Golfing in Kauai!

From coast-to-coast this summer!  I had an opportunity to travel to Hawaii for an NEH Landmarks Workshop on Pearl Harbor which was just fantastic and I decided that after the workshop I would spend a few days over on the westernmost island of Kauai.  I had always wanted to visit this island because of its beauty.  Also it had been the location for much of the filming of the John Wayne movie "Donovan's Reef" which I find so entertaining.  Now I would be staying in a dorm for 6 days while in Oahu for the workshop and the schedule did not provide time for golf, so I chose to ship my clubs directly to Kauai and the resort where I would be staying.  What a smart decision as I did not have to lug the clubs around and they were secured and insured in my travel bag and Fedex bag.

I played 3 rounds on Kauai and I believe they were some of the best and most beautiful courses.  I first played Kauai Lagoons which is currently being partially redone but is still beautiful and very friendly.  And yes the views are tremendous.     I played with 2 older single ladies and we had a blast!  One of them had just joined a ladies league back home and so she was very precise as she tried to make sure she followed all the rules and such and she did pretty well. 

 This course has fewer holes along the coast than the others I played but still was fun.  Number 16 is a famous hole designed by Jack Nicholaus and I must say the tee shot is totally blind, downlhill toward the water, with a huge slope toward the water!  My tee shot almost drove the green and ended up thankfully in the rough on the edge toward the water (and cliff) LOL.  

The last hole is a tough par 5 that has an almost island green and plays pretty difficult but I was happy with my outcome of par.

 The wind was howling pretty good, as it would for each of my rounds, but I played okay with an 86.  Funny, this was the easiest course I played and I had the highest score!    Guess that might knock my current handicap of 5.4 back up a little LOL.  I had drinks and dinner with the ladies that afternoon at my resort and it was quite a bit of fun and they both worked in public education in California.

The next day I would play 2 rounds back-to-back at 2 very difficult and famous courses. 

The first course up this day was The Prince at Princeville on the north shore; man what a course!  It is really tough, beautiful and long and tests all your golf skills.  The course stretches over 5200 acres and has 10 miles of cart path and I must say the views are tremendous.  There are some really long carries on some holes even from the forward tees and I just cannot imagine playing this course from the back tees!  What a challenge it would be!

Notice the sand traps here are the famous red dirt and are often heavy.  As is fairly usual on the north shore of the island, it rained off and on the entire round with a good trade wind blowing.  The course provides rain shelters on almost every hole and you just pull up and wait a few minutes and it stops. 

Of course all that water makes the course even more difficult as it collects on the ball and prevents much roll out on drives and such.  The greens are not too difficult but some of them are a little small.

And of course there are all those distractiosns because of the views!  The hole above has a 10 story drop down to the green from the back tees!  and the approach to the green is pretty narrow as well. 

On the hole here there is a small waterfall behind the green!  WEll I only lost a couple of balls and ended up shooting an 85!  Wow!  I was pretty excited on this course and the when I returned to the clubhouse and they asked how I did the starter and folks were pretty amazed too!  I thought I had done much worse around 90 but when added it up I was pretty darn happy and only lost a couple of balls :)

After grabbing some lunch, I drove just down the road to the Makai Course at Princeville which is now operated and owned by the Troon Golf folks with whom I am familiar.  I've played a couple of Troon courses in Phoenix and one of my favorite is La Cantera in San Antonio!  The Makai course is a little more wide open than the Prince and the sand traps are beautiful white sand, and the views well they are great too!

This view is of the very north end of the island and after my round I would drive on around to the end of the island road.  I would drive to the farthest point west you can drive in the United States :)  Great drive and awesome views! 

I also contended with some rain on the Makai course but not as much and it kept the numbers of players down on the course as well.  I really enjoyed my round and the challenging holes and shot another 85!  With these slope ratings on these two courses I am real curious as to how it affects my handicap.

On my final day on the island I started with a much needed massage after all of my golf and then  I would drive on the south and west side of the island where the climate and geography are very different; it is much more dry.  And I went all the way to the end of the Waimea Canyon road which is spectacular; the canyon starts on one side of the island near the water and runs all the way to the other side of the island and drops off to the ocean.  This Grand Canyon of the Pacific was worth seeing!

So I look forward to more golf soon and will keep you posted.

USMA at West Point, NY!

