Planning My Autumnal European Golf Trip

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As I look forward to getting out to Bethpage later this week to catch a little US Open golf, I'm working a number of things for later in the year. The most enjoyable of which is planning for my European business golf trip.

Well... I just found out that France is on the itinerary and the idea of autumnal golf in the French countryside is quite dreamy.

For several years at the beginning of the decade, I would travel to Paris every few months. At the time I managed marketing and communications for a French publishing company, and would usually spend a few days in meetings, and a couple of additional days strolling through the city's magical medieval streets. Sometimes I'd take a day trip outside of Paris, where enchanting little villages harbored implausibly ornate castles and cathedrals.

For most of that time I wasn't a golfer...I had never even held a club. As a history major, I was completely captivated by the Napoleonic architecture, and totally taken by the opulent old world gardens. So golf never entered my mind when I planned my trips to Paris... that is, until April of 2006.

That's when I was reluctantly introduced to the game by a couple of French colleagues, and to my surprise... I took took to golf immediately, and with my characteristic... enthusiasm.

On successive trips to France, I no longer spent hours in dark, cloistered museums or sunny sidewalk cafes, but chose instead to enjoy golf weekends with my French colleagues. We planned between our meetings selecting our course and accommodations. Often it would be a simple municipal course, occasionally we'd select an extraordinary golf resort like Dolce. It was always fun.

When my French company decided to close their US office, I was quite content to make writing and PR my full time job... and I don't regret that at all. And I've really been enjoying having my own business. However I had started missing the regular trips to Paris. So when Nick saw that he needed to go to France this fall for work and suggested we spend a long weekend in Paris, I told him I was all for it, and suggested we start planning our golf holiday now.

Le temps passe vite, n'est pas?

Photo: Daniella Hlynka on Flickr