Cross Country Road Trip...! Northern Virginia to San Diego...

[PepsiDuck]

So it's time for me to move again, this time from Virginia to San Diego, and I'll be doing a 6-day golf road trip in a couple weeks. Our original plan was to take the northern route, mostly on I-80 through Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska, with a detour up through Michigan to Arcadia Bluffs, and down the 15 after Denver through Las Vegas. Our budget is under $100 (with the exception of Arcadia Bluffs which was our blowout experience). Our original itinerary was:

 

Day 1: Drive from Virginia to Michigan

Day 2: Play 36 at Arcadia Bluffs / South Course; drive to Chicago

Day 3: Drive to Nebraska and play 18 at Wild Horse GC

Day 4: Drive to Denver and play something...

Day 5: Drive toward Las Vegas and play something... (maybe Sand Hollow or Wolf Creek?)

Day 6: Drive to San Diego

 

The problem is that the excursion to Arcadia easily puts an extra day's drive and really strains the 6-day window. So my random questions are:

 

(1) Is Arcadia Bluffs worth it?

(2) Recommendations for Denver?

(3) Wolf Creek or Sand Hollow?

(4) Any other must-play along the I-80 / I-15?

(5) Another option is to drive the southern route (I-40 to I-30 to I-10) through Nashville, Little Rock, Dallas, the hell that is West Texas, and Phoenix). It will be significantly hotter, but the most direct route which would allow for more golf. What are your thoughts on this?

[vallygolf]

1. That is a long way out of the way. Also, there are so many good courses nearby that if you have never been to Traverse city area, then it may be worth a trip to play them (Arcadia, Kingsley, Forest Dunes/the loop are the best of the bunch) later in life. Im not driving that far out of the way to only play Arcadia, but all those courses are over $100.

2. Another Splurge would be to try and get on Ballyneal. You are driving right past it on the way to Denver. It is another bucket list course that you will probably never be close to again. They have been very open to outside play with proper communication (Same with Kingsley in Michigan)

3. Sand Hollow

4. See #2

5. Hotter= much less expensive and many more options. If you ever plan to go to Arcadia on a golf trip then I would choose the direct route and play more golf. Cheaper but hotter. It has been an incredibly cool spring here in Az. You may get lucky with the heat...even as I type....probably not.....

[mallrat]

I would maybe save a round and play 1 or 2 high end courses (Ballyneal & Sand Valley) that you probably won’t ever play again

[PepsiDuck]

Thanks for the great feedback. I looked at Ballyneal but it's pretty pricey and I don't think we have the time to spend the entire day there to make the price worthwhile. Also, I think we'd prefer to stay public for our trip, as my buddy and I really don't have connections of any sort...except to Cypress...

 

I think we decided that the I-80 route was too far out of the way, and you make a great point that northern Michigan really does rate its own trip. So the revised I-70 itinerary looks like this, with our tentative courses in brackets:

 

Day 0: Drive to Kentucky

Day 1: Louisville/Lexington [Kearney Hill]

Day 2: St. Louis [Gateway National]

Day 3: Kansas City [stone Canyon]

Day 4: Denver [Red Hawk Ridge]

Day 5: Las Vegas [Wolf Creek/Sand Hollow]

Day 6: San Diego [Torrey Pines]

 

Any recommendations on courses would also be greatly appreciated!

 

EDIT: I'm reconsidering changing the Denver round to The Ridge at Castle Rock North, but after looking at the course flyover on their website, it has a lot of houses...I don't have fun at courses with lots of houses...and I read in another thread that weather hasn't been that great in Colorado, so it may just be a passthrough city if course conditions don't improve.

[PepsiDuck]

> @mallrat said:

> I would maybe save a round and play 1 or 2 high end courses (Ballyneal & Sand Valley) that you probably won’t ever play again

 

That was our intent with Arcadia Bluffs...it seems Ballyneal is *the* place to blow it out along the I-70 route...looking at some other threads on Ballyneal, it seems they exclude guest access on Saturday, which is the day we'll be passing through Denver. Sand Valley in Wisconsin would also be great, but just as out of the way at Arcadia.

 

Any other recommendations along the new route?

