Best Place to Live for Year-Round Golf

[allenc]

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

The Carolinas DO get humid and moderately hot, but to me its more tolerable than 110 degree desert summer days you mention.  The Carolina coast also gets the occasional hurricane, but its definitely not going to fall off into the ocean in an earthquake.  

All kidding aside, how "available" is golf along the California coast, as far as number of courses and level of demand?  One of the best things about the Pinehurst area of NC is that there are dozens of courses within a half-hour drive, and its generally not a problem to find a tee time.  

The San Diego area has tons of courses.  The Ventura/Santa Barbara area has tons of courses.  They are often crowded though.  You don't have to be right on the coast.  I was just excluding desert and valley areas because they get too hot for some.

[No Mulligans]

2 hours ago, allenc said:

The San Diego area has tons of courses.  The Ventura/Santa Barbara area has tons of courses.  They are often crowded though.  You don't have to be right on the coast.  I was just excluding desert and valley areas because they get too hot for some.

+1 to that.

I just used the GolfNow course locator and there are 37 courses listed with tee times available today within 25 miles of where I live.  And, that is only the courses that you can use GolfNow for that still have tee times for today and only public courses.  Torrey Pines, Mission Bay, Balboa Park, Barona, Maderas, La Costa, to name a few, were not on the list.

[300drive]

I can truly say that Canada is not the greatest for golf in winter, lol!

Edited February 23, 2016 by iacas
removed URL

[wolfpackguy]

I really can't tell the difference in the summer weather between the Carolinas and Florida....but then again I love hot weather.  Winter can be pretty bad at times here in the Carolinas, at least inland and even in the Pinehurst area.  Obviously nothing near what the Northern extremes of our nation get but also not even close to the good weather Florida has in the winter months.  Also a lot of the courses don't drain that well here in the Piedmont region so even when we have a warm winter we will usually get a lot of rain and the ground can be rotten for weeks which leads to tons of mud balls and cart path only conditions.  The sandhills region and Myrtle Beach drain much better.  I myself am in the process of selling my house and trying to pick a golf paradise to move to.  The two options that I have narrowed it down to is Myrtle Beach or Florida.  If Florida probably the Southwest Coast around Tampa or below in the Naples area.  Have also considered The Villages, although it is more of a retirement community and I might be a bit young yet to move there.  It's also a little farther north than I would like to be if I choose Florida (hour north of Orlando). 

[gregsandiego]

7 hours ago, No Mulligans said:

+1 to that.

I just used the GolfNow course locator and there are 37 courses listed with tee times available today within 25 miles of where I live.  And, that is only the courses that you can use GolfNow for that still have tee times for today and only public courses.  Torrey Pines, Mission Bay, Balboa Park, Barona, Maderas, La Costa, to name a few, were not on the list.

I played one 18 hole in SD (and it's on  GolfNow) in perfect weather for $22. 

[ppine]

You can get up early in Arizona to beat the heat, but it is impossible to beat the humidity in other places. 

Edited February 23, 2016 by ppine

[Braivo]

A lot of folks here in Michigan spend the summer here and then the winter in FL or AZ. It seems to be the best of both worlds. Golf season in Michigan is splendid, and you avoid the heat of the South. Of course they are retired. 

As for places I've visited that would make for great year-round golf I'd have to say the Carolinas. Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head have been enjoyable at all times of the year. 

[Pendragon]

It's hard to beat San Diego, and I did live there for 6 years back in the 70's, but for me nothing beats northern California...more specifically, the Bay Area. Lots of wonderful courses, and the weather is great. It can get somewhat chilly in the winter, but we rarely have more than 6 or 8 frost delays a year, and can easily play all year. 

[Psyber]

On July 6, 2008 at 0:52 PM, iacas said:

Yeah, you can golf a lot there... if you can tolerate the fact that it's often 80° by the time it's 6am. You can get some pretty cheap summer rates down there, because nobody wants to golf when it's 95° outside.

I'd pick South Carolina. Florida golf courses tend to be pretty bland, particularly that far south. I lived in Delray Beach for three years. Thank goodness I was a mile from the ocean, because only the slight breeze prevented me from melting. I kayak fished for shark more than I golfed in the summer months.

