Getting It DONE…the
Homestretch (Stage I)
I am sitting in an airport lounge at Dublin airport, having
just completed a six day trip to Europe.
This was Stage I of my final push to complete my outstanding Bucket
Lists (and perhaps make some progress on future Bucket Lists and plans…should I
get the current ones done. To quickly
summarize my current key “to do” status as of the start of this trip one week
ago:
--lifetime to date…823 courses in 44 countries and 42 states;
--World Top
100 Courses EVER (8 sources)—total of 286 courses, played 275 and 11 to go;
--Tom
MacWood Spoof 1939 Top 100…101 courses of which 5 no longer exist, played 86
and 10 to go (one of which is one of the 11 to go on the EVER list above);
--US Open
Venues…54 courses, 52 played and two to go.
Careful readers of the blog will have noted the increase in
the number of courses on the EVER list…this was due to an eight source, Golf
Digest UK, which published two World 100 lists (in 2010 and 2011), which was
offered up by someone whose name is being withheld for his protection. Also, about 2 weeks ago I was able to play
one more of the MacWood list, the venerable Ponte Vedra Club in Florida. Located quite close to the TPC Stadium
Players course, it is reputed to be the home of the first “island green” in
golf. It was designed by Herb Strong and
opened in 1928. It was scheduled to host
the 1939 Ryder Cup Matches, but these were cancelled due to the onset of WW II
(despite the heroic efforts of the famed predecessor of US Democrats, Neville
Chamberlain (“Peace in our time”).
Tom MacWood had placed it at #45 on his list. It is a good, fun course. Unfortunately, it
had rained hard up and down the east coast the prior three days and even a
course built totally on a barrier island sand dunes requires more that
overnight to recover from that type of soaking.
In any case, that short visit brought my MacWood Spoof to do
list down from 11 to 10.
This Past Week’s
Journey
Pat and I were invited to a Bat Mitzvah in New Jersey on
April 9 (yes, on Saturday of Masters weekend…and the father is almost as much
of a golf nut as I am), she had to be in Boston for a floral job this week, and
we needed to get her new Boston car (another convertible for my “Little Old
Lady from Pasadena”) up to Boston from Pinehurst. So on Friday we drove to NJ, and on Sunday,
she drove on to Boston and I flew to Europe.
In between, awful weather cancelled our golf game at Mountain Ridge, but
we were able to visit Daniel (“DJ”) Joseph and David Wilson at Somerset Hills,
where they are the new Head Pro and First Assistant respectively (both were at
Brookline previously). Was great to see
them and they seem to be doing great at one of the finest clubs in the USA
(last played my moi 10/6/15 and chronicled herein).
I arrived at JFK airport Sunday just as the broadcast was
commencing on CBS. After Jordan’s string
of four birdies on 6-9, like most of the rest of the world I figured this was
over. My wi-fi and then cellular signal
allowed me to see holes 10-12, and then I only had access to Masters
radio. Absolutely shocking result, best
described by a famous and oft-used quote (whose source escapes me): “Golf can
be a very cruel game.”
One thought regarding the flight. As I have made negative comments regarding
airlines on this blog (specifically Jetstar and Qantas) I should make positive
comments when they are earned. The new
sleeper seat layout on Aer Lingus is fabulous.
Seats/beds are very comfortable and have tons of storage…which many
business seats seem to lack. The service
was also excellent.
County Lough Golf Club (Baltray), April 11, 2016: Arrived at Dublin Airport around 5:15am on
Monday, procured by car rental, and headed up north about one hour to Baltray. The weather could be best described by Jordon
Spieth’s first two swings on #12 the day before. It was about 43°, the winds were about 30mph
(and gusting higher) and it was raining fairly hard. The club was founded in 1892 and its course
renovated into greatness by Tim Simpson and reopened for play in July
1938.
Your truly was in a quandary. As miserable as it was, I could not return
until September and I needed this to finish the EVER bucket list. It got on the list due to being rated #68 on
Golf Digest UK’s World Top 100 (my 8th source) in 2010 and
2011. When my caddy showed up, I
figured, have top give it a shot. #1 was
playing right into the wind…and I secured perhaps the best bogey five of my
life there. At that point, my caddy
said, “why don’t we get a buggy.” I will
be eternally grateful for that thought, but wish it had come 10 minutes
earlier. Amazingly, while I huddled
behind some tall bushes to get some protection form the wind, he went back to
try to secure a buggy. I never thought
they would allow it, but they did, so who was I to argue? That made the rest of the round
possible. We zipped around in about
2:15, I have no idea what I shot (but did have several pars), went into the
clubhouse after nine to try down and warm up (and prevent frostbite)…but we got
it done. Just don’t ask me what the
course was like…although I could tell that the back nine through the dunes is
something special. Will be sure to play
this again when I return w Pat in September for Fergal’s wedding.
This morning when I arrived at DUB, I tried to get onto the
web via my iphone, but it would not “activate”.
The screen showed a message indicating the SIM card would not work with
European carriers. I had replaced my
phone (due to a screen problem) at a NJ Apple store on Saturday, and the Apple
salesman placed a new SIM card in the phone.
I have a sense that the card he used is totally restricted to Verizon
and locks out of any other carrier. It
worked fine in NJ, but not anywhere in Europe…and I have a Verizon overseas plan. Will see what happens when I land at JFK. But note that this means NO PICTURES this
trip.
After a shower that felt awesome, it was back to DUB for a
flight on Ryanair to Rome, for 36 holes Tuesday. Ryanair is a typical discount airline with
low ticket prices and lots of fees…but unlike Jetstar, they are upfront about
it and what you can do to minimize the fees…no obfuscation here. Flight went fine but I am tired…playing in
conditions like that (even with a cart) takes a lot out of you. Forecast is for mid-70’s in Rome Tuesday, and
that will be appreciated.
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