My last twelve months have included a lot of fun golf. Starting last Halloween at the event hosted at Wolf Point with Mike Nuzzo and Don Mahafey (a day of golf I will long remember) and a round the day before at Champions (Jackrabbit) in Houston hosted by Ben Smith, it was great to meet so many participants on this site.
Wolf Point #18 q double green with lots of movement & 2 ghosts 877 by
tewiespix, on Flickr]http://
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Wolf Point #1 w course designer Mike Nuzzo, & the Langs In December on my annual family trip to Florida I played several courses, but the only new one was the 9 hole Winter Park course where I was paired up with former PGA tour player and well known teaching pro Wally Armstrong. Wally is a heck of a guy, known for all types of teaching gadgets . Very down to earth and funny. Our third was one of his students and he used one of his patented teaching aids on each hole. I was hitting my drives 10 yards longer by the end of the round. No joke!
Winter Park #2 par 3 146 yards 256 February was an annual business meeting in Arizona followed by several days of golf. New courses for me included Sewailo, Dove Mountain, Ventana Canyon, Quintero, and Legacy, but my favorite was one of my regulars, Southern Dunes
Ak Chin Southern Dunes #4 a par 3 March was an annual guys trip to Myrtle Beach where we played mostly old favorites including True Blue, Caledonia, The Dunes , the Barefoot courses and the Witch. It was unseasonably cold and wet and we got stuck there an an extra day because flights to the northeast were cancelled due to a blizzard.
True Blue #13 True Blue #13
Easter week was at the Greenbrier. Still very cold and wet, but enjoyed the Old White.
Greenbrier Old White #1 from tee
Greenbrier Old White #11 Kathy
In the spring I played a bunch of local courses with friends, Candlewood Valley in CT, Osiris, Garrison and West Point in NY and River Vale NJ
Garrison #1 from tee West Point in the distance
In May, I had a business trip to D.C. and played a few rounds on the drive each way: Glen Mills outside Philly, Bulle Rock outside Baltimore and Westfields outside D.C.
Bulle Rock #18 from tee
June was a great month. I spent my 65
th birthday as a walking scorer at the Curtis Cup matches at Quaker Ridge. The young women played some excellent matches. I had the pleasure of meeting Lilia Vu, Lucy Li and Allison Lee whose matches I worked. Ms Vu will be a star.
The following week I did a solo golf trip from Spokane to Deer Lodge MT. I played 15 rounds in 10 days at a wide range of courses from Tom Doak’s Rock Creek Cattle Company to little 9 hole munis . It was an absolute blast in a beautiful a part of the country I’d not previously seen: Circling Raven, Rock Creek Club (Idaho), Couer d’Alene public, Galena Ridge, Shoshone, The Ranch, Rock Creek Cattle Company (MT), Old Works, Canyon River, Trestle Creek, Indian Creek, Qualchan. I played the round at Rock Creek Cattle Co, in the pouring rain with one of the assistant pros. I traveled so long to get there I couldn’t let a storm stop me. It was really a pretty miserable day.
Circling Raven #15 from tee
Rock Creek Cattle Co #17 par 3
August was an amazing month of golf for me. The first week, after a business trip to Minneapolis, I took a short detour to North Dakota to play Dakota Winds which has a reversible back 9. It was very interesting and worth a visit. It was also one of the windiest non-oceanfront courses I’ve played. Last year was the Loop so getting in a diet of reversibles.
Dakota Winds Sisseton #17 The following week was one of the best, after playing Glen Head Club on Long Island, I played Winged Foot East, Winged Foot West and my annual round with an old friend at Sleepy Hollow. Each year seems to bring something new to Sleepy… larger greens, fewer trees and this time new mounding, bunkers and green on the first hole.
Sleepy Hollow #16 par 3
Winged Foot East #15 short par 4 approach
The next week was a 40
th wedding anniversary trip to Cape Breton. My wife is not a golfer but encourages me to play wherever we go. I’m a lucky guy. I got hooked up with eleven guys from Vancouver who could not have been nicer. Played Cabot Links, Cabot Cliffs and Highland Links. See who joined us after the round at Cabot Links.
Cabot Cliffs #16 par 3 from tips /url]
Cabot Links #3 from tee
Cabot Links after the round w Brandel Chamblee
Highlands Links #3 par 3 I ended the month back in Minneapolis and played Seth Raynor’s Mnnesota Valley which had greens and bunkers re-done last year by Bill Bergin. It is a lovely course and has a great membership (and I understand now has one of the longest waiting lists in the Twin Cities).
Minnesota Valley #2 redan September included a business trip to Chicago and a short drive to Indiana to play a little Mom & Pop course called Palmira. Nothing fancy, but so much fun for $29 including rental clubs and the owner could not have been nicer.
Palmira #7 par 3