POST #159--BRIEF UPDATE
Some of you have contacted me asking if all is OK since there has been no post since mid March. All is OK…just too busy planning trips and taking them to write about them.
This post is meant to give you an update on what I have been doing since Post #158 was published (#158 covered courses played through March 9, 2022...157 days ago, and was published on March 15, 2022). Trust me I have been busy, but here are the specifics:
Courses played in lifetime: 3/9/22 stood at 1421...as of 8/13/22 stands at 1474...played 54 new courses in these 157 days. Yes I know that 1421 + 54 is equal to 1475; I had played the front nine of a course last year and in May 2022 played the back nine. It counted as a course played with just 9 holes (my rule for lifetime list is 50% of the course...but for bucket lists I need to play all holes). So for lifetime total this was not a "new" course for me as it made that list in 2021.
Courses played over these 157 days: In addition to the above mentioned 54 courses played for the first time, I played 14 courses I had played previously...so 68 different courses (located in 16 states and three foreign countries...France, Northern Ireland, and Ireland) in the 157 days.
Golf holes played in lifetime: Stood at 25,027 as of 3/9 and today stands at 25,962 (equals 1442.33 "18 hole equivalent" courses...the difference of 31.67 courses is due mainly to playing 9 hole courses etc. etc.)
Note: I just started a major trip to visit 8 states in some 13 days, mostly in the Rockies and on the West Coast (so these are BIG states geographically). Two days into the trip I have played 4 new courses and am hoping to play another 16 course (all but one of which would be new). So here is where I stand on my major bucket lists as of today...and projected out if all works well on the trip:
- USGA Current Championships and "Cups": Through the 2022 USGA Championship schedule, there are 440 different courses that have been primary hosts of one or more of these events. Excluding courses that "no longer exist", I stood at 27.5 missing as of 3/9/22...today I stand at 13 missing...and if the rest of the trip happens without a hitch...that will stand at 5 left to go on 8/24/2022. I need to point out that the USGA is naming some new (and unplayed by me) courses to their schedule...so the 2023 schedule could have added 4 more...but I have played 2 of those 4 and hope to play another on this trip. Many of my bucket lists are "moving targets", but to be fair, sometimes I get a gift...such as learning about the closing of one bucket list course in WY.
- Golf Digest's 1966/67 200 USA Toughest" Courses: Many of you have learned about these first two pioneering lists which started the current Top 100 phenomena. Frankly, these two pioneering lists look primitive today...just as the Model T and the Commodore desktop computer look primitive in today's world. There were 248 courses that appeared on one or both of these lists and I was missing 32 of the still existing courses as of 3/9; today I am down to 17 and if all goes per plan on the rest of this current trip I will be at 13. As Reagan used to say..."Progress is our most important product."
- I was missing 5 courses that had been EVER listed on a well regarding World Top 100 list as of 3/9...now that number is back down to 3 (located in Australia, Brazil, and China). No new unplayed courses have popped up on my World 100 EVER table since March 9. I continue to have played every course that has EVER been on a reputable USA Top 100 list.
- Also of note, on July 3 I played Evian GC in France which meant that I had played every Men's and Women's Major and Senior Major host. A mere 15 days later the US Women's Senior POGA was held at Salina CC in Kansas...so I was quickly thrown off that perch! Additionally I ventured overseas for the first time in almost three years.
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