WM Phoenix Open

February is the single biggest month for Phoenix sports groups — about a quarter of our sporting-event requests land in it, and the Open is the reason.

Spring training starts the same month, visitors fill the resorts, and the whole Valley runs at capacity for two weeks. Treat the Open like a holiday weekend, not a normal Saturday.

Most Phoenix groups ask about a month ahead. For Open week that's late. Corporate groups and anyone wanting a larger vehicle should be calling in December, because the 20-passenger party bus and 24-passenger party bus sizes that suit game-day crews are the first to go. Sixteen to twenty riders is the most common sports-group size we see, and Open groups sit right in that band.

The tournament runs Monday through Sunday at TPC Scottsdale, and the days are genuinely different events.

Saturday is what people picture and it's also where the crowd records get set. If your group cares about actually watching golf, Thursday is the better day and the transportation is easier to arrange. If the group cares about the atmosphere, it has to be Saturday, and you should book in December.

Thursday also tends to be a shorter day, which means fewer hours on the quote.

The tournament publishes its own traffic plan every year, including where rideshares and charters can drop, and it changes. We work from whatever the current year's plan says.

What doesn't change is the shape of the day. Drop-off is straightforward in the morning. Pickup is the hard part, because a very large number of people try to leave within the same forty minutes.

Build in a buffer. If the group agrees on 5:00, the vehicle is in position and people walk out to it rather than the other way around. Leaving 30 minutes after the crush usually gets you home sooner than leaving in it.

The stadium hole is the reason most first-timers come, and it has its own rules of engagement.

Get there early. The general admission areas around 16 fill in the morning on Saturday and stay full. If your group wants to be in there, that means a pickup well before you'd otherwise choose — think 7:30 rather than 10:00.

Plan to stay put once you're in. Leaving and re-entering the good spots isn't realistic on a busy day, so the group should go in with water, a meeting plan and a decision about how long they're staying.

Hospitality and skybox tickets change all of this, since you've got a seat and somewhere to come back to. If your group has corporate hospitality, tell us — the drop and pickup logistics are usually different, and the day often runs later. Our Phoenix Open transportation guide goes into more detail, and corporate outings covers client-hosting days more broadly.

The Open doesn't end at the course. The Birds Nest concert venue runs at night during tournament week, and Old Town Scottsdale is packed from Wednesday through Saturday.

A lot of groups book the vehicle as one long day: course in the morning, back to the hotel to change, then out in Old Town in the evening. That's a ten-hour booking, and it's worth pricing against two separate runs.

The middle stop matters. Going straight from eight hours in the sun to a night out doesn't work well for anybody. An hour at the hotel resets the group.

Old Town during Open week has its own traffic and loading realities — the Scottsdale nightlife page covers where buses can actually stop on a busy night. If your group is in town for the whole stretch, a golf outing of your own earlier in the week is an easy add.

Call in December for a Saturday. That's the whole tip.

When you do, have these ready:

• Which day, and whether you have hospitality tickets.
• Headcount including the people who haven't confirmed. Open groups grow.
• Your hotel or pickup address. Scottsdale resorts are close; a Chandler or Peoria pickup adds 35 to 45 minutes each way.
• Whether the day ends at the course or continues into the evening.

Parking passes, tickets and hospitality are bought separately from transportation. Ask us when you call how drop-off works for the current year's traffic plan, since the tournament sets that and it moves.

Split the cost before the week with the split cost calculator, and remember the driver's gratuity isn't in the quote.