Traveling to play golf is now considered one of life’s finer luxuries. Affluent travelers today want an all-encompassing lifestyle experience, and that includes not only great golf, but great food and wine, a world-class spa, a sampling of local arts and culture and first-class accommodations. Golf is an important part of the trip, but it is the destination and lifestyle that are the draw.

Established in 1984, Wilmington, N.C.-based Perry Golf offers the travel industry’s most prestigious and diverse selection of luxury golf travel and lifestyle experiences to the British Isles, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and China. PerryGolf offers customized itineraries as well as escorted programs featuring land tours, small-ship charters and luxury train travel.

Custom tours involving golf, accommodations and local transportation are the company’s particular expertise.

One of its most popular programs, Plan Your Own Tour (PYOT) was developed in response to the growing number of golfers who enjoy creating custom travel itineraries and receiving immediate feedback regarding course and lodging options and trip costs.

By clicking on the PYOT icon on the PerryGolf home page, golfers can choose to plan a trip to Scotland, Ireland, England, Spain, Portugal or France. After choosing a country and indicating the group’s size and arrival date, golfers select from numerous golf course and hotel options, from the most prestigious to value class. They also can choose a mode of transportation: either self-drive, a full-sized motor coach with driver or a PerryGolf golf coach (customized Mercedes-Benz) with concierge driver.

At that point, the PYOT trip calculator tool generates a proposed itinerary and a price quote, which is immediately displayed on the computer monitor. Golfers also have the option of archiving the quote and reconfiguring the itinerary, substituting different courses and hotels, and then creating a revised price quote. A copy of the quote and proposed itinerary are then e-mailed to the potential client and can be forwarded to other members of the traveling party.

While some golfers are content to enter the daily lottery and take their chances at getting a tee time at courses like the storied Old course in St. Andrews, Scotland, today’s affluent travelers don’t want to be bothered with such inconveniences. They are more than happy to pay a premium for a tee time that can be guaranteed months in advance.

Perry Golf can arrange the entire trip either through one of their established tours or a custom tour arranged to fit the needs of a group,

For more information: Call: 1-800-344-5257 or visit their website at wwwperrygolf.com.