The best airports for golf travel and which ones are a hassle | Courses

The difficulties starts off in the elevator soon after leaving my apartment. Seemingly, it is impossible for modern-day human beings to see a golf-vacation bag and not make a remark. You know, like, “I’m jealous! In which are you going?” How dare they? Then the Uber driver glares at me like I’m trying to convey an alligator into his Camry. Loosen up, main. If it doesn’t match in the trunk, I’ll put it in the front seat.

Traveling with the sticks can be a headache, but it is worth it compared to the alternative: not playing golfing or, even worse, playing with a rental set. There are perks, albeit little ones. For occasion, I’m never tempted to choose a carry-on, and I can pack two pairs of socks for every working day alternatively of one particular.

After you arrive at your spot, you’re equally happy and relieved that your clubs designed it, but the approach can be a logistical nightmare.

If there is any type of line at the baggage fall-off, you are screwed. Most journey bags are not quite ergonomic. I know mine is not. There is no fantastic way to set it down, and you can not rest your backpack on best of it like you can with a suitcase. If you stand the golf equipment up vertically, you danger somebody knocking them above with just the slightest nudge. Then you get to the front of the line, and the agent won’t let you lay the clubs down on the scale the human being thinks you’re trying to fudge the figures and tends to make you stand them up straight. Cannot we all just help save ourselves the effort and hard work? I’m not a tour participant my bag ain’t 50 lbs ..

In some airports, these as New York City’s JFK, you have gotta bring your clubs to the oversize baggage space. If there’s no attendant there, difficult. Hold out till there is.

When you land, your initially work is to figure out regardless of whether your clubs will arrive out with the common baggage (which is poor because handlers toss suitcases about if they believe they are stuffed exclusively with dresses and footwear) or in the oversize area (good since they know if they break something oversize, they are going to hear about it).

These days, roughly 80 % of airports sequester the golf bags from the standard bags, but the oversize bags seem to usually occur out past. I could generate a novel with the time I’ve put in anxiously ready for my eco-friendly journey bag to arrive. It’s a notably nervy experience in the United terminal at Los Angeles Worldwide since the oversize-baggage area is dangerously near to the general public sidewalk. Despite the fact that the place is roped off, the attendants hardly ever feel specifically bothered about who’s grabbing which bag. After you lay eyes on yours, you have to pounce. Never even get me started about the hurry of adrenaline when examining to make positive your driver did not get snapped in 50 %. (Looking at you, Maui’s Kahului Airport. Also searching at myself, for remaining dumb ample not to acquire a single of all those umbrella contraptions for security).

Following arrives the rental motor vehicle, a system I’ve come to dread in major-town airports—Charlotte and Dallas come to mind—because they are too unfold out. It’s no enjoyment to try out to wield that burly sack as a result of a crowded terminal. At Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, you will at times have to walk the equivalent of 18 holes while continuously seeking for pathways like an NFL operating back . . . only to head up a going for walks escalator and hold out for an annoyingly not-brief tram trip to pick up your vehicle. In Denver, you have to experience a tram to the baggage assert and then catch a shuttle to the rental-auto centre. The Florida airports I frequent—Jacksonville and Orlando—get main kudos for having the rental-car garage throughout the avenue from the terminal.

As a rule, the more compact the airport, the less difficult the expertise. My clubs were being ready for me in Charleston, S.C., Columbus, Ohio, and The Bahamas, and they certainly know how to manage a golfing bag in Augusta, Ga. But the gold normal of golf-club journey is the Monterey Regional Airport in California. Of course, it ticks all the boxes—small, pleasant staff, conveniently obtainable floor transportation—but the authentic rationale it stands by itself is a basic a person: If you are there, and you’ve introduced the sticks, prospects are you’ve received some outstanding golf in your future.