SteelHeel

The real moral of the story is that if you use a tour operator, just like any business, they make money on margin. 40-50% margin. If you don't mind calling hotels, requesting tee times, coordinating with transportation companies (I highly recommend you don't self drive), it is WAY cheaper to go it alone. Mix in some off the beaten path courses as well to keep costs reasonable. You can even get Old Course times if you do your research and request when the online ballot opens, so don't believe the operator's pitch about having exclusive access anywhere, that's not true. So a $4,000 golf trip through an operator can probably be done for $2,500-$2,800 (not including airfare), but there are many hours involved and the planning process should start a year in advance if going in high season. If it's worth 1500 or so per person to have everything taken care of for you, then by all means use an operator and sit back and enjoy.

I play the ProV1x in the spring/summer/fall and move to the regular ProV in the winter as it's slightly softer. Both are a little shorter in the cold temps, but the extra clothing layers and denser air have as much to do with that as much as the ball. I just like the consistency inside 100 yards and chipping/putting. Since I hit less GIR's in the winter, I'm really relying on short game control to score in wintertime.