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.