So what is the attraction, some might even call it an obsession, with my golf vacations to Williamsburg Virginia? There are better courses, there are closer locations, nicer accommodations and even better weather in other areas but as a package deal it is hard to beat Williamsburg; so much so that I have taken seven trips there since the fall of 2008.
Spring and Fall
Living in Mississauga Ontario our golf season usually starts by May and lasts until mid-October - weather can shorten or lengthen the season in any given year. My first priority is to find a vacation location where I can extend my golf season; this means a spring trip in April and a fall trip in late October. I like being able to get into game shape before
the season opens here; six rounds in April is usually enough. And there is nothing like capping off the year by squeezing in those last six rounds in summer like temperatures while still in game shape.
I have found that the average daily high temperatures in Williamsburg are 10 to 12 deg F warmer in the spring and fall than Ontario. By taking vacations in mid-April and the latter part of October it is not unreasonable to expect average day time highs around 70 deg F; warm enough to play the majority of the time in shorts. In fact I have found more days with warmer than normal highs; perhaps global warming really is impacting temperatures. Regardless we have had occasional spring day temperatures as high as 90 deg F and fall day highs close to 80 deg F.
The number of rain days seem to be few and far between - out of a possible 44 golf days so far, I have lost only one to rain and another where the round was cut short due to inclement weather . I have also had three rounds where it has rained while playing; we finished those rounds relatively unscathed. Lucky? Perhaps. The shoulder months in Williamsburg seem to have lower average rainfall so I like to think that it is more or less playing the odds which has worked for me so far.
Another positive factor is the humidity or lack of. In southern Ontario we get many humid days during the summer which can make it very uncomfortable to play. In my trips to Williamsburg I have been amazed at the relatively low humidity even when the temperatures are in the high 80s.
To illustrate the difference I typically take two bottles of frozen water to drink over the course of a round. During the summer heat in Ontario those bottles would be thawed completely after nine holes; even the rounds we played in September the bottles were thawed well before we finished. I was amazed that on this trip with highs close to 80 F on a couple of the days, there was always some ice in the bottles after we had finished playing.
My favorite time of year is spring and when I take the April trip I get it twice. Seeing the bare trees starting to bud the further south we travel and then arriving to leaves on the trees and flowers in full bloom is such a great feeling. So is the warmth of the spring sun after a long winter in Ontario. On the trip back those budding trees close to home are now covered in leaves. By the end of the first week in May the blossoms on my apple tree come out; a sure sign that spring has started in Ontario.
The October trip starts in a blaze of autumn colors with the leaves
on the trees in the north starting to fall. By the time we get to
Williamsburg the trees are just starting their change. It always amazes
me to be playing golf in shorts yet see trees changing colors and
shedding their leaves. The trip home starts with a similar burst of
colorful leaves but ends near home with many barren trees; a stark
reminder that winter is approaching.
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| Driving to Williamsburg Oct 20th 2012 |
I keep tabs on the weather using the
Weather Channel particularly as we get closer to leaving and while we are there. On our most recent trip the weather in Williamsburg was terrific with five days of above average highs for the week and only one below (see below);
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66°F
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48°F
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71°F
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| Lo
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44°F
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78°F
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| Lo
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47°F
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79°F
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| Lo
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57°F
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76°F
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55°F
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73°F
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65°F
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69°F
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60°F
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In contract the Mississauga weather wasn't nearly as warm or dry but in fairness wasn't all that bad either (see below). Given that we could have stayed home and played two or three rounds at least and maybe more do I regret going south? Absolutely not! Over the six days we played golf the daily highs in Williamsburg averaged 73.8 F while in Mississauga it was 61.0 F; exceeding the expected difference in day time highs between the two cities. Once we decided to go all we cared about was the weather in Virginia. We got one last week of summer and that was what we were hoping for.
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The fall weather seems to be more unpredictable than the spring. We left Saturday October 27th 2012 for home at 7 am under generally overcast conditions and we did not get rain until close to the border at Buffalo. What was pertinent is that we got home a day in advance of tropical storm Sandy moving up the eastern seaboard and wrecking havoc in its path.
On Saturday October 29th 2011 we left Williamsburg in a heavy rainfall; the temperature was 40 F at 7 am.
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| Freak Blizzard Near Washington |
By the time we reached Washington the temperature
had dropped to 32 F and we were in the middle of a freak winter
blizzard.
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| Snow Accumulation Along the Way |
A couple of inches of snow had accumulated by noon when we stopped for lunch just before the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
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| Decision Point Following Lunch; Go North or West |
After lunch we had to make a decision; go north as planned on I99 or go
west on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and then north to Erie Pa. We decided
to exit as originally planned and asked the attendant at the toll booth
if she had any road and weather updates. She advised that the snow was
rain a few miles north and that the mountain route was good. She was
correct and even the rain had stopped 1/2 hour north of the toll booth.
He heard afterwards that Pittsburgh got hit by the snow so we obviously
made the right decision.
My wife and I were vacationing with two other couples in Myrtle Beach back in 1980 when Hurricane David came through. We were young and inexperienced with regards to this kind of weather- we stayed when everyone else left and were very fortunate when the hurricane veered inland and we missed the worst of it. Three days of rain and winds and no power in our motel. We still tell the stories of surviving hurricane David and the fun we had doing it; our trip could have ended much differently though and I have learned to be prepared just in case.
Clearly if you vacation in the southern US during September and
October especially, you must pay attention to the weather forecasts just
in case!
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