After my foray around the United States Military Academy and a quick peek in the museum, I headed for another spot near and dear to my heart...the golf course. Yes the Military Academy at West Point Golf Course is open to the public! So I drove around to the small and very worn out looking club house and started my round. The course is absolutely lovely and challenging with many elevation changes and greens that undulate quite a bit.  There are just 3 tee boxes and the forward boxes only really have a break on a few holes.  Some of the par 3s really have large elevation drops but they are all spectacular and the views are stunning.

There are many blind tee shots as well and so I would smack a good long drive and then just have to see where it went. Because of the heat and threat of rain there were not too many folks on the course but everyone was really friendly. Most were retired military or officers assigned to the Academy, and I was apparently one of the few civilians who was not from the area who played the course on my own. I caught up with a twosome of retired officers near the end and finished the round with them. I was pretty happy as I shot a 79!

The starter who had been really kind when I started out asked how my round went and when I told him my score, he seemed quite surprised!

The most interesting part of the round, however, came after I watched the trucks transporting cadets down the road adjacent to the course. They were going for artillery practice and training and so most of my round was played while being serenaded by practice artillery fire! I must say it was a unique experience and on the back nine, I know I could hear some of the rounds whistling nearby as they passed by on the way to the target before hearing the thump, thump thump. You can listen on the following video and hear some of this -- it is not wind in the microphone or thunder.

So what a day it had been here in West Point, New York. I had dinner at the little local 50+ year old diner on the main street in town. It was loaded with historical photos that I perused while listening to local folks talking about the new class of cadets and all of their folks who had brought them here. I cannot imagine such a small town being overwhelmed by the 1300 cadets and their families. I also remembered back to an old Hollywood movie called "The Long Gray Line" with Maureen O'Hara about the US Military Academy at West Point and the men who work there and the young men who attend. I think I will go back and re-watch that when I have time to see if I can recognize the locations.

In the morning I would arise early and set out heading south to see the US Naval Academy at Annapolis and other memorials. The comparison between the two academies should be fun!  I hope to get in another round of golf before heading home at the famous, historic Greenbriar Resort in West Virginia.

A Chocolate Round

My next golf stop for the day was HERSHEY! Yes this chocoholic could not resist a night at the historic Hershey hotel with a round of golf on the historic course that abuts the Hershey plant. The area was having a big heatwave and most of the northern golfers feared the heat (it was about 95). This Texan felt right at home and so I played a round of afternoon golf after my morning work.  The East Course which is not as old or historic was hosting a Pennsylvania junior tournament with a lot of really suffering parents LOL.

The course is gorgeous and challenging with many elevation changes. I also have learned that many of these old courses (like the Donald Ross in Indiana) do not have full cart paths; that is the cart paths just go part way and then you are on your own to drive anywhere!  All they ask is that you get no closer than 25-30 yards from green.  Now down my way you must stay much farther back from the greens and there are always cart paths.  LOL clearly we have more worry about the grass!  Now I must also say that this course has really poor signs directing you between holes.  And the flow is just not clear as to which direction you need to head to find the next set of tees so sometimes I had to drive up and around when the path split  with no direction, and I could not alwasy assume you went right.  I didn't feel so bad however, as there were several other golfers that I saw having the same problem.  I did ask about this at the pro shop and they were honest that this is a problem but that the managers want to maintain the historic sense of the course and keep the number of signs on the course to a minimum.  As I would find on a later course I played on the trip, however, they could have at least painted directions on the cart path. 

There were a number of interesting holes and one par 3 appears to aim directly into the front yard of a house!  The forward tees are at the bottom of the hill and you cannot see the landing area or flag at all, so I drove up to the back tees so I could clearly see the hole and know what was ahead of me (and to take a better picture)!    The par threes were also pretty long even from the forward tees so that made it pretty challenging.

The course workers were having some problems with the heat with 2 of the cart girls' carts breaking down and all the ice melting. I must say it was no worse than a good round of golf in 100+ degree heat in Texas -- just drink plenty of water! I did pretty well by shooting and 80 too!

  The Hershey Hotel is a classic old style hotel built in 1933 and is really beautiful.  Everything is geared around chocolate - when you check in they hand you a chocolate bar.  I did do some shopping at the stores and also bought some golf gear although they do not have bag tags!  Apparently cut these out because of economics which I found disappointing.  The spa provides everything with a chocolate flair as well.   

