A first class trip

Several of our area gents like to take warm weather golf trips this time of year. They get such a dose of "cabin fever" they just can't stand it and so they go find some place where they can play golf in shorts and polo-style shirts in the winter.

One such group included the foursome of Terry Whitlock, Jeff Lack, Mark Pelts and Lanny Geary. These guys headed out to Scottsdale, Ariz., for an extended weekend of golf last weekend.

Using a talent he has developed over the years to find low cost, please note that's not to be confused with cheap, trips, Lanny handled all the group's travel arrangements .That included air line flights, accommodations in Scottsdale and the golf courses they played. He allowed his partners to have a little input on where they would eat their evening meals, but everything else was arranged.

Flying with golf clubs can be a little tricky. There is actually a special case made for golfers to put the entire club and golf bag. There are several different models of these things from the, let's say, large pieces of luggage, to the more efficient and compact varieties. Some golfers just borrow one from a friend. Then there are others who either don't have a friend willing to loan them a golf bag case, or just want to have their won.

Terry was in need of such a case. He got advice from a couple of his companions a few days in advance about what type of case to buy. Then Terry went out and bought what he wanted.

I haven't seen the case, so I'm strictly going on second-hand information here. According to reports which came to me, Terry bought the biggest case made. One report suggested the case was so big it had rollers on it which was fortunate because they couldn't get it in the vehicle and had to pull it to Memphis International Airport behind the vehicle. Once they unloaded at the airport, two skycaps managed to wrestle the thing onto a towmotor which hauled it out to the plane.

I spoke to the guys as they were on their way to the airport. Jeff and Terry had not yet gotten their tickets from Travel Agent Lanny. However, Jeff assured me they weren't too concerned. He said if Lanny didn't come through with a ticket they were just going to climb into Terry's golf bag case.

Lanny had another little surprise in store for Terry and Jeff.

By the time they got to the airport, unloaded and got to the gate the plane was already boarding. Travel Agent Lanny already had everyone's boarding pass, so they went right on.

Lanny and Mark were just a little bit ahead of their two partners and consequently got to their seats first. Lanny and Mark happened to be sitting in row two. That's also known as first class. As Terry and Jeff came up they looked around and discovered something was amiss. Their seats were in row eighteen. That's known as coach.

When booking the flight Lanny discovered he had enough frequent flyer miles to upgrade two of the tickets to first class. That's what he did, he just forgot to mention it to Jeff and Terry. Actually, the plan was to be at the airport before they started boarding. Then when the attendant announced first class boarding, Lanny and Mark were going to get up and head to the gate. Their hope was that their partners would get up and follow them. At that point they were going to turn around and tactfully, nah, they were going to be rude about it, and tell Jeff and Terry they had to wait. Mark said that during the flight he did go back into coach to check on the two poor souls riding back there.

While they were in Scottsdale Lanny came across another bargain. He discovered that during the summer a round of golf at the course they played was only $30 and that included two free meals as in breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner. Even after it was explained to him that temperatures were well into triple digits in the summer and the last thing anyone would want to do in 116-degree temperatures was play golf, Lanny was still trying to figure out a way to take advantage of what he saw as a bargain.

We're glad to note they all returned safe and sound and that they had a first class trip. At least a couple of them did anyway. We also note that the golf bag travel case came back as well. We're told it has been put to good use as a dumpster for Quality Roofing.

The current buzz is that Terry will handle next year's travel arrangements.

Another group, which includes Eules Hively, regularly goes to the Gulf Coast for their winter getaway. And with the hurricane having come through last summer that trip was in doubt for a while. However, they received assurances the course would be playable and away they went.

Eules has some interesting pictures of the area and some interesting tales to tell about the trip. He mentioned that the group had to drive inland about 10 miles to find restaurants. Where they were staying still wasn't ready for a tourist boom, but the importance of tourism to the area is indicative of why they rushed to get the golf courses back open.