Golf on Day 147 was always going to be a low key affair. At 3pm on Day 146 we rolled out of Phoenix and onto the 10 Freeway heading east...towards Dallas. Google Maps clocks the journey at 1068 miles. It felt longer.
Add to the mixer a hint of uncertainty - over Dodgy's long haul capabilities - and you have an interesting episode in the saga that is puregolf2010. Against all the odds it was quite an enjoyable 22 hours. Travelling in Dodgy is like travelling business class on a long haul flight, in some ways. There's plenty room; a bed to lay your head on; a built in chilly bin (in this case stocked full of Starbucks espresso cans, red bulls, powerades and anything else that might keep us awake); and a quality stereo. The engine purred gracefully too, masking Dodgy's true...longevity.
Outside the tinted windows were cacti rising 30 feet into the air, boulders the size of shopping malls and wide open expanses of Not Much. Everything's huge in these parts (including the trucks that do their best to block every road sign from view).
Anyway we arrived in Dallas early afternoon, and did a brief interview (scroll to "Norm Golfer" segment, on Thursday) with the local radio kingpin, Norm Hitzges (who by fortunate coincidence loves all things Kiwi and is pals with Phil T). A good yarn it was too, even though I nearly keeled over half way through from the suffocating heat within a parked Dodgy oven.
Relief was the overwhelming emotion when we reached Phil??s place ?? after getting lost in the labyrinth that is the golf complex he lives in (we were looking for ??eagle street?; found ??par street?; assumed the next street would be ??birdie street? so drove straight on and missed the turn (there was no "birdie street" - no logic to the street naming system here). Both of us were pretty delirious, and probably not much chop on the conversation front when we arrived ?? but after years on the road Phil and wife Mel could relate to our plight and so were very understanding. And welcoming.
We met son Kahu (9 years old) and daughter Talia (a few years his younger). Lovely kids. Kahu??s going to be a real ladies man, and he??s got a bit of sporting prowess about him too (not surprising when you look at mum and dad). As soon as the bags were unloaded from Dodgy we got out into the yard and shot some hoops with Kahu. With a 180 dunk (to an 8 foot rim) in my arsenal, I may as well have been Michael Jordan (at 5 foot 10 inches Phil can't reach the basket unless he uses a stepladder...). Then there was a bit of table tennis on the back patio; then a few putts struck on Phil??s practice putting green. This would??ve been my dream house as a kid.
Golf was the last thing I felt like doing ?? in 40 degree heat ?? but...well, you know...we sort of have to! Phil tentatively hopped in the driver??s seat of Dodgy and zipped us down to Lake Park Executive, a little 9 hole municipal course in Dallas proper. The course wasn??t much to write home about, but it was perfect for our needs. Because it was a par 3 course it was also great for Kahu to showcase his dynamite short game (which ended up being the decisive factor in bringing victory honours upon him and yours truly). The wee fella had his best 9 hole round ever, with 41 (previous PB 46) ?? despite a disappointing 8 on the final hole, which he was visibly gutted with. He??s got his father??s competitive streak.
Father and son took turns at caddying for the other on each hole. Father gave son a few tips. Son wasn??t particularly receptive, but desperately wanted to impress Father. The episode reminded me a lot of my early playing days with my dad out at Lundin Links in Fife, Scotland. I never listened to a word he said, and got hopelessly frustrated if things weren??t going my way. All part of growing up.
Back at Tataurangi base camp we fired up the BBQ and grilled a few steaks ?? well, Phil did, and he did it like a seasoned chef too. More than just a pretty face. One beer; one steak; and a couple of veges was bliss and enough to send me to sleep. It was gutting, initially, to learn there was only one bed (it was Goldy??s turn), but the sofa proved to be more comfortable than a King Size at The Ritz ?? and being as shattered as I was, I would??ve slept like a log on a bed of nails.
A long day. And a very warm welcome by a Kiwi family. Day 147...
JP
We were sitting in Starbucks in Scottsdale Arizona at 9pm with nowhere to park Dodgy.
And then a random act of kindness, one that epitomizes our year to date occurred when Tod, who was working at Starbucks, invited us to park up for the night in his driveway. Unprompted. He just saw we were looking for somewhere to stay and said come on down. Tod was a great guy who had worked in the media industry on the West Coast but shifted to Arizona to enjoy the weather here. And from our short experience it is pretty good weather? warm and sunny about 8-9 months of the year so they say, with a couple of months where it is just too hot, and the occasional dust storm hits. Check one out on youtube ?? a remarkable natural phenomenon.
At 520am Tod knocked on the window of Dodgy to wake us. He had cooked breakfast and we sat in his house chatting and enjoying the most amazingly fresh breakfast of eggs and fruit. Pinching ourselves at the generosity of this chap from Starbucks who did not take much to golf but was just a beautifully kind human. It is moments like these that we??ll look back on in years to come and say wow, how amazing is that?
So after realizing that Arizona is not all guns and immigration problems, we took to TPC Scottsdale in the most positive frame of mind, and with a few decent hours sleep in dodgy under our belts.
Joining us for the day was kiwi pro, Steve Alker who plys his trade on the Nationwide Tour. Steve was shifting into a new place that afternoon but still snuck out for our 650am tee time to join us for 9. Which became 11 when he realized we had clear sailing and were making great time.
We started on the 10th hole at the TPC Scottsdale and the back nine here is quality tournament style stadium golf. The course is long, there is no place for 2 irons here, unless you want to have a 4 iron in for your second. And the features are large. For example the huge waste bunkers in the middle of the fairway on the par five 13th where if you take the aggressive line between it and the water you can reach the green but if you bail out left of it the fairway is much wider and the hole is unreachable.
The greens and conditioning of this track were pure. You could see how the pro??s go around it in about 20 under over four days. Maybe more some years.
The course is famous for a few holes towards the end of the back nine. The 15th is a par five with water all down the left, and then the green sits out in the water, surrounded from all sides except the back. An island green for your approach from 250 yards is one of those challenges we strive for. I tried to crack it with my 2 iron, which was do-able but my duff 150 yards down the fairway ended up being a perfect lay-up. You??ve got to have a crack but the percentage play on 15 is to lay up where any chump with a decent wedge game would make birdie. Not Jamie and I though on this occasion.
Then the 16th ?? the famous par three which is completely surrounded by grandstands which the locals fill up for the entire tournament, drink far too much and heckle the players like they are the away team at a local derby football match. This is the most electric hole in tournament golf ?? and you should watch this video of Tiger playing it a few years back. Jamie and I both hit to the fat of the land on the green from only 160 yards out. This would have been greeted with an almighty boo from the crowd and comments that cannot be repeated on this blog but would be along the lines of ??girls blouse??. Steve was trying to re-enact some of this atmosphere when we played? No actually he was a real gentleman and great company. We heard about his career playing over here and how he has tried his fortunes at the European Tour and Nationwide tour over the last few years. He also won the PGA Championship at Clearwater a few years back, which got him a bit of mileage in the Nationwide tour standings.
Before I forget ?? the 17th hole is another good??ie a short par four which you just have to have a crack at. And it??s not too long either so a good drive should give you a decent return, unless you 3 putt for par as I learnt.
Jamie played some good golf with a few birdies and a round somewhere in the mid to late 70??s. Not bad going considering the course had a slope rating of about 140 odd and a course rating of about 76. But I can see how the pro??s shoot 20 under here with the greens rolling pure and conditions still. I think if we played our golf here for a couple of weeks and the Course Rating of 76, our handicap index??s would quickly move to around 0 ?? so long story short it??s a long course with heaps of hazards but if you can give it a whack (and the fairways are wide) it??s great fun to score around.
After golf, we drove. And drove, and drove. In Dodgy. Please meet Dodgy by watching the video below.
Hey y'all. We're in Dallas, and have decided it would be a good idea to revisit our first couple of days on US soil - because the first video we put up was a bit crap, and didn't capture just how magic our initial reception was up in San Fran. So below is a jazzed up revision of that first video blog, with some tunes more befitting of the excitement we experienced. God they were a good few days.
We also want to take this opportunity to say a few thank yous. First, to Rob Kaufman, who organised a few games of golf for us, and who had the constitution strong enough to withstand several days of Us. Second, to Fred Greene, who produces the Golf Smarter podcast - the highest rated golf podcast in the the world, no less. Fred joined us at Harding Park and did an interview with us for his show. He was a gentleman and we were glad to have met him.
Third, to the wonderful Carol Kaufman - who very kindly hosted us as her guests at The Olympic Club (and for a very fine steak dinner in the evening afterwards). Carol is a tremendously generous soul; does a lot for golf, including through The First Tee in San Fran; and we're looking forward to catching her in Scotland. Finally to Bob Tatemishi, Carol's friend who had the patience to endure me as a playing partner for 4 hours 'round Olympic. What a gentleman. Really that day at Olympic was something else - the memory still glows brightly, over 2 weeks on.
Enjoy people.
A word or two about The Olympic Club, for it deserves special mention. First - and I probably mentioned this last time round - the burger. You've got to have the burger. By the practice range is a little snack hut, where said burgers are prepared by Michelin star chefs. They're rectangular (not round like your average burger) and quite simply AMAZING. But I digress. Carol's cousin, Rob, was in town for The Olympic Invitational - a pretty phenomenal shindig the Club puts on every year, drawing members and their guests from all over the world. Rob had flown in from New Jersey on the redeye flight (and was just as jaded as us); others we met had come from afar as Hong Kong. So this event is kind of a big deal... (The chap who made up a 4 with us is a Chicago-based member, and flew in for a few days of golfing heaven...and the rest!).
Carol & Rob had organised to play a practice round together - on the more renowned Lake Course - but had kindly arranged for her friend Bob to take us onto The Ocean Course for a hit shortly after she was to tee off. Truth be told we were hoping to get ourselves on The Lake - it'd be like going to St. Andrews and playing the New Course without playing The Old - and as fate would have it we got our way. When the opportunity arose we jumped at it and braced ourselves for US Open course #1 (we've heard they're pretty tough...).
What a pleasure. The big green Rolex clock by the 1st tee sets the tone - you feel like you're somewhere special (this is a feeling that has returned to us at places like Riviera and Spyglass). The 1st tee is right behind the window of the pro shop, and takes you down a pretty tight chute. I can't emphasise enough how relieved I was to get one down there without careering into the branches. Chris, an investment banker from Chicago, was by himself and so joined us - the more the merrier! I drew Bob in the ball toss - a pairing that turned out to be less than successful (we came second - out of two, that is). But Bob's wry Canadian humour kept me going, even if the birdies I'd had at Harding Park in the morning couldn't be found in the afternoon.
The course is tough, by the way. Greens are small, hard and fast; and they run invariably straight into rough. Chipping it close is a fine art here, and something that's to be commended with the highest praise. 3 putts are common also. The huge Cypress trees I found to be more visually daunting than genuinely menacing - but they add a tremendous atmosphere to the place. In fact the atmosphere at Olympic is what I'll remember most - both on the course and off.
