EAGLE !!

Chris Rood and I, playing at The Crossings at Carlsbad. Super early in the morning, 2nd tee time (618am). First couple holes in fog. Caught foursome in front of us by the back 9, they let us pass, jammed with nobody in front. Done in 3:15

My back 9 was bad, wheels had come off, spraying drives, fat chips, etc. My Drive on #15 (par 5, 492 yards, dogleg left) was sweet, straight, directly over aiming tree. Chris' drive drifted right just barely into the (lateral) junk. His 2nd (3rd with penalty) ends just to left of green, in the rough. My drive is sitting perfectly in the middle of the fairway, 200 yards out. 4 iron to just short of the elevated green.

We're both below the hole, such that we can't see the hole, just the flag stick. Level of the green is about 5 feet above our head. Chris to the left of the green as approached, I'm straight in front. Chris goes first, chips up, hits the flag stick. Can't see where it went, take a couple steps up the slope to see that it WENT IN! Birdie.

I'm next, ask Chris to come hit mine for me. I go ahead, nice looking chip, HITS the flag stick, and GOES IN! Eagle! Birdie (only cuz of the penalty) and Eagle both on the same hole, and both hit the flag stick.

This is my "home hole", as it heads straight up towards my office at InterKnowlogy. I sit there and stare out the window at this hole all the time.

Next hole is #16, also par 5. PAR!
Next hole is #17, par 3 way downhill to a green the reaches out over a canyon to the right. BIRDIE! (tee shot ended about 10 feet straight below the hole)

Chris dominated the back 9. After par on #10, he called it: "OK Dan, I'm getting 8 more pars". Close. He birdied 15 and bogey on 18 for PAR on the back 9. Total 78 (+6).

Dan: 90 (6 penalties killed it)

Half Moon Bay

Score: 93

Up in the Bay Area for Janey's wedding, didn't bring any golf stuff. Andrew says they have an opening at Half Moon Bay on Sunday, and it's about half of normal price ($100). My flight isn't till 730p that night, so I jump on it. Oh, but I dont have clubs or shoes. I use Andrew's extra set. Mind you they are normal size (mine are +2") and graphite shafts (mine are steel).

We played the back 9 of Palo Alto Muni on Saturday morning and I did pretty well, so I thought this wouldnt be that bad. Didnt have a driver, just a 3-metal, which I used once, shanked it OB, and never used it again.

Half Moon Bay was beautiful. Cloudy at 1120a start time, but then cleared up. Locals said it was one of their best days, so we got lucky.

42 on the front, after a not so great first couple holes. Par and a birdie. Then a train wreck on the back where I was chunking some fairway shots, missing greens, and bad drives. FOUR 7s, 3 in a row - ugh. 51 on the back.

Blue tees: 70.7 / 128

79 !!

Encinitas Ranch with Steve Green, his dad David, and son Sebastian. This was only the 2nd time holding a club since October (other time was July 4, shot a 91).

EVEN PAR on the front 9, then a bit of a train wreck. Steve was talking me through the back 9 mentally: "if someone told you that you were 5 over with 5 left to play, you'd be stoked. Forget about how you got here, just get some pars.... middle of the fairway, middle of the green..."

Pulled up to 18 tee and Steve says "I need you to par this one". (Had a feeling he meant to break 80). Super lame drive, low burner, not very far, but plenty of time to get it back on this short par 5. Sweet 5 iron straight and far for 2nd, puts me at 145 approach to huge green. 9 iron to front middle, well below the hole. Putt up the hill to about 4 feet. Steve: "I would love to give you that one, but it's a wee bit too long." A bit of a side breaker, I SUNK IT - 79.

Marriott Desert Springs

Score: 91

Part of the Amor Palm Springs weekend.