[PepsiDuck]

Whelp, I just sent a note to Ballyneal requesting guest play for my friend and I. Hopefully being active duty Marines helps...? Wish us luck!

[irvtrain]

Nice! Hope you get on Ballyneal. If that fails, look into Bear Dance. Otherwise play along I-76/I-70. Riverdale Dunes, Green Valley Ranch, Fossil Trace are obvious choices. You could also play Walnut Creek.

[tgard227]

I think you'll regret not playing Arcadia and Missouri is lacking top tier destination courses. I would pass by stone canyon as it's a nice course but it won't be one to remember unless the Greg Norman thing does something for you. If it has to be in Kansas City then I recommend Ironhorse in Leawood, KS. Or, if you want to play an old course that Tillinghast designed, Swope will be a good choice.

 

Personally I recommend Colbert Hills for prairie style golf. It's on I70 and it's on your way west.

[PepsiDuck]

> @irvtrain said:

> Nice! Hope you get on Ballyneal. If that fails, look into Bear Dance. Otherwise play along I-76/I-70. Riverdale Dunes, Green Valley Ranch, Fossil Trace are obvious choices. You could also play Walnut Creek.

 

Taking a look back at the map, it looks like Red Hawk Ridge is waaaay out of the way from the 70. Bear Dance is similar far away from the 70. I've already played Fossil Trace when I moved from California to Virginia two years ago, so I'll take a look at Riverdale Dunes or Green Valley Ranch. But I'm hoping the Ballyneal works out! I'm just afraid that it being a Saturday will be a dealbreaker...

[PepsiDuck]

> @tgard227 said:

> I think you'll regret not playing Arcadia and Missouri is lacking top tier destination courses. I would pass by stone canyon as it's a nice course but it won't be one to remember unless the Greg Norman thing does something for you. If it has to be in Kansas City then I recommend Ironhorse in Leawood, KS. Or, if you want to play an old course that Tillinghast designed, Swope will be a good choice.

>

> Personally I recommend Colbert Hills for prairie style golf. It's on I70 and it's on your way west.

 

I think we'll eventually make it out to Michigan for a full-on trip. I have no doubt I'll be moving back to the east coast in a few years. Ironhorse is a Troon course, and we get a break on greens fees, so I'll definitely check it out. Thanks for the recommendations!

[DrOldSchool]

If taking I-70, you could play The Virtues (Longaberger) near Zanesville, OH and Brickyard Crossing or The Fort in Indy - none of them are too far from the highway. You could divert onto I-68 in Western MD and play at Nemacolin in the PA mountains or Rocky Gap/Lodestone. Could still play Gateway near STL as well if taking 70.

[Zac1321]

just a word of caution from someone who has done a lot of roadtripping and trying to maximize things to do on the trip, I would highly recommend figuring out 2 MAYBE 3 courses you wanna do on this trip and leave it at that, its always super easy to plan a roadtrip out on paper for how long everything will take to get to your checkpoints but it almost always ends up taking longer, planning to play 18 in addition to driving everyday I think you will find yourselves overloaded and/or behind schedule halfway through. I would recommend getting yourself settled here before tacking on torrey on the last day of the trip as well. You mentioned youre in the service and we have a few solid military courses here in san diego that I would recommend for anyone who has access as they will be much cheaper and less busy then normal public tracks around here. also If youre set on something near-ish to Denver I have heard that Eisenhower golf course at the air force academy is very good

[PepsiDuck]

Thanks for the responses! So our itinerary has changed once again, with some good news and some bad news. Good news is that a WRX member has graciously offered to host us for a round at an amazing club in Scottsdale; bad news is that Ballyneal extended an invitation for us to play the course, but we couldn't make the time window work.

 

Day 0: Drive to Lexington

Day 1:Lexington [Kearney Hill]

Day 2: St. Louis [Gateway National] OR Kansas City [ironhorse]

Day 3: Colorado Springs [Air Force Academy] OR Denver [bear Dance]

Day 4: Flex day...Albuquerque, NM?

