It was a tough decision narrowing down the course I was going to play. One thing was for certain, I was going to play in Monterey but I wasn't sure where. A great course that mostly locals know about is Monterey Pines, known to locals as "The Navy Course" as it is owned by the US Navy, located on land that is part of The Naval Post-Graduate School. I enjoy playing the course, but this time I wanted to play a different course.
Golf Now had a great rate at Rancho Canada's East Course which I had never played before but I had always wanted to play. This was a course that I had heard about from friends, but had yet to play. I just couldn't pass up the rate and was very happy to get out to play a new course, especially in the Monterey area.
Generally when I play a course that I haven't played or been to in a long time I bring my camera along and take pictures of the course. The trip sort of becomes a business trip in that I take the pictures and then create a video with the still pictures set to music and post the video on YouTube. The trip in essence becomes a business trip. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy playing and taking the pictures, but it still has the feeling of work--great work at that and I'm not complaining.
On this trip, I was just going to play golf and nothing else. This was going to be a day of enjoying the round, the beauty of the course and it was very beautiful, and of course the social aspect of the game by hopefully being paired up with three other golfers who are enjoying the game. Those are three great reasons we enjoy our game so much, aren't they? Today there was no pressure, just enjoy playing golf and have fun.
I don't know how many of you have gone to a strange course as a single, especially one far from where you live. You never know who the starter is going to pair you up with. It can be a delightful day where you meet some great new friends, or it can turn out to be a bummer. I have been fortunate that most of the people I have joined up with we have had a ton of fun playing golf together, including sharing the tall cold one at the 19th hole. But, I have also played with some real doozies as well. These are golfers that are not sociable at all. That kind of makes for a very long and quiet round of golf. I don't like that.
I struck gold with the three guys I played with yesterday. It is interesting what happens when you make an effort to start up a relationship with guys you haven't ever met and in how short a time you can become friendly. We share a strong bond of almost instantaneous friendship, that of golfers. Within a short time, we were joking around and having fun. I knew that the day was going well when one of the members of the foursome hit a ball into the river off the tee on a par 3 and took his second shot which landed ten feet from the cup.
"Why didn't you do that the first time?" the other two said in a good natured chuckle. You knew it had to come, and I was thinking it too. I knew things were going well and I was accepted when I chunked a shot on the next par three and guess what I heard after hitting a beautiful second shot. You can just imagine. We had a wonderful round together and were sort of sad to see the round end.
That is the way it is with golf. We are golfers, and no matter what our backgrounds, jobs, ethnicity or whatever we are still golfers. That is a strong bond. I say this to Dave, Craig and Pierre. Thank you for the wonderful day I spent with you playing golf.
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| Good friends, off to play the next hole. |
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