Part of being a pro golfer is always being on the road, so let’s talk about what it’s like traveling like a pro golfer. Being on the road is tough but I love to travel. More often than not, I’m not at home. I still learning how to be better at living out of a suitcase and on the road.

Here’s some insight into what traveling like a pro golfer means for my schedule.
Playing on the Cactus and Symetra Tour we are always traveling. Armana has family in Arizona, which makes it easier for her than it is for me to compete there. Now, when we are on the road we jump from hotel to hotel. As a mini-tour player we are on a tight budget, so when host housing is available we will always do that.

Finding and keeping a routine is very hard but I do my best on the road. When there is not a gym, I make my own. Doing band workouts in the room, going to the hotel gyms or just finding a way to be active is a must!

Cooking is my go-to option if I’m at a host house. And I’m constantly on the lookout for healthy choices at resultants.

My schedule is somewhat the same as being home but a lot more to do. I wake up early still and typically head right to the golf course. With tournaments, we usually have early tee times. If not, I like to do something active in the morning to just get my body alert so I am not sluggish all day. After I play, I work on the things I need to work on at the range and then grab something to eat. With all of that done, I finally have some downtime. My chill time is not just chill though. I am doing my computer work and reflecting on how I played and working on my course stats.

For tournaments, I like to show up 1-2 days before and play a practice round. And then the day before the tournament starts just practice, work on my short game at the course and get acclimated to the environment.

Here’s how you go about doing laundry in the hotel bathroom

1. 

   Get a travel packet of Tide Detergent. Ours was just over $2 at the CVS around the corner from our hotel on the strip in Las Vegas. It was easier for us to not pack this and just go buy it when we needed it. The travel packet that we bought though is so slim that you could easily bring a couple with you wherever you go.

2. Start to fill up your sink with lukewarm water and add about 1/4th of the travel detergent package. You want to fill the sink up to about 3/4 of the way since the clothes will absorb a lot of the water.
3. After you’ve separated your white clothing from colors and darks, take one group of those and put in the sink.
4. Start to scrub clothing together if there are particular areas that need to be cleaned. Then you can start to knead the clothing in the sink for about 10 minutes, and allow it to sit for another 30 minutes.
5. Drain the sink and start to run water over the clothes and wring them out. Make sure that all of the detergent is washed out of the clothes.
6. With a towel on the ground, lay each piece of clean clothing on the towel. Roll the towel up tightly and slowly.
7. Unroll the towel and hang up clothes in the bathroom on a clothesline to dry! Done!

With our schedule of competing and then doing beat the pro events on the side, I am non-stop. For example, I went from Denver (Event) to Arizona (Tournament) to Hawaii (US Open Qualifier), home for a day, Dallas to Ohio (Event) to New Mexico (Event), this was a span of almost a month. My upcoming trip I leave the 1st until the 8th, come home until the 10th and then gone again until the 25th.

This just gives you an idea of how much of traveling like a pro golfer means that we’re on the road.
With that being said, these trips are not a vacation for us. Yes, we have some downtime but by then we are not out doing crazy fun activities; we are laying low letting our bodies recover.

If we have time to extend the trip a day or 2, sometimes we will just to explore more. Golf has brought me to so many great places. When I am able to extend my trip a day I like to because I am not sure when or if I will be able to visit again. Like this last event, I did in Idaho. I had the opportunity to add 2 days on at the end and go check out some of the amazing sites in the area!

The misconception is that traveling like a pro golfer is that it’s luxurious, completely paid for and all fun. I work a lot of events and side jobs in order to pay for my travel to compete. Sometimes we’re driving hours and hours to save money instead of flying. This kind of life is definitely not easy, and not everyone can or wants to do it. But I do love what I do and wouldn’t trade it for anything!

Anna DePalma

Anna and Armana are two friends who met while playing professional golf on a mini-tour in Arizona. Read about their journey on their Graceful Golfer Blog and follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Anna DePalma was born and raised in San Clemente, Ca. She found her passion for golf in Rancho Mirage, California at Mission Hills Country Club. She still dreams about jumping into Poppies Pond next to the 18^th green on the Dinah Shore Course after one day winning the LPGA Major. She is currently competing on the Cactus and Symetra Tour.

Armana Chanel Christianson is from Nebraska originally. She started playing golf when she was 12 years old with her family, where it eventually grew to a love for the game. She competed in high school winning state and then played college golf at Creighton University and the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Armana decided to continue her golf career and moved to Arizona. In January 2016, she turned pro and is working her way through the mini-tour circuit and the Symetra Tour.