Kings Creek

I'm on the road again and this time mixing in more golf with memorial work.  My first golf stop was at Kings Creek in Tennessee; the course has been rated in the top 50 public courses for women.  Course was very affordable and I had an early tee time so went quickly.  Unfortunately, the course sustained some serious damage in the big flood this spring.  At one point the entire course was 10 feet underwater!  Washed out some areas, and all of the traps were basically destroyed.  They will be replacing the traps starting next week so my timing was good as they will be closed for a few days.  The course is fun and enjoyable to play and I know it must normally be really quite beautiful.   I enjoyed the round even though I had a few loose shots and so my score ballooned up to 83.  I hope they can restore it to its former glory. 

My next stop is Hershey Country Club (yes of chocolate fame) and another great old course from the 1920s!  The famed west course.  Treating myself at the resort for a night so will tell ya about that later.

 

Lowering that Handicap!

Whew!  Returned from a 2 week jaunt across Europe with NO golf!  It was a fantastic trip but no time on the visit for any golf although I did see a few beautiful courses across northern France.  Maybe I will go back someday to play them.

Before I head out on another US road trip, I have played some golf on my home course the Golf Club at Fossil Creek which is in just fantastic condition.  My first round on Saturday was okay at 81 but was mainly just trying to get my swing rythym back.  So today I played 36 holes in the sauna heat and really played great!  I had a 73 and 76!! Woohoo!!  Was in a nice swing tempo and my irons really flew nice and high and it helps when your 200+ yard drives are in the middle of the fairway.  I birdied 2 of the four par 5s and parred the rest.  Surprisingly my chips and putts were pretty good as well after the layoff.

So now my handicap is down to a 6!  I was so surprised and these 2 rounds might lower it further.  However, I will be playing some tough courses around the country in the next few months and that will probably inch it back up...or maybe not if I keep playing this well.

Golfing at Home

Whew!  It has been hot here in Texas but that hasn't kept me off the golf course :)  Actually had a great week of golf on my home course at Fossil Creek.  On Thursday I shot a 73!!  Woohoo!  Had 3 bogeys and 2 birdies.  I had not left the house thinking I was going to play a around just hit some ball, but when I arrived at the course, there was almost no one on the links so out I went!  Whizzed around the course and hit beautiful irons and was soooo relaxed.  Been pretty busy getting ready for my next big trips and fighting some allergies, but today (Sunday), I was ready to play again and pack in some rounds.  Because of the heat, most people had apparently stayed home -- wussies!  I used my Eagle points for a free round and headed out about 12:30 -- there were only 8 of us on the whole course.  So, I played 2 balls for the whole round, kept separate scores and thus played 36 holes in 3 hours.  And....played really, really well again.  I shot a 76 and a 78 and just missed 4-5 putts for birdies that would have put those a little lower.  Hopefully, I will get out again once or twice before heading off on my next memorial scavenger hunt. 

French Lick, Indiana and Donald Ross!

What a great experience!  During my Memorial Day weekend trek across the Midwest, I was also able to get in a little golf of course.  I had put on my list that I wanted to play one of the great older golf courses in America and one on the GolfDigest Top100 list.  For this trek I was going to be right by the venerable Donald Ross Course at the French Lick Resort in southern Indiana.  The course was designed and built by Ross in 1917 in a beautiful small valley near the French Lick mineral springs and resort.  Today you can stay at one of the 2 original resort hotels and play  36 holes of golf on the Ross or new Pete Dye designed courses.  The Ross course was the site of the 1924 PGA Championship won by Walter Hagen and this year in less than a month the new Dye course will hold the 2010 PGA Championship!  [I'm hoping I can also play Pebble Beach this year and thus be able to have played 2 of the courses (resorts) where two of the year's Majors will be held.]

I had chosen a very early tee time so that I could then continue my travels.  I actually stayed in the nearby town of Jasper and so had to drive back to the course on a gorgeous scenic winding small road which would take about 30 minutes.  I did not get into my hotel the night before until about 10:00pm and was pretty tired.  Needless to say, I set my alarm wrong (not thinking correctly after having lost an hour that day because of crossing into another time zone), and so woke up and had to rush to get out the door.   No one was on the road and it was a tranquil drive with the morning mist/fog just beginning to lift (and I had not had any coffee!).  I arrived at 7:00am -- actually a little early.  There were a few golfers already at the clubhouse, as well as the cart attendants but no pro or cashier.  So the starter sent us out and said we could pay when we made the turn which is pretty nice considering this was not going to be cheap.  I thus actually went out early right behind a local couple who have a standing first tee time on the weekends. 