Day 5: Scottsdale, AZ [private club]

Day 6: San Diego [turn on utilities in my house]

Day 7: San Diego [Torrey Pines]

 

Based on Zac's guidance, and the proximity of St. Louis to KC, I think we're just going to do one or the other. For those who have played both Gateway National and Ironhorse, which would you choose? And for Day 3, Denver is now "out of the way"...we can go straight to Colorado Springs off the 70 or drive out of the way to play Bear Dance. What do you do? Day 4 is another flex day since we're diverting from Denver down to Phoenix. I had read great things about Paa-Ko Ridge in Albuquerque, but their website says they're temporarily closed. Does anyone know anything about that? Day 6 is strictly a drive from Phoenix to San Diego, so there's no golf since I have some house things to take care of when we get to San Diego. And then Day 7 is a morning round at Torrey followed by a flight back to Virginia. You may be wondering...yes, this road trip was strictly to move our cars...and play golf...

 

Thanks again for everyone's help!

[mmoran]

Save yourself 3 hours of driving and go through OKC from St. Louis to Phoenix instead of going through Colorado. There are more corn field in Kansas and eastern Colorado than anyone needs to look at. St. Louis to Denver to Albuquerque in 2 days with 2 rounds of golf is not a practical plan.

[PepsiDuck]

> @mmoran said:

> Save yourself 3 hours of driving and go through OKC from St. Louis to Phoenix instead of going through Colorado. There are more corn field in Kansas and eastern Colorado than anyone needs to look at. St. Louis to Denver to Albuquerque in 2 days with 2 rounds of golf is not a practical plan.

 

Hmmm, going through Tulsa and OKC is definitely the more direct route. But is OKC still underwater...? And are golf courses along that route even playable? I only know what I’ve heard and read on the news about the flooding in the area.

 

And we planned for a round + 8-10 hours on the road, which is pretty easy for us.

[mmoran]

It's not like the whole town is under water like the news would like you to believe. Just don't wear your new white shoes.

 

Your ball will go just as far in Albuquerque as it will in Denver. So unless you have your heart set on playing in Colorado do yourself a favor and take the shorter route. As someone that used to joke that I wouldn't even get the car warmed up driving from Phoenix to Los Angeles or Las Vegas, there is a huge difference physically between driving 8 or 9 hours and 12.

[Zac1321]

when exactly are you taking the trip? I ask because whats generally agreed on as the best public course in southern California, Rams Hill, is relatively on the way from Arizona to san diego, if the dates line up right I would HIGHLY recommend taking off torrey and playing rams hill in its place, for a few reasons: (1) you wont be established as a san diego resident yet (assuming you will be living in the city limits) and being a city resident you get to play torrey substantially cheaper than a non resident (there are a few hoops you have to jump through to qualify which aren't difficult but just don't seem likely to be able to pull off in a day in order to get the resident rate) and even so rams will be cheaper and way less crowded than torrey. (2) rams hill will be closing here in a few weeks and wont be opening back up until late October whereas torrey will always be there (3) the renovation project is in full swing on the south course at torrey so if you will be living here anyways you might as well just wait for them to finish, unless youre looking to play the north course, which again will be very crowded because its summer and the renovations on the south. Im sure you have plenty of other factors we don't know about for wanting to play torrey just thought id throw a few extra things to think about, your trip sounds awesome so far, gotta say im pretty jealous!

[PepsiDuck]

> @Zac1321 said:

> when exactly are you taking the trip? I ask because whats generally agreed on as the best public course in southern California, Rams Hill, is relatively on the way from Arizona to san diego, if the dates line up right I would HIGHLY recommend taking off torrey and playing rams hill in its place, for a few reasons: (1) you wont be established as a san diego resident yet (assuming you will be living in the city limits) and being a city resident you get to play torrey substantially cheaper than a non resident (there are a few hoops you have to jump through to qualify which aren't difficult but just don't seem likely to be able to pull off in a day in order to get the resident rate) and even so rams will be cheaper and way less crowded than torrey. (2) rams hill will be closing here in a few weeks and wont be opening back up until late October whereas torrey will always be there (3) the renovation project is in full swing on the south course at torrey so if you will be living here anyways you might as well just wait for them to finish, unless youre looking to play the north course, which again will be very crowded because its summer and the renovations on the south. Im sure you have plenty of other factors we don't know about for wanting to play torrey just thought id throw a few extra things to think about, your trip sounds awesome so far, gotta say im pretty jealous!

