I hooked up with Betsy Aldrich at the bar in the Rosen Plaza Hotel during the recent PGA Golf Show in Orlando. Betsy has been hosting exotic golf trips, primarily for women, for the past 20 years.

After ordering drinks and a little small talk Betsy made the following comments, “I’ve been a member of Woodhill Country Club since the day I was born; I grew up in a family of golfers. My grandmother, Betty Hays, played in the US Women’s Amateur in 1935. Her family belonged to Interlachen, the venue for the Women’s Amateur. My grandmother was a little older than Patty Berg, and they played together frequently. Grandma always laughed that she had to drive Patty to tournaments, lose to her, and then drive her back home.”

“As I grew up, I told my parents, ‘golf is boring, slow, has too many rules …. and my little brother can beat me!’ Believe it or not, one of the first times I played an 18-hole round was in a varsity college match at Dartmouth.”

“Tell me the tale of how you went from no golf to a varsity player,” I questioned.

“Well, I was only11 when my father died. He grew up in Connecticut, so my mother wanted my brother and me to experience the back East lifestyle.  I went to Blake through my sophomore year but transferred to St George’s in Rhode Island, while my brother went to Holderness in New Hampshire. I played tennis, ice hockey and lacrosse for St George’s, then enrolled at Dartmouth where I planned to be on the soccer, hockey and lacrosse teams.”

“As an elective, I enrolled in a golf class. The Dartmouth men’s Varsity golf coach happened to be the teacher of the golf class. I hit one shot, and he asked me to hit a few more balls into the net. When I showed up for the next class, the women’s coach at Dartmouth was there to meet me. I hit a few shots and she had seen enough, she asked me to be a member of the Dartmouth Team. Later that Spring I traveled with the team to a big two-day tournament. Wearing sneakers and borrowing the coach’s clubs, I shot 102. My score didn’t count in the team total that day, but on day 2, I shot 94, my score counted, and I had earned my Varsity letter.”

“My brother was a great player at Holderness about 50 miles away. He would come visit some weekends and we would usually play 36 holes before noon.”

“I didn’t tell my family back in Minnesota about playing on the team until I got home for the summer. When I told my grandmother she said, ‘Go into the pro shop and get everything you need, clubs, balls, shoes. Whatever you want. That summer I established a handicap at Woodhill. After posting the required 20 scores, my very first handicap was 12.”

“My senior year at Dartmouth, I was captain of both the women’s ice hockey team and golf teams.”

“After graduating, I returned to St. George’s where I coached soccer, hockey and tennis for two years. At that point I returned to Minnesota and coached ice hockey, tennis and soccer for five years at Blake. Then I moved to Wayzata High School to coach women’s hockey. That was all in the very early days of women’s hockey in Minnesota.”

“Over the years I have played some great competitive golf, qualifying for 1 US Amateur, 7 US Mid-Amateurs, 2 US Sr. Women’s Amateurs and 1 US Sr. Women’s Open. I still play a pretty active state and local tournament schedule.”

“I coached until 1998 and then took a software job where I could work from home when I wanted. That allowed me to be a partial snowbird living in Port St. Lucie, FL during the winter months for the past 15 years. I originally started working in the golf travel business for Tom Kozlak (Remarkable Travel Group) and each year I spent less time in software and more time planning and running golf trips. About four years ago I formed Tap-In Tours.”

“Early on, my trips were exclusively for women. There are lots of fun, single, divorced or widowed women who love golf, travel and sightseeing. The trips are usually 12 to 16 golfers who want to experience golf with a lot of interesting side trips. The itineraries include all the arrangements: tee times, lodging, meals and transportation. I set up the foursomes and all the side games. My golfers range from high to low handicaps and get to know each other during our time together. I arrange interesting side trips to castles, wineries, gardens and historic sites. We have traveled to Scotland and Ireland many times, and trips to Canada (Whistler and Banff) have become recent favorites.”

“My database has grown to over 1,300 contacts mostly through word of mouth. My trips frequently fill within a few hours of announcing them. This spring, I have large women’s groups going to South Africa and Portugal. In the fall, I’m spending a month in Dublin with back-to-back trips (Women’s and Couples), plus I’m taking another mixed group to South Africa.”

The conversation went on as Betsy told me about a special trip recently to Ireland for women who only wanted to play 9 holes each day. She scheduled rounds at 9-hole courses in off-the-beaten-track areas, but also included a two-day stay in St. Andrews as part of the itinerary. “It was a great trip,” Betsy smiled. “I lead trips for women, couples and mixed groups. Everybody loves them.”

Not a bad resume for a girl who thought golf was “boring, with too many rules…”

Go to tapintours.com to learn more about these wonderful trips and get on the growing list.