I may never have experienced craic (of the Irish kind) in a golf club bar as I did at Olympic - and may never again. Granted the Invitational was on, and so there were more folk in town than usual - but everyone was having a blast, and openly welcoming to strangers like us. It feels like a Golf Club, more than a Country Club, if you get my drift. People are there to have a great time; enjoy golf; enjoy each other's company; etc - rather than, as is the case with some places (not necessarily ones we have visited this year), going there to be seen. A purist's place, really. The sort of place I'd love to belong to; the sort of place I'd love to visit once a year to catch up with old friends and play some golf. You could see everyone was just stoked.
I won't do a 'review' of the course, because right now I've got to drive to New Orleans. But let me say it was a memorable experience playing at Olympic - and we might even get the chance to show Carol & Bob some Kiwi hospitality of our own, as they've expressed interest about coming down for Day 365 in Aotearoa!!!
bye for now
JP
P.S. i almost forgot to mention... the par 3 short course at Olympic... out of this world...looked like a mini Pebble Beach. Didn't get the chance to play it, but it looked incredible. What a place!
And so our desert leg begins. From LA to New Orleans apparently there??s nothing much but sand, and a few rocks. Vast, vast countryside ?? the next few days are certainly gonna be an eye opener. And hot.
Last night we zipped down the 10 from LA to Palm Springs, which was more of a climb than I??d expected. By some fortunate coincidence a chap called Gary ?? from the Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa ?? contacted me in the afternoon, before we set sail, offering his help. (He??d run into a mate of ours down in Florida last week, and heard about what we were doing). With no accom arranged for last night, the plan was to spend it in Dodgy ?? no worries. Gary had a better idea though, and instead put us up in a plush pad overlooking one of the 26908 golf courses in this area. What a treat. Trading the back seat of Dodgy for a bed the size of a small nation was like trading muskets and salt for large tracts of land ?? a sweet deal!
This morning we boosted 17 miles or so down the road to PGA West, a phenomenal golf facility. There are 7 courses or so here, and a whole bunch of condos lining each. Almost entirely a golf town (La Quinta). Because we don??t yet have a GPS for the car, before we left I scribbled some directions on my forearm taken from the ever mercurial Google Maps. Not for the first time, we were misled. It was a happy coincidence, therefore, that the chief staff writer for the USPGA Tour called Mike for a yarn while we were en route ?? she was able to give us (proper) directions in between questions! Dodgy rolled into the carpark 5 minutes late for our tee time, but thankfully there was a pretty open tee this morning, so all was not lost.
The Americans really do golf well. As soon as my left foot hit the tarmac a gentleman rolled up in a cart to take our sticks, and usher us to the pro shop. The pro told us there was no rush, and that we could hit some balls if we??d like (which we did). Given the Stadium Course at PGA West had been built up as a monster, we thought we better sharpen up and be ready. The starter then cautioned us against playing the tips (circa 7000 yards), which turned out to be a shame. We accepted his counsel and played blues ?? too short at 6500. The ball flies further up here too, with the heat and altitude.
Neither of us got off to a flier, but after a few holes birdies began to trickle onto our scorecards. With receptive greens and generous fairways, you can really score here. That??s if you stay away from the water (something we each failed to do on several occasions). Dye has built a balanced course, with water running along left and right; with long par 5s and short par 4s; and tough par 3s. He??s renowned for designing tough tracks ?? but going solely on PGA West, you??d be far more worried by Greg Norman or even Nicklaus. I??ll reserve judgment until we??ve played a few more of his designs.
One of the nicest things about this morning was that there was hardly anyone out there. A sign of the times perhaps? Maybe just a reflection that there are a ton of courses around here, so competition is hot. The offshoot for us was that we got round in 3 hours, including a couple of ??comfort stops? (I love American euphemisms). You can drive carts on the fairways, which means you don??t have 55 walks to and from the cart as you do when it??s ??cart paths only?. Nice.
The scenery was pretty dramatic, too. Real Lone Ranger stuff. On the horizon all around you are scraggy peaks, creating a (hot, dry) cauldron effect ?? framed by piercing blue sky, of course. Might have to pick myself up a pair of sunglasses, David Duval styles...or not. They must use a boatload of water out here for irrigation, ??cos there ain??t much rain. We did see snow on a couple of peaks though; snow that looks really enticing when you??re being toasted alive by the California sun. (Note to self: avoid playing in the middle of the day in the desert).
Mick and me played a best ball today, in the hope of having a combined under par score. I weighed in with 4 birdies, but Mike??s putts weren??t dropping. And after a careless bogey on the last for each of us, 1 under disappeared from reach ?? giving us a disappointing 72. Rubbish. Today was one of those few days that I should??ve shot under par, but instead bottled it and shot 76 (thanks to a 3 putt par on 16 and some sloppy chips coming down the final stretch). Life goes on.
On the way ??round we bumped into a 6 strong crew of lads ?? probably a couple of years older than us ?? up here on a golf vacation. We got chatting as they let us through. Their warmth and positivity was indicative of the enthusiastic reception we??ve been lucky to receive here in the US. Everyone seems to ??get?? puregolf2010, which helps keep us ??up?? 24/7. I can see why people love this place.
Mike??s going to put up a video blog showcasing the golf course and the surrounding scenery. And our swish LoudMouth pants! Enjoy.
JP
Monday the 24th of May signaled the last day of our second week in the States. But today was all about kiwiana and the boys from down under taking on the Mountain Gate Golf Course.
Arranged at the 11th hour by Paul Parlane after we learnt that the course we thought we were booked on was actually closed on Mondays. Bugger. Paul saved our bacon and also had the initiative to arrange for us to play with a mate of his called John Mataira and one of his students, Greg Moss.
John is a kiwi guy from the proud town of Raglan in the Waikato. He now lives in LA near Mountain Gate Golf course and has the lofty role of Consul General for New Zealand in Los Angeles. John is tasked with overseeing the NZ consulate for the whole of the western states of the US. Now we know that John is the man to call if anything untoward happens to us during the first part of our road trip!
So we were very fortunate to tee it up with John today, and he started his golf in formidable style calmly slotting a short birdie putt on the first. He had been given a driver by Paul Parlane that resembled an unsightly brick. A blue brick that made an almighty ting when it struck the ball. But this brick featured the revered Nike tick and probably sells for hundreds of dollars. Traditionalists would turn in their graves if they knew this was how golf was played these days..
Making up the four-ball was a young aspiring (local) golfer called Greg who has been trying to crack it as a golfer for a number of years. Greg is a southpaw and the boy could play. Despite being slighter than me he could whack it a fair distance and he had a controlled draw that always seemed to be zero-ing in on the flagstick, a bit like JP??s on a good day. I??m not one of those golfers that has a consistent draw or fade, which makes life difficult on days where you don??t know which way it??s turning. With the new blades I??m finding that its generally going much straighter, so you know within split seconds whether it has started on a decent line or not.
Mountain Gate GC has 27 holes. Some describe it as the poor cousin to Riviera, Bel Air, Wilshire and LACC. Playing our first nine, named ??the Lake? after said feature coming into play on two or three holes, I ??d say they weren??t wrong. Three each of the par fives, fours and threes gave it a funny complexion (like Ocean Shores on day 107).
The course sits right atop a hill on land that was once a landfill. So the fairways aren??t flat and there are some strange undulations. It also looks out over the 405 Motorway, which at any one time has half the population of LA traveling along it (seriously it probably has more people driving along it than there are living in Wellington). It??s quite a sight to look down upon.
Let me get back to Greg who we uncovered, has quite a story to tell. This skinny chap, has stumbled on a new career ?? eating. How he unearthed this talent I??ll never know. But last week he was in a dumpling eating contest - how many could the contestants eat in 2 minutes? Well Greg managed to pack all 50 dumplings away with 30 seconds to go and the contest was declared over. How he did this I??ll never know, it must have doubled his body weight. Check out his feats on his new facebook fan page ?? there are many stories to tell about his efforts with a 6 pound burger and so on.. He might be a bit perturbed by me writing this, he??s been playing golf for years and years and within a few months of his ??eating?? career, he is already nearing top of the game. He said he wouldn??t be the Tiger or Phil of ??eating?? yet, (some little beggar from Japan can eat about 1000 hamburgers in 2 minutes) but he??d be a pretty handy PGA Tour player. If you follow..
Back to the golf? The back nine at Mountain Gate is really good. It winds around the Mountain with a few cracking holes such as the par four 11th which doglegs left about 60 degrees around a ravine. Of course bunkers are on the far corner off the tee. Good design, great views and a quality hole. Reminded me of the inverse version of 7 at the Cal Club. The 12th is also a stunning hole with the green perched on the cliffs with a view of the city in the backdrop ?? well what you can see of it through the haze..
On the 12th we were joined by Paul and his 2 year old daughter, Molly. At this stage the kiwi??s really were taking over at Mountain Gate! Molly was knocking it around the greens, and I??d say with Paul??s tutelage she??ll be something of a child prodigy in a couple of years.
As if to show off to his mate, John then pitched in from about 25 meters on the 12th. Class. And it was always going to happen sooner or later as he??d lipped out on chips on the two prior holes. This consul general could chip.
So we knocked it around the back nine and finished with respectable but not outstanding scores in the high 70??s. It could have been much better, due to the pristine nature of the greens here. You could pick your line and be confident that it would roll smoothly. They do take a lot of borrow up here on the hill and fortunately a couple of locals giving a few reads towards the end of the day helped!
After golf we headed back for an Admin Session to End All Admin Sessions. I think we both sent about 50 odd emails. If you were fortunate enough to get one of these (or even if you just feel like getting in touch with us), feel free to drop us a line! PS Photos to follow
It??s not every day you get to play with a rock star. So when Robbie Krieger ?? a.k.a. guitarist for The Doors ?? called a few days back, asking if we??d like to come out to ??Riv? for a hit, there would only be one answer. A resounding ??yes, please.? Riviera Country Club is a top track in it??s own right ?? having held US Opens, PGAs and the like ?? so Day 143 promised to be doubly exciting.
My heart stopped for a moment when Robbie called at lunchtime, saying he??d had a minor surgery on his back on Friday, and might not be able to swing the club. ??Don??t tell me you??re going to cancel Robbie!? I thought in my head. Argh. Thankfully he didn??t, and braved the pain to join us for the front 9. Phew.
Rolling up to Riv in Dodgy was just as thrilling an experience as it has been recently at the likes of SFGC, Cypress and Bel Air. No one batted an eyelid ?? maybe all the members used to have one before they retired? Robbie greeted us in the carpark and took us down to the majestic clubhouse. What a building. The pictures you??ll see below don??t do it justice ?? particularly because we weren??t snapping around the corridors and in the bar (well, you wouldn??t, would you?). There??s first rate service too. A chap in the locker room offered me a guest locker and to polish my shoes while I played. Naturally I accepted his kind offer.
On the way past the first tee ?? down to the range ?? I glanced up at one of the infamous green Rolex clocks, which I reckon they must have at all the US Open courses. Correct me if I??m wrong. Seeing those clocks, for me, let??s you know you??re about to play a tough, quality golf course. I wasn??t wrong, on this occasion.
