Introduction

This website has been created to help in the planning for the 2018 DOGS trip to Sarasota, Florida.

The plan is to spend some time in the US in the week of 5-11/February, 2018, playing some golf and enjoying what should be warmer temperatures than prevalent in the UK.

The trip will be centred at Martin's golf Club there: University park Golf and Country Club. A series of matches will be arranged against the locals and, if all goes well, the intention would be to arrange a rematch at Burhill.

The posts below give more background information: please feel free to post a comment to any entry to get a dialogue going.

In order to make things manageable, the tour will be restricted to 12 players representing the DOGS.

Timing

Players are of course free to make any arrangements that they might wish but it would be great if everyone were able to be together for the 4 days starting on Wednesday 7th February.

The draft programme, details to be firmed up in due course, looks like this:

Meet at University Park Country Club for golf at around 11:30 am on Wed 7th Feb.

Signature hole: No.5 - a tricky par 3 over water

UK-based players will join the usual UPCC Wednesday group and will play alongside locals in a fun team format.  Drinks afterwards in the Varsity Room followed by a casual meal somewhere locally.

On the Thursday, the plan is for an afternoon game at the Concession (a top quality private course, recent host of the NCAA College Finals) to be followed by dinner at the Club.  We may be joined by a few friends who are members .

The first day of the competition between the DOGS and UPCC will be on the Friday morning, with the format to be decided.  Evening meals to be self-arranged.

Golf is scheduled again for early morning on Saturday 9th Feb at UPCC, again joining in with a group of regulars for some form of team game.  Lunch at the Club afterwards after which afternoon is free. TBC a joint meal will be arranged for the evening, with wives/partners invited.

The second and final day of competition will be on the morning of Sunday 10th Feb, with lunch to follow the golf allowing time for those who so wish to take the evening British Airways flight back to Gatwick from Tampa.

Travel

The base for the trip will be Sarasota in SW Florida.

To get there from the UK, there are a number of options:

The easiest is to fly directly from London Gatwick to Tampa (TPA).  This leaves a journey of around 1 hr to get to Sarasota by (rental) car.

An alternative is to fly to Orlando (ORD). The advantage of this is the wider choice of carriers and flights from a number of UK airports. The downside is the additional journey time of 2 hrs to Sarasota.  A stop in Orlando either on the way there or back would allow those who wished to do so to visit the various theme parks available.

Lastly, it is possible to fly from the UK to Sarasota itself (SRQ), though this involves a flight change in, for example, Atlanta or New Jersey.  This could be a more expensive option and would add a couple of hours to the journey time.

Once in the US, the only sensible way to travel is by hiring a car. The usual suspects are all well represented at all airports (Avis, Hertz etc.). Those individuals with BA Exec Club membership can avoid extra charges for more than one driver by using Avis.

Around Sarasota, Uber also provides an alternative to negate the need for designated drivers.

All Europeans travelling to the USA will need some form of VISA, with the ESTA scheme providing the easiest alternative.

Travel and other useful Tips

1. Please make sure that you either have a valid Visa or an ESTA (see above) before you travel.  You will also need some form of travel insurance, in particular to cover possible medical expenses.

2. If your passport is close to expiry, you may like to consider replacing it before travelling.

3. You will need to have the address of your hotel with you if you need to complete a US Customs form (Address: 305 N Cattlemen Rd, Sarasota, FL 34235).

4. If you are flying into Tampa airport, be aware that as long as you have a biometric passport, you can use the self service immigration machines: you do not need to queue up with everyone else.

5. After you collect your luggage and have passed through US Customs, you will be offered the opportunity to transfer your bags onto a belt to the collection area: it is much quicker if you turn down this offer and instead carry them yourself onto the shuttle train service to the main terminal.

6. When you arrive at TPA, you will have the option to log onto the free wifi at the airport.  Remember that if you decide to use your UK data on your phone whilst in the US you will be charged at a rate of £6/day. In practice, many places - including the hotel and the golf club - will have free wifi so you can easily manage to avoid the daily charge.

7. For anyone in charge of navigation whilst in Florida, be aware that you can make use of Google Maps Offline: just load up the area you need before you leave home and this will be available to you when in the US.

8. For anyone driving whilst in Florida, please make sure that you have your UK driving licence with you at all times.

9. Using a UK credit card in the States can be expensive due to the charges applied. You may like to consider getting a card that offers fee-free transactions - for example Halifax Clarity card is a great way to save money versus a normal credit card.

10. An alternative way of getting hold of US Dollars would be to use a service like Transferwise to send money to Martin's Bank of America account.  Please contact him if this is of interest as you will get much better rates than e.g. buying cash at the airport.

11. Driving from Tampa to Sarasota takes about an hour and is relatively simple.  You can find detailed directions here.

12. Anyone driving a car into University Park will need to report to the security gate. On the first occasion, you will be given a pass valid for the length of your stay.

If anyone needs it, our contact details here are:

Martin and Kathryn Lawrence
8034 Collingwood Ct.
University Park
FL 34201
Tel +1 941 219 5479

Accommodation

Lido Beach - 25 mins drive from UPCC

Perhaps surprisingly, February is high season in Florida, with the many snowbirds who head down that way from the frozen North.

This means that hotel rooms will be in demand and rates will be higher than otherwise might be the case.

Inland, and not to far away from the golf courses, there are a number of chain hotels offering a standard American service. Typically rooms will have 2 queen beds in them, allowing costs to be saved by sharing for those who wish.

Google Maps link

An alternative would be a more traditional beach hotel closer to the water. Prices may be higher at that time of the year and journey times to the golf courses would be increased.

In particular, anyone looking at accommodation on one of the keys will need to be aware that there is the risk of traffic delay at peak times.

AirBnB is a realistic option with some larger properties available for those willing to share.

Finally, it should also be possible for those who wish to avail themselves of the opportunity to find some local hosts who would be delighted to offer you a room in their house in UPCC.  This will not suit all, but the offer is made in all seriousness for the Wed-Saturday nights.  If anyone is interested in this, please let me know.