TRAVEL PLANNING

‘Travel fitting’ is how these excursion pros make your golf experiences memorable and hit the mark

BY BOB SHERWIN

As travel agents, Michael and Michelle Cypher understand that one client is not like another. We all are madly diversified creatures living in a world where we accommodate the differences between the goose and the gander.

In turn, their clients' travel itineraries reflect that diversification. “It’s not cookie-cutter. It’s not onesize-fits-all. It is tailor made for what you, as an individual, wants, what you are looking for,” said Michelle Wicks Cypher, who operates Travel There and Back agency with her husband Michael in Monroe, Wash.

It’s a fairly simple and fundamental concept, indeed, for the individual. Where it gets complicated is when there are twosomes. Or foursomes. That’s when the Cyphers must thread the needle by presenting “those experiences the entire travel party finds as enjoyable things to do,” Michael added, “and not feeling like they’re giving up their vacations for someone else.”

All the travelers have a viable stake in the process, and each deserves consideration. After all, the folks who come to them generally have hard-earned and limited resources and vacation time.

“My goal is not to find the cheapest way to do something, but I do pride myself on providing value for the money they spend,” Michelle said.

Golfers are not Travel There and Back’s primary clientele, although it is a substantial segment of their business that they’re built over the past seven years, crafting hundreds of golf trips throughout the state, region, and world. Many of the trips are stereotypical buddy trips, four guys, but there are also many couples golf trips where half the travelers don’t golf, or larger groups where perhaps just one or two want to break away to golf. The Cyphers must take them all into account through their ‘travel fittings.’

It begins with questions probing the basics, where do they want to go, how many, how much they can spend and for how long. Then every session diverts, as Michelle says, as she drills down into each travelers’ interests and what else they might want to do.

“What are the must-haves,” she said. “Then I ask, what are the would-be-nice-if-but-not-required. Then what are the, I-could-care-less-doesn’t-matter-to-me categories. Then when I’m putting it together to fit into their price range, if the must-have category fills up their price range, then there isn’t room for more. If not, then it would be nice to add the extra touches.”

Those extra touches could be excursions that fill the day for the non-playing travelers to enjoy while the golfers golf. Michelle said many of the options are a nod to the specific area, such as a visit to a scotch distillery in Scotland or Guinness factory in Ireland. But she has found cultural bonuses for folks in different countries based on her initial questioning.

Here's one such example. Finding the option of booking a cooking class where the chef comes to their villa that has a kitchen. A couple visiting Germany had a mutual interest in highbrow music, so she had them attend a workshop where violins are made. Another couple took part in glassblowing in Venice. She also has set up factory tours for golfers interested in how clubs are made.

“During our conversations and the back and forth, some things come out,” she added. Many trips can be customized as much for the travelers as the travel site. Museum tours can be arranged in the cultural cities of Europe. A growing number of golfers/ travelers also are interested in ancestry research, especially in Ireland.

“I can absolutely do that. Several people are interested in ancestry stuff,” Michelle said. “We can do packages that include renting a car for self-tours. There’s a lot of that in Ireland. Norway is another big one.”

She added that another combination that golfers don’t often associate together is golf and a safari in South Africa. “They can go to Kruger National Park (for a safari) and across the way is a really cool golf course.”

Or golfers can do a two-in-one deal at Skukuza Golf Club, within the boundaries of Kruger. There are no fences around the course so golfers can enjoy a golf cart safari where a possible foursome of impala, warthog, hippo and baboon can play through.

The most natural cultural option with golf for all members of all traveling parties in all areas of travel is wine. Golfers and the non-golfers can gather at the end of the day for wine tasting (and culinary delights).

“Wine with golf is popular. They can be easily paired together,” Michelle said. “Walla Walla is big for that. There are a lot of places here (Northwest) where you can combine those two things. Because there’s pretty much golf anywhere and there’s pretty much wine anywhere.

“So much culture is in what people drink and their culinary tastes. That’s how you learn a lot about a place.”

Old Course St. Andrews • Scotland