I picked Robbie??s brains down on the range about life on tour, and what they were up to these days. Still playing; still touring; and still writing new music. What a legend. He plays with the keyboardist from The Doors and a few other lads. Soon they??re off for an East Coast tour; then off to Europe. I said I??d try to jack him up at Royal County Down for a game, a track he mentioned he??d love to steal a day off to play while in Nor??n Ireland. Hopefully I can help return the favour; with his back in stitches, it was very good of him to bring us down here.
Our 3 became 5 when a couple of young lads joined us on the tee. Jay and Jerry are the two youngest members at Riv, at 32 and 36. Both are tech / web guys ?? Jay does internet poker promotion; Jerry is a publisher of various web forums, at the moment for home theatre systems ?? and good golfers too (Jay??s off 1; Jerry off about 5). Being late afternoon on a cold Sunday, our 5 wouldn??t be holding anyone up. In fact there was hardly anyone out there (although we saw Tom Brady, the 3 time Superbowl winner that??s married to Gisele Bunchen ?? ba#@ard!).
1 at Riv leads you into a false sense of security. At about 500 yards, from a raised tee, it??s a short par 5 without much defence. I hit 6 iron for my approach, but ended up in the bunker and could do no better than par. We all had between 10 and 20 feet for birdie, but none dropped. An opportunity missed.
At Riv you??ve got to take advantage of the easy holes ?? which are rare than hen??s teeth ?? because there are plenty gnarly ones to torment you. It??s a golf course that messes with you. Relentlessly. I love it.
2 was about 460 yards into the wind, and slightly uphill: a brutal par 4. No pars in the group. Things didn??t improve on 3 when a few of us were faced with seemingly straightforward chips / pitches. Kikuyu grass (that??s probably not how you spell it) is horrific stuff, and particularly impossible to chip from. Sometimes it grabs your club; other times the balls jumps out hot. If your ball lands short of the green, it ain??t gonna bump up there unless it??s coming in low and hard. Velcro, the locals call it.
Then we came across Ben Hogan??s favourite par 3 in America, the 4th (see below). He won the US Open here in 1958 (I think the last time it was held here). He also shot commercials for his clubs here back in the day; in fact the only commercial ever shot showing his golf swing was shot here on the 4th. If this was Hogan??s favourite hole, then he??s a masochist. At 240 yards over a huge cross bunker to a tilted green ?? into the prevailing wind 9 times out of 10 ?? it??s a beast. My driver (yes, driver) ducked into the bunker, predictably, resulting in another bogey. Jay was the only one of us to hit the surface from the tee, yielding a treasured par 3. While the rest of the boys were scrambling ??round for their bogeys I stood and admired the mesmerising maple tree standing on its lonesome behind the green. I??ve never seen a tree like that before. Very striking.
5 might just be my favourite hole in LA (see pic below). A right to left sloping, doglegging fairway sits in front of you, with OB on the right under a string of mansions (what??s the correct collective noun here?). The 5 of us hit blazing drives down the middle, to the top of the hill. You??re then looking down over a shoulder and front right bunker to a MacKenzie-like green. (It looks from the fairway like it slopes towards the tee, but when you get up there it goes front to back). Robbie stepped up first and crashed a 3 wood to the middle of the green ?? not bad for an old timer. We all, in turn, knocked it on there, raising the prospect of a few unlikely birdies. All pars, I??m afraid.
6 is world famous. A 220 yard par 3 up the hill, WITH A BUNKER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GREEN! The pin was behind the bunker too, at the back. How cruel. I knocked a 10 footer in for par, which might??ve won me a few skins had Goldy not snatched a half with his 8 footer. Drat.
I??ll stop describing all the holes now, for otherwise my entry would be more essay than blog. Forgive me. I can??t move on however without mentioning 10 ?? a unique, nigh on impossible short par 4. From the tee a U shape of massive bunkers splits the fairway with a tongue to the right and the more prudent left side strip. A bunker at 270 yards at the end of the fairway frames the fairway, giving you a few options. I went straight at it ?? the wind was blowing into ?? and, thank the Gods, came up just short. Robbie hit a final tee shot for giggles, then bid us farewell. The others went left. Right is dead, by the way.
What makes 10 so deadly is the green. It??s about 10 paces wide and runs from 8 o??clock to 2 o??clock from the fairway. Oh, and it slopes hard front right to back left; there??s a deep pot bunker short of the middle; and severe slopes take anything remotely offline into swails right, left and centre. George Thomas, you??ve had a blinder.
With 60 yards to the pin, coming from the perfect angle, you??d think birdie would be on my mind. Wrong. I was so nervous I shanked my lob wedge...to the worst possible spot, behind the pot bunker...! A flop shot from the cucuya, over the bunker, onto the downslope ?? no problem. Ha! Mike, who was coming from way out left, probably had a better angle ?? and didn??t shank his approach. Rather he left it in the fringe and 2 putted for a magnificent par. I took 6. Just goes to show a par 4 doesn??t need to be 460 yards to do you damage.
It was a shame Robbie couldn??t hang out for longer; I enjoyed hearing about his music and life as a member of The Doors. Truth be told I??d love to have had longer to draw out a few juicy tales of acidic adventures, but on the flipside I??m sure he??s probably sick of recounting stories of yesteryear. Anyway, as I said before, not every day you get to hang out with a rock star. (You??ll be pleased to know I managed to avoid humming the tune to his songs while zipping round in the cart with him ?? surely nothing could be more annoying than some punk trying to built a rapport ?? on the golf course ?? by openly rejoicing in your music?). The fact that there was a Lakers game on not long after he left might??ve had something to do with his departure too...although I didn??t put that to him, of course.
The back 9??s as strong as the front, if not stronger. 11 is the longest par 4 I??ve ever seen. We walked back to the back back back tee block, just to check out how the hole might play if the Superintendent woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Long, I can tell you. 500 yards into the wind, with a watery ravine just short of the small green (which is also guarded on the left by a maple tree - see pic below). You get the picture. If I??d flushed driver from the back, my approach would??ve been a mere 230 yards into the wind to said postage stamp. Yeah, right. Goldy hit a memorable punch 6 iron to 15 feet, straight at the stick. Had he rolled the putt in it would??ve been one of the best birdies of 2010, no doubt. But Scott, our caddy, was giving bum reads match fixing styles. After about 12 holes I stopped listening to him, but asked his opinion anyway out of politeness.
It doesn??t get any easier, along the back 9, either. More monster par 4s, and a par 3 surrounded by a desert worth of sand (16 - see pic below). By the 18th green we were washed, after being tormented again by the kikuyu rough for one last time. Take my advice: don??t try flopshots out of the stuff unless you are better than Tiger Woods. It just won??t work.
Jerry kindly shouted us a roadie in the bar afterwards. I could spend a lifetime in that clubhouse, and might??ve spent an hour or two in the jacuzzi had they not closed the locker room up before I had time to drop my breeks.
Riv is a special place; a purist golfer??s dream. The course is tough as nails; the mansions perched atop the cliffs surrounding the course are something to behold; the members ?? or at least the ones we met ?? are gentlemen; and the clubhouse, as I said, is a palace. God I??d love to play there again tomorrow!
Thanks again Robbie for bringing us down ?? another memorable experience among what have been an amazing few days in LA. Jerry and Jay, thank you too for your hospitality ?? look forward to catching up down under when you boys pluck up the courage to (convince your girlfriends / wives to let you) jump on an Air New Zealand plane.
Off to Mountain Gate tomorrow, for a Kiwi gathering. Sweeeeet.
JP
A perfect Saturday in LA. Not a bad day for a spot of sightseeing and a trip down south to the Terranea Resort for a cheeky 9 holes of golf on their new 9 hole resort style course.
Dodgy took to the roads and after an hour or so of seeing some sights we were at the resort and treated to a very warm welcome from the local pro Buddy. The Terranea resort is in a stunning location perched atop the cliffs in a dramatic setting overlooking the Pacific Ocean (we could nearly see NZ) and with huge waves crashing down below. The resort is very close to the cliffs with the 9 hole par three golf course sitting on the higher ground behind the buildings. A pretty good design as we could still enjoy the million dollar views from the golf course.
The resort and golf course were built in the middle of the GFC so it's likely that the place has had a pretty difficult first year or so in operation. But all day we experienced first rate service and could really relax and enjoy the day.
The golf course is probably the best 9 holer we've played this year (although Mahia pushes it pretty close on a budget about 1/1000th the size). There are no trees and is very exposed to the wind so despite being all par threes, I wouldn't say it's a simple track. There are big features around the greens and the greens themselves have some huge swales in and around them. The first few holes into the wind were tough going, but then back down wind trying to stop a wedge on a shallow green was tough work. I must admit to hitting some aweful % shots away from the pin to help score ok.
Golf here was a huge amount of fun. A great contrast to the championship golf courses we've been playing day in day out. It also took about 80 minutes to play, which is great if you don't want your golf taking up the entire day! Bottom line is if I was a guest here I'd definitely enjoy going out for a hit of golf (and if you're after championship golf I think the Trump National course isn't too far away). Jamie and I knocked it around ok as well and were about 3 and 1 over par respectively.
After golf we were couriered down to one of the many restaurants here, Nelsons, where a table was reserved for us. The manager Jessica said g'day and the service from the staff was top notch. Looking around there were people from a wide variety of ages enjoying a drink or two and soaking in the views (Nelsons is right on the cliff tops and crucially, protected from the wind by a glass fence). Jamie had the pork which he described as epic, and I had some pretty handy fish. We washed it down with a local drop called Stones IPA which was just what the doctor ordered after the tough walk around Terranea. Yeah Right.
For us, this was the perfect way to see LA and recharge our batteries for the long road ahead across the country.
Before I go, I'll share with you some refreshing news that we've managed to find time amongst our long round today to do the tourist thing and we've checked out Hollywood Blvd, Santa Monica and Sunset Blvd. I've also had time to briefly catch up with an old friend, Jodene, and Jamie and I met with Paul Parlane, a kiwi golf coach who coaches a few of the A listers over here (including Samuel L Jackson, Pete Sampras and Phil Tataurangi). We had a beer with Paul at a place called Hughs and heard about life for a kiwi guy in LA - doesn't sound too bad at all! Later on we headed out with our champion host, John Shelton who has kindly looked after us here for the last few nights, for a spot of mexican and a pearler of a cocktail at the famous El Coyote's joint just around the corner from our base. All in all a great day.
This day ?? Day 141 ?? is a paradigm example of how, sometimes, life just pans out beautifully. Until yesterday there was no scheduled round of golf for today (yes, sometimes we leave it to the last minute!) - but then we were fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of Chris Adams, an affable LA native. Chris is a long-time friend of our good host, John, who made the introduction. The four of us ducked ??round the corner to Starbucks yesterday morning (as you do, in these parts) and chewed the fat for an hour or so over our liquid breakfasts. Chris played a fair bit of golf ?? say 3 or 4 times a week ?? until 3 and a half years ago when (you guessed it) his daughter was born. Now outings to the Country Club are few and far between ?? a sad fact that I??m sure many out there can relate to. (Sadly we can??t, at present).
