Most golf trips happen in the summer. It’s when groups of guys take over the Bunker Bars of the world in hopes of some good scores, some cold drinks, and that unreal golf experience. When I started writing about golf, buddies trips weren’t nearly talked about as much as they are now. Bandon Dunes had just two golf courses. Streamsong was, in my twisted imagination, a swamp riddled with massive alligators hoping that those large mechanical things taking over their land won’t disrupt an afternoon sunbathing. And all the other places we love to visit (Sand Valley, Cabot Links and on and on) were either ideas in a twisted brain or land that people passed by every so often and mentioned to whoever was within earshot, “that’s the spot for our dream home one day.”
Now, the golf trip is an essential part of the social media golf experience. If you go on a trip and don’t post 35 stories a day about it, did you even go on a trip at all? Planning golf trips has become as much fun as actually going on the trip itself.
What courses do we HAVE to play? Are there any hidden gems in the area? How many times did Donald Ross visit this region?!?
We spend cold months and hot summers getting ready for that moment when we can wheel our golf clubs up to an airline agent and drop them off, knowing the next time we see them (God and airline willing!) they’ll be on the first tee of a place we’ve been thinking about for hours on end at a lonely desk in an even lonelier building.
For the third straight year, a group of us packed up cars and headed a couple of hours south of Phoenix to a resort called Tubac, a 27-hole facility famous for being a backdrop to a lot of the memorable moments in “Tin Cup,” a movie that if you haven’t seen I don’t know why the hell you’re reading this piece about golf. We go either the first or second week of January, abnormal for any sort of trip (“you can’t get those vacation days back!”) but actually ideal for a little break following the stress of the holidays.
This crew is, safe to say, a golfer lite group. Sure, we have some scratch golfers in the 14-16 man lineup, but the handicaps are so all over the place that we tend to adjust numbers as the week rolls on. A +1 handicap will be in a foursome with someone in the 25-30 handicap range each and every round and that is what this trip was built on. It’s part of the appeal. It’s part of the beauty. It’s part of Tubac.
Why this trip remains one of my favorite weeks of the year is because it’s a golf trip, sure, but it never feels like one. I say that because I’m one of those in a position in my life where golf trips tend to mean work. Because golf is such an integral part of my existence, going anywhere for golf can, at times, feel slightly like a job. I feel obligated to be on my phone posting about the golf course or the resort. I know that whatever is happening probably should be documented, and that is something that happens to each one of us when we go anywhere these days. We are expected to share what’s happening in our lives on our respected channels.
Posting about trips or vacations isn’t boasting … sure, some people out there enjoy the idea of showing off where they’ve been or where they’ve played … but I believe it’s more the culture of where we’re at. You showcase your life, step by step, shot by shot, hole by hole. The problem with this is that by doing this, you are forgetting what exactly is happening around you.
Some of my favorite rounds of my life have ended in exactly zero pictures being taken. The rounds that you play and simply forget that you even brought your phone with you. It’s in the bag and you dig around for it after the 18th hole and check some texts and realize that this round won’t be documented by Instagram but by your memories and memories alone.
For the third straight year, I told myself as my pal Rusty and I jumped in the car and turned the Kia due-south on I-10 that I should spend more time filming and photographing this trip and for the third straight year I came home with about five pictures from the three days. That’s a win in my book. The less I can be on my phone, the better time I probably had.
So outside of being in the moment, what makes this trip, to a place so many people don’t know about, perfect? It’s because the perfect golf trip is perfect for the people going.
One bourbon-heavy evening last weekend, a couple of the guys started to bring up a few of the resorts I mentioned above.
“Could this group go somewhere else?!,” one of the guys presented. “We should do that!”
Now I love the golf-heavy resort more than just about anyone, but I’m not sure it is the fit for this crowd. We have twice-a-year golfers who go on the trip for the people not the pars. Everyone is hoping to play well and win, but the hang is the key and that’s what the Tubac resort is perfect for. They welcome us with open arms, they get excited to see our faces and the rules are minimal if not nonexistent. Just don’t break anything (we’ve broken stuff), disrupt other people enjoying themselves (I’d say we’ve ENHANCED those experiences but maybe others would argue against my take) and have fun. That’s it.
The key to all of this? The key to any golf trip with friends? It’s to do it at a place that makes sense for YOU and YOUR group. That’s what we have in southern Arizona in early January and that is why this trip will continue for years and years to come. It’s golf, it’s a good hang, it’s simple and peaceful and serene and absolutely utopian for our crew.
For us, it’s Tubac. For you, it’s another place. We all have one and we all can’t wait to return.