Road Trip, Part 1...

(Ed. Note: I have been working on these articles for a few weeks, but haven't been smart enough to figure out how to do the pictures correctly. Oh, well, persistence pays off.)

Imagine pulling up to a golf course like this, knowing that ahead of you lay two splendid days of golf and time spent with good friends -- it doesn't get much better than that.

Last Wednesday (June 18th), I violated one of the sacred retiree rules and got up before the sun was anywhere in sight. My old Army buddie, Dave (a.k.a. Poolpatcher) and I took off into the sun and ended up at the Longaberger Golf Club in Nashport, Ohio. What a beautiful place. Even the waaaaaaay overly-zealous county sheriff deputy who pulled me over and gave me a warning for not using my turn signal when I pulled onto an exit ramp from Rt. 16 (no other cars within sight of us) couldn't spoil this morning.

When you pull into Longaberger, you immediately know why it is rated in the top 100 courses in the country by Golf Digest. What a place. The first hole is a tough, dog-leg right, par 4, spread out over the top of a high, windy hill, with a fairway that slopes downhill from left to right, playing to a somewhat elevated, fast green. This is your welcome call!! It also proves the old golf adage: fairways repel, roughs attract. I don't think I learned that in any science class I ever took, but it is obviously a law of nature.

I had a 100 for this course, 6 lost balls (that's 12 strokes - excuses), no broken or thrown clubs, and a pretty good ham sandwich at the club house for lunch. Not too bad for a hack such as me. Dave did pretty well too, but you'll have to talk to him about his score and lost golf balls. Remember, this is only his second year playing golf. I don't think he shot double his age, so that's good.

One other thing that I have to say about this course -- the people in the pro shop, restaurant, starter, bag guys -- they all know how to treat people. They gave even a commoner like myself a taste of how high class this game really is.

Oh, by the way -- did I say the greens were fast? They were so fast, it brought to mind Sam Snead's old saying: “These greens are so fast I have to hold my putter over the ball and hit it with the shadow.”

We made a spit-palm pact that we would do another road trip next year too. This course will be hard to top. Now we're off to Eagle Sticks in Zanesville.

“It is nothing new or original to say that golf is played one stroke at a time. But it took me many years to realize it.” (Bobby Jones)

Hooah