For nearly 20 years Fairways Golf Vacations has been providing one-stop, hassle-free golf vacation planning. Our highly trained staff of golf vacation specialists are ready to assist you in the perfect personalization of your golf vacation package with friendly and courteous customer service.

All of our golf packages are designed to be fully inclusive. Every package we book includes a shared riding cart, guaranteed advance tee times up to one year in advance, accommodations that range from economical but branded hotels to luxurious five-star resorts and even private homes and condominiums. As part of our ongoing commitment to improve our fully inclusive planning experience, we have partnered with a several new vendors that will make planning your golf vacation with Fairways Golf even easier.

We recently announced a strategic partnership with the Avis and Budget car rental group that allows us to now package your vacation with car rentals, min-vans or SUV's. Our preferred pricing in the major cities we serve will not only save you money, but the time it takes to make these bookings on your own. And for those guests who typically drive to our destinations, I encourage you to ask your golf specialist for a quote for your drive to one of our fantastic destinations. Not only can we save on wear and tear on your own vehicle, but our offering of large rental vehicles can make your trip even more comfortable.

Travel Guard is the industry leader in providing insurance coverage to the traveling public. We have worked with them to develop a custom protection plan designed for the golf travel market. Exclusive features to our customers include increased coverage for lost or stolen golf clubs, tee time reimbursement for bad weather, and protection from cancellation penalties should you not be able to make your trip due to a death in the family or a business partner. Also, as part of insurance package, you will receive $25,000 in collision damage insurance for your rental car and for those customers that are driving, a road side assistance program should you have trouble on your drive to your destination.

The name FedEx is well known in the golf world with their recent sponsorship of the FedEx Cup. We are pleased to announce a unique partnership that will make traveling so much easier for our customers. Rather than lugging your clubs through airport security or packing them in an overstuffed car, we can now include golf club shipping to either your hotel or first scheduled golf course. And for the return home, no worries either. We can ship the clubs back to your golf club or to your home.

At many or our hotels and resorts we are pleased to include a breakfast to help you get your day started. We now have begun to include other restaurants for you and your group to enjoy either a lunch or dinner. Nationally branded steakhouses will become a value that your group can appreciate after finishing up 18 arduous holes of fun! All the restaurants have been selected based upon overall quality, proximity to golf courses and hotels and have a local flavor to help you experience more of the destination you are visiting.

We now book thousands of couples on golf vacations as well. How about a SPA treatment for your spouse or yourself after a particularly long day of golfing? Gift certificates are also now available and can be purchased in any denomination from $50 to $5,000 and can be used by an individual as well as groups. We hope that you find these changes as exciting as we do. It is our goal to make your golf vacation planning as easy and seamless as possible. If there is any way that we can assist you, please contact us. If we fail to deliver ultimate customer service, you can reach me directly at alan.hale@fairwaysgolf.com. We look forward to serving you on your next golf vacation.

Fairways Golf Vacations is proud to partner with PGA Master Professional, Bob Burns. Bob has been hailed as one of the top 50 golf instructors in the nation and was PGA professional of the year in Wisconsin in 2007. As one of only about 200 PGA Master Professionals in the world and the inventor of the 'No Bananas' line of golf clubs, Bob's products, lessons and advice are geared to the average golfer looking to improve their game. You can read Bob's regular monthly blog here and gain help for your game while you plan your next golf vacation.

Defining the Weak & Strong Grip

By Bob Burns, PGA Master Professional

A grip that is too weak is one in which the grip-handle of the club is placed too much in the palm of the glove-hand (the left hand for a right-handed player), rather than where it belongs in the fingers. A weak grip causes a slice—that big banana ball—especially with a driver and the longer irons. Your grip is too weak if you see one knuckle (or none at all) on the back of your glove-hand when you're addressing the ball, or when the V formed by your thumb and index finger on that hand points to your chin, rather than toward your rear shoulder.

By contrast, your grip is too strong if you see four knuckles on your glove-hand, and when the palm of your non-glove hand faces upward. A strong grip often causes a bad hook, or a shot that flies low and to the left. You have too strong a grip if either of the V's on your hands points outside your rear shoulder.