The course was immaculate and so tranquil with the mist lifting.  It was also tough!  Everything was very, very wet because of the fog/mist and that did not help but I just carried my towel with me everywhere.  The holes appear to not be all that difficult with really only one dogleg, HOWEVER there are many elevation changes, few flat fairways, and many bunkers especially in the middle of fairways, not to mention the challenging and undulating greens.  This is to say nothing of the rough!  It is pretty long and gnarly as well as wet and then many fairways are lined with very tall, natural grass.    There was also no map of the holes on either the scorecard or the markers at the tee boxes, so I had quite a few blind shots especially from the forward tees.  On one par 3 from the forward tees it was 164 yards!  I had to hit driver and managed to put it just to the left of the green and was able to chip on and make my putt.   From the tips, this course would be daunting at over 7000 yards and some tough carries.  Must say the sand traps were immaculate and since I did hit into 2 of them, I had the chance to finally play out of real sand; my sand shots all ended up really well too and I made my up and downs!

Although I started a little rough, my short game and putting really helped me and I finished with an 87!  Great course and great folks at the clubhouse. I then cleaned up and had an early lunch at Hagens the restaurant at the course.  They are known for their baby-back ribs as well they should be!  The meat just fell of the bone and was slathered with wonderful sweet bbq sauce.  I was golf satiated for the day (as well as having  purchased some shirts, a visor and bag tags - I mean couldn't pass up anything with the name on it), and fortified to head back out on the road for my memorial project. 
[If you are also reading my memorial blog I will probably have the new post for this trip up tomorrow sometime.]  I have played a Donald Ross course previously but not one as prestigious or challenging as this one and it was so fun to play in such an out-of-the-way place.  As I headed out of the resort, I had a smile on my face and looked forward to the scenic drive before me...and more golf courses to come.

The Colonial!

Wow this week I have had the privilege to volunteer with The First Tee of Fort Worth at their Caddy Days at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.  The students sign up and are chosen to serve as honorary caddies for the PGA Tour Pros who play in the Pro-Am.  The kids caddy at the famous par 3 13th Hole.  They meet their assigned pro at the tee box and have their official photograph taken as well as receive an autographed flagstick flag of the tournament.  They will also have a First Tee hat and most of the pros autograph the hat as well as a ball.  The pros are really super nice and chat with the kids, one or two even let them tee off (none made it over the water).  Some of the older students then carry the golf bag around to the green while younger ones carry a club.  

The students are so funny because you can really see their personalities!  Some of them chat the whole time as they walk to the green while others are more shy.  You can also see which pro golfers enjoy and are relaxed in these events.  When they arrive at the green, the pros give some tips about reading the greens (or how to hit out of the sand traps) or chip onto the green.  They are also often giving advice to the amateurs who have paid for the privilege of playing with them.  The students are encouraged to help out and sometimes the pros let them putt out! 

You can see how much this means to these young golfers as they walk off the green with huge smiles.

Now I served as the official blogger for The First Tee of Fort Worth for this event and I run their regular blog as well which I created for them!  I began my session at a table right behind the ropes along the edge of the fringe of the green.  On Monday the tournament is free and open to anyone and mostly the folks were volunteers, parents, and just avid golfers (Wednesdays are a bit more crowded).  They were all really intrigued by what I was doing and kept watching me post on my little netbook computer.  I would take several pictures of each of the students with their pros around the green, trying to especially snap them when they were discussing the putt or the student was putting.  After every two groups came through, I then pulled out my memory card from my camera, plugged it in, downloaded the one or two pictures I wanted from those groups, resized them and posted them along with a brief narrative that included each child's name and the PGA professional player.  So I posted about every 15-20 minutes.  We had sent the link out to all of the parents, volunteers, donors and The First Tee Board members so they could follow along, especially parents or family members who could not be present at the event.  After about 40 minutes, the guys who were working to prepare the fancy corporate boxes around the 13th green told me I could move up to one of those as they also had a plug-in for my computer.  So I ended up with what are usually super prized weekend seats with the best view of the hole!  

