Retirement Golf

[JonMA1]

I didn't know this thread existed but it's something I've been pondering a lot lately - to the point where I'll go online and check out southern states where the wife and I might retire. Northern Michigan is beautiful and golf is very inexpensive. But it just kills me to not play for 5 months. I could handle maybe a two-month layoff... maybe.

I've been checking out South Carolina (western side), Georgia, Alabama and possibly northern Florida. As far as golf courses, I'm not one who has to play the nicest courses (not that they would let riffraff like me in anyway) and I don't think I'd like a golf community.

[Fourputt]

As one who recently retired early and loves golf, joining a golf retirement community is exactly what I would NOT want. I don't want too much commonality, in golf, neighbors, dining, entertainment, or anything else.

I feel that unless you are an assembly line worker putting together widgets hour after hour, one's job provides a lot of the variety that is healthy in life. You deal with a diversity of people and challenges in your job, and this keep your mind agile and interested. I think many people establish certain routines in the other parts of their life to help deal with the stresses from the job, leading to a good blend of challenge and exposure to new things, but with things in their life that are grounded in their routine.

But once you retire, a big part of the regularly changing challenges go away, and that needs to be replaced otherwise you get too stagnant in your actions, thinking, beliefs, and perspectives. It becomes all too easy to surround yourself by people your age, doing the same thing over and over again. The hours that you gain in your day from not working are too easily filled by those routine things you used to do when not working. You need to replace the mentally interesting activity you lost with other mental challenges, not just expand the lounge chair parts of your life.

I don't want to be surrounded by a bunch of retirees of similar age - I want to be around people of all ages. I don't want to surround myself with people of my same color - I want a rich, diverse ethnic environment where many different cultures blend, even if they sometimes clash. I don't want to get away from the city and seek peace and quiet - I want the vibrancy that a city offers, with museums and theaters and many interesting attractions. I don't want the same neighborhood dining options every week - I want to explore new eateries, fancy or inexpensive, of many different ethnicities. I don't want to have a small circle of friends with the same political beliefs - I love a healthy discourse of ideas. And I don't want to play the same golf courses all the time - I want the challenge of seeing new courses for the first time.

Retirement is wonderful and a great reward for a life's hard work. Make it active and fascinating and interesting and different. It keep you from becoming a curmudgeonly old fart.

And yet the last place in the world I want to live is in the city, now that it is no longer necessary for employment.  Political haranguing is overrated, and in this town of 350 I can find all of the political and racial diversity I could ask for.  We have black, hispanic, gay, young, middle aged, and elderly.  We have one bar/restaurant in town, but others only about 20 minutes away.

Denver is 2 hours away, with all of the other conveniences that I only need infrequently, so we make an overnight trip of it when we do go there.  After spending a couple of days in the city, all I want to do is to get out of there again.

[cliffj]

Check out thevillages.com and golfthevillages.com I have played 15 straight days of golf until the rain today. Drove my golf cart to every round.

[Archie Bunker]

Check out thevillages.com and golfthevillages.com

I have played 15 straight days of golf until the rain today. Drove my golf cart to every round.

It's actually much better than what you will see on the websites and video commercials. I would always cringe when I saw the commercials on tv. The only way to really learn what it is like is to spend a few days here. Bring your checkbook.

And yes, there are plenty of other things to do besides playing the 600+ holes of golf here. Plenty of "diversity" and "challenges" too...

[cliffj]

Agreed. And to clarify, "bring your checkbook" is quite true. Most who visit buy a house that same week. Sales force is totally no pressure as place sells itself.

[jsgolfer]

I guess we are all so different, I still like the Country Club atmosphere, my fiance and I like to play in the club tournaments and hang out a the courses, so I guess it's all in what you want.  So we are going to do some discovery tours to Savannah and maybe Reynolds Plantation and go back to St. James.  Pinehurst may have moved to number 1.

Thanks for all input.

