Washington DC & RTJGC - more acronyms than pars on Day 172

Posted by Jamie on 25 June 2010 | 0 Comments | Tags: Washington, Robert Trent Jones

Had we not been putting the world to rest with our new pal Keith �??til the early hours of the morning, I would�??ve woken up today full of life and ready to take on DC.  But inevitably things never go according to plan and so we found ourselves behind the 8 ball Today All Day.  �??Twas a good �??un though!

A GPS device would�??ve been a good investment.  It would come in particularly handy in a place like Washington, DC where the word �??traffic�?� takes on a different meaning; where there are more cars on the road than insects in the skies.  No matter.  We still managed to navigate Dodgy across the river (from Alexandria, i.e. Keith�??s place) to the memorial district.  It�??s probably not called The Memorial District, but I�??ve adopted that term for the purposes of this blog.  The MD�??s where all the monuments are.   At least all the ones I�??d ever heard of.

Quite an impressive affair driving past the Lincoln Memorial, and up to the World War II Memorial (which reminded me of Cleopatra�??s Needle).  We ditched Dodgy and got our walk on, with not a lot of time to burn.  Circa one hour, actually �?? which you might say isn�??t enough to take in the whole of Washington DC.  Not even one bloomin�?? museum, I can tell you!  At least we snapped a few buildings and absorbed a bit of Atmosphere.

There are more folks walking round The Memorial District with cameras and kids in tow than at Disney.  Naturally.  And we were no exception �?? except for the kids bit.  We were however the sweatiest couple of knackered Kiwis in the vicinity.  Still, we maintained our composure in the sweltering heat and found our way back to base camp (with the help of Keith�??s nephew, Kevin, whom we had dinner with last night and who would be joining us for golf).  Next time I�??ll set aside more time to take It All In.

Anyway �?? the golf.  That�??s what most of you are interested in, isn�??t it?  RTJGC was today�??s venue; or Robert Trent Jones Golf Club for long.  (RTJ Senior, in case any of you golfers are wondering).  Apparently it�??s the only track he laid out that he thought was good enough to give his good name.  Who am I to argue?

RTJ is about an hour out of town, or about 6 hours in normal traffic.  Two words: road works.  But I digress.  It�??s a private club, a very private one in fact.  You�??ll hear different stories depending on who you talk to, but there are rumours circling about how many memberships you have / had to hold before you could join the club.  Some have told us 2; some 3.  Either way, it�??s not your average family club �?? most members would likely have memberships at more...accessible places.

It�??s not a country club.  Wives are not allowed on the property unless accompanied by their husbands (assuming the member is the husband; if not, then vice versa).  How they let us riff raff on I�??ll never know.  There�??s hardly anyone out there.  A very peaceful, laid back place.  With not a lot of traffic (of the golf variety) - circa 18,000 rounds a year, from memory.    

Scott Furlong �?? the Chief Superintendent �?? was kind enough to have us out as his guests.  After the eventful morning described above, a lazy lunch in the sparsely populated members�?? bar was just the ticket before The Main Event.  Great bar snacks, by the way.   

Scott had arranged for one of his assistants �?? a lad from Melbourne who goes by the name of Andrew Roberston, or Robbo �?? to join us for a hit.  Good solid Australian, he was.  I had the pleasure of riding round with AR (we took carts) and playing as his partner in The Match (which tragically we lost coming down the last).   Sorry Andrew.  Kevin also had a bit of spare time on his hands �?? he works from home �?? so was only too happy to come out for a whack.  Had he been born a few months later our fourball would�??ve all been under 30 years of age �?? a rarity on this tour.  Perhaps we should�??ve branded it as: �??puregolf2010 �?? golfing with the geriatrics of the world, one by one�?�.  Now I don�??t mean that, of course.  Hyperbole, I think it�??s called.

The course?  Pretty dam long from the tips.  Not surprising I guess when you consider they had 4 or 5 Presidents�?? Cups here (all of �??em until they switched to Harding Park last year).  Personally I was more partial to the back nine than the front �?? a prejudice motivated perhaps by the scenery along the 9 hundred and something acre lake.  A house there for the summer would be better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, as indeed would most things.

An observation: 3 out of the 4 par 3s were all the same length.  Good holes in their own right, yes �?? but had I been laying out the course I might�??ve looked for a bit more variation.  Then again Robert Trent Jones Senior knows a thing or two more than I do about golf course design so I�??ll keep my mouth shut.  Anyway as far as the rest of the place goes, the boy dun�?? good.  18�??s a gem of a finishing hole �?? playing it every day would put carpet on your chest.  

Back in the safety of the stately clubhouse, we perched ourselves back in the bar and put the world to rest.  A couple of members overheard our story and we all got talking.  Within a few moments we were all at one table; 5 hours later, at a shade after midnight, we were still at the same table.  Mr. Davis kindly bought us dinner (sublime); and we heard a good few stories from a certain Mr. Avery, who has certainly Lived.  Everyone was telling lies and the lies got thicker.  By 12.20am the lies were pretty thick, and it was time to move onwards.  Back to Alexandria, to conclude another manic day in the life of The Kiwis.

Thanks Scott & Andrew at RTJ for your first rate hospitality, and for letting us chop it round your very fine course.  Thanks to Mr. Davis for keeping me healthy with the iron my lamb rack afforded.  And thanks to Kevin for putting up with our rubbish and ferrying us to and from the course.  A long day but a good one lads.

JP