Planning a Golf Vacation for the Whole Family

For golf fans everywhere, the perfect vacation is one where they can play golf. Imagine combining your dream vacation location with the best greens and you have a great holiday. If you choose the right place, the whole family can have fun.

Courses exist all over the world, from Egypt and Greece to Hawaii and Mexico. This is a good thing if you have family members who couldn't care less about a nine-iron! While your wife might dream of a sunny beach in Acapulco, you can dream about the nearby golf course. In California, your children can enjoy a myriad of theme parks and ride roller coasters until they are sick to their stomachs while you get in a good 18 holes a day.

So, how do you go about planning a golf vacation that everyone will enjoy? The trick is to incorporate everyone's interests into one trip. This requires sitting down with the whole family (far easier if your children have already left home!) and talking about your expectations for a vacation.

Depending on the family members, you might end up with quite the variety of ideas. Some may want beach, others mountains. For larger families, it could take a bit of negotiating to finally decide on the type of destination. Let's say everyone agrees that beaches with nearby activities such as horseback riding would be good. Now, it is your job to find places that fit the family description, that also include golf courses.

The internet is the perfect place to research vacations like this. You can type in the list of necessary attributes, plus a location and instantly see which areas would fit the family best. The top three choices can be presented to the entire family for voting, or the adults in the household can make the final decision.

Once you have a location, it's time to start making reservations. Call the golf courses nearest your destination to see what they have to offer. Many will have websites or brochures for you to look at. You can ask about prices, tee times and any other questions you need answers to. This will allow you to plan accordingly. Don't forget the practical stuff like booking a hotel and buying theme park tickets online!

Whether you are going for a long weekend or a couple of weeks, it is important to spend time with your family, not just hang out in the clubhouse. Make sure that at least 10% of your days are spent doing something besides golfing with your family. This might mean a day of sunbathing or maybe an afternoon riding flying elephants, but it is this time spent with loved ones that will make the vacation a success.

By booking ahead of time and doing a bit of research not only on golf courses, but also on activities for the kids, you can guarantee that everyone will have fun. That means fewer complaints about you being out on the golf course, and lots of great memories in the long run.