Hi Refugees,
I currently live in the Chicago area and I am looking to relocate after the summer. I work a remote position so I can live anywhere I’d like. I am looking for a smaller city with a good climate and a good golf scene. I love nature, golf, and fishing. I am easygoing and open to any suggestions.
So far I have looked at Salt Lake City, Flagstaff, AZ, and Asheville, NC
If you can live anywhere in the US and you like to play a lot of golf where would you live?
Thanks,
Mac
I think we determined CO is the best place to live.
https://refuge.nolayingup.com/t/what-is-the-best-state-seems-to-be-co/9373/6
I would highly recommend Huntsville, Alabama. Lots of great options for hiking, fishing, golfing. It’s also very cheap to live here so great bang for your buck.
Huntsville is also close to Nashville, Chatanooga (Hour and 15-30 from Sweetens), Atlanta, Birmingham. The mountains are 3 hours away and the beach is 5-6 hours away so always a great option for a weekend getaway.
ashville is a dope city with a great food/beer scene…
honestly not sure it checks the box for the good golf scene though
definitely provides you with the nature and fishing though if you are into fly fishing for trout
Sleeper. I like it.
Santa Barbara is the best place to live in the world. Flagstaff is pretty cool.
I’m gonna be in the same situation in 1-2 years and one of the places that has gotten my attention is Bend, OR.
But apparently it’s being run over by Californians that are in the same position as we are.
Kinda long response alert:
I moved to SLC last September, so somewhat of a newbie’s take on the area. Utah outdoors scene is top notch, that’s a given. The city also doesn’t feel that big, especially if you’re moving from Chicago. I moved from DFW, so possibly a similar change. My biggest negative take on the city so far is the food scene absolutely blows. Polar opposite from Dallas. Alcohol laws suck too, but you can navigate your way around those.
The golf scene has been a very pleasant surprise. If you’re in SLC proper, you can be at Bonneville, Glendale, Rose Park, Forest Dale, or Nibley Park within 15 minutes or so. Mountain Dell, a true mountain course with two great 18’s that’s also operated by the city, is about 20 minutes away on I-80. Salt Lake County also operates a few courses that are solid too, just a little more spread out and I haven’t been able to check those out as often. The golf season has been way longer than I imagined too. I think weather has only prevented me from playing in three or four separate weeks, give or take (as long as you’re okay playing in low 40’s temp). If you really get the itch to golf when we have snow, you can be in St. George, UT in 4 hours, Mesquite, NV in 5 hours, and Vegas in 6 hours.
Happy to answers other questions you may have too
God dammit. CO sucks. You don’t want to go from a snow area to another snow area. Go to Texas.
I do like that idea a lot and agree on CO
Nice! My brother lives there. I will be visiting a few times this summer. We should get a round in while im in town
Absolutely. When it gets closer, let me know and we’ll set something up.
Richmond VA. Great beer, whisky, food scene. An hour from mountains and the beach. Lots of golf around. Close to NC and Pinehurst area And other destinations a little further south. Lots of coworking spaces if you want an office outside the house. Short winter.
Glad Austin hasn’t made this list. It’s overrated and the municipal golf is some of the worst in the country. Asheville sure sounds great from afar.
I work for a pretty big bank with people in lots of places. Our guy who runs state government affairs has it figured out. He lives in Portland, OR and his boss in DC. So while he sometimes has meetings at 6 am Pacific time, he’s basically free about 3 pm Pacific. He plays so much after work golf, it isn’t funny.
I don’t know that I’m advocating for Portland (though I do like it a good bit), but you should think about time zones here. Where is your boss or HQ going to be. I woudn’t want to be on the East Coast if my boss was on the West Coast as I feel I’d be working until 7 or 8 every night and that would impact my golf.
And when it comes to golf, do you want lots of public options? Or do you want to be somewhere where private golf isn’t stupid expensive?
As the saying goes, “Bend sucks don’t move here” 
This guys playing 3D chess here! I like it.
So, you can work ‘anywhere’ as you’re fully remote? And why the hell are you not already on the plane heading to St Andrews? Rent is cheap, it’s on the coast, food is amazing, the Scottish highlands are right there, it’s 40 mins from Edinburgh (one of the best small cities in the world) and they have, without any question, the very best municipal golf courses in the world. When you live there you buy a residents ticket for the courses (bar the Old Course) and get preferential tee times. Then, outside town there’s Elie, Crail, Lundin, Leven, Ladybank, Scotscraig, the Dukes and if you want to splash out you got Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and Muirfield within an hours drive. No brainer.
I’ve heard great things about Bend. A group of my college friends moved there after school. We we went to school in Missoula, MT they say its a similar vibe just a bit bigger town
As it comes to golf most likely public unless I can find an affordable private club that I like which is usually a long shot
I have thought about this a little bit. I have family stateside and it would make it difficult to see them as often as I would like
This is something I need to implement into my life.
Portland is alright I spent some time there when I was out west for school. Southern oregon is beautiful I wish it had a mid size city with a major airport because I could see myself making that move.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. After further investigation, Flagstaff and Asheville are out. I think it would be a good idea to rent an Air BNB for a week in some of these places to work and check out the town/golf scene before I make a decision. I need to do some more research so far I think these are my options.