Diary (formerly Weblog)
I've created a real blog which can be found
here
My wife calls this experiment self-indulgent. My initial reaction to that was to protest. I mean, I'm not playing the biggest, baddest courses I can find. In fact, I'm trying to keep the budget* down on this gig. But, then I thought about that some more. Yup, it's self-indulgent. Why not? I haven't had much of a break in about 6 years, much less a real, get away from it all, relax at the beach, shut off the phone, ignore email, vacation. I've taken some time off, of course. But there's a real difference between taking a few days and going skiing, and checking out for enough time to get the whole 'life is for living, not for working' vib back into your plan.
Day 1, Course 1 (December 2, 2006)
Checked out Altadena T&C golf course this morning. Tried to get on at 9:45 as a single. The dude said I could go out in the 10 hour and would take about 2.5 to play. That was too long since my family was waiting for me to finish play so we could have a BBQ with the neighbors. USC/UCLA at the Rose Bowl. Pasadena pretty crowded for game day. Drove down to Arroyo instead. Players: Paul, Gordie, and your humble host. We met on the 11th tee. I played #10 alone, and caught up with them. They continued to 1-9, and I split. Met two martini-drinking guys at the 19th hole. They were on the way to the game, one in a Reggie Bush jersey, the other in a UCLA hat. On the way home I dreamt up the idea for this blog.
Day 3, Course 2 (December 4, 2006)
12:00pm: Gonna go check out this Manhattan Beach course I found on the web. 2:30 pm: Finally got away for a late lunch (I'm still at work this week, which make the challenge a bit more interesting) I found it! It's a little 9 hole 3-par behind the Marriot in Manhattan Beach. It's pretty easy to find off of Rosecrans. Turn south towards the hotel, and go around the hotel to the right. When I arrived, there were very few people on the course. I chatted with Bob about my plan. He offered some suggestions and a magazine about local courses. I played during my 'lunch hour'. 1 hour, start to finish. Cool, this is all right. You can go play at lunch and the boss will never know you're golfing. Nice rolling hills. You can tee off from the grass on most tees. Some tees have mats, and I guess they want you to use them when they're there. 8th hole is nice, you tee off over a small lake, or stay far right if you want to keep out of trouble.
Day 5, Course 3 (December 6, 2006)
Night golf at Verdugo. Not much to say about this round, I golf here a lot. A lot for me is about 2-3 times a month, but 90% of that is here. I used to live in the area, it's a really lush, 18-hole pitch and putt. Since it's lit for nightime play, I've been coming here after work with buddies for years.
I played solo tonight. I tried to catch up to the twosome ahead of me, but they passed the party of 5 ahead of them first. By the time I played through that group, the twosome was too far ahead to catch. So I played by myself. That's pretty rare, I usually know a few guys on the course. I used to just show up and Chris would be there. Chris was in the men's club there and sometimes played 2 or 3 times in a day. Chris was one of those guys that everyone loves. Great sense of humor, good heart, and a super wife and kids. Every week on Wednesday or Thursday nights, I'd show up, Chris would be there, and there was always at least someone from Chris' high school. Out of about 20 individuals, there was virtually always some mix. Sometimes 6 or 7 of us would be there to play golf and drink beer. It was always a great collection of people with one thing in common; Chris. Chris passed away a couple of years ago. It was whacked. One night we were playing, just the two of us, and he said he didn't feel well, couldn't sleep. A month later, the cancer killed him. Still hurts to think about it.
There was a dude named Camaron at the bar. Said he just started playing 6 months ago and recommended that I visit Vista. I'll check that out.
Day 6, Course 4 (December 7, 2006)
Penmar before work. I arrived around 8:30 to play with one of my collegues. We teed off at 8:45 and finished just in time to have a beer and burger on our way into the office. Dave, Rodney, and Murray joined us for the round. Penmar's a 9 hole executive course not far from the end of the runway at Santa Monica Airport. In the office by 1:00pm, spent the morning on a pre-vaction debrief. All in all, not a bad day.
Day 9, Course 5 (December 10, 2006)
Rancho Duarte
Played Rancho Duarte with three other guys. Two of them where buddies, and we played the whole course in about an hour and a half. This is a surprisingly fun course to play. Great mountain views and a relaxed, no-pressure attitude make this a good course if you could care less what people think about you or your golf.
Day 10, Course 6 (December 11, 2006)
Scholl Canyon (http://www.golflink.com/golf-courses/golf-course.asp?course=14883) I arrived around 10:00. Played in about 3.5 hours. Nice scenic course. Great course of the $14 weekday fee I paid. The sky was a bit hazy over downtown so the views to the south were just fair, but the recent rains cleaned the air to the north, and the mountain vistas are stunning. A bit strange being right next to a giant landfill. When I think 'Scholl Canyon', I think garbage. I guess that's why I'd never played this one before. Bill at the desk said that he always cringes when people call it the 'best kept secret in Los Angeles'. See, he's a marketing guy and if you're in marketing, who wants to keep it secret? I didn't have the heart to tell him that I'd heard of it, but was put off by the landfill part. Don't be though, it's really a nice little course and a great deal.