Vague plans had been hatched to have a hit at LACC today, but that prospect was beginning to look less and less likely as the hours rolled by. So when Chris generously offered to take us down to Wilshire Country Club ?? which his family house overlooks; his current apartment overlooks (from the other side of the course); and at which his father and brothers are members ?? we couldn??t refuse. On the contrary we were delighted. Apart from being a thing of beauty, the club??s also only about 5 blocks from John??s house, where we??re camped out. Ah how the stars can align...
After an evening of fun and games yesterday at Bel-Air CC with Will & Danny, Mick and I didn??t feel like too much adventure this morning, instead preferring a couple of hours?? administration on the MacBooks before meeting Chris. Recharge the batteries ??n?? all. Saturday would be our day for sightseeing ?? although as it turned out we ended up taking a fair bit in from the course itself (more on that shortly).
When Dodgy pulled into the Country Club, the lads at the security gate sprung into action. Thankfully Chris had warned ??em that a couple of plucky Kiwis ?? that are playing golf every day for a year ?? would be rolling up any minute in a van that could only be described as, well, dodgy. So we were ushered through to the car park and did our best to park out of sight, under a tree. Stealthy stuff indeed. Chris emerged from the shadows of the clubhouse and met us out front, evidently as excited about a spot of golf as we were. It being very much his home turf (despite his lack of golf of late) he introduced us to more or less everyone on the premises, all of whom were delightful and supportive of our endeavour.
Crucially a tank of iced tea appeared outside the snack hut, providing much needed hydration on a hot day. Never been a tea drinker myself, but the iced form really is the perfect tonic for a thirsty golfer. I slurped mine down more or less before we got to the 1st tee (which is found through a WWII bunker-like tunnel over the other side of the Beverley Boulevard). Victor, from El Salvador, was our caddie. And ?? though his yardages were less convincing than Sarah Palin ?? a delightful chap he was too. (He sometimes got confused between ??one hundred and...yards? and ??two hundred and...yards? - which makes things difficult when you??re playing a course for the first time...although if that??s the worst of our worries then life??s not too bad).
Mick and I both opened our accounts with a cheeky birdie on number 1, which was promising. Little did we know that in the coming hours Wilshire??s bunkers would wreak havoc with our scorecard and ruin what might have been... Chris delivered some interesting history lessons on the way round, as well as a few life lessons on his experience in business ?? also very interesting stuff. Before today I??d had no idea that LA was an oil town; Chris pointed out old photos in the clubhouse later of the course in its infancy, with great big drilling platforms in the background. The tee markers on course are old drill bits, a nice touch.
From the fairways we saw the famous Hollywood letters up on the hill; Howard Hughes?? old house, which looked alright; and, as I mentioned before, Chris?? residences past and present. What a beautiful area; hard to believe we were smack bang in the middle of the sprawling urban jungle that is Los Angeles.
I must also mention the greens, for they might just be the best we??ve played on this year. Seriously. Fast, true and undulating without being tricked up ?? putting was a real treat today. A handful of putts rolled in from 20, 30 or 40 feet, marking a nice change from the putting drought that I??ve been plagued by of late. It wasn??t just me at it either ?? Mike also had his share, and Chris rattled one in for a memorable birdie on 16. Poor Chris will also remember Friday 21 May 2010 as The Day He Visited Every Single Bunker At Wilshire Country Club. Just as well he??s got a good sense of humour.
After taking two to get out of a sandtrap on consecutive holes my patience was beginning to wear thin ?? but our man Chris took it all in his stride (or at least did a great job in pretending!). I??ve never seen so many bunkers, and certainly wasn??t expecting the barrage of the buggers we were confronted with on ??most every tee. Being straight off the tee really is an advantage here, more so than a lot of the courses we??ve played. Wilshire??s not long, so if you stick the wee white thing on the fairway more often than not then, as us Kiwis say, ??you??ll be ??right.?
From memory my pal and me ended up with 78 and 77 respectively, which was respectable. Had those pernicious bunkers not interfered with play the numbers might??ve been closer to par, but there you go. C??est la vie.
In keeping with the trend I??ve set, of late, of making note of a particularly delicious snack or drink to remember the golf clubs we visit by, I will now very briefly describe for you The Best Hot Dog I??ve Ever Had. Period (as the locals say). When Thomas handed over a very plain looking offering across the counter (we paused after 9 for replenishment), I must say my heart sank. Then I discovered behind me a hodgepodge of treats destined for the inner walls of my dog. To my delight I found pickles, peppers, jalapenos, exotic looking yellow chillies, mustards and the like. By the time I??d worked my way along to the last container my dog was nearly 5 kilos in weight. But God it was tasty. Like the burger at Olympic (in San Fran) it was iconic. Speaking of iconic we were also fortunate enough to enjoy our first root beer (A&W, of course) on the deck once we finished. I fancy I??m going to be downing a few more of those before we leave New York on 12 July.
Chris really was a wonderful host, and a very interesting guy indeed. Hopefully he??ll make it down to NZ so we can repay his kind hospitality, although I??m not sure where we??ll be able to find a hot dog of comparable calibre. Chris was also generous enough to pledge a donation to The First Tee, to help nudge our donation bar (up there in the top right corner of the page you??re staring at) a little further to the right. If you??re reading this and can spare ten or twenty bucks, or even more, The First Tee could sure use ??em, to help kids from tough backgrounds get into golf and learn the lessons it teaches us.
Thanks again Chris ?? Day 141 was a real pleasure.
JP
For many weeks the words Bel Air, May 20 and Will Singleton were simply words on my computer screen.
It was not until I was driving Dodgy into Bellagio Road and the gated confines of Bel Air did I actually stop and think about where Jamie and I were getting ourselves in for on day 140 of puregolf2010.
The Bel Air Country Club is in the middle of LA and driving in we saw guys on the side of the road selling ??star maps? which I suspect showed tourists where to go to look at famous people??s houses. Only in LA. We passed on the maps and instead went straight to the golf course where many of the celeb??s enjoy some fresh air as they chase that little white ball.
We made our way through the locker rooms, where the attendant assured us that we should use Ben Crenshaw??s locker as it was highly unlikely that Ben was coming in today. We then had a bite of lunch and headed down to the practice range to warm up where we ended up hitting balls next to a chap who used to play a bit of tennis named Pete Sampras. Looked like he could hit a golf ball as well. A 3 handicapper I have since been reliably informed by his coach Paul Parlane.
When we got back up to the starting area we saw Dr Phil tee off number 10 and then some famous LA Laker walked into the clubhouse. Hopefully with all that name dropping I have set the scene?
So next allow me to elaborate on the Fine Gentleman that is Will Singleton. Will contacted us through our website and invited us to Bel Air as his guest. Will welcomed us like we were family and made our entire day at Bel Air one we wont forget. Will is born and bred in these parts and from what I could pick up his family have carved out quite a business or two here. Will is now a golf enthusiast and plays regularly in between keeping an eye on his ranches. He has a friend at the club who many of our kiwi readers would have heard of ?? Doug Batty. Doug does a bit of caddying here for Will and others at the club. A couple of years back Will actually sponsored Doug in his efforts as an up and coming professional golfer. So last year when Doug went right through the qualifying and ended up with a place in the US Open at Bethpage, there were a few Bel Air members who were watching Doug's progress as intently as the golfing community of NZ!
Doug caddied for JP and I which was, to be frank, rather bizarre. Doug is a pro and next to him we??re a couple of hacks. It was cool to see someone from back home and even cooler to say that us kiwi bro??s outnumbered the locals at Bel Air (in our group anyway!).
Making up the fourball was a brilliant human from Texas named Danny. Danny has been out in LA for a while but is a new member of Bel Air. His gig is in the real estate business ?? which in these parts ?? I??d say is a pretty good gig to get into. Danny is probably one of the first Texans we??ve played with and we??re starting to pick up on the different accents, his most definitely had a southern twang to it. Remarkably neither Danny or Will had traveled to NZ so we convinced them to make the trip ?? I think Danny even promised he would come down but perhaps that was after a couple of vino??s and while his mind was still on the dice game we were immersed in.
The Bel Air Golf course is a goodie. The front nine is par 36 but is probably more primed for scoring. The immediate feature of the course is the manicured water hazards that roll through the property. And these hazards come into play, for example on the short par five first hole where it trickles across the fairway in prime layup zone, or the par three third where the lake short and right is a daunting prospect. The 5th is another nice wee par three, and where one guy here a couple of weeks back shanked his first ball out of bounds and then holed out with his next for a 3!
The 8th hole is another short par 5 but the green is immediately surrounded in water short and left and is guarded by a bunker right. I was only hitting 7 iron in, but it was one of the most intimidating iron shots of the year. These hazards looked beautiful but were not so pleasant on the scoring! The story goes that many moons back Howard Hughes was late for a date with Catherin Hepburn so he landed his plane on this wide 8th fairway and made it in time. But the members got wind of this and Howard didn??t play another round at Bel Air CC.
The back nine was tough going and there was no room for erratic shots. Take the tee shot on both 12 and 14 ?? with a creek running down the left side of the fairway and a huge bunker and out of bounds on the right ?? you need to hold your nerve. Also the three par threes were tough going ?? probably the three flush shots I hit on the back nine and I needed all of a 3,4 and 5 iron to get to the pin.
And so this round finished, but not yet were we done with the Bel Air CC experience as we were introduced to locals and sat outside the clubhouse talking with these fine men. One chap, who Will called ??Pro?? came across for a chat with the two kiwi guests. This fellow named Eddie Merrins had recently (2002) retired after 41 years of the pro at Bel Air. He is a bit of a legend in the golfing world through his coaching of the golf team at UCLA and recently has been inducted into the US Golf Hall of Fame. Some of the names he has coached aren??t too bad either: Crenshaw, Vijay Singh, Corey Pavin, Hale Irwin, Ray Floyd etc etc etc.
So there we sat looking out across the bright lights of LA, drinking vino and smoking cigars until late in the night with our phones off and neglecting our future arrangement but putting the world at rest with our new friends. We were even taught how to play liars dice. A quality game. A few hours talking with real people every day is a great way to get a good impression of this country. Huge thanks to Will for making all this possible and contacting us through our website. A day we wont forget!
After playing Cypress Point yesterday (and a mystery hole at another course somewhere ??round these parts, which will remain anonymous), we could be forgiven for thinking that anything else would pale in comparison. But we??d be wrong. Spyglass Hill ?? also part of the Pebble Beach mecca/complex ?? is phenomenal. And brutal, in equal measures.
Old Pro Larry O / Chief was again our generous host, as he was on Saturday up at Stanford. Larry??s been a member down here for 7 or 8 years, and kindly brings his pals along from time to time (saving them a whopping green fee of US$375!). On this bluebird Wednesday morning (which for some reason is reminding me of that Simon & Garfunkel song, ??Wednesday morning 8 a.m.? - or was it 3 a.m.?), Larry also brought down a delightful gentleman by the name of John Schiro: a Californian who??s had a good life in the golf industry, and has recently retired.
