Travel There and Back can set up a golf dream trip to the tropics, the British Isles or anywhere in the world within your budget.
Travel There and Back brings expertise and passion to golfers consumed by wanderlust
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or the past six years, Michelle Wicks Cypher and her husband Michael have been turning imagination into memories at their Monroe, Wash.-based agency Travel There and Back. Folks have come to them – mostly pre-COVID-19 — with thoughts, plans and bucket-list dreams involving faraway places and restorative adventures, which the Cyphers have then shaped into trips their clients will never forget. “That’s the goal,” says Michelle. “It doesn’t matter what kind of trip it is. For the next 20 years they’ll be talking about that trip, that moment, or that memory.’’ We may not realize it, but most of us have a fanciful bucket-list of places we want to explore at some point in our lives, experiences we’d like to share, and rituals, customs and cultures we’d like to better understand. The Cyphers have built their business around that motivation, tapping into different bucket-list trends or, more accurately perhaps, a ‘cup’ list as they are providing a growing number of travel opportunities for golfers who want to play the world’s great golf courses. The golf travel part of the business was motivated by the couple’s personal experiences. Michael loves to play when traveling, so they have put an emphasis on setting up tee-times at the places they visit. Primarily by word of mouth, friends and regular customers borrowed that idea thus incorporating golf into a growing number of travel plans. Then it evolved on a more personal level. Michael’s father spent nearly a decade as his
BY BOB SHERWIN wife’s caregiver. When she passed away, Michael and his brother celebrated their parents’ many years together by taking Dad to Pebble Beach. They realized many other people make similarly sentimental trips. Golf trips are primarily made up of male, buddy foursomes seeking to walk the same fairways as golfing legends. They can stand on an ancient tee and imagine what it was like to play 250 or even 500 years earlier with gutta-percha balls and hickory-shafted clubs. Of course, when golfers talk nostalgically about golf history, the discussion invariably gets round to the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland where, in 1764 after centuries of play, the links was shortened from 22 holes to 18. The Old Course is the ultimate destination, where everyone wants to play. So the Cyphers developed working relationships with two Scottish golf travel companies that can get their clients on the 1st tee in front of the famous Royal and Ancient clubhouse. Other classic Scottish links can be booked too. Michelle says the couple’s success is the result of a “combination of our experience and connections with experts in the areas we travel to.” Scottish courses are the most requested, but Ireland, where golf has been played since the mid-18th Century, is also becoming popular. So too are courses in Continental Europe, Canada, and Mexico. Michelle also likes to involve a cultural submersion in the trips she creates, giving her clients options tailored to the area. She would, for ex-
ample, offer a post-golf tour of a whisky distillery in Edinburgh, Perth or the Highlands, or a beertasting session in Dublin or Killarney. “I believe when you travel internationally, it’s important to sample the local food and drink,” she says. Wine-drinkers aren’t forgotten. The Cyphers plan domestic golf-based wine trips to eastern Washington wine country, Yakima and the TriCities, the Pinot Noir region of Oregon’s Willamette Valley or the Sonoma/Napa wine region of northern California. “It’s the perfect way to combine our clients’ favorite things,” says Michelle. “There are great courses in those areas. It allows for a perfect pairing for mixed groups. There’s interest in golf and interest in other things.’’ Though Travel There and Back is not a golf travel agency, with only 25-30 percent of its business golf-related, the demand for golf trips is definitely on the rise as the world emerges from COVID-19. Golf has been a rare success story during the pandemic as golfers found they could socially distance easily in an outdoor setting. It’s low-impact exercise too, and it’s not necessary to spend much time indoors. “We’re anticipating getting really busy,’’ says Michelle. “There’s a lot of pent-up demand. It’s starting already. I need to find out where in the world golf is open and where people can play.” Their memories await. For information go to travelthereandback.com to learn more or book an appointment to set your dreams into motion. D ES T I N AT I O N GO LFER 57
