Where to start? A couple of weeks back Dave Zunker ?? Strategic Marketing Consultant to the Hilton Head Chamber of Commerce / Top Guy from Minnesota ?? contacted us and chucked out there what turned out to be an inspirational idea. With the wealth of courses they have on the island, why not play a signature hole on 18 different golf courses? Ending on 18 at the iconic Harbour Town, of course. I needn??t tell you that we went for it.
Again Mick has put together a short video, because words alone simply don??t cut the mustard. A few things I??d like to share though about The Day (Day 158 of this mad adventure):
The folks in these parts are Incredibly Warm. From Dave (above) to Jessica (colleague at the Chamber who looks after PR) to Ryan (Tournament Sales Director for Heritage Golf, who own a bunch of courses ??round here) to everyone we met on this epic marathon of golf today ?? without exception wonderful people. Really enjoyed spending time with them.
An amazing feat of coordination and patience. The aforementioned humans in particular. They ferried us from course to course; from cart to cart; from the 18th at Harbour Town to dinner ?? and shared with us all things Hilton Head along the way. A huge effort ?? and one we??re really grateful for.
A special thank you to Suzie. Remember yesterday I told you about our camera being entrusted to a complete stranger (named Griffin)? Well, after a couple of phonecalls made on the back of speculative leads, somehow someone got in touch with Griffin??s household on our behalf (while we were out on the course). Somehow Suzie ?? Griffin??s mother ?? got wind of our story. Not only did she have the kind spirit to drop our camera at one of the golf courses we were playing, so we could pick it up, but she also baked us a batch of cookies ??because we??d been away from home for 6 months & needed some home cooking.? How amazing is that?!?! Definitely one of the more telling stories of human kindness we can draw from this adventure. So thank you Suzie for your wonderful gesture.
Ryan chose our 18 holes from a ??Kodak 18? standpoint ?? namely, he chose ones that looked pretty. Nice views, yes. But also a lot of lost balls! The scenic ones tend to be the nasty ones ?? something we certainly found out the hard way today. Dam you Ryan. Just you wait ??til you get to New Zealand ?? I??ll have my revenge.
Gators ain??t that intimidating. But then again I haven??t had a fight with one yet.
18 Harbour Town (part of the Sea Pines Resort) has some pretty phenomenal X Factor. Photos will tell the story here, but I had to articulate the warm fuzzies I got walking up that fairway exhausted.
The kind folks there (Steve, Cary & Bo) ?? in conjunction with The Chamber ?? put on a champagne toast for us after the last putt. Champagne has never tasted so good. Actually it was American sparkling, from the Napa, if we??re being picky. So given I??ve never had American wine before, it??s no stretch to say it??s never tasted so good. But now I??m being silly. It tasted good.
My favourite hole, other than 18 Harbour Town, was 17 on the Arthur Hills Course at Palmetto Dunes (our 1st of the day). A cracker of a short par 4. To be fair though, they were all good today. Naturally.
Jessica picked us up at 6.30 am from our hotel; David dropped us off at 7.15 pm ?? 12 hours 45 minutes. Our longest game of golf to date.
The Chamber kindly treated us to a feast of Italian fare at Frankie Bones. Inhaled my veal ravioli in about 38 seconds. The 5 of us had a great evening ?? one for the memory bank.
Dodgy is under repair and will be back on the road by Wednesday. He??ll be OK.
Tomorrow we play a more orthodox 18 holes, which is a relief. 18 holes on 18 different courses was a hell of a lot of fun, but you couldn??t do it every day! For one day ?? this day ?? it was magnificent.
Thanks again guys for putting on surely the best composite challenge ever conceived. Will savour my last at Main Street Inn!
