If you’ve ever watched professional golf on TV, you’ve probably pictured beautiful golf courses, nice hotels, and players competing for trophies. While those moments certainly exist, they make up a surprisingly small part of life on tour.
The reality is that most weeks are filled with long drives, grocery store runs, shared Airbnbs, figuring things out as you go, and hoping nothing goes wrong.
And sometimes…everything goes wrong.
This was not on my bingo card for the week!
I just spent three weeks in Michigan, and by the end of the trip I had dealt with an unsafe Airbnb, anxiously waited for my engagement ring to be delivered to the wrong house, almost driven to stay in a town three hours away from my tournament, grilled in an RV parking lot, and finished the trip with a resort lockdown.
Here’s how it all unfolded.
Week One: Battle Creek, MI
The trip started in Battle Creek, where I had booked an Airbnb for the tournament week. From the listing, it looked a little older, but perfectly fine. Walking inside told a different story.
The house had a strange smell, felt dirty, and only had air conditioning in one room, not ideal when temps were expected to be over 90 degrees all week. The neighborhood also wasn’t what I expected. It was run down, and I honestly didn’t feel comfortable unloading my luggage because I didn’t want people to know I was staying there alone for the first night.
I was sharing with my friends Maria and Olivia, and we collectively decided not to stay there.
Unfortunately, the Airbnb host wasn’t willing to work with me, and after a long battle with customer support I only received a partial refund. It was frustrating to lose the money, but at the end of the day, safety is worth far more than a few hundred dollars.
Things got a little more stressful because my engagement ring had been shipped there. One of the small diamonds had fallen out while I was traveling, so I had sent it in for repair before the trip. Since I originally planned to stay at that Airbnb, I had the jeweler ship it there. By the time I changed accommodations, it was too late to reroute the package.
For two mornings I sat outside the original Airbnb waiting for the delivery truck because I didn’t want someone else signing for it, or worse, having it left on the porch. Thankfully, the wait paid off and I got my ring back!
After a couple nights in a hotel, we found another Airbnb just five minutes from the golf course. It sat on a beautiful property overlooking open fields, had a great back patio, and a grill where we cooked dinner every night.
It felt like home.
Week Two: Harbor Springs, MI
After Battle Creek, I drove to Grand Rapids to play one of the LPGA Monday Pro-Ams. These events are a fun way to meet great people while earning a little extra money before the next tournament. After the Pro-Am, it was time to make the three-hour drive north to Harbor Springs, where I was sharing an Airbnb again with Maria and Olivia.
The cutest copilots Frida & Willis!
I asked them to send me the address. I plugged it into my phone and noticed something strange. The drive was only about an hour and twenty minutes. Turns out...our Airbnb wasn't in Harbor Springs. It was in Detroit. About three hours away from where we were actually supposed to be.
Time to scramble for another last-minute accommodation.
Thankfully, we found the cutest little A-frame cottage just minutes from the golf course. It ended up being our fourth Airbnb of the two week trip, and we loved staying there.
Harbor Springs completely surprised me. It quickly became one of my favorite towns I've ever visited on tour. It's one of those places that immediately makes you think, "I want to come back here."
After the tournament ended, we decided to do something completely different. We booked an early morning fishing trip and met our captain, Thom, right before sunrise. We were out on the water by 5:30 a.m., watching one of the prettiest sunrises we have ever seen.
We caught some incredible fish, laughed the entire morning, met wonderful people, and slowed life down for a few hours.
The fish we caught became dinner for most of the following week.
Week Three: Harris, MI
Our final stop was Sweetgrass Golf Club in Harris, Michigan.
The drive there was beautiful. Much of it follows Lake Michigan, and there were stretches that reminded me so much of Finland that I found myself smiling the entire drive.
The resort sits right on the golf course, which is incredibly convenient, but there aren’t many nearby restaurant options.
So… We bought a grill, along with a big cooler and enough groceries for the week.
The fish we had caught on our fishing trip became dinner, and we grilled outside in what was the RV parking area next to the resort.
It was so unexpected but honestly, some of my favorite memories on tour. Professional golf often isn’t very glamorous. Sometimes it’s standing around a portable grill with your friends after a long day, eating fish you caught yourself and laughing about everything that went wrong getting there.
Then, on Sunday, just as the week was winding down, everyone’s phones buzzed. The resort was going into lockdown. Security and K9 units were investigating a potential threat on the property.
Thankfully everything turned out okay - and I had already left earlier that morning, so I missed most of the chaos. There were reports of explosives and weapons threat, but it is still a bit unclear what happened.
What I’ll Remember Most
Looking back, I won't remember every golf shot I hit over those three weeks. But I'll remember sitting outside an Airbnb waiting for my engagement ring to arrive. And how the wrong house somehow lead us to the perfect A-frame cottage. The sunrise over Lake Michigan.. and making smores with friends in an RV lot after a long day on the golf course.
And, of course, ending the trip with a resort lockdown - because apparently this road trip hadn't been adventurous enough already.
Three weeks, three tournaments, four Airbnbs and hundreds of miles driven. It was chaotic, unpredictable, occasionally stressful, and filled with moments that couldn't have been planned if we tried. Those are the trips you end up talking about years later.
Funny how it's often the unexpected detours, not the carefully made plans, that become the stories you remember the longest.
𖹭 Matilda