[Aguirre]

I'm not close to retirement, but I have a lot of retired clients sprinkled throughout the country.  Based on their experiences, I would say that a big thing is don't let your golf habit get in the way of what kind of town/city you want to live in.  You may think golf is what you most want to do, but you're off the course far more hours than on the course.

Also, if you want good weather for golf throughout the winter, you'll have to go to Florida or some desert climate like Arizona.  Myrtle Beach is the best place in the world for affordable good golf, but you'll get plenty of 40 degree windy days there from December to March.

One last thing.  If you're from the North, I suggest going to a place that has a lot of displaced/retired Northerners.  Because there can be a culture shock.  Because most of the south sucks.

[caniac6]

One poster mentioned Wilmington,NC. There is a community called Landfall that has a Nicklaus and a Pete Dye course.It is very close to Wrightsville Beach which is a very nice beach with some good restaurants. Wilmington is nice city. It is like a mini Charleston.

[Aguirre]

One poster mentioned Wilmington,NC. There is a community called Landfall that has a Nicklaus and a Pete Dye course.It is very close to Wrightsville Beach which is a very nice beach with some good restaurants. Wilmington is nice city. It is like a mini Charleston.

I've played the Nicklaus course.  It was excellent.  Very fair test.

[roraniel]

Top 100 Courses for 2014

http://www.ncgolfpanel.com/courserankings.cfm#1

[Rick Martin]

Pinehurst is No. 2 on the list right now.  9 courses along with No. 2 are hard to beat, plus not far from Raleigh.

Curious what your annual golf budget will be. Mind sharing?

[jsgolfer]

No real budget, I'm assuming we'll pay an initiation fee and dues or a little more similar to what we pay for our current Country Club Membership. 30K and 600/month

[rkim291968]

I am close to retirement, maybe this year or next.   But my wife and I already play 2 - 3 times a week.   To make our golf habit to be most affordable, we have been a member of golf clubs where all you can play membership is available.  When I retire, we are likely to play 3 - 4 times a week and having the similar membership is a must.

There are not too many golf community around where I live but I have played a few such courses.   I wouldn't mind living in one of those communities.   It'd be nice to have your own cart, and drive it from your drive way to the course.

In either case above, I'd prefer if there is more than one course offered.  Two of my previous all you can play courses had two distinct courses I could play.  One golf community I frequented had two challenging courses.  It makes a huge difference than just playing the same course all the time.

[Rick Martin]

I am close to retirement, maybe this year or next.   But my wife and I already play 2 - 3 times a week.   To make our golf habit to be most affordable, we have been a member of golf clubs where all you can play membership is available.  When I retire, we are likely to play 3 - 4 times a week and having the similar membership is a must.

There are not too many golf community around where I live but I have played a few such courses.   I wouldn't mind living in one of those communities.   It'd be nice to have your own cart, and drive it from your drive way to the course.

In either case above, I'd prefer if there is more than one course offered.  Two of my previous all you can play courses had two distinct courses I could play.  One golf community I frequented had two challenging courses.  It makes a huge difference than just playing the same course all the time.

I'll likely have a cart at home and drive to the course pretty soon - access to 4 different courses (27 hole, 27 hole, and two 18 hole courses). Think the yearly fee including trail fee for the cart is around $3500/yr for single golfer.

http://www.clublink.com/

[jsgolfer]

I'll likely have a cart at home and drive to the course pretty soon - access to 4 different courses (27 hole, 27 hole, and two 18 hole courses). Think the yearly fee including trail fee for the cart is around $3500/yr for single golfer. [URL=http://www.clublink.com/]http://www.clublink.com/[/URL]

We used to be Members of ClubCorp, looks a little like the clublink. So the courses are close enough to drive a golf cart to them? Which 4?

[Rick Martin]

We used to be Members of ClubCorp, looks a little like the clublink. So the courses are close enough to drive a golf cart to them? Which 4?

Scepter, Falcon Watch, Sand Piper, Renaissance ........all mediocre at best. Not that great, imo.  Nothing close to what has been discussed so far. Sun City Center community.