Golfing holidays are a great idea, however, as with any group holiday, they can be very stressful to plan effectively. There are a number of things you can do to make things as organised as possible and prepare for your golfing trip, making it a far more enjoyable experience for you and your friends. With thousands of groups coming to Donnington Grove for golfing holidays, we've learnt exactly how you can make planning your golfing trip as easily as possible.
Your golfing holiday will be so much better if you plan as early as possible for a number of reasons, not only will you get the best choice and availability for hotels, golf courses and tee times. You'll also find you can get far more reasonable prices for your accommodation too! By planning as soon as possible, you'll have far more time to organise your group and co-ordinate with the most laid-back members to meet their obligations on time.
The golden rule is that the larger your group is, the earlier you need to start planning, because you'll have more schedules, budgets and constraints to factor into planning your holiday. You'll also need to think about the time of year you're planning your golf holiday for, as you may not want to play in some weather conditions.
As soon as you can, you need to organise who is coming with you – it's best to invite people who want similar things from their golf holidays and enjoy playing with others. Whilst it may seem unlikely, not everyone will be up for late nights drinking after a game and you'll need to bear this in mind when inviting people.
Once you've chosen who you're going with, you should all agree on a budget and dates you're all available. Choosing a budget will ensure everyone can afford and enjoy the trip, as well as avoid unrealistic expectations further down the road. By getting different people involved with different tasks, you can avoid taking everything on yourself and share the excitement amongst your group.
To avoid disappointment, it's wise to organise your golf rounds around the same time your golf holiday in order to guarantee you can play when you want. If you're enjoying a longer golfing holiday, you'll need to think about how often you want to play golf, as playing 18 holes every day and every other day will have some impact on the price of your holiday. By playing every other day, you'll also have the opportunity to enjoy activities, and at Donnington Grove, we offer fishing and clay pigeon shooting as well.
If you're bringing any non-golfers, you may want to check that there are plenty of attractions nearby to entertain them whilst you're out on the golf course. We have excellent shopping facilities near our hotel, along with Newbury Racecourse, Highclere Castle and a number of cultural points of interest.
What do you want to do with your evenings after your games? Some groups will want to enjoy a relatively quiet night in with a few drinks and a delicious dinner, where others will want to visit the best of the area's bars and pubs. Here at Donnington Grove, we offer a luxurious setting to unwind at the end of a day's golf and nearby Newbury has options to suit every taste.
More than anything, your golfing holiday is supposed to be a chance for you to relax and unwind, so when the planning seems stressful and you're annoyed at everyone, just take a step back, take a deep breather and some time to yourself. After you've sorted out booking the accommodation and tee times, everything else – daily competitions, pairings, etc., are just small details you can come back to at a later date.
Remember that you don't need to plan every minute of every day, and both you and everyone else will want some time to just relax and do your own thing. As long as everyone knows how much they're paying and when they need to pay it and where they need to be for transport and the golfing, your job has been a success.
For more information on our golfing holidays in the heart of Berkshire, simply give us a call on 01635 581000 or email golf@donnington-grove.com today.