Well, for me it was easy because I had a husband who made all the arrangements for staying at the Barcelo Bravo Palace Deluxe Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic including all of our tee times online the internet (the link takes you to their webpage where you can arrange a room and a tee time). That was the first step.

The second step involved getting our golf clubs to the golf course. We took the resort train from the pick up stop at the end of our hotel building (the place is very large) but I think perhaps getting the golf cart first and picking the clubs up in the same spot would have been much easier.

The third step is checking in with the pro shop--lunch is available in the dining room right next door and since our first tee time was late in the afternoon, this mean lunch first was a great choice. The restaurant here has a dubious reputation for being really slow with some of the people we met, but for us it worked out fine. The restaurant didn't open until 12:30 so we had drinks first until they opened. Barcelo Bravo Palace Deluxe is an all inclusive so the beer (Presidente), Coca Cola light, hamburger, roast beef sandwich, and a dessert had we wanted it were provided without charge. The tee time cost us a charge for use of the golf cart. Had we played 5 times instead of three, the cost would have been less but as it was ended up at $40 per person. 

Afterwards, we were able to store our golf clubs at the Lakes Golf Course.

The fourth step is choosing the appropriate tee. My husband thought the blue tee distance was about his pace for his first game, the next two were played at the more typical white tee. The reason is on a couple of holes over the water, the distance can be pretty long. My husband had a much happier, less stressful time on the white tees. For women, the red tees play within a usual handicap.

Other hints about playing the course involve the challenges. One of the hallmarks  (see photo above) of the Lakes Course at Barcelo Bravo Palace Deluxe are the scenic golf shot lakes especially the number 9 and number 18 hole with their wood braced raised greens. 

Play it with the exact right club (the holes play long when faced with wind) with a high arching chip shot.

Another is the hidden greens (see photo to the left). Place your approach shot so that a high, arching chip shot that lands and stops is your best bet.

Another hint is to stay in the center of the course, choose the right distance club to stay out of the lake with any additional roll.

A last warning is to stay out of the sand traps. Many are hidden. You get over one sand trap only to fall in the smaller one hidden behind.

The Barcelo Bravo Palace Deluxe golf course is in excellent condition. We played after heavy rain and found you had to punch the ball hard to get it in the hole on the green and we also had to walk (most of the course was closed via cart path only rules due to soggy turf). Two days later, the greens were fast and driving on the course was allowed. Rain drizzled and was a relief from heat, the heavy rains came at night. Be prepared with sun protection.

Note: WiFi from the Barcelo Bravo Palace Deluxe resort isn't available on the golf course.

If you're a beginner golfer, you might wonder why they put sand in your golf cart cooler.  See the photograph to the left, it shows how you can use the scoop provided to take some out.

This sand is used for filling holes made on the golf course when you take turf (a divot) with your shot and leave it stripped to the dirt.

One of the reasons that you fill the hole with sand is it is very hard to play golf on a surface that is not level. The most important place to fill your divots is on the tee.

In the fairway, replacing divots with sand is also important. If you're sitting and waiting for your turn to play and see a huge hole in the fairway, feel welcome to fill it. You're performing a community service for all the golfers when you do.

There is often a box where you can grab sand to fill divots sitting on or near the tees. They come in a variety of shapes and styles.

Sand is also provided with a shake bottle which you use to pour sand on the grass where you've left a divot. This handy bar at the Walkabout Golf Course is used to swap empty shake bottles with full bottles.

Sometimes sand also contains grass and fertilizer. This occurs most often in Spring and Fall when grass is able to get a better start. When sand is wet, sometimes it is easier to grab and handful than it is to take a scoop or pour.

Golf in Florida and other areas of the country can involve "casual water" on the golf course and a variety of of other problems after heavy rainfall.

This photograph shows the passing of a rain filled cloud in Florida.

Many golfers from the Seattle, WA area have a rule called "embrace the rain" since it's very likely people will encounter rain so rather than stop all life, you just go do. There are good reasons why golfers play golf after heavy rain, here's my best list why:

It may seem self-evident, but I've found that keeping your golf shoes isn't as easy as you might think.

In this photograph, I show how a golf tee can solve the problem of how to get stuff stuck in your shoes out. Before you get out of the golf cart, give your shoes a once over with a golf tee to loosen muck and grass out of your shoe treads.

As you can see, I don't wear traditional golf shoes, partly because I find they don't give and end up with blisters, but also because Florida's wet weather means my feet stay wet so I picked an option that let me survive. Read more about Why I Love My Teva Sandals.

Because we hate the smell of decaying grass in our car, we always carry a small broom in our car. This small broom shown in the photograph can quickly remove sand, grass, and loosened much off of your shoes and legs. Removing all of these things ensures that you don't track debris wherever you go--home, restaurants, golf clubhouse, etc. 

Many golf clubhouse's offer to other methods to clean your golf shoes. The typical method found is a ground installed foot brush. An alternate method is a air hose that allows you to blast the much free (this is my favorite solution because everything goes).

Golf Smith has some good suggestions for keeping the golf shoe upper's clean.

Ebay offers a complete list of different types of tools for golf cart, floors, etc. for cleaning your golf shoes.