(finding you can play golf all year around when you are not working is heaven)

Well that time of year is here again when the snow starts to fall and the golf greens become only white covered fields where children can sled and golfers have to just sit and watch. Or do they? Not if you are lucky enough to live in Florida, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana or Texas. In the South and South West golf has become a year around sport and with global warming on the rise the good days for plush greens is just getting longer and longer. (not that global warming is a good thing but every cloud has a silver lining)

For decades now migration to Florida and New Mexico by retirees has been a boon to the States markets as both a source of income into the State and growth area for real estate sales. Now it is also drawing many more executives, companies and working people who are seeking employment in these areas so they can continue to enjoy their passion for golf year around. And why not?, can you imagine sitting the house on a Saturday and looking out your windows in Minneapolis, Minnesota in December? You would be watching the snow blow in large flakes in 20 degree weather and form into three foot drifts on your front lawn and then turning on your TV set and being subjected to watching the Pro’s play golf in Florida on the golf channel and seeing fresh greens and 70 degree weather?, depressing for sure.

But there may be hope on the horizon. A group in Florida is working on a new concept of an Urban Country Club that features a number of high tech “Virtual Golf Courses”. These sophisticated golf courses are digital projections with specially designed electronic sensors that allow you to play any number of the World’s best golf courses without ever leaving your own frozen hometown. The virtual golf units have been around for years and many pro golfers use them to keep their game sharp. This new generation of technological wizardry is designed so that anyone can now play an entire 18 holes of golf and short course of 9 holes or even just work on the same hole to fix that slice or hook until they get it right and do it in air-conditioned or heated comfort of their own Urban Country Club.

Granted you don’t get the same exercise that you would walking the greens, and you can’t throw your clubs into the virtual water or sand traps but there is something to be said for having a cocktail waitress serve you a cold beverage while you waiting in your lounge chair for your tee time.

The Urban Country Club units are 12,000 to 15,000 square feet in size and occupy two to four acres depending on parking requirements and include; a pro shop, cocktail lounge, locker room with showers, restaurant and even a small banquet area as well as the virtual courses and a number of putting greens.

So for those of you pacing with anticipation for your vacation time or the breaking of the rights of spring, take heart help may be on the way.