I played Torrey Pines South in 2008 two weeks before the U S Open. My son worked at the Hilton and got us a 1:00 tee time. We decided to play it from the tips and like you mentioned in your article the rough was so high that you could hardly find your ball if you were in it. Fortunately I wasn't in it too much that day but when I was all you could do was chop it out to the fairway. I heard some people say that non professional golfers would have a hard time breaking 100. I think that Tiger gave Justin Timberlake that bet. I don't think he did. I ended up shooing 89 that day. Still have the scorecard.

I found that the Seaview Marriott Bay course is exceptional the weeks before and after the LPGA visits. The do excellent prep work and LPGA players do not tear up the course contrary to other comments.

Having played many tourney courses before and after over the decades, I prefer to play courses right BEFORE major events as the course is destroyed for days/weeks/months by crowds, grandstands, etc. Rough, which is an integral part of most courses, is trampled to death. I just played Bellerive and am glad I did. But to each his own...

Avoid any course just after the PGA or LPGA has played it. One would think it would be exciting, but these pro players take divots that really chew up the fairway. The only redeeming factor that the divot patches are usually 40 to 70 yards beyond where you hit your drive. But they really do chew up a course and it takes 2 to 3 months to recover. I know, I was in St. Andrews twice during and after the British Open. That was the time to play the Castle Course, Kingsbarns or Crail.

It was decades ago but I played Medinah on Thursday the week before the U.S. Open. Great experience except the greens had been top dressed and the rough was a good 8" long before they cut it back. Great experience, but punishing.

We have done Myrtle Beach area as late as early December and had good sweater weather. OK, it's a bit of a risk but it has worked for us and even with shorter days we have managed to get in 27 and we've played some of the better courses at bargain prices. We've also done it in the early Spring before rates go up. That didn't work out as well.

Good read. Verde River (Rio Verde, AZ) is Still under massive construction- surprised to hear its been going on that long. Heard they had to redesign some of it- there huge Cat equipment moving dirt right up to the edge of at least 7 or 8 fairways. Plus it’s literally in the middle of nowhere.
Another problem is the recovery of a course that has PHA events. TPC Scottsdale a good example. Played it in l June- it is still in horrible condition from the months long ordeal of taking down grandstands with tens of thousands of seats. Fairways worse than some munis.

Gee wiz, I guess this would be a problem for me if I had your job, but in the real world playing Pebble Beach anytime of the year is a thrill for me.

Good article and some good points. Being based out of Florida we do our buddies trips sometime in May-July. Sure there is some rain to deal with but the snowbirds have gone, the courses have emptied and the rates are great. We just have to check summer maintenance schedules first, summer time means punched greens and fairways and depending on the size of the tyne used we try and plan around that.