This Week at TravelGolf.com: April 23, 2009

Planning your next golf vacation? You might consider playing with rental clubs

These days I play more golf on the road than I do at home, so I'm used to lugging my golf clubs through airports. I've always felt more comfortable with my own sticks.

So I stuff my clubs into a travel bag, fold down the back seat in my car so I can get it in the trunk, drag it onto a crowded airport parking shuttle bus, then sign the waiver at the airport releasing the airline of responsibility. Oh yeah, it's also $25 each way to check it (unless I'm on Southwest Airlines).

I'm starting to rethink this whole scenario, and perhaps you should too.

First off, most resorts offer rental clubs. In the past, your choice of clubs was limited. But resorts are catching on. They're not only offering pro line clubs, but different brands, driver lofts and shaft flexes, too.

You could also have your clubs shipped. With a good bit of advanced notice, this isn't a bad option - less than $180 roundtrip on one popular service - especially if you're going to be playing golf for a week or so and don't mind your clubs not coming home for another few days after you return.

Or you could use a club rental service, which has many more brands than a typical golf course or resort. It can be a bit pricey, but very convenient.

It's not hard to rent a set of Adams Tight Lies for $50 a day, and generally the daily rate gets more economical the longer you rent the clubs. They will have them waiting for you at your destination or the course and pick them up when you are done.

At one day, it's a wash over checking clubs with the airlines and a lot less hassle.

I think I will probably adopt the two-round rule. Two rounds or less on a trip, and I'm renting clubs. More than that, and I want my own there.

Of course using rental clubs has one big advantage: You have a built-in excuse for playing poorly. Bring your own, and you have to think of something else - which I always do.

As always, TravelGolf.com welcomes your comments.

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To date, I've logged about 50 days of golf travel in the UK and Ireland with about nine more to come starting this week. This time I'll be hanging around St. Andrews. I'd like to think I know how to pack for a links golf trip. To help you plan your next (or first) links vacation overseas, here are the bare essentials I'm bringing along ...

Also: Get help planning your Scotland golf trip

Podcast: Hilton Head's more than just Harbour Town, Vancouver Island's ready for the season, and Women On Course

This week, host Dave Berner talks to Brett Bortons of the Lowcountry Golf Course Owners Association, about superb golf in Hilton Head, S.C. Patrick Meagher of Golf Vancouver Island talks about the golf on Vancouver Island, B.C. Plus, Women On Course gets women involved.

Also: Get info on Vancouver Island golf

Monterey's new-look Bayonet Golf Course retains tough rep with national ranking

In the wake of a Gene Bates renovation, gone are the unfair bounces, the lost balls in the trees and the Heinz 57 variety of turfgrasses that made Bayonet Golf Course in Seaside, Calif., such a frustrating track. But the course is still difficult enough to make Golf Digest's latest list of the "50 Toughest Golf Courses in the United States." It is "one of the most visually memorable rounds of golf on the Monterey Peninsula," said Dick Fitzgerald, project director for Seaside Resort Development.

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