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Playing hooky can be fun.
Working hard is gratifying and rewarding, but with all due respect to management, some days are just better spent on the golf course than behind a desk.
At least for golfers in certain climes, one such day is coming up: Leap Day. A bonus day of golf on the 2024 calendar? Sign me up!
That extra, calendar-balancing day every four years that dates back to ancient Rome deserves some special recognition, doesn't it? As early as the fifth century in Ireland, women were permitted to ask men to marry them on Leap Day. In France, a popular joke newspaper called La Bougie du Sapeur is only printed on a Leap Day. Scots traditionally consider being born on Leap Day a sign of future bad luck.
America doesn't have a specific tradition tied to Leap Day. Perhaps it's time to start one ... by playing bonus rounds at golf courses that happen to be open for business on February 29. Last time around in 2020, Sungjae Im shot an even-par round of 70 at PGA National Resort's Champion Course in challenging conditions en route to winning the 2020 Honda Classic. Leap Day 2024 marks the first round of that same event, now called the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches. Many of the world's best golfers are teeing it up that day...why don't you?
8 more worthy 'golf holidays' that come around every year
Your birthday
Millions of Americans take the day off from work on their birthday. If you're one of them, and the happy occasion falls during a golf-friendly time of year, you know what to do. In 2023, I rang in my 34th birthday on October 10 with a round on a future PGA Championship host venue: the Fields Ranch East course at Omni PGA Frisco Resort & Spa north of Dallas.
Family birthdays
If your mom or dad (or grandma or grandpa) introduced you to the game, what better way to thank them than by commemorating it on their birthday? Your boss will understand.
First day of spring
Especially in the northern half of the country, the rite of spring is practically sacred among golfers. March 22 may not always be a good golf day, but chances are one of the days near it will be. You have to pay homage to the changing of the seasons by partaking in your favorite outdoor activity, don't you?
Monday after the Masters
Even though the solstice happens in March, the real beginning of spring for golf is the Masters. Furthermore, the sensation of watching an exciting major championship and being seized with the urge to play golf yourself deserves to be satisfied, doesn't it? If people think the day after the Super Bowl should be a holiday, so should this.
Summer solstice
Come on - it's the beginning of summer, and the longest day of the year. Solstice golf-marathon days are pretty common; at places like Bandon Dunes, golfers who trek three and 4 rounds in a single day have been rewarded with drastically reduced and even free green fees for their final loops in past years. Ignoring a deal like that would be fiscally irresponsible.
Open Championship Friday
Pre-kid, one of my favorite annual golf rituals was to tee it up late Sunday afternoon after the conclusion of the Open Championship, on the same principle as the post-Masters mandatory golf above. There's no better way to get locked in for weekend links golf viewing than keeping an eye on the leaderboard at work before knocking off for a round on a July afternoon. Friday afternoons in your office are probably pretty slow anyway.
First day of fall
Autumn is a bittersweet time of year. In many parts of the country, it includes the best four- to six-week stretch of golf weather and course conditions. You can put in extra hours at the office when the snow arrives. Get out and enjoy the good weather while you still can.
Last day of golf season
The collective silent groan the first time the forecast calls for snow up north is something I will always remember, even though I've lived in Florida for nearly a decade. Sunbelt golfers can never know the urgency of teeing it up in mid-November, knowing as they walk down the 18th hole that they are about to play their last couple of golf shots for the next few months.
What 'golf holidays' do you take off from work each year? Let us know in the comments.
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