US that I have witnessed, that being Augusta National and Pebble Beach. For B courses, there is only one 10 rated course on the Larry Scale in Jacksonville and that’s the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course.

So, now that you understand the scale, for Kinderlou to rate as a B-9, that’s pretty damn good.  Needless to say, we were all impressed with the Kinderlou course. 

Since then, we have returned a couple of times and on our second trip, we learned that they have two rental condos available for weekend golf trips. Each rental condo is about 3,000 sq. feet and has 4 bedrooms with 8 beds.  The condos are as beautiful as the golf course.  The photo below is all one condo.

All the condos look out on to the 4th green which makes for great late afternoon chipping and putting games. See 4th green in photo below, along with "condo tee box."

Many public, private and semi-private courses around the country offer stay and play rental options.  Most rentals come with discounted golf rates and preferred tee times.  Unfortunately, most of the private & semi-private courses (like Kinderlou) don’t advertise these stay & play options and use them primarily for member guests. 

If you can find some of these options in your area they can represent a great way to have a budget golf trip. Our stay & play golf trips to Kinderlou run us about $350 per person for two nights and 4 rounds of golf. Considering the quality of the golf course and the condos, this may be the best golf deal in America. (let's keep this part on the down low for close friends only)

If you find a great course nearby within driving distance, just ask….do you have any stay & play options available?  You may be as surprised as we were at what’s available, but not advertised.   We made our first Kinderlou Stay & Play Trip back in May/2024 with 8 guys and one condo.  Photo below is our first trip.

The entire experience was so great, we immediately booked 2 condos for 16 players in Oct/2024. We just returned from our October trip and I want to share some of that experience with you. The photo below is taken from the back porch of the same condo as the prior photo but now includes our larger group.

When planning a weekend golf trip with 8 or more players, proper planning should include the dinner meal each night.  The fellowship over a good meal is almost as good as the golf…..hmmmm, okay I threw the BS flag on myself on that one.  Nothing beats a good round of golf on a great golf course. However, the dinner meal each night is typically where the golf stories from the day are embellished, shared, challenged and laughed about. Other than great golf, what could match a cold adult beverage, a fine cigar and watching football?

For our trips we find that a group cookout kicks off the weekend.  A good steak or burger along with several adult beverages (see photos) will allow everyone to get to know each other better and make for more fun golf rounds later.  We find that the first night seems to work best for this cookout fellowship.

For our last trip to Kinderlou we cooked rib eye steaks, which were a little expensive (budget golf rules), so this time we decided to go with burgers and hot dogs and French fries.  What you cook doesn’t matter so much as the fellowship generated by the cookout. Note the burger size......9 oz. patties. (because 9 is bigger than 8, right Scott?)

Frequently on any golf trip, many of the daily golf games will end in a tie. By accident on our first trip to Kinderlou we discovered how to break all golf game ties.  Night Golf!!!  The condos are located up on a hill overlooking the 4th green on the course and about 100 yard wedge shot to the green.  On the first night, we decided all tie games should be settled with a night golf playoff. The tee shot is hit from the condo and played until holed.

I want to pause here and give a plug to this great game of golf and how it bridges age gaps and can continue to provide joy regardless of your age or health. In the prior group photo, you may have noticed we have a mix of old dudes and young bucks. Couple of guys brought their sons. I brought my nephew and his best friend.

I would be remiss not to mention my frequent golf trip hero, Johnny, a.k.a. JDawg. Johnny has Parkinson's. He has days where he can barely get out of bed or walk, but somehow JDawg finds a way to get up and keep up for our golf trips. Yes, that includes those days where we play 36 holes, JDawg is right there with us. And somehow on every golf trip Johnny finds a way to hit some miracle shot that we all remember forever.

The photo above shows him making the last putt attempt to win the night golf playoff. JDawg holed the putt and won the playoff for his team. A few years back we were at Pinehurst and I was in the last group of the day with JDawg on the last day of our trip and playing the 18th/last hole. What happens....JDawg holes his approach shot on the last hole. I'll never forget that shot long as I live.

Golf is the only sport that allows us to continue to enjoy the game for as long as we can swing a club. Golf knows no age or health limits, as I show each week at age 75 and Johnny proves on every golf trip with his health issues.

But for those of us with age and health limitations, we still enjoy watching the younger guys pound the ball.

DaveS nails a 280 yard drive.

Lance ponders, hmmmm....how does he do that?

We were at Kinderlou for 3 days, 2 nights and 4 rounds of golf. Friday morning was for making the two hour drive. We arrived, settled into the condo, hit some practice balls and

teed off for round one before noon.

After finishing our round by early afternoon, most of us were ready to head to the condo for some adult beverages, but JDawg (told you, he's da man) suggested an "emergency nine." So, off goes half our group for another 9 holes.

On Saturday we always play 36 holes with the second round being a scramble for us old guys who are starting to run out of gas. Sunday morning we play our final round of the trip and always huddle at a restaurant for a final meal and to settle any remaining bets. If you are ever in Valdosta, Ga. let me suggest our Sunday must-do place, Ole Times Country Buffet is some of the best country cooking you will find anywhere.

Speaking of wagers, any golf trip with the Boys is always going to include some friendly wagers. It's how we keep score right? Allow me to share how we do it. Each round of golf will include a $10 contribution from each player into the Wager Pot. We played 4 rounds, so up front, each player paid $40 into the Pot. As we had 16 players, the total Pot for this trip was $640. For each round, $160 is paid out to the winners of 1st, 2nd, 3rd or skins or whatever game you may want to play that day. The way we do it eliminates collecting wagers for each round and makes for an easy payout to the winners.

Our golf trips are by design not about who wins the most money but always about just playing golf, having fun and the fellowship of good friends. When I plan a trip, I understand that we are asking guys to come spend money and play golf with us. Consequently, I proper plan every golf trip to maximize every dollar we spend to obtain the greatest golf value possible.

Oh, and one final note about Kinderlou, you will encounter all sorts of wildlife there. Photos below show a white deer and a squirrel with racoon eyes. Just watch out for the gators and snakes.

I hope you enjoy reading my blog, Budget Golf Trip Tips, and further hope that some of my ideas will assist you in planning and enjoying your golf trips. If you happened to miss my postings on Playing the Old Course at St. Andrews, click here to view post 1, 2, 3 & 4 on St Andrews:

>>> https://www.budgetgolftriptips.com/blog

Please remember, if I can assist you in planning your golf trip, just shoot me an email at bgtriptips@gmail.com and if you enjoy reading my blog leave me a note in the Comments at the bottom. Oh, and be sure to share my blog info with other golfers who may enjoy reading it.

And don't forget.......

😄Every golf shot makes somebody happy!😞