Travel and Leisure

With people getting longer leisure time and the advent of cheap air fares there has been a massive increase in the number of people going on sporting holidays. One sport that is experiencing a major boom is the sport of golf.

In the past golf has been restricted to the amount of time that you play by the climate and weather of the area that you live in. This is now no longer the case due to people now having the time and also being able to afford to fly to an area where the weather is suitable to play golf.

When thinking about booking a golfing holiday it is critical that you weigh up all of the options before you book. The first thing to do is to set yourself a budget; this has to cover the cost of the flight, accommodation, food and golf fees.

The most popular golfing holiday destinations are now in Spain, Portugal and Florida. Many Europeans take short golfing breaks to Spain and Portugal and stay in holiday villas as they are just a short plane trip away and there are many cheap no thrills flights to these destinations.

It is advisable to book your accommodation and tee times before going, as due to the increase in demand the days of simply turning up and securing accommodation have long gone.

Many courses now insist that players are of a certain standard and insist that proof of handicap is provided before they let you play.

Florida is now one of the most popular golf destinations in the world and has a tremendous selection of golf courses to choose from. You also have the added bonus of plenty of holiday villas in the area enabling you to choose accommodation to suite whatever your budget is.

An up and coming golf venue is Dubai, but this is a lot more expensive for both accommodation and actually booking a tee time can be quite hard and very expensive.

It is quite ironic that while thousands of Europeans are flying over to Florida for the sun and beautifully manicured golf courses, there are many Americans flying to Scotland to play on their famous cold windswept courses.

The one thing that all of these people have in common is their love for golf. Golfers are now in the fortunate position that no matter what their budgets are, there seems to be accommodation and golf courses available for them to play in.

Florida is now experiencing the creation of exclusive golf communities with golf course designed and built by past players. Typically they have villas built around the course with great eating facilities and swimming pools. Many of these courses are private members courses but in some cases it is possible to rent the holiday villas from the owners and as a result get access to the course.

Many of these new luxury golf developments now have golf schools attached and are geared up for whole families. As a result we are now seeing whole families going on golfing vacations together. This has stimulated a demand for golf from a whole new generation of young golfers and the day of the golf course being male dominated are quickly disappearing.

It can now be seen that there are golfing vacations available for all age ranges at all price brackets and we can expect this sector of the travel industry to continue to grow and prosper.