The $1.3m Dalymobile

There are motor homes. Then there are really nice, really large motor homes.

Then there is John Daly’s motor home, a 45-foot-long, 20-ton, $1.3 million palace on wheels in which he lives during golf season.

A growing number of players are using recreational vehicles to get from one PGA Tour event to the next. In exchange for giving up faster travel by air, golfers who opt for RV travel get where they are going more slowly but more comfortably, and with many of the conveniences of home.

“I have the leisure of not having to unpack and pack, I watch what I want to watch on TV, cook what I want to cook. I sleep in my own bed,” Daly, a Dardanelle native, told The Flint Journal for a recent story.

“That’s the key. There are so many times when you stay in a hotel room that the mattress is too hard or too soft. This bus has a king-size bed that’s got the same mattress as I have at home.”

Daly was one of four players — the others were Jay Don Blake, Todd Barranger and Marco Dawson — in last week’s Buick Open in Grand Blanc who camped at an RV park less than 10 minutes from Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club.
Other pros also go the RV route, including Davis Love III, Ken Green and Bob May.

The Dalymobile — actually, a Greyhound bus-sized Featherlite Prevost conversion customized inside and out — includes such features as:

-- Three, count ’em, three 42-inch flat screen televisions, one of which slides out for outdoor viewing beneath a long awning. Two satellite dishes track TV signals even while the vehicle is moving.

-- A large propane-gas grill that also slides out of a bay for outdoor cooking. “I can cook 20 steaks on it at a time,” Daly said.

-- Mirrored ceilings from front to back, and several floor-to-ceiling wall mirrors — all of which create the illusion of even more space than there already is.

-- A tiger-skin carpet, a fold-out couch upholstered in tiger skin, a swivel rocker, a massaging recliner and a dining table that seats seven.

-- Three stereos — front, back and outside — with Bose speakers throughout.
-- A full-size refrigerator with freezer and ice maker, a stove and a large microwave.

-- A washer and dryer.

“We tell people about it and they think Winnebago or camper,” said Donnie Crabtree, Daly’s driver, personal manager and lifelong friend. “Then they see it.”
Love took one look at it last year and ordered his own — complete with a custom storage bay for his Harley-Davidson.

“We park by each other a lot and we cook out,” Daly said. “Some of the other Tour players will come over and get a home-cooked meal.”

A motor home-cooked meal, any way.

Daly, who lives in Rogers, was never comfortable flying and used to take cars to any tournaments he could reach by driving. He bought his first RV in 1992 but used it sparingly on the tour, usually just during a four-week swing through Florida in March.

He purchased a larger motor home in November 2001, but when he saw the extra room that the Featherlite provided, he traded up for the current model in June 2002.

“I can just sit in the back and sleep or watch TV going down the road,” he said. “It’s so relaxing. I’ve always been one who likes to drive to tournaments, so I don’t mind the extra time it takes to get somewhere.”

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