I blogged away for the day and really enjoyed the opportunity.  As a volunteer, I have access to the tournament days for free along with free parking and a shuttle ride :)  Nice deal.  Unfortunately however, it does not provide me a slot in the Colonial Volunteers Day at the course held every November; for that you have to work the tournament as an official tournament volunteer.  So maybe I can do that next year as well as blog at the pro-am, hopefully however they will have different shirts -- so far they have been this AWFUL bright yellowy-orange!!  LOL

So I have been enjoying the warm weather (although a bit humid) and playing and watching some great golf.  My handicap is down to 7.6 and I have been playing in the high 70s or very low 80s.  Love my new hybrid club that I discussed in previous post and need to trade in my old Cleveland hybrid that I just never really like much.  Thinking I may get one of the new SkyCaddie SGX golf gps units -- it is really pretty cool.

I'm Back & Blogging!

LOL Okay after a long break from the blog, but not from golf, I'm back blogging this summer.  I'm going to have one of those fantasy summers of travel and golf -- on someone else's money $$!  I have a fellowship to research war memorials and military cemeteries around the world and especially the US and so while I'm driving around the country, I plan to play some great golf courses.  So if you want, follow this blog to see where I go.

I have been playing golf and actually have my new official GHIN handicap down to an 8 (well a 7.6)!  Woohoo!!  Just been playing relaxed and well and having fun.  Played in tourney at my local course, Fossil Creek, with 143 male players and I won 2 raffle prizes...including the coveted Titliest (men's) driver.  After a number of guys made me some offers....for the club...that were subpar -- they were hoping I was a pushover and did not know the value, I was able to trade the driver in for stuff I wanted.  The club director obtained the new Cobra Baffler Rail 4 Hybrid and a great Nike rain/wind jacket. 

My swing czar MAY be coming for a visit soon and some golf and we may play together in a tournament as well.  Hopefully before I head out on my travels!  I'm heading for a long trip to Europe and then several trips around the US with golf included.  Follow me on my golf blog or on my travel blog (my official travel site LOL) if you want. I'll post the link for that blog on here soon.

Its Been A While!

I know it has been a very long time since my last post, but that does not mean I have not been playing golf!  Just a lot of things going on in life and really did not feel in the mood to post.  Been thinking a lot about a number of issues.  Also, golf has been difficult as soo much rain here -- wettest October in over 40 years!  Courses are still mushy and really slow around the greens.  Mainly I have played Fossil Creek and it has been adventurous with all the rain and mud.  Played rounds alone, with some old friends and some new ones, and then a few strays.  Had some good experiences and some not so good.  Almost ruined my pitching wedge wrapping it around one guys' head! 

The starters at Fossil Creek all know me now and are pretty good about getting me out; they are mainly all senior gentlemen and they look out for me.  They ask if I want to play alone or with someone and then we check out who is available (and willing LOL).  I particularly like going out on Monday and Fridays as I can get out before the official twilight time of 1:00pm begins and rate goes to $20 for me.  They let me out up to an hour early usually and that is a pretty quiet time on course if I want to get in a quick round.  One of my favorite starters is TC with whom I have also played a few rounds.  He was giving a course lesson to a young man on one of these and so I was able to grab a few tips :)  TC tried to help me with my 3wood which continues to frustrate me but apart from identifying that I was overrotating on my backswing, did not solve my problems!  But he is encouraging.

Played a short while back with a threesome of guys who all turned out to be salesmen.  They had invited me to join their group and so out we went.  Course was full but not real slow til we arrived on the last few holes. One of the guys mainly talked with me and was intrigued that I was a history prof; he said always interested in history and when found out military history, well then he wanted to see what I knew.  He apparently had been an officer in the Marines in the 1980s before going into sales.  He was a pretty nice fellow but then started telling me how to golf.  None of the three were great golfers -- okay but nothing special and I was staying with them although I had some sloppy shots occasionally.  My chipping was excellent and had pulled off about 5 in a row when I suddenly lifted my head on the long par 5 #8 after putting my iron shot just off the back of the green. I had played the hole smartly and the iron shot was my fourth so now needed to try and chip in.  The flag was on back of the green so I needed to make a nice touch chip into the hole. Well just got greedy and lifted my head to watch it and drug my club!  The marine had the nerve to say "yes I was going to tell you a few holes back that need to keep the sole of the club up or you will drag it."  I just stood and looked at him and really, really thought of beaning him with the PW but did not want to ruin a great club.  I then made my putt.  The other 2 guys snickered at him.  By the time we got to #17, I was distracted and hurting my game, plus the one guy's cigar smoke was beginning to give me a headache.  I finished up but my score had ballooned into the upper 80s.