We were late. ??HURRY YOUR ASSES UP!? blared Larry??s New York brogue across the carpark... ??F*#king Kiwis...?. Gotta love this guy; at 76 he??s still got a mouth like a sailor. He said if we were another minute or two late he would??ve played without us ?? and knowing Larry (albeit only for a few days), he would??ve too! The self-proclaimed crotchety old sod also made it known that this would be the first time he??s played golf with a guy still wearing his pyjamas (my very suave LoudMouth ??Hamptons? pants). Nothing gets past him.
For days on end we??ve been warned that Spyglass is a monster, particularly from the tips. The toughest course ??round ??ere for sure. Being the idiots that we are ?? idiots that like a challenge ?? we stepped up to the tips despite gentle suggestions from John that we consider playing from the golds. Not a bit of it, but thanks anyway John. Full glory, and aw that. I hit a pull draw into the rough and start to question whether it was such a good idea after all.
The 1st is a ripper of a downhill dogleg left par 5, at about 565 yards or something like that. When you round the bend the Pacific sits up at you on the horizon, with Cypress Point away to your left and Monterey Peninsula CC on your right. Not a bad opening scene. It gets better too, as we snake through the dunes on 2 thru 5. Jaw dropping views of the ocean and Cypress; and some pretty dam tough golf to boot.
3 is a classic little par 3 (see pic below) that plays severely downhill towards the deep blue sea. I was bamboozled by the oncoming wind and ended up over-clubbing ?? big mistake. My punch 7 iron sailed directly over the stick and ended up in what can only be described as A Bloody Awful Spot. As it turned out I was delighted to even get the club onto the ball, and walked off with a 5. Mike had more sense and hit it to the middle of the green, yielding a pretty straightforward 2 putt par. Larry??s banter was quiet for a few rare moments as he chopped and struggled through ice plant, tussock and sand. But it wouldn??t be long before he sparked up again and got stuck in ?? great stuff.
I won??t do a hole-by-hole in depth analysis because you??ll all hate me for it. But I must mention the 4th pic below), because I??ve never seen a hole like it. From the tee you try to find the slightly raised fairway that doglegs down to the left, parallel to the Pacific. There??s scrub on both sides of it, so the line is key. We both pick the wrong line, but my ball ends up lost. Anyway that??s by the by ?? what is interesting is the green. At 5 paces wide and probably 60 long, it??s like a bent coffin that a giraffe would use. It slopes severely down hill from the fairway; has 2 tiers; and has a little pot bunker at the back to catch anything long. Bowl-like contours bring slightly erroneous approaches skirting across from side to side like a pinball, and don??t do you any favours in the backspin department. You??ve just gotta see this thing to believe it.
You??ve also gotta see the houses around here to believe them. How all these folks accumulated the greenbacks to buy these mansions I will never know. And with views of Spyglass and Cypress, they??re just about every golfer??s dream I suspect. If any of the owners of the houses I??m talking about are reading this blog ?? on the off chance ?? I??d be more than happy to house sit for you during your next vacation. (You Kiwis back home will note I used the word ??vacation?, rather than holiday. This, as with other words like ??attorney? instead of lawyer, is an attempt to interact with Americans on their own terms on their turf ?? much like you have to do with the French, if you don??t want them to spit in your baguette).
Spyglass really beat us up. After the 5th you leave the dunes and weave through an ancient forest packed with thousands of massive ball stopping pines. The par 4s are long, and if you don??t hit the fairway ?? which is no mean feat from the back markers ?? you can quickly find yourself staring down double bogey or worse. God knows I did, on more occasions than I??d care to count or share with you lot!
Thankfully some golf was played by our playing partners ?? particularly by John. He??s off about a 7, from memory, but hit the ball gun barrel straight on the whole. John??s also been involved behind the scenes in supporting The First Tee, and had some sage words of advice for us in the context of our fundraising quest. It was interesting too hearing about his career in the golf industry, and with the now-defunct Waterford Crystal. He said that golf??s been good to him; that he??s been lucky. I reckon he??s just done well because he??s a very nice guy indeed, and not silly either. His recipe for success ?? and I hope he doesn??t mind me sharing this ?? was to provide a service and not ask people for anything. Well, that, and a lot of hard work. Anyway he was great craic.
After limping off the 18th green ?? beaten up, washed ?? we headed into the members?? clubhouse and Larry very kindly shouted us a burger. Not a bad burger it was too ?? although not in the same league as the one we had at Olympic last week (which remains #1 in the rankings). Pardon the pun, but we chewed the fat for a good hour or so, then got our things together and boosted down the 101 to LA. Dodgy served us well, and got us there in one piece. At roughly 6 hours it wasn??t a quick zip ??round the corner, but sharing the driving 50/50 makes life a lot easier. While Mick drove I had a nap in the back, and caught a few glimpses of the California coast. Really a nice way to travel.
Thanks again to Larry for having us at Spyglass, and for lunch. And thanks to John for your words of wisdom and very enjoyable company. Look forward to seeing you gents down under in January!
JP
Photos to follow shortly...
There are days in life when the Gods really smile on you; when you can??t quite believe that you??re in the moment you??re in, just how lucky you really are. Today was one of those days. The first thing I want to say is a heartfelt thank you to Craig, the gentleman who kindly hosted us as his guests at Cypress Point ?? one of the most phenomenal places on earth. I hope some day I??m in a position to make possible experiences for other people like Craig did for us on 18 May 2010. Really we owe him a huge debt of gratitude.
The second thing I want to say, before I launch into a gushing rant about this hallowed parcel of golfing paradise, is another thank you ?? this time to a man whom we??ve known for even less time than we have known Craig. I mentioned Liam Doust in Monday??s blog; he??s the gentleman who contacted us out of the blue a few days ago, after reading about us in the SF Chronicle, offering his hospitality. Well on this fine morning Liam rose at the crack of dawn with us, cooked us an amazing ??you??re-about-to-play-the-best-golf-course-on-earth? omlette, brewed us a strong coffee and gave us directions to the course. When we returned in the early evening, Liam took us down to The Beach Club (a private club he belongs to that sits adjacent to the 17th at Pebble) for a beer, swim, spa and shower (we also had a dip in the Pacific, on a strip of beach between the 4th and the 17th holes...more about that later). Then he cooked us up a barbeque dinner at his home and shared with us a beautiful bottle of pinot noir that his family vineyard ?? in the Awatere Valley of New Zealand ?? produces (Doust-Cimino). Truly some of the most amazing hospitality I??ve ever received ?? again, from a guy we??ve known for a couple of days. Liam, thanks again ?? hopefully we can repay your hospitality next time you??re down under.
And so to Cypress Point, ranked #2 in the world by Golf Digest. Mike??s put together a video blog of the day, which will tell a better story than a few hurried words of mine can. The atmosphere and beauty of the place can??t be captured by my modest vocabulary, or even by our pretty flash camera. But we??ll do our best to paint y??all a wee picture. (When we get ??round to writing a book after we complete this journey we??re on, I expect 18 May will have a whole chapter devoted to it; this is the abridged ??on the run in the back of a car en route to LA? version).
We head to Cypress along 17 Mile Drive via Pebble Beach, where we grab a couple hundred bucks out of an ATM for the compulsory caddy fees (c. $70-$100 each). We??re running on time, but only just. It??s a misty morning but the sun??s trying to break through. The past few days have been freezing cold and foggy; we??re praying those clouds lift. As we pull into the car park, they do (well, not at that very minute ?? I??m not suggesting clouds part for us...but you get the picture, things started looking up).
Forgive me for stating the obvious, but we??re pulling into the very small car park ?? right in front of the starter??s hut, putting green and clubhouse ?? in Dodgy, our 1988 Dodge Ram Family Wagon. There aren??t any other cars like ours in sight ?? just a few Mercs, BMWs, and the odd Toyota. Maybe not a grand entrance, but an entrance all the same. Dodgy is parked smack back in front of the clubhouse. We??re worried that if we step out of the car a gentleman will appear out of nowhere and politely suggest that we??re in the wrong place; that we should turn around. He doesn??t appear, and we reach the starter??s hut unscathed. So far, so good.
Our pal Robert Kaufman??s in there, with his buddy Steve who would join us on the day. Robert??s been playing pranks on Steve for years, telling him he??s got them a game at Cypress. Very cruel. When Robert called a week or two ago to let him know about today, Steve doesn??t believe him...you know, the boy who cried wolf and all. But here they both were, just as excited as we were. This place??ll do that to you. The other non-members ?? who are all members?? guests; you can??t just turn up and play here ?? are in the same boat; smiles all round.
Keith and Riley in the pro shop are incredibly relaxed and welcoming, and put us instantly at ease. Once you??re here, you??re treated like royalty ?? whether you??re a CEO of the Bank of America or a janitor from Oakland. I like that. With half an hour until our tee time, we take our time to change our shoes in the locker room; grab a few cards, ball markers, pencils, etc; and have a putt or two before we get started.
From the hustle and bustle of the caddy squadron camped by the starter??s hut emerges Ray, who would ??double bag? for Michael and me today. Ray is an amazing chap; I could write a whole blog just about the man himself. Anyway he??s been caddying at Cypress for 33 years (some have been there for 50+), so knew exactly how we were feeling, and importantly what to do to put us at ease. Namely, make a lot of jokes. He was hilarious, from start to finish. Not to mention a dam fine caddy, on the golfing front. Granted he??s the first caddy I??ve ever had, but I can??t imagine they could get any better. Just a true gentleman, and a barrel of laughs. It??s not overstating the case to say he lifted a special experience up a notch or two, to a once-in-a-lifetime one.
When the time comes, Mike steps onto the blue tees and takes counsel from Ray on what on earth he should do. The mist is still hanging low, but the sun??s doing its best to burst through ?? creating a luminescent, almost blinding glow, straight ahead down the 1st. Over the Cypress tree on the right, or just inside it, are the instructions. Mike blocks one O.B. and takes the permitted mulligan (it??s tradition here to have a mulligan on 1 if you need it) and flushes it 280 yards down the middle. I take aim then hook one onto the 14th fairway; take my mulligan but hook it less severely into the trees; and end up taking the first ball from the wrong fairway. Playing the courses we??re playing we don??t have the nerves problems your Average Joe gets when he tees off 1 at a good track ?? but today was a different story; we could hardly hold onto the club we were so wired!
The first few holes are a bit of a blur. At that time we??re trying to absorb the experience; get a feel for the course; and play some decent golf. Mike succeeds and is 2 under par after 5 holes (including a couple of lip out birdie putts that could??ve seen him 4 under thru 5 on another day!); I make up the numbers but am having a whale of a time with Ray & co. Robert and Steve are getting to know their caddy ?? Louis, who??s been at Cypress a month longer than Ray ?? and doing their best to hit the ball properly. But as I said, a blur.
After number 1, 2 thru 7 snake up and down through the forest before you see the Pacific again. They??re all great holes, but 4 is a pretty remarkable one. From the tee you see a swathe of bunkers that frame a gentle double dogleg which climbs some 10 yards or so. But when you get to the green (hopefully in one piece, for two), you look back down the hole towards the ocean and can??t see one sand trip. MacKenzie at his best. Apparently the bunkers were used as camouflaged cover during the war ?? a story that I??m not sure whether to believe or shoot a wry smile at. It came from Ray so you never know.