Mark Connell, is a former golf apprentice in the PGA program at Big Cypress Golf Club in Lakeland, Florida. Mark has turned his love of helping people improve their golf swings into a passion for building homes and feeding the homeless in and near Tegucigalpa, Honduras. I am proud to announce that Fairways Golf Vacations (FGV) has selected Mark's non-profit organization, The Honduras Project, as the company's primary charitable outreach. As part of our effort a portion of the profits of FGV each year will be donated to the organization to allow it to continue to grow. To help further grow the program both customers and suppliers to Fairways' will be invited to an annual fund-raising golf tournament at a world-class golf location each year with all proceeds after costs being donated to the organization. You will be invited to play in the tournament and combine your regular group's annual golf outing while helping some of the poorest folks in the world. If you cannot attend the tournament, just remember that every time you book your golf trip with FGV, you'll be helping a family in need. The location and date of the tournament will be announced in the next months, so be on the lookout here and in our quarterly newsletter for the full announcement.

When we announced plans to expand to a world-wide golf packaging company, I began searching for an international outreach program to support. Honestly, it was pretty easy. Mark is the former minister at my local church and had recently moved to Honduras. But he didn't always start out that way. Years ago, Mark was an aspiring PGA professional, who had completed the PGA business school in the top 5% of his class and passed the Playing Ability Test (PAT). Before the last interview for "A" certification, he decided to return to college and become a minister. After graduation, Mark and his wife, Lori were the youth ministers at my children's Sunday school. With a wide smile and a booming voice, Mark was an instant hit with parents and more importantly, all of the kids. While looking for ways to help suburban kids appreciate their American homes and country, Mark began leading youth mission trips to Honduras. He fell in love with the warm Honduran people and after many years of leading groups, the Connells decided to move there. Mark and Lori obtained permission to reside in Honduras full-time in 2008.

I've never met a guy who is more suited to working in this environment. Mark thrives on the work of helping the desperately poor of the mountain slums surrounding the capital city of Tegucigalpa. Most importantly, Mark is someone who believes in running a very lean charitable organization and I know that every penny is spent wisely. Adding to Mark's enthusiasm is his wife, Lori, who leads a ministry that provides training and micro-loans to single mothers to start small businesses that can lift them out of the slums. With Lori's help, these women are able to sustain their children and themselves with skills such as sewing, crafts, or managing a small in-home store. You can learn more about Mark and Lori's work at: www.thehondurasproject.org or www.thewomenofmyhope.org and we hope that you can join us for this worhtwhile golfing event later this year.

January 1, 2009 marked an important milestone in the history of Fairways Golf.  After 18 years of serving over 300,000 customers, the company founder, Don Faggard, decided it was time to play more golf rather than to sell it.  As an "addicted" golfer and after hearing about the success of the company, I put together an investment group to buy Don's company.  Fairways has been one of the leading golf tour wholesalers for almost two decades.  It has grown into the largest golf tour operator in the Southeast and one of the largest golf packaging companies in the USA.

Don did things right. He hired people that are passionate and knowledgeable about golf and who take exceptional care of the golf traveler and the golf group's leader.  Our staff has unparalleled experience in coordinating trips to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, the Natural State Golf Trail of Arkansas, the Audubon Golf Trail of Louisiana, and the many beautiful golf courses of Florida.  You can always count on us for the best golf packages in these fantastic golf destinations.  However, they're ready to do more and provide our loyal customers with new destinations beyond our traditional markets.

In fact, it is our entire staff's belief that with our great foundation and tradition, we can grow the company in new and exciting ways for our loyal customers.  In the spring of 2009, we will add the golf destinations of Las Vegas, Arizona, and California, as well as, historic international golf destinations of Scotland and Ireland.  Following in Don’s footsteps we will continue to hire the best and take exceptional care of our golfers and most importantly, grow into a truly world-wide golf packaging company.  

Lastly, our goal is to Deliver Ultimate Customer Service every time that we interact with our loyal clients and friends.  If we ever fail to do so, please let me know.  Thanks for being a part of the all new Fairways Golf Vacations and look for many new developments in the months ahead.

Hit 'um straight!  Alan