Played another round with two really nice older guys.  I accidentally hit into them on the par 5 #3 a they were way off to the left and down the hill and I could not see their cart.  My drive was about 220 yards and just a few feet beyond their cart LOL.  We were waiting behind a foursome and they asked me to join them.   They were a lot of fun and very nice to play the round with both retired from energy company and one now works as maintenance supervisor at a local country club.   Also played a round with some younger guys who were not very good but really hysterical.  Round was slow but I laughed a lot.  They just seemed so surprised that a woman could play pretty well.

I am volunteering with the First Tee of Fort Worth and I really enjoy this work.  I am helping to update the database they have for all the kids with whom they work which is about 10,000.  I usually go on Monday mornings and take my laptop; a good grande mocha from Starbucks is a must while doing this work.  I also helped at their annual pro/am tournament that had been rescheduled.  The Friday morning of the tourney was pretty cool but sunny.  I helped run the registration for golfers and to manage the pot for the pro golfers betting pool.  Met a lot of great, nice golfers and one of the other volunteers was actually one of my former students.  The FW director is a really nice guy who is happy to have new dedicated volunteers who can help regularly not just once or twice a year.  He wants me to help write some of their newsletters and such as we move forward.  I also may have a chance to help with work at the Colonial Tournament in the spring; I have done work at the tournament previously when I was with the FW Symphony League and I was so lucky that it was the year Annika Sorenstam played the tournament!  I watched her play part of the first two rounds. 

Finally played another round of golf with my old golf partner/swing czar.  It had been several months and he has been under the weather.    We played Tapatio Springs outside of San Antonio.  The course had been in rough shape because of the severe drought in the area; over the summer they had basically told me not to come play when I had called.  They had had some rain recently, however, so I wanted to play.  Had hoped to play all 27 holes they have and they offer a great 2 for 1 all-you-can-play rate, but partner had to leave early.  I had missed playing with him as no matter who else I have played a round with especially guys, I always have the most fun when we play together AND I play better golf.  He offered a good tip to help with my 3 wood overrotation as well - turn my right foot inward on my stance.  This is an old Ben Hogan tip!   Also told me I was thinking way too much standing over the ball and stance too wide on some of my irons.  Although I drove the ball really pretty well especially on some tricky holes, I did lose pretty decisively to him however and thus lost our bet!  But... since he had to leave, I did not have to pay up :)))  I liked the course and really is in a beautiful location in the hill country and some of the leaves were turning -- just gorgeous; there were a few bare spots especially on the first 2-3 holes and it had us a little worried but rest of course was not too bad.  Did have us on cart path only the whole way though.  Funny I had been cart path only quite a bit back home because of all the rain but strange to see signs saying drought so cart path only!  Did forget to take my camera to the course though :((  Unfortunately, I do not know when golf partner and I will play again and that makes me kind of sad because again I forgot how much fun he is to play with and how he only offers help when I ask for it and it usually always works too!  I really wish we could play a tournament together someday as I think that would be a great experience.

Played last few days back at home and went to range to work on 3 wood.  Well I have been working and working with this club and while have done okay on the range I cannot hit it decently and regularly on the course.  After my help from golf partner, I went to range first to do some work.  Well... bingo!  I hit 40 straight 3 woods with right foot turned in and not thinking so much -- I hit all but 3 of them BEAUTIFULLY!!  I mean mainly straight up and high down the range!  Then on course only needed to hit it 3 times and they were pretty good.  So maybe I have finally turned a corner... I can only hope :)  Also adjusted my stance and the balls just flew well.  Even hit a long 5 iron over the creek, up the cliff and onto the green and five feet from hole on the great #6!  Actually made the putt too which is nice cause now my putting is a little iffy :)

Now football update -- my TCU Horned Frogs are now 4th in the BCS!!! ESPN Gameday will be in town this coming week as well. Really excited about our chance to play in a BCS game...and if some things go our way -- like more of the teams ahead of us slip up and lose a game... we might make it to the championship game if we keep winning. Florida and Alabama have looked beatable and if not before the SEC Championship game then at least one of them will have a loss; Texas should win out to the Big 12 Championship game, but they have been known occasionally to lose to A&M when they shouldn't. (I have to admit though I could NEVER EVER root for A&M to win.) Not sure what might happen if Texas were to lose the Big 12 championship game and we had gone undefeated -- would we be picked over them?? Well I will just focus on this week's game for now but fun to think about possibilities :))) If nothing else, hope we end up at Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix as that would be a FABULOUS trip to take as could play some great rounds of golf while there and maybe drag my old golf partner along since both will be on winter break!

