The winter golf trip: Florida, Arizona, Myrtle Beach, Mexico
Our winter is their high season: book in the right order, fly or rent the clubs, and plan fewer rounds than you think.
From November to April, golf in most of Canada means a simulator, a dome or nothing. It is the season of the golf trip — and the season in which people pay peak prices without realizing it. How to plan it in the right order.
The classic destinations
Florida remains the default: the largest number of courses, direct flights from every major city, and a Canadian community established enough that many clubs quote seasonal rates in advance.
Arizona, around Phoenix and Scottsdale, offers desert golf in dry air and reliably sunny days, with green fees that swing enormously between January and June.
Myrtle Beach and the Carolinas are the value option: a very high course count, package pricing built around golf, and a shoulder season either side of winter when the weather is fine and the rates are not.
Mexico, around Los Cabos and the Riviera Maya, works well for a group that wants resort golf and does not want to drive.
Peak season is not what you think
At all of these, the Canadian winter is the high season. Florida and Arizona peak from January to March, when the snowbirds arrive. The value sits in November, early December and again in late April and May — the same courses for considerably less, and in Arizona with far more comfortable temperatures than in June.
Book in the right order
- Flights first, they vary the most.
- Tee times next, with the courses directly or through the resort, which often gets better slots and combined rates.
- Accommodation last, comparing packages with and without green fees: depending on how many rounds you plan, the advantage reverses.
Take the clubs or rent
Airlines treat a golf bag differently from one another: with some it falls inside the checked allowance, with others it is oversize sporting equipment that must be declared, and the low-cost carriers charge nearly always. Check the conditions when you book, not at the counter, and use a hard or padded travel cover.
Renting at the resort frequently costs less than flying the bag both ways for three or four rounds — at the price of playing without your own wedges and putter, which is not a small thing.
How many rounds after a winter off
Anyone who has not played since October overestimates their stamina, and a winter of simulator golf does not prepare the body for walking. Across a week, four or five spaced rounds beat seven consecutive ones. Book the first round for the afternoon of the second day, not the morning of arrival.
What to pack
- A sweater and a windbreaker: January mornings in Florida and Arizona start cold.
- A second pair of shoes; morning dew does not dry during the day.
- Proof of handicap: some courses ask for a maximum, and Golf Canada’s app carries yours.
- Travel medical insurance, checked for sports coverage, before anything else.
Before you go
Check access conditions (handicap limit, dress code, whether carts are mandatory — in the desert they usually are) and the state of the greens: several resorts overseed in the fall, and a course in maintenance plays badly. An email to the pro shop settles it. Panxis Golf has no commercial relationship with any of the destinations or tour operators mentioned.