Anyway 8 and 9 are some of the best holes I??ve ever played. On 8 you hit a blind tee shot over the dunes to a sunken fairway that climbs sharply upwards and right to the green. There was a lovely moment when Ray gave Michael his instructions from the tee, which went something like this: ??Now Tiger and Duval took it over that right hand tree, all the way to the green, from back here... But we??re gonna try a different line...? His comic timing would rival the late Tommy Cooper, so he had us all in stitches. To be fair the wind was puffing slightly in our faces, so the Tiger line was never on anyway. Ha!
Once you reach the fairway ?? which is sandwiched by white sandy scrub on both sides ?? you play a short iron or even a wedge up to a small bowl like green, from which you can look out over the rest of the course. Just a beautiful spot. I underclubbed; ended up just off the front edge; and had the ineptitude to take 5. Mike had 8 feet down the hill for birdie but missed low side. Never mind ?? a truly great golf hole.
On 9 you have a couple of options. At 289 yards gorillas can get there, but there are risks involved (of course). The lay up isn??t easy either, with said scrub on both sides, and a couple of waste bunkers in there too just to remind you that you??re at Cypress. The green seems only a few paces wide; is raised about 5 yards from the fairway; and runs at 45 degrees from south-east to north-west on my imaginary compass. At this moment the mist was still flirting with us, adding to the mystique of this magnificently designed wee number.
When we reached 12 Ray said, ??now the golf??s really about to start? - as if playing the first 11 holes at Cypress Point was somehow just a warm up hack in preparation for what was to come. Looking back I can see where he was coming from.
12 is (or was) Ben Hogan??s favourite hole. (You??ll see these all labelled in Goldy??s video segment, so I won??t bore you with details about every hole). 13??s a classic that??s pretty similar to 12 ?? a downhill short-ish par 4 that veers to the right (although each has a very different dynamic around the greens). Coming down 13 fairway you??re staring down the Pacific Ocean, and pinching yourself ??cos you know what??s about to confront you.
14 might just be one of my favourite holes in the world (it??s up there with 6 at Royal Melbourne West). By now you??re playing parallel with the rocks, and heading along the coast until the 18th tee. The fairway ahead is wide, but it??s all about angles, so you need to play your tee shot middle-left to open up the green up the hill. A couple of amazing old Cypress trees frame the gap; one of them has a branch that dives into the ground and emerges again as if it were a different tree. Mike ends up under a greenside Cypress labyrinth but manages to dig it out to 10 feet while I??m standing behind him filming with one hand and taking a pee with the other!
On the walk to 15 our hearts start to race a bit more. As Ray quips, ??the greatest walk in golf?. When you get round the corner and the infamous hole reveals itself, a 6 feet wide grin grips us each of us ?? and being in America, we all throw a few high 5s around. Ha. The camera, of course, gets a good work out, before we get down to business. I knock a wedge to 20 feet and Mike flies the green. Check out the photos on Mike??s segment...even with our inadequate photography efforts, they??ll blow you away.
16??s up there with 17 at Sawgrass and 17/18 at St. Andrews as being one of the most famous holes in the golf world. At 240 yards over the ocean to a green perched on a narrow isthmus ?? with drop offs on both sides, and on this occasion into the wind ?? it??s a monster. Between 15 green and 16 Ray points out an old ??hobo hut? in the forest ?? right on top of the rocks ?? that someone he knows used to live in for 6 months a long time ago. Modest it may have been, but the view when that chap woke up every morning couldn??t have been too bad. He also points out the members?? suggestion box: a rocky atoll about 800 yards from shore...
I need to hit my 3 wood right out of the screws, without draw or fade, if I??m going to get the ball up there. As fate would have it the ball draws off to the left ?? aided by the wind ?? and ends up on the beach of a little cove (where I find a few other balls too...). Mike??s 2 iron drifts left too, but catches the ice plant 10 yards from the green, leaving him a tricky hack out. Robert flushes a driver to the front of the green ?? pre-empting another few high 5s ?? but 3 putts disappointingly for 4. He won??t forget that drive in a hurry though. Steve drives it on there on his second attempt ?? a shot he won??t forget any time soon either. I should add that after my first attempt I had another two ?? neither of which were any more successful! Ne??er mind.
By now the adrenalin is really pumping, and we??re wishing the moment wouldn??t pass us by so quickly. But there are members behind, and holding them up on their course is like leaving the toilet seat up: you just don??t do it. 17 is just as good as the holes before it, but I??ll spare you the rant. 18 gets a lot of flack for being weak, but I liked it. When you climb up the fairway to the green and look to your left, the beautiful clubhouse is perched between a few trees and the 16th sits out there below you. An amazing place, truly. You can??t go in there unless you??re accompanied by a member, and have a jacket and tie. We weren??t and didn??t, so the hut was off limits ?? maybe a nice thing, to leave a little bit of mystery at Cypress, keeping us guessing.
On 18 I have 8 or 10 feet; my last chance to snatch a birdie, after having played and putted like a donkey all day. I miss. Mike makes a good up and down for par, and shoots a glorious 75 (3 over par). He lost 3 shots in the last 4 holes, and lipped out a bit on the front 9 ?? so you have some idea of how he played. Robert, Steve and I were on a different planet, but had an absolute ball nonetheless. Between the beauty of this land; Dr. MacKenzie??s brilliance; the company of my playing partners; and Ray??s banter, it was a few hours of absolute bliss I will never forget.
All good things must come to an end. Don??t worry, this blog will come to an end soon too.
Steve very generously took us down to Pacific Grove and shouted us a jalapeno burger and beer at 17th Street Grille. We??ve been eating more burgers than we would care to ?? from a cholesterol perspective ?? but couldn??t refuse and savoured every bite. Go there, if you can, and have the jalapeno burger - with a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Do the same after you??ve played Cypress, and you have the recipe for an unbeatable day. We farewelled the boys and thanked them both for all they??d done for us ?? particularly Robert, who??d arranged 4 games of golf for us over the past week.
I mentioned before about our episode at The Beach Club with Liam. That couple of hours deserves a few partings words before I leave you. Drained and overwhelmed, we arrived ?? after getting very lost in the maze of streets around Pebble ?? early in the evening, when the sun was blazing. Liam introduced us to a few of his pals, one of whom is Ken Coleman (or ??The Old Mench of the Sea? as he likes to be called). Ken??s a retired doctor who studied over at Trinity College in Dublin; has a severe penchant for Irish women; owns a dog called Bella that defacated on the 6th fairway during our walk out to the 7th; and lives on the 18th at Spyglass. He??s also a very interesting gentleman indeed (he??s a Mench for goodness sake!), and took a grand off Oscar De La Hoya on a casual bet that neither Oscar nor any of his pals would make birdie on 17 (at Pebble). (Ken was on the patio while they were passing by the tee, and struck up the yarn leading to the bet). Oscar??s agent ?? also in the fourball ?? pulled the cash out of his jacket pocket on the spot!
The four of us walked in the evening sun along 4, 5, 6 and up to the famous 7th hole. With the US Open approaching, all hell was breaking loose, with tents, grandstands and the like being erected by 6 million contractors. Amidst the melee we marched on up there to the tee ?? sand wedges in hand; ball each in the pocket ?? and delivered one down the hill. The Old Mench of the Sea, after initially refusing to have a hit, knocked it calmly to a foot. He doesn??t play any more these days, apparently. And do you know why? Because he made an albatross at a nearby club, and figured he may as well quit while he was at the top. On that day he was expecting the bar tab about to hit him was going to hurt. But there was only one guy in the bar...and it was Clint Eastwood (who owned the joint). So he bought Clint a drink. His order? ??Orange juice, junior.? Classic. (Clint also has a house and land right on the coast between Cypress and Pebble, and is a partner in the Pebble Beach Company).
But I digress. Atop the 7th, just in front of the tees, I also found one of my Top 10 Spots On A Golf Course In The World To Have A Pee ?? a segment that??s going to be delivered in due course. Right now I??ve snapped 2 or 3 that no doubt will make the final cut. To spend a penny under the evening sun on 7 ?? on the day I also played Cypress Point ?? was memorable, if not a little sacrilegious.
Liam, Ken, Mike and me got back to The Club without being arrested, I??m pleased to report. We had a spa and swim in the pool ?? both of which are outdoors on the deck and overlook the bay, with the 4-7 stretch on your left and 17 on your right. Not a bad view. Not a cloud in the sky. Then madness overcame us ?? and we charge into the ocean, which can??t have been more than 18 degrees. Liam does the staunch thing and wades in slowly; Mike and me are less concerned about our rep and more about our health, so we get straight in and straight out.
I could go on about this day, but if you??re still reading this far it??s an amazing feat on your part. So I??ll leave you with this little something that I??ve learned. If you put yourself out there, and reach out to people, anything can happen.
Thank you again to Craig for giving us an amazing gift; to Liam & family for your incredible hospitality; to Ray for being the best caddy in the world (we??ll see you in Scotland in July); and to Robert and Steve for everything. You??ve all made a couple of ambitious young lads feel truly privileged. It??s only Day 138, and we??ve got a long way to go, but this day will stay with us to the grave. I can guarantee you that.
JP
Last night was our first in Dodgy (our Dodge Ram van). After finishing up at Pasatiempo we headed down into Santa Cruz, with absolutely no idea of where we were staying. Between the 7/11, Ferrell??s Donuts, McDonalds and Starbucks we found enough wireless connection to send/receive a few emails ?? and to check the news back home on stuff.co.nz! However we still couldn??t (or at least didn??t) find a place to stay, and didn??t fancy parking up in a parking lot. So we boosted through to Silicon Valley. As you do.
Cinnabar Hills is in the Valley, some 20 minutes or so south of San Jose. We found the course at about 11.30pm ?? it??s in the middle of nowhere ?? then parked up as close as we could, which ended up being a spot about 1.5 km up the road. A nice spot it was too. The state trooper that banged his 6 foot long torch on our window just as we??d got to sleep wasn??t too impressed. He probably thought we were glue sniffers. We??re not.
Anyway I did my best ??yes, sir; no, sir? routine, and saw him off within a minute or two. Eventually I got back to sleep and awoke in a totally different position to the one I remembered being in a few hours before. Dodgy Dealings. It was all a very surreal affair.
The good thing about making the trip to the golf course the night before was that there wasn??t far to go in the morning. In fact I could have freewheeled there. Once we checked in we each had a quick shower (much needed after sleeping in an overly thick sleeping bag) and made our way to the starter??s hut. Larry ?? the starter ?? was a tremendous human being; one of those immediately approachable chaps whom you wouldn??t imagine would have a bad word to say about anyone. He loved New Zealand, which got him a big foot in the door in our books.
We hooked up with Brad, a local dude who sells back office information management systems. (Not as boring as it sounds.) He was great company, and hit the ball a country mile. At 32 he??s still young enough to be considered ??our age?, so it was nice to hear a bit about how things work over here from that perspective.
