For the past 15 years, I've been going to Myrtle Beach with some buddies for an annual golf trip. When we first started out, back in like 2000, most of us were single and poor, and didn't give a shit about accommodations or whatever. The only one that was married is a friend of mine, who got married early in life and already had a couple of kids by that time...and his wife rules the roost. What she says, goes.
Year 1 was just 4 of us. My married w/ kids buddy (Gary) found an ad in the local paper "3 rounds of golf + hotel accommodations for $199". We were like "lets do it". What we didn't think about is, it was actually in Summerton SC in January and South Carolina gets cold as shit in the winter time. We all packed in a truck, threw our suitcases & clubs in the bed and left out of Louisville. When we arrived in Summerton, it was 36 degrees, it had rained/sleeted on our way down and all of our shit was soaked, and we pulled up to the "hotel" to find a Knights Inn that looked like it should have been condemned. We checked in, got all of our clothes out of the suitcases, and spread them out on the wall heating unit to try and dry everything out. We then went to go out and eat. What was in Summerton to eat? A McDonalds at a truck stop, and a Shell Station. Literally...that was it. Needless to say, the trip was hell.
So the next year Gary decided to go to Myrtle Beach and he found 4 more people to go. Now we had 8. He booked 2 BR condos on the beach for everyone, and the accommodations were nice. The trip was better, but there were still issues: 1) It was still freezing in January 2) It gets dark at 5pm in January, so if there were frost delays at the course, we were lucky to get the rounds in 3) Its too cold to go to the beach 4) Myrtle Beach is a ghost town in January.
Anyway...Gary continued to coordinate the trip for about 4 more years (in January) and the group grew to 24 at one point. After about Year 4 or 5, I asked him "why do you keep booking this trip in January, and why are we coming down here with so many people now?" He told me it's because January is the cheapest time of the year, and we were coming down with more people because guys going started asking their friends.
Here's where it gets good. After interrogating him for a while, he finally fesses up that his wife will only let him go in January (why, who the fuck knows) and he was getting his golf & condo for free (thru the travel agency) if he got 24 people to go.
So I said, fuck this. I got with 7 of the guys that are friends of mine on the trip and told them I was done going in January, and if they wanted to go down in the summer, then I would coordinate it. They were in. So we broke off from that group, and started going down in late August. Now we play 6 rounds and stay 7 nights, for about $80 more per person, than we were paying to go down there in January. It stays light out until 9pm, temps are in the 90's so we hit the beach after golf, its busy down there so bars are hopping, etc.
Typical day is golf from 9am-1pm. Gambling, tons of shit talk, and plenty of beer on the course. Lunch. Back to the condo, pack a cooler & hit the beach. Dinner and then hit a bar somewhere. We rent an 8 BR condo right on the beach and have a blast. This year we'll be there from 8/21 to 8/29, so don't expect to see me around here much that week. The phone will be turned off, out of office auto response set on email, and I will be tuning out everything that week.
Year 1 was just 4 of us. My married w/ kids buddy (Gary) found an ad in the local paper "3 rounds of golf + hotel accommodations for $199". We were like "lets do it". What we didn't think about is, it was actually in Summerton SC in January and South Carolina gets cold as shit in the winter time. We all packed in a truck, threw our suitcases & clubs in the bed and left out of Louisville. When we arrived in Summerton, it was 36 degrees, it had rained/sleeted on our way down and all of our shit was soaked, and we pulled up to the "hotel" to find a Knights Inn that looked like it should have been condemned. We checked in, got all of our clothes out of the suitcases, and spread them out on the wall heating unit to try and dry everything out. We then went to go out and eat. What was in Summerton to eat? A McDonalds at a truck stop, and a Shell Station. Literally...that was it. Needless to say, the trip was hell.
So the next year Gary decided to go to Myrtle Beach and he found 4 more people to go. Now we had 8. He booked 2 BR condos on the beach for everyone, and the accommodations were nice. The trip was better, but there were still issues: 1) It was still freezing in January 2) It gets dark at 5pm in January, so if there were frost delays at the course, we were lucky to get the rounds in 3) Its too cold to go to the beach 4) Myrtle Beach is a ghost town in January.
Anyway...Gary continued to coordinate the trip for about 4 more years (in January) and the group grew to 24 at one point. After about Year 4 or 5, I asked him "why do you keep booking this trip in January, and why are we coming down here with so many people now?" He told me it's because January is the cheapest time of the year, and we were coming down with more people because guys going started asking their friends.
Here's where it gets good. After interrogating him for a while, he finally fesses up that his wife will only let him go in January (why, who the fuck knows) and he was getting his golf & condo for free (thru the travel agency) if he got 24 people to go.
So I said, fuck this. I got with 7 of the guys that are friends of mine on the trip and told them I was done going in January, and if they wanted to go down in the summer, then I would coordinate it. They were in. So we broke off from that group, and started going down in late August. Now we play 6 rounds and stay 7 nights, for about $80 more per person, than we were paying to go down there in January. It stays light out until 9pm, temps are in the 90's so we hit the beach after golf, its busy down there so bars are hopping, etc.
Typical day is golf from 9am-1pm. Gambling, tons of shit talk, and plenty of beer on the course. Lunch. Back to the condo, pack a cooler & hit the beach. Dinner and then hit a bar somewhere. We rent an 8 BR condo right on the beach and have a blast. This year we'll be there from 8/21 to 8/29, so don't expect to see me around here much that week. The phone will be turned off, out of office auto response set on email, and I will be tuning out everything that week.
