Bandon peaks in July. Streamsong peaks in January. The desert empties in August, and that's when I've played it. When every great golf trip peaks, in one chart, with 25 trips of receipts.

The short answer: late May through June and September win for most groups. July buys daylight and pays for it, April and October are the value plays, and winter is the strangest bargain in golf. The whole year, month by month, priced honestly.

Every claim this company makes runs through one sentence: planned by someone who's played them. This page is that sentence, itemized: every trip taken, every trip on the books, and the verdict each one earned.

The best buddies trips have great golf and a competition that makes the rounds add up. Ours is the Order of Play: a week-long, handicapped points race borrowed from the game's great events, and the difference between a good trip and a great one.

The right games are half of what makes a buddies trip a great one. Here's the whole menu, organized the way groups actually choose: by group size, by appetite, and by how much drama you want on the 18th green.