The course was a bit of a slogger??s track, in that it played pretty long and damaged your scorecard through brute force rather than subtle trickery. What you see is what you get. Unless you have bad eyesight, or there??s mist around (as there was for us). Darn it was cold! The golden California weather we??d been promised was nowhere to be seen ?? although as long as it??s OK tomorrow at Cypress I??ll be happy as Larry (pardon the pun).
I??d love to play Cinnabar again on a bluebird day, because I reckon the surrounding views would be spectacular. Almost every tee is elevated, and the track is etched into rolling hills in the Valley. There??s also another 9 we didn??t play (27 would??ve been too much in the conditions...) - a pretty huge property actually.
Despite my rather pathetic golf I managed to find solace in the lemon and cranberry cookies that our pal Andrew (whom we met yesterday at Pasatiempo) had baked for us. Nothing like a bit of home baking to cheer you up in your time of need! Almost as good as my girlfriend??s baking...and she??s pretty good...
From Cinnabar our next stop was Monterey town, on the north side of the eponymous Peninsula of the same name. At 90 minutes down the coast it was a comfortable drive. Although we had a to-do-list we didn??t get much done, so just had a brief look around the place tourist styles. Very nice. Then we met up in Pebble Beach with a chap who has turned out to be one of the most interesting and hospitable people we??ve come across all year.
Liam read about us in the San Fran Chronicle last week and contacted us to offer his help when we were down in his neck of the woods. As you all know we jump at these opportunities ?? given our journey is as much about meeting new people as anything else, and given we??re in a foreign country and need all the help we can get! Anyway Liam met us at the Lodge at Pebble; took us for a beer in the famous Tap Room (the taste of Sierra Nevada pale ale will forever be synonymous with this place for me); drove us up and down 17 Mile Drive, giving us a 6 star tour of this quite phenomenal property; had us into his home for dinner (a beautiful pasta his wife, Courtenay, cooked); and let us park Dodgy in his driveway to rest our heads over night. All this from a guy we met just a few hours ago. He??s an absolute gentleman, and we owe him and his wife a huge debt of gratitude. Indeed I??m even using his wireless to post this blog right now!
Tomorrow morning when the alarm goes off it??ll be time to ready ourselves for the most anticipated day of the year. Day 138 at Cypress Point. The last week has been pretty overwhelming, in terms of the places we??ve seen, the courses we??ve played, and above all the people we??ve met. Tomorrow I expect will be the same ?? although perhaps the excitement levels might crank up a notch or two...it??s not every day you get to play the 2nd ranked golf course in the world.
Let??s hope we get a good sleep!
JP
Dr Alistair MacKenzie, the great golf course architect was a bit of a lad. He grew old drinking his scotch in a place one hour south of San Francisco called Pasatiempo. Mac had a great fondness for this course as it was one of his finest designs and after our round there today I can see why he could never grow tired of playing here and living in this peaceful setting.
The serenity was contrasted today, not with our van ??Dodgy?? but with our attire. In particular, our golfing pants which we have been hooked up with from a new supporter of puregolf2010 ?? a company called loudmouth golf. They have other upstanding persons promoting their kit such as John Daly, Michael Hill (Jeweller) and the Norweigen curling team. So clearly we fit the mould... What am I saying, these pants have no mould, they are unique and Loud! If you want to make a statement on the golf course check them out. Even better they fit like a glove (well at least the one pair I could find in my tiny waist size do).
Jamie started with a bang today. A big bang. Into the trees initially, but a smart play to pitch out and he was standing over a sand wedge for his third into the par four first hole. ??Shot mate?, I said as I saw it sail up only to lose sight of the pill as it landed on the slightly elevated green. We walked up and his ball was nowhere to be found ?? except for the hole! The longest shot ever to be drained by JD Patton. Awesome stuff and one way to make birdie on the first hole!
Jamie paired up the four-ball today with a chap named Andrew Guillen. Andrew is a friend of Robert Kaufman and is from our part of the world. In fact, meeting Andrew at Pasatiempo GC proves how small the world really is ?? he is an uncle of a friend of ours who we went through school with in Christchurch ?? Sacha Van Beek (who incidentally is a Top Notch jazz singer these days, and her grandfather and Andrew??s dad Sam is a champion cricketer who played for both NZ and the West Indies). So Jamie and Andrew took on myself and Robert and needless to say that after JP??s heroics on the first RK and I were one down.
Two down on the third tee, after watching our man Andrew (off a 12 handicap) make a solid tap in par tap after hitting it to 15 feet on a 420 yard par four?. The third hole (below with Andrew) was brutal. 235 yards, uphill bunkers everywhere. MacKenzie style bunkers. Two in your face which don??t come into play unless you skank it along the ground but they definitely have a huge visual effect on the hole. The green was a long sloping beast, and the greens here are quick (although not as quick as some days as we were told by a member and puregolf2010 blog reader whom we met at the beginning of the round who goes by the name of Rob Babcock and publishes a ??where-to-golf-in-the-UK guide??). This hole was so gnarly and the slope around the hole so penal, that I won the hole with a 4. This proved to be one of 8 fours that I made on the front 9 (which looks good but isn??t so flash when there are three par 3??s on the nine, and the 9th score on the card is a double bogey 6).
I??m going to skip over most of the front nine, not because it wasn??t tremendous ?? indeed it had some quality holes such as the signature 6th where MacKenzie lived and a par five which looks like you should take 6 iron off the tee, but we all managed to hit the fairway with driver. The narrow fairway is unique for this course as most of the fairways are very wide and true to MacKenzie form this golf course is a game of angles and hitting it down the side of the fairway that best opens up the green. But the 6th is narrow and has OOB rolling down the left ?? something Jamie learnt after some intense sledging from Robert and Andrew caused him to duck hook his 2 iron into the great mans fence where it duly popped back out onto the path for a free drop. Jamie and Andrew were Red Hot through the front nine and combined to make three birdies in the first five holes but a couple of fours on the very reachable par fives (6 and 9) helped Robert and I to only be two down at the turn.
Which quickly turned into four down and despite a courageous comeback the match ended on the 17th green with a comprehensive 2 and 1 victory. The story, however of Pasatiempo really begins on the back nine, non-golf fans skip over this section, but for the purist here??s how it goes:
10: The tee shot is over a canyon and then the fairway slopes severely down and to the left. From the top of the hill (unless you really bomb driver) the approach drops in elevation to a green which slopes from back to front and from the bunker long you??re dead to a back pin placement, unless you can roll in a 20 footer to save par like JP.
11: An ultimate two shot hole. Only 400 yards but stroke 5 on the card. Sting it down the neck of the fairway on the right ?? a draw will end up in the hazard, right is OOB. But you can hit it 280 yards before you run out of room and from there it??s just a 9 iron or so. The green is guarded by bunkers and crazy swales - and today the pin was on the top of the severe false front. Both Andrew and Jamie had 20 foot putts from above the whole which upon rolling past the hole, just, then rolled 20 metres off the green and down the fairway. I hit it to 2 feet for the only uphill putt on the green and made birdie.
12: Where I got ??MacKenzied?. Wide fairway. Short hole. 2 iron and then wedge. Sure.. The slopes on the green were truly baffling ?? somehow despite the green facing into you, it actually slopes away from the front of the green? I sure didn??t see it for my putt which I thought was dead but ended 10 feet past. Jamie and Andrew were both spooked and missed their easy birdie putts. Fortunately none of us went down the left side of the fairway which would have made the approach very difficult.
13: A par five which if you hug the left side is reachable it in two. Of course there are bunkers on the left so you don??t feel inclined to do this. Around the green ?? well there is sand. Check it.
14: A hole that I couldn't take enough photographs of. It's not the signature hole, but it has an awesome trench running down the left side of the fairway which gives it a unique character. The trench is still part of the fairway, but it is definitely an advantage to hit your drive onto the flat part to the right (of course there is OOB just to the right of the fairway). Easy par, difficult birdie some would say of this hole. The green slopes away and to the right, of course the opposite way from the fairway (there is a name for this feature?). Classical par four.
15: Gorgeous wee par three which is set amongst the trees with amazing bunkering short, right and long. There is a gully with a hazard short if you really chunk it. The pin was right on the edge of a slope. I lagged a 20 footer for birdie, twice, for my four. Anything past the hole and the ball rolled 30 feet away.
16: This is the signature hole. A blind tee shot over a hill which bounds your ball left towards rough and a hazard. We all took a wild guess and smoked it down there somewhere ignoring the pro's advice to lay back a bit. The approach - wow. Well it needs a picture so when you read this, make sure to come back to this blog post for the visual aids. The green is elevated and slopes at you and is massive. It is like a giant dart board that you have to ping it at from the elevated approach back on the fairway. There is a ravene short and right and ginormous bunkers on the right and left. It looks like the ball cannot stop on the green, but there are three or four tiers that they could probably put the pin on. Today it was middle left on a small hollow that wouldn't have been larger than a Coolamon green (20 feet across tops). Jamie and Andrew both were wizards to leave their chips from the top tier within 6 feet.
17: An innocuous par four that spat a few of us out. Mentally exhausted from thinking my way around this course and you can't stop for a breath on this straight away par four 17th. Short left for two the green actually has the most revolting slope from left to right. Doesn't look like it mind you. Three of us putted from about 10 feet.
18: Pasatiempo finishes with a par three. A spectacular par three down hill to a green that slopes crazy loudmouth styles from back to front, and of course has MacKenzie bunkers everywhere (and a giant ravene) to make it just that little bit more inviting. No place to chill out at the end of your round - as the entire back nine is..
JP and I were going along OK but the last few holes really nailed us as we started to get beaten by the greens. Final scores were M:78, J:82. We finished the day with a drink or two in the bar and then were given some home cooked biscuits by Andrew - what a chief champ boss captain skipper. Just what you need after 5 months on the road.
Thanks to Pasatiempo and Robert and Andrew and LOUDMOUTH golf for making this all possible!
On several occasions this year we??ve had the privilege of playing with a Legend. Now Legends are just human beings, granted, but nevertheless they add something a bit special to the mixer. Today the Legend in question was one Lawrence Patrick O??Neill. He??s known to most as Larry O??Neill, and to his friends as Chief (he was a chief petty officer in the US Navy for years). To me he??s ??Crotchety Old Sod? (I told him after the round I??d get my own back on him)!
Larry was the Director of Golf at Stanford University, which is in Palo Alto ?? an hour or so south of San Francisco. Some of y??all might??ve heard of it; apparently it??s not a bad educational institution. During Chief??s tenure the likes of Tiger Woods, Notah Begay and Casey Martin passed through this pretty phenomenal place. He also caddied for Tom Watson, and is more or less friends with Everyone ?? even some of the folks we know back in Aotearoa, and some we don??t know but know of (like Murray Deaker, or Mooray Deeker as Larry pronounces it). When you meet Larry you immediately understand why he??s a Man of The People ?? the old fella is ??a good lad? in the eyes of men and a dangerous charmer in the eyes of women. At 76 he??s got more game than Russell Brand. But I don??t want to give the old sod a big head so I??ll move on.