 

Day 0 is this coming Tuesday, Jun 4. I never had a chance to play Rams Hill, but thanks for the recommendation. It looks like a bit of a hike from San Diego, so we may save that for another time since I'll need to be back to catch an afternoon flight. I already have my resident card since I traveled to San Diego a lot for work over the past year and a half (and being active duty). And good point about Torrey South being closed; I forgot about that. Torrey is just relatively convenient, inexpensive, and a nice course, that's really why we picked it. But we're open to playing anywhere in the area, or not playing at all.

 

[PepsiDuck]

> @mmoran said:

> It's not like the whole town is under water like the news would like you to believe. Just don't wear your new white shoes.

>

> Your ball will go just as far in Albuquerque as it will in Denver. So unless you have your heart set on playing in Colorado do yourself a favor and take the shorter route. As someone that used to joke that I wouldn't even get the car warmed up driving from Phoenix to Los Angeles or Las Vegas, there is a huge difference physically between driving 8 or 9 hours and 12.

 

We only chose to go through Denver because our first route took us through Las Vegas down to San Diego. Now that Phoenix is in play, I forgot to consider more direct routes from the Midwest. Do you have any recommendations for courses in Tulsa/OKC? I was thinking about trying to get on the Patriot Club. I played there years ago when I was invited to play in the Folds of Honor Patriot Cup, and I thought it was a beautiful course. Is there any other noteworthy public courses in those areas?

 

It's kind of crazy how much this trip has morphed in just a couple days, but thanks everyone for your feedback and recommendations!

[SMcGavin1]

> @PepsiDuck said:

> > @mmoran said:

> > It's not like the whole town is under water like the news would like you to believe. Just don't wear your new white shoes.

> >

> > Your ball will go just as far in Albuquerque as it will in Denver. So unless you have your heart set on playing in Colorado do yourself a favor and take the shorter route. As someone that used to joke that I wouldn't even get the car warmed up driving from Phoenix to Los Angeles or Las Vegas, there is a huge difference physically between driving 8 or 9 hours and 12.

>

> We only chose to go through Denver because our first route took us through Las Vegas down to San Diego. Now that Phoenix is in play, I forgot to consider more direct routes from the Midwest. Do you have any recommendations for courses in Tulsa/OKC? I was thinking about trying to get on the Patriot Club. I played there years ago when I was invited to play in the Folds of Honor Patriot Cup, and I thought it was a beautiful course. Is there any other noteworthy public courses in those areas?

>

> It's kind of crazy how much this trip has morphed in just a couple days, but thanks everyone for your feedback and recommendations!

 

Courses in OKC/Tulsa are in great shape. #1 on your list should be The Patriot in Tulsa. If that doesn't work I'd drive down to OKC and either play Lincoln Park (5 minutes from I-40) or go down to Norman and play Jimmie Austin (about 40 minutes round-trip from I-40)

[Zac1321]

> @PepsiDuck said:

> > @Zac1321 said:

> > when exactly are you taking the trip? I ask because whats generally agreed on as the best public course in southern California, Rams Hill, is relatively on the way from Arizona to san diego, if the dates line up right I would HIGHLY recommend taking off torrey and playing rams hill in its place, for a few reasons: (1) you wont be established as a san diego resident yet (assuming you will be living in the city limits) and being a city resident you get to play torrey substantially cheaper than a non resident (there are a few hoops you have to jump through to qualify which aren't difficult but just don't seem likely to be able to pull off in a day in order to get the resident rate) and even so rams will be cheaper and way less crowded than torrey. (2) rams hill will be closing here in a few weeks and wont be opening back up until late October whereas torrey will always be there (3) the renovation project is in full swing on the south course at torrey so if you will be living here anyways you might as well just wait for them to finish, unless youre looking to play the north course, which again will be very crowded because its summer and the renovations on the south. Im sure you have plenty of other factors we don't know about for wanting to play torrey just thought id throw a few extra things to think about, your trip sounds awesome so far, gotta say im pretty jealous!

