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To 10Golf Spots

Want to follow these fellows'
lead
Top 10 Golf

1.

2.

and plan
Resorts in the United States
as a destination golf trip of your own? Here, the
rated
by Travel & Leisure Golf
North

Pinehurst Resort,

Carolina (800-487-4653; pinehurst com) magazine:
Kiawah Island Golf Resort,
South
Pebble Beach Resorts,
Resorts, California Carolina (800-654-2924;
4. Ka
kiawahresort.com )
Resort,
(831-625-8518; pebblebeach.corn)
5• Bandon
Hawaii (877-527-2582; kapalua.com
Dunes Goff
)
Resort,
6. Princeville
Resort,
Oregon (888-345-6008; bandondunesgolf.com
7. Dotal Golf R
)
Resort & Hawaii
Spa , (800-826-4400; princeville.corn)
8. Four
Seasons
Florida (305-592-2030; doralresort.com
)
(800-332-344Z
Resort Scottsdale at Troon North,
fourseasons.com/Scottsdale)
Arizona
9. The

3.

Boulders Resort &

(800-553-1717;

10. The

Golden
Golden Door Spa,

Greenbrier, West
Virginia

(800-624-6070;

Arizona

greenbriercom)

Nearly 5 million people play golf at least 25 times a year on the 20,000 golf courses in
the United States, but not all of them are dead serious about their birdies and bogeys.
For example, four local Jewish men with diverse occupations and personalities who
have been friends for years putter around the local courses on their own — and team
up to go on one major golf trip to a different U.S. destination each spring. They don't
rate the success of the trips on their total scores but on how much they laugh. For
them, the main thing is that they have fun and laugh a lot.
The traveling foursome consists of Dr. Michael Dorfman, 54, of West Bloomfield, a
chiropractor; Stephen Feldman, 58, of West Bloomfield, a lawyer; Sanford Linden, 60,
of Farmington Hills, head of a home health-care business; and David Kaplan, 61, of
Farmington Hills, who runs a plumbing-supply business.
"We consider the trip sort of a Father's Day gift to ourselves," explains Dorfman.
"And we judge the trip on our laugh total, not on how well we do on the golf courses."
Adds Feldman: "When I come home, my cheeks still hurt from all the laughing."

Oppositepage: The Makai
Golf Course at Princeville at
Hanalei in Hawaii — rated
Number 6 on Travel &
Leisure Golf magazine's list
of Top 10 Golf Resorts in
the United States — was
designed by master golf-
course architect Robert
Trent Jones Jr. This page,
bottom: Golf buddies Dr.
Michael Dorfman, Stephen
Feldman, Sanford Linden
and David Kaplan met
up for a formal portrait at
Shenandoah Golf Course
in West Bloomfield. Among
their travels, the friends have
played at (clockwise from
left) Mesquite, Nev., Palm
Springs, Hilton Head and
St. George, Utah.

The four, all married with a total of 13 children and five grandchildren, started
playing golf together when they took their sons on golfing trips to northern Michigan.
"When the kids got older, they decided to drop the fathers and go on their own
because we went to bed too early," muses Kaplan. "So we said, 'OK, we'll just take our
own trips.'"
They each do their homework by researching different golf spots and meet for din-
ner to present their findings. "Then we try to 'sell' a proposed golf destination to one
another," says Doti-man.
When the site is settled, they divide up four duties (and split the cost evenly): plane
reservations, condo selection, car rental and golf-course tee times. "We always stay in a
condo so we can be together and experience true camaraderie," says Feldman. "We put
money in a pot for groceries, tips and so forth. But the main thing is the laughter, not
the cost."
But are they good golfers? "My golf handicap is off the charts," quips Linden, who
took up the game in his 50s. Feldman started playing golf while in college, "but then
I quit when I got mad one day and wrapped my seven iron around a tree," he says. "I
resumed playing when I joined a law firm." They are among the 80 percent of golfers
nationwide who average a 110 score for 18 holes. Dorfman and Kaplan aren't exactly the
Jewish versions of Tiger Woods, but they do maintain handicaps in the 16-18 range.
So far, the annual four- to five-day getaways have taken the quartet to Boca Raton,
Fla.; Palm Springs, Calif.; Biloxi, Miss. (with a side trip to New Orleans); Mesquite,
Nev.; St. George, Utah; and this past May, Hilton Head, S.C. They also take time for
some sightseeing, hiking, movies and even visiting casinos. "The scenery in Utah was
incredible," says Linden.
In general, the outings have gone pretty smoothly, except the time there was a mix-
up on where to get the condo keys after a late arrival; the group spent the night in a
hotel. "In Mississippi, we were attacked by bugs while playing and went home with a
bunch of bug bites," says podium.
Oddly, the four rarely play golf as a foursome at home the rest of the year, and they
socialize as couples only occasionally. But when they hit the road, the laughter takes over.

EN

platinum

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JUNE 2008

• B 15