Golf in Luxury and at a price that surely won’t break the bank?

It is a hard fact of reality that you get what you pay for. Harder still when you watch an epic golf tournament on television and wonder what it would be like to play that golf course and stay in accommodation where your every need is catered for and realise, having looked through numerous glossy brochures and websites, that the luxury golf holiday of your dreams is simply out of your price range.

Having experienced this disappointment first hand, I set about trying to find a way that I could have my cake and eat it, so to speak. What I found is that I had to steer away from my usual choice of either a hotel or apartment and start considering villas. It was obvious of course; but then, when you are enjoying a round of golf and looking enviously upon the luxury villas that back onto these golf courses, the last thing you imagine is that you could afford to stay in one and upon first perusal perhaps you would not be blamed for thinking otherwise!

When I initially started looking into staying in a villa for my annual golf holiday, I would click through sleek websites, with their eye catching photographs and glance at the price of the villa and my eyes that were so drawn to the pictures would begin watering at the prospect of paying in excess of £10,000.00 for just one week away. Dismayed, I would quickly click off the website and with a sense of disspointment re-evaluate my “Luxury Golfing Holiday” search term and type in the more appropriate “Budget” or possibly “Cheap Golfing Holiday”. I would then be left with a whole raft of websites offering holidays to places such as Spain and the Canary Islands for £500 a week. Again, not exactly what I was looking for, as although I could not ever imagine having the money to spend £10,000 a week on a golf holiday, especially in the current climate and with a wife that would, let us say, be more than a little scathing if I did, I still could afford a little more than £500 per week. So, not willing to be scared off by a few too many zeroes and with a renewed sense of confidence I returned to the luxury golf websites. What I realised is that the majority of these luxury properties are affordable. All you need to do is ensure that the size of the villa perfectly matches the size of your party.

For example, at the time I was looking I required a villa for myself and four friends. We were hoping to travel somewhere more exotic. Barbados had been mentioned but was quickly dismissed as being too expensive. Never to be one to give up quite so easily, I looked into this destination first. After a while I came across a 3 double, 1 twin bedded villa on the exclusive West Coast of Barbados. It reminded me of one of the villas usually seen in a James Bond film and came complete with Maid, Chef and Security Guard. Sandy Lane and Royal Westmoreland Golf Courses were only a stones throw away and the villa was being advertised for £6,000.00 a week, fully catered. Well, it does not take a genius to work out that for each of us the accommodation would cost £1,200.00 each. Very excited by my find, I sent the link to my friends who were all amazed by the luxury and more than a little excited that we would be waited on hand and foot. We were even able to arrange, via the villa’s concierge service, a chauffeur for the week that would take us to and pick us up from the golf course…brilliant…especially as it is par for the course amongst me and my friends to spend a little too much time in the 19th hole!

All we had to do then was decide which of us would have a double bedroom each and which two would have to share the twin and find cheap flights. The latter of which proved to be quite simple as Virgin was doing a deal in May and the flights cost £380 return. Evidently, the holiday was going to be more expensive than the average £500 budget golf holiday, but once I factored in the cost of food, transfers and additional spending money, I realised that the costs were comparable, whereas the standard of accommodation was not!

Better still, had there been a mixed group of couples and singles then the villa could have been completely filled and the cost per person would have been as little as £750 for the week. In conclusion therefore, my advice would be that you should not be put off by the cost of renting a luxury villa, but instead find one that suits your party perfectly, which will ensure the cost is kept as low as possible.

I hope this article proves useful to you and would be very interested to learn your experiences and tips on getting a luxury holiday at a reasonable price.