This is pretty spot on. In the summer I would drink close to a gallon of water over 18 and not even have to pee. Sweat it all out. Though there is a Donald Ross course you can play in Delray dirt cheap all summer. Expect a lot of rain in the summer and super soft conditions. 

[ev780]

Las Vegas is good but hot in the summer.

California is going to win hands down on year around weather in my book. The cold California ocean current keeps the heat down in the summer by pulling cold water from the Bearing sea unlike the Atlantic and Gulf Coast which has warm equatorial ocean currents thus, the heat and humidity.

Unfortunately it is Kalifornia. Bad tax structure. Horrific traffic. Gun laws that are unappealing to me. and just frigging expensive. Since I have the means I have decided to become a snowbird. Colorado Rockies in the summer and Las Vegas in the winter.  Now if I can just get retired so I can take advantage of my plan.

[ghalfaire]

On 7/5/2008 at 0:31 PM, twomey7 said:

I wouldn't recommend it. Golfing in 110 degree heat isn't too enjoyable. I'd rather be in Cali where its around 85 year round or Hawaii.

Ahh the uninformed.  AZ isn't all desert or all high altitude forest.  There are places in AZ where one can golf all year without freezing or dying of heat.  I'll let you find them but they are there.

[k-troop]

Those who are talking "Carolinas" are talking a broad swath of land and climates.  Sand hills area, Charlotte, and north can snow in the winter, and at any rate it gets cold enough that golf won't be pleasant.  The coastal islands from Hilton Head to IOP on the other hand are very playable in the winter and not too terrible in the summer (at least not when compared to Florida, Phoenix, etc.)

For that matter throw in the coastal islands all the way from JAX to IOP.  Tons of golf east of I-95 in GA that shouldn't be overlooked.

4 hours ago, ghalfaire said:

Ahh the uninformed.  AZ isn't all desert or all high altitude forest.  There are places in AZ where one can golf all year without freezing or dying of heat.  I'll let you find them but they are there.

Agreed Sedona/Prescott/Flagstaff are quite nice (and have some good courses) in the summer but can get a crapload of snow in the winter. 

Tucson has some elevation and manages to stay a bit cooler in the summer but it's so isolated and not exactly a golf destination.

What else you got?  Havasu?

[Golfingdad]

4 hours ago, ev780 said:

Unfortunately it is Kalifornia. Bad tax structure. Horrific traffic. Gun laws that are unappealing to me. and just frigging expensive.

For many (most?) of us here in California, the weather pretty much trumps all of the above.  And the "horrific traffic" is not really that bad.  You can't extrapolate the 405 or the 91 at rush hour. :)

[k-troop]

1 minute ago, Golfingdad said:

For many (most?) of us here in California, the weather pretty much trumps all of the above.  And the "horrific traffic" is not really that bad.  You can't extrapolate the 405 or the 91 at rush hour. :)

Traffic isn't so bad so long as you never enter the zone between Orange and Ventura counties!  Get a fast car though--tough to survive the 5 or the 15 if you can't go from 55 to 90 MPH in 2 seconds.

[Golfingdad]

29 minutes ago, k-troop said:

Traffic isn't so bad so long as you never enter the zone between Orange and Ventura counties!  Get a fast car though--tough to survive the 5 or the 15 if you can't go from 55 to 90 MPH in 2 seconds.

That's the thing - I'm in that zone and I almost never deal with traffic.  You just have to know what areas to avoid and when.  And when you can't avoid those areas, one word:  WAZE.

[Shindig]

46 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

For many (most?) of us here in California, the weather pretty much trumps all of the above.  And the "horrific traffic" is not really that bad.  You can't extrapolate the 405 or the 91 at rush hour. :)

The weather, I believe, is largely why the craziness that happens in California is tolerated.  Maybe I'm extrapolating from myself.

[k-troop]

1 hour ago, Golfingdad said:

That's the thing - I'm in that zone and I almost never deal with traffic.  You just have to know what areas to avoid and when.  And when you can't avoid those areas, one word:  WAZE.

No you live in OC. I'm talking about north of that. Basically long beach to Simi is the area I hated having to venture into. 

[colin007]

What about coastal Oregon/Washington? Isn't the weather temperate enough do that it's not too hot in the summer and not too cold in winter?

Basically, I'd play year round if it didn't snow and it was above 40