Hadnt held a club since Oct of 2008, so was not sure at all how I would play. Ran out of time on the range before play, so got to hit about 5 balls total. What does that mean? Birdie, Birdie start! First hole, perfect drive, perfect approach to 4 feet - downhill bender putt for birdie. Hole 2 - huge slice into a parallel fairway, blind approach from there to about 7 feet, sank that straight putt for birdie. Then the train wreck happened. Couldnt control mid and short irons, whether approach shots, or on par 3s.

Very decent from the bunkers - no flub shots, quite a few were very accurate.

Ended up with a couple other pars, one more birdie late in the round, but sprinkled in a bunch of doubles and triples, some on par 3s.

uPro GPS Rangefinder

Some day (ok, year), when I get back into golf, THIS is the best rangefinder I've seen. Complete with video flyovers and really great graphics. (Just saw a commercial for it in US Open wrap-up)

Of course, it's pricey ($399 !!) and the video flyover stuff (Pro mode) has an additional cost.

Callaway uPro | Introducing golf's best GPS Rangefinder

World Golf Tour - Online Game

Stunning online golf game with real camera images of course layout.

Best of all - it's FREE. (Wonder how long that will last?)

World Golf Tour

US Open - Torrey Pines - Amazing Tiger

I'll have to post a bunch more about this "home town" US Open (went to the tourney Thursday and Friday). For now, posting these videos for future reference / enjoyment...

Tiger's best in 3rd round


4th round - Tiger putt on 18 to tie.


Tiger's complete 1st round


Tiger's complete 2nd round


Tiger's complete 3rd round


Tiger's complete 4th round


Phil disaster at 13 on Sunday

Daylight Savings Time JC Twilight Rates

The list of JC resorts courses and they're updated twilight and super-twilight times and rates.

PDF here

Club Achilles - Indoor Golf Experience

We're on vacation in La Quinta this week, and heard about this place on a tv commercial (during Golf Channel coverage of the FedEx cup naturally).

Called them for more info: like the site says, indoor luxury golf club with 7 hitting bays with 53 world wide courses, fitness center, sports bar & restaurant.

Pretty pricey: $30 / hour for hitting bays walking in off the street. $70 / day for full access to the club.

Club Achilles

Free Golf on Birthday

I thought I already had a post about this somewhere, cuz I know a few places in San Diego offer it.

Here's one in Palm Desert:

• Indian Springs Country Club (where we rent house periodically). Info here.
  

Standby Golf

When golfing in Palm Springs a couple years ago, some dudes told me about a way to save $$ by getting a tee time at the last minute (night before). I just came across Standby Golf - which does exactly that. They have a list of courses that they serve, most of which will offer discount tee times after 4pm the day before you want to play. A couple (like Trilogy in La Quinta) show 30 day advance.

Going to the desert on Wed, and may try this out.

Standby Golf

"The Crossings" Grand Opening

Our new local course in Carlsbad (more info here) had it's grand opening today. I hauled the family over there to check it out. We went on a minor little tour of holes 1, 8, and 9 in golf carts - kids loved that. Hot air balloon exhibition was kind of a bust -- too windy.

Later in the day, I went back to walk more of the course. Walked the back 9 (minus #12) and then a few holes on the front 9.

It's looking like it's going to be a challenging course. While most of the fairways are pretty generous in width, they have some slopes towards canyons, and a few carries that will be tough.

Here are some pics of some of the holes.

Measure Hole Layout

Well I thought I would be going over to the new local course in a couple days to map it for iGolfGPS, so I looked up the official way to find the center of the green. How to measure a green.

They denied me access to the course (for now), since there are still a couple holes under construction. More here.

Palm Springs this Weekend

Thanks to Amor!! We're playing a couple courses in Palm Desert / Indio this weekend.

Terra Lago (here)- can't find much info about this, other than the condo associated site for the course.

Classic Club (here) - ahh, a Troon course, probably much like Maderas here locally, and Troon North course in Scottsdale.

Aviara for $130

Heard this on the DSC radio show this morning (they are going there today for Dave's free Thursday golf - lucky bastards):

You can golf Aviara Four Seasons golf course for $130 from now through middle of June (?), seven days a week, after 12pm.