Travel

Plan a golf trip like you still want to like your friends on day four

Pace · Packing · Who carries the bags

A course you might fly to — Pretty holes are easy to book. Recovery time is the part groups skip.

I have watched four-balls schedule 36 holes a day for a week and then play the last 18 like injured livestock. Golf trip planning is hospitality and sports science, not just a tee sheet screenshot.

Mix the diet

One hard championship walk, one gentler resort, one morning that is nine holes and a short game clinic or a beach. If handicaps in the group span 8 to 28, do not pick a course that humiliates the 28 for Instagram. They will stop coming on trips. Then you have a quieter WhatsApp and a sadder photos folder.

Travel golf still needs eyes down the fairway

Caddie: bring one or hire local?

Local caddies know the bumps. A travelling caddie knows your miss. On a serious trip, both can make sense — I travel with you and talk to the locals. On a casual two-day break, hire at the club and keep it simple. Tell me which trip this is. I will not upsell you a plane ticket you do not need.

Travel days are not practice rounds. Let people arrive, stretch, maybe hit a few balls. The medal can wait until morning.

I help with course choice, tee times, bag setup, and on-course work from my Nairobi base or on the road. Send dates and the group’s ability, not just “somewhere hot.”