Larry teed up a game for us at...you guessed it...Stanford University golf course. The privilege of playing it is reserved for faculty staff, current students and alumni (and guest of the above). It??s the stomping ground of The Golf Team, which happens to be #1 in the US more or less every year (with names like Woods & Watson on the honour boards, this won??t come as much of a surprise). At 8.00am the place was buzzing with that Saturday Morning Golf Feeling.
We did the pleasantries and met the fourth member of our group ?? a local gentleman by the name of Rick Corso, a Buick Vice-President. Rick like many others is a pal of Larry??s, and was unfortunate enough to draw the short straw in having to trudge round for 4 hours with us (a treacherous task he set about without complaint). ??Twas a shotgun start so we were lead out to the 9th, which must be the most difficult tee shot on the course. You??re required to thread a needle down an undulating dogleg right uphill fairway, with thick foliage on either side. Easy. A par each and we were on our merry way.
The Old Sod I mentioned before can still play a bit, and in fact played in a British Seniors Open not so long ago. I on the other hand was not having one of my best days (although ended up with a respectable 77), and it didn??t take long for Lawrence to get stuck in. The first exchange I remember went something like this: [in New York accent] ??Michael, were you a cricketer? You have fast hands... Jamie...I got one word for you ?? LOFT...? ??LOFT, Larry??, I enquired. ??Yeah LOFT?, cackled the crotchety old sod, ??Lack of ??Fu*%ing Talent!? Charming.
I waited a long time for the opportunity to sledge him back too, ??cos he kept flushing it. Wily??s probably an apt way to describe him. I better be careful what I say though, because he??s taking Mike and I to Spyglass Hill on Wednesday (where he??s a member)! To make matters worse he drained a pitch from 80 yards for eagle on our 16th hole, the 7th (pictured below). Goldy had already hit a colossal drive and a wedge to get on in 2 (it??s a par 5), and was looking good for eagle from 15 feet. When Larry drained his pitch the first words out of his mouth were, well, words I can??t repeat ?? but they were something along the lines of ??how??s your father??. Brilliant.
Rick was a perfect gentleman and told us a bit about life in the automobile business. He also puffed on a fair few cigars, the smoke from which was very seductive (although having woken up the morning after a Cuban the night before on many occasions, I know just what price you pay). When Larry shot off to give a 10-year-old Korean-American protégé a lesson after we finished, Rick very kindly shouted us a burger & chips in the grill ?? which was just what the doctor had ordered.
The course I should say a word or two about. Laid out in [FIND OUT], it??s had a good many years to mature. Beautiful big deciduous trees line each fairway, and block views to any neighbouring holes. In fact there are only two crossovers, so you very rarely catch a glimpse of anyone bar the groups in front and behind. Not only does this bring a sense of tranquility to your round (save for Larry??s Irish chirping), but it also adds a good measure of atmosphere to the holes, lifting your pulse a beat or two as you commence the downswing. I loved it.
In the spirit of camaraderie we played from the second to back tees, rather than the ??Stanford Tees? (i.e. Tips). This shaved a few hundred yards off what would be a pretty strong course, and even from our tees it was no walk in the park. Indeed birdies were few and far between ?? MG and I managed only 2 each. Chief didn??t drain any (nor did Rick), but then again he had an eagle.
It??d be remiss of me not to mention that on the signature hole par 3 14th (pictured below) ?? which is played across a ravine about 165 yards to psychotically tilted green ?? Larry??s had no less than four holes in one. 7 all up, in his career, and 4 of ??em were here. Not bad going. None of us made it to the green, and only I out of the four managed to get up and down for a par. Larry also took great delight in telling us about his eagle on the long par 4 18th too, which is also a grand hole. His playing partner on that day is a lovely lady he plays with often, with whom we had dinner tonight.
Pete & Jill, who are the old family friends that??ve very sportingly put us up for a couple of nights, invited a couple of pals of theirs over for a curry. This curry in question had turkey and chicken and egg in it, and was served with bananas and sultanas on the side. Very unusual, compared to the orthodox lamb saag or chicken madras I??m used to ?? but flippin?? delicious all the same. Sue, who??s the half Irish half South African that plays golf with Larry, came with her husband Johnny (a Norwegian anaesthetist, or anaesthesiologist as they call ??em in the US) and friend Rosie from Durban / London. Sitting around the table with Pete (who??s from Edinburgh, and has been friends with my dear Uncle Ian for 65 years) and Jill (who??s from London) was like sitting around a meeting of the United Nations. We had a blast. I think we covered everything from politics to religion to mother-in-laws to football and everything in between.
When the guests left Pete, Mike and I sat in Pete??s bar and put the world to rest for an hour or two with The Regimental Band of the Scots Guard and Black Watch blaring in the background. Ah the pipes... Last night Pete had taught us a few business fundamentals; tonight it was more contemporary philosophy. (He??s been a very successful businessman in his time, and was good enough to share a few pearls of the wisdom he??s acquired). There??s nothing like a good stimulating pow wow to round off a quality day like we??ve had today.
From the atmosphere of Stanford, to Larry??s wit, to Rick??s generosity and cigar smoke, to Jill??s cooking, to Johnny??s Norwegian humour and Sue??s Irish charm, to Pete??s endearing Scots brogue and business 501 lectures ?? it??s been a helluva day, Day 135. For the last 15 minutes I??ve been trying to Skype my beloved girlfriend in New Zealand ?? Angela ?? but the Mac is misbehaving. So I??m off to bed.
Thanks to Larry & Rick for a cracking few hours of golf; and to Pete and Jill for being tremendous hosts over the past few days. It really has been a special time.
Tomorrow we??re going to take on the eponymous Pasatiempo ?? MacKenzie??s self proclaimed masterpiece. Apparently the greens are small and have elephants in them, and there are more bunkers than Royal Melbourne. Gulp.
JP
We??re on the move again. Day 134 started with us packing all our kit up and into the Dodge van in preparation to leave San Francisco. We bid farewell to our host Fi (and what a host she has been!) and made our way along the freeway to the San Francisco Golf Club.
As we pulled in to this wonderfully traditional club, the Dodge was very much out of place. Our world is one of huge contrasts at the moment. So we parked on the edge of the carpark..
We were hosted at the club by an old friend of Jamie??s family named Peter Gardener. A real gentleman. Peter didn??t manage to play but made the trip around the course in a cart giving us various tips and imparting his deep local knowledge (learnt from 35 years of membership) along the way. He proved superb at reading putts and was even kind (or sympathetic) enough to give me a putting lesson. Definitely a man to be listened to, and I dare say he would have given us a lesson on how to play the course had he been able to. We're staying with Pete and his wife Jill tonight after golf which promises to be a fine evening of Scottish and English hospitality.
We were also joined by Mr Tom Klein, another member of SFGC and also the Chairman of the local First Tee chapter. Tommy has various strings to his bow, being a fine golfer, in the wine industry and was part of the inaugural US Eagles Rugby side in the 70's. They beat Canada, and even the NZ Universities side. Tom played with a caddy and we were told that all senior members take a caddy along for the walk. This is a hugely different experience to what we are used to down-under with a number of caddies hanging around by the first tee waiting for a bag for the day.
It was great to hear from Tom all about The First Tee in San Francisco. They have set up a satellite base at an urban high school to make the program more accessible for those kids who could really benefit from it. It sounds like the local board of 35 does quite an excellent job at fundraising to support the program here. The local chapter was initially set up by a gentleman named Sandy Tatum who was once the USGA chairman and from all accounts is another fine man.
Before I get into the golf let me digress. The photograph above with Peter (left) and Tom (right) is taken from a special part of the property. This is a plaque to recognise the last ever Duel in California (and possibly the US). The duel was between a local judge and the town sheriff. Two concrete blocks, 10 paces apart also sit below in the gully to the right of this short par three 7th to mark the exact places where the two men stood. I am not sure who survived, but the first bloke to fire, well, his gun didn't quite work so he was out of luck (and life). One of the members of SFGC recently salvaged the original gun and it is framed and up in the clubhouse, along with a raft of other amazing memorabilia.
And so we went to the golf on a damp and foggy San Francisco day. With the Olympic Club across Lake Merced we were in the thick of First Rate golfing country. (Below is actually a shot looking down the 10th hole - a strong par four measuring around 400 yards. Jamie and I both just flew over the bunkers on the right leaving a mid iron in.)
Despite being the third layout of the SFGC, the course has a very old feel to it. The grass is settled and lush, the rough is very thick and the bunkers settled. The design is our first experience of the work of Mr Tillinghast, who is a revered golf course designer in these parts. The story goes that when tasked with designing the course back in the 20??s he charged the club a fee of 100 pounds per day on top of as much scotch as he could drink. Sounds like he and Dr MacKenzie shared a few things in common!
The golf course is set in natural terrain that is perfect for golf ?? hence the 4 clubs within close proximity to here. When designed the course would have been sandy and the holes would have weaved through large sand hills, but over time the water supply has changed and it is now a lush course with deep green grass. The fairways here are as pure as we've encountered in the US.
An example of the atmosphere that the natural sand hills give the course is on the 8th hole. This par four plays through a gully and then sharply uphill to a raised green. As with most long holes on the course fairway bunkers make you really think about your tee shot. And of course each green is craftily protected by sand. But the bush-covered undulations on each side, like a gigantic halfpipe, really give this hole some atmosphere.
The course has recently been amended so that it more reflects its original design which had been tinkered with over the years. In particular a stretch on the back nine from 12 - 14 has been remodelled. This includes number 13 (below) which is called little tilly - a mere flip wedge from 130 yards onto the green but boy you need to be precise!
With the conditions as they were, you must need to strike the ball well to play this course as it plays long and hitting to the greens from the wet long rough is nigh on impossible. And Jamie hit it pure today - about as well as I have seen this year. He finished with a very respectable 77, +6. I had an 85 and came third in the split sixes match a wee way behind Tom.
Jamie's golf was even more impressive as there were no yardages and we were reliant on Tom??s caddy (and his friend Jack) to occasionally give us a distance to the pin. He also gave a few reads on the greens which did not always steer Jamie in the right direction! The greens have that traditional feel to them - no huge slopes but just subtle tilts which can make the greens very tricky to play if you are left on the short side, or above the hole. You need to take a second look at some putts or you can be made to look very foolish. The greens were not their speedy self today so the course was in a rather forgiving mood.
It was a real privilege to enjoy a round of golf here today, and a huge thank you to Peter, Tom and the membership for having us. SFGC has a small membership (around 320) and the club seemed to have a very strong sense of camaraderie amongst the members. We were introduced to numerous other golfers in the Friday Gang, and afterwards met a number of them in the clubhouse. The clubhouse has the most amazing old world charm to it, with dice games left right and centre, shoes that come out waxed and polished and some fine service. But really words will not do it justice and not having the hide (or stupidity) to take the camera in, I will leave you all with a picture of the clubhouse looking up the 18th hole and leave to your imagination as to what it's like on the inside.
Chisholm Park
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