Cold Blustery RAINY days!

UPDATE:  I think I need to make a sacrifice to the Aztec rain god Tlaloc!  Finally this afternoon cleared up today a little and looked brighter (no actual sunshine but something and only some light rain to the east), so off I went to the golf course to at least hit some balls on the range. Decided instead to try and get in 9 holes or more before dark since course pretty empty.  Quickly loaded cart and off I went; everything was still very wet and forward tee boxes badly needed to be mowed as very fuzzy.  Did pretty well on first 4 holes including a decent 3 wood on the par 5 third hole.  Then as finishing on #4 felt it start to rain a little...hmmm I did not have my umbrella or apparently my golf bag cover!!  Figured just some mist so headed for the par 3 #5.  As I set up on the tee box it was definitely raining though I tried to pretend it was not.  As I looked up at the flag to judge my shot, it just opened up and started to pour rain. I could barely even see the green.  Well that ended that attempt at getting in some late holes...sigh.  Plus most of the courses have tourneys scheduled on Monday since Columbus day and holiday for some folks (although I didn't even realize since I do not go into office on Mondays).  Headed back to the clubhouse the way I had come; even the water mocassin Carlito who hangs in the pond at #3 has not been seen in couple months (much like his namesake LOL) because of the rain and cool.  Though I do no have any firstborn or any born to sacrifice, I might have to come up with a stuffed bear or something to appease those rain gods...enough rain already for now!

Ahh well since my last post I have not been able to play any golf - or heck even get to the range to hit balls!!  Oh pooh too many blustery cold days LOL. After that beautiful Friday it has rained pretty much EVERY day and now is pretty cool with north wind and no sunshine.  The only day it did not rain unfortunately I could not get to the course because of other commitments :(  Even forced postponement of the wonderful charity golf tournament for the local First Tee organization at which I was scheduled to volunteer.

The rain really started last Saturday when I attended the TCU-SMU game!  It poured before and during the game and then all that night.  We sloshed to the game (arriving early as usual) but sat through all but the last few minutes as we were running away with it.  This is our old arch-rival game; both teams are located in the metroplex and have played each other for about 100 years. 

I have GREAT seats in the upper deck and so can see the entire field and watch plays unfold.  Have had tix for more about 15 years and have a group with whom I sit and who have been there as long.  Unfortunately they are talking of remodeling the stadium and removing the upper deck and thus my seats!  All of us who sit up here are pretty ticked off and we have not been asked for our input -- I LOVE MY SEATS and do not want to move. 

I try to take friends to games each year.  I am all outfitted with seat cushion, radio, binoculars, etc. and in the rain I just put on the rain suit and now great purple galoshes (rain boots) with white polka dots!!  They are so great and cute and I keep my feet warm and dry and tons of folks complimented me.  Most also wished they had some :))) 

Had a good time with my friends and won the game.  The campus is so beautiful especially with all the additions and updates and love the lit up purple tower at night.

More rain is forecast this week!  I am getting stir crazy and may have to drive somewhere to play some golf.  My home course admitted this morning that they had some standing water as still so humid nothing is drying up and that a few sand traps had been washed out so they will repair this week.  I am going to try and sneak out for a quick round in the next few days.

Had fun with tailgate buddies Saturday nite, as we went out to watch the TCU-AF game at a local restaurant/bar!  Had to fight off the dorky TXTech fans who came late and wanted to have all televisions turned to their game although UT and TCU fans had arrived early and agreed to share.  When one guy kept yacking about how many Tech fans were there, my reply was simply -- "lets go with the games of the highest ranked teams!"  LOL  Since Tech not ranked  and UT and TCU are both in top 10, he had to skulk off.  We all laughed heartily and I made some new friends :))  We had a good time and enjoyed my new friends.  I did feel a little guilty drinking some good margaritas while my team was shivering in 19 degree and below weather with sleet -- but not too guilty LMAO! And yes we won so still undefeated!  Go Froggies!

Well more rain this morning and will be cloudy and cold all day -- no sunshine as originally predicted!  I'm still determined to get out there this week and play or hit balls. Rain in forecast till Thursday with sun next weekend -- we will see.