>

> Day 0 is this coming Tuesday, Jun 4. I never had a chance to play Rams Hill, but thanks for the recommendation. It looks like a bit of a hike from San Diego, so we may save that for another time since I'll need to be back to catch an afternoon flight. I already have my resident card since I traveled to San Diego a lot for work over the past year and a half (and being active duty). And good point about Torrey South being closed; I forgot about that. Torrey is just relatively convenient, inexpensive, and a nice course, that's really why we picked it. But we're open to playing anywhere in the area, or not playing at all.

>

right on, if you already have the card then absolutely go for torrey, not a whole lot of other public golf in so cal that can compare to the price at the same quality. Have a good trip man! im usually playing every weekend somewhere if you wanna grab a round once youre all settled

 

[razor_1]

If you are still going through Denver, stay in Aurora. Play the Kennedy public course and stay on Hampden Ave about 1 mile from the course. Right on the interstate and plenty of things to do/eat around the immediate area. I used to go there on business trips. I would work, change and go play golf, eat and then retire for the evening.

[mmoran]

Sorry, no idea about courses in Oklahoma but it looks like you've gotten a few suggestions. I've done three cross country moves and have dogs that have seen more of the country than most people.

[PepsiDuck]

> @mmoran said:

> Sorry, no idea about courses in Oklahoma but it looks like you've gotten a few suggestions. I've done three cross country moves and have dogs that have seen more of the country than most people.

 

This will be my fifth coast to coast drive in the last seven years; though my most "memorable" one was on a crotch rocket from DC to CA...in January...

 

> @razor_1 said:

> If you are still going through Denver, stay in Aurora. Play the Kennedy public course and stay on Hampden Ave about 1 mile from the course. Right on the interstate and plenty of things to do/eat around the immediate area. I used to go there on business trips. I would work, change and go play golf, eat and then retire for the evening.

 

Looks like we're skipping Colorado entirely for this trip, but we'll definitely keep that in mind.

[PepsiDuck]

So after all the feedback, I think we're almost finalized on the itinerary:

 

Day 0 (Tue): Drive to Lexington

Day 1 (Wed):Lexington, KY [Kearney Hill] / Drive to St. Louis

Day 2 (Thu): St. Louis, MO [Gateway National] / Drive to Tulsa

Day 3 (Fri): Tulsa, OK [The Patriot Club (if available)] / Drive to Albuquerque

Day 4 (Sat): Albuquerque, NM [uNM Championship] / Drive to Phoenix

Day 5 (Sun): Scottsdale, AZ [private club] / Stay in Phoenix

Day 6: Drive to San Diego [No golf]

Day 7: San Diego [Torrey Pines]

 

The way it's broken down, we'll play golf first thing each morning, and then only have to drive between 5 and 7 hours on any given day. I think this route has the most optimally spaced out major cities out of all options we considered.

[Chef Otto]

If you have not driven i70 through Colorado I would do that and drive through Denver take 70 into Utah and then take i15 south and play Sand Hollow and Wolf for sure. It adds less then 2 hours of total time to the trip. The pass up to Vail and then the stretch past Vail back down is some of the most spectacular stretches of highway in the country. Mountains will still have snow and the split highway cut into the mountains is awesome. Oh yeah Sand Hollow and Wolf Creek are great.

[irvtrain]

I'd play Paa Ko Ridge over UNM. I even like Sandia over UNM. I even think it is a toss up between Twin Warriors and UNM.

[farmer]

If you're going the I40 route, Amarillo has some nice courses, then an easy drive to Alb.

[PepsiDuck]

> @irvtrain said:

> I'd play Paa Ko Ridge over UNM. I even like Sandia over UNM. I even think it is a toss up between Twin Warriors and UNM.

 

Paa Ko Ridge is definitely our first choice, but the website says it’s closed. Is there any new info...?

 

UNM is preferred since were coming from the east, so Twin and Sandia would be a bit out of the way.

[PepsiDuck]

> @"Chef Otto" said:

> If you have not driven i70 through Colorado I would do that and drive through Denver take 70 into Utah and then take i15 south and play Sand Hollow and Wolf for sure. It adds less then 2 hours of total time to the trip. The pass up to Vail and then the stretch past Vail back down is some of the most spectacular stretches of highway in the country. Mountains will still have snow and the split highway cut into the mountains is awesome. Oh yeah Sand Hollow and Wolf Creek are great.

 

We’ll definitely try that next time!