Day 11, Course 7 (December 12, 2006)
Alhambra Municipal Golf Course (http://www.alhambragolf.com) I arrived around 12:00. Played in about 4.5 hours. I played the first 12 solo, then hooked up with an older Taiwanese dude named Richard. Interesting guy. The best part was Bruce. I grabed some wings and a beer at the bar after the round. 'Try to meet the locals'. The regulars, Men's Club, Women's Club; they're the ones who know all the dirt on the course and it's players. So I chatted with Bruce for a few when he jumps up and says, 'be right back, don't go away'. 5 minutes later he's back. Seems he's arranged a large bucket of balls and some spots on the range. Two hours later he's schooled me on hitting my wedges, and has me hitting his 3-wood 250 yards off the mat. Unreal. Gonna be sure to hook back up with Bruce later. Maybe take him to Brookside and get some lessons on the course.
Day 12
I took a lesson today at Verdugo Hills, then played 5 holes by myself.
Day 13, Course 8 (December 14, 2006)
DeBell Golf Course in Burbank. I walked DeBell for 18 holes. This is a tough course to walk if you're not used to hills. I'll bet it's a killer in the summer. Anyway, it was perfect for the 70-75 degree temps we had here in LA yesterday. I've a great story about yesterday for the blog, but it has to wait. My sister is getting married in Las Vegas this weekend, so I'm going to head out for Nevada now. I'll play on Saturday in Vegas, maybe I'll stop on the way too. That would be cool. I might blog when I'm there, might not.
December 27, 2006
Haven't updated the site in a while. I've played a few times, but I'm clearly getting behind schedule. No way to finish without playing 2 courses some days. Getting away to golf is becoming difficult at home. That really knocks the shine off of the vacation aspect of this
Day 15, Course 9 (December 16, 2006)
My future brother-in-law and I played Angel Park Mountain course the day before the wedding. This is a challenging course. We played late in the day at twilight rates. Barely got nine in before dark. He'd never played before so there was some great comedy on the course. Also, the cart broke down on the third hole and we had to call for a tow. Fortunately I had my phone on me, and I'd called the course from it earlier, so I had the number. Unfortunately, I HAD MY PHONE ON ME. I forgot to leave it in the car, violating rule 3b. Next time, I'm going to abandon the cart and finish on foot.
This is a pretty tough Arnie-designed course. Not that Designed by Arnold Palmer really means that much to me. I suppose that the guy must have played a bunch of courses and knows what a really cool hole is. But, I gotta figure that most people could design 18 cool holes if given the setting and a pile of cash. Speaking of that. There's a putt-putt course at Angel Park with real greans. It's more like a miniturized golf course than a mini-golf course. Check it out if you're in Vegas.
Day 18, Course 11 (December 19, 2006)
Altadena Golf Course. I played with a guy in his late thirties from New Mexico, and his dad. Dave told me he's a real estate developer. He started buying houses and fixing them up after collage and just fell into the development business. This is my dream job. I've got to believe that, risky as it may be, real estate development would give me plenty of opportunities for golfing.
Day 20, Course 12 (December 21, 2006)
Santa Anita. Played with two Korean guys whom I'll call Gao and Hong. Not much conversation, just a nice, quick round. We walked the course. It's pretty flat, with greens guarded by bunkers in front (in most cases).
Day 25, Course 13 (December 26, 2006)
Angeles National. This has got to be one of the nicest courses in Los Angeles. Well kept fairways and greens. Very narrow fairways with native habitat brushing right up against the cart paths. There are screens in the carts that warn you that you're encroaching on nature, every time you drive too close to the berm.
Day 27, Course 14 (December 28, 2006)
El Cariso Golf Course in Sylmar. HOLY CATS! The wind was just howling. I teed off at 8:30, finished 9 holes around 11:00. I had to break for breakfast at the clubhouse and to see if the wind would let up. No luck. I didn't finish until 2:30 in the afternoon.
Day 29, Course 15 (December 30, 2006)
Arroyo Mini-Golf Course. Yes, I played mini-golf, and I'm going to count it. Of course, the putt putt game is not really golf, and does not every qualify as practicing for playing an actual golf course. But that's not the point. This is blog is really about getting away from the daily grind and going out to the golf course to enjoy oneself without the intrusion of work. So I took the kids out to the putt-putt, and we had a great time. This is actually a pretty run-down, crummy nine-hole little putt-putt course, but we had fun just the same.
January
Been two weeks since I've blogged. Two weeks since I've golfed too. I'll be back in the swing of things this week though. I'm going to golf tomorrow. More on that. -- Shred
Random Thoughts and Notes
I need a calendar control for this site. I’ll see what I can find. Let me know if you have any suggestions. Something that helps my planning, let’s me mark a time, add some details like course size, link to map would be nice
Speaking of maps I hope to add some here.
And clubs. Maybe I should get some new clubs if I'm going to do this.
Hey, I bought a $15.00 3-wood at Play it Again Sports last week. I can crush 'em off the tee with the thing, but I'm really struggling with it on the fairway.
* I'm trying to save my reciepts. I'll try to keep a log/journal/ledger, and add it here.
Skype is awesome!
There are some courses on the way to Big Bear. I'm going to try them and blog them here.