Fairways The 19th Hole: September 2026
This month's destination: a first golf trip to Myrtle Beach. This month's math: the hotel-points discount that makes a longer stay there cheaper.
Two pieces from this month belong in the same trip, so this issue puts them there.
The destination: a first trip to Myrtle Beach
This month's Myrtle Beach piece is the starting point for a trip covering 80-plus public courses on one 60-mile stretch: how to actually narrow that list down instead of drowning in it.
The points math: making a longer stay cheaper
A trip with that many courses on the list tends to run long, and Marriott's Stay for 5, Pay for 4 rule is built for exactly that shape of stay: book five consecutive nights on points and the cheapest of them is free, no elite status required. If Hilton is the program you're sitting on instead, how the two programs' longer-stay discounts actually compare covers which one to lean on.
Also this month
- Is Your Driver Still Legal?: how the USGA and The R&A's conforming lists actually work, and what happens if your driver falls off one.
- Two Things to Check Before You Post a Score: the tee check and the equipment check, and why only one of them can keep a round from counting.
- American Express Membership Rewards, Explained: what Amex's points are actually good for on a golf trip, since AAdvantage isn't one of the options.
Building your own trip from any of these? The golf and points sections have the rest of what's live so far. See you after the next round.