Myrtle Beach

Mary & I are having a great time in Myrtle Beach, despite the weather. It's been cool and cloudy until late this afternoon when the sun finally came out. We played Caladonia yesterday, a great track that was impeccibly maintained. Today, we played the West course at Myrtle Beach National. A very good course that was a lot of fun.

Our playing partners yesterday were Carmillo and his nephew Anthony from Delaware. They were quite the Italians and a lot of fun to play with. I wonder if they had an Uncle Guido???

Today we played with Bill and his son Kenny. Kenny is 21 years old and just had a lesson to straighten out his game. Boy, was that kid screwed up!! They were both a lot of fun. We meet the nicest people on the golf courses and we also have been meeting some other nice people at the resort and restaurants. Somehow we need to figure out how to do this 48 weeks a year and to work 4 weeks a year.

Pinehurst and Southern Pines NC

Mary & I have been here for just over 24 hours and we both just love the place. We had dinner at a hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant last night called Raphaele's that was recommended to us and it was fantastic. We played golf today at Legacy in Aberdeen. This course was designed by Jackie Nicklaus, the son of Jack Nicklaus. He did daddy fine with the course design.

Tonight we were recommended a seafood restaurant named Aqua in Southern Pines. It again left a little to be desired in appearance as it was only a storefront, but the food was excellent. We'd go back to either restaurant again.

The golf today was a good warm-up. Neither of us did too well, but we didn't embarrass ourselves. We played with a Lou, a retired stockbroker from New Jersey who traded on the New York exchange, and his brother-in-law Bill, a retired insurance man who now lives in Vero Beach, FL. They were both really nice guys. Lou moved to the Pinehurst area about 3 years ago and loves it here. I think either of them should adopt us as there is no way they could ever spend all of the money they have and we could help them.

We stopped by the Members clubhouse at Pinehurst after golf today. What a place. They even had a lawn bowling court and 2 croquet courses. The putting green was enormous and the whole facility was fantastic.

We'll report later from Myrtle Beach. We'll drive there tomorrow and play golf on Monday. I forgot my camera today but I will definately have it later.

Start your engines

Ready to go. Grass is cut, bags packed, about time for a little shut-eye and then hit the road. 9-1/2 hours from departure we'll be in the Mecca of golf, Pinehurst NC. I was talking to a business associate today and he mentioned how we needed to at least visit Pinehurst #2 while we are there. It is gorgeous from what we hear. I'll try to post a couple of photo's as soon as I can!

Oops!

Mary went to the Doctor today to find out why her ankle has been bothering her so much the past couple of weeks. She found out she has a partially torn tendon, and needs to wear an air-cast boot for 4 to 6 weeks. This is exactly what she wanted to hear before heading out on a golf vacation where WE ARE GOING to play 5 rounds of golf while we're gone. She'll use her golf shoe on the course and wear the boot the rest of the time.

This a picture of Mary on the Asheville Municipal Golf Course in October, 2005. Great Mountain views and some day, we'll stay at the Grove Park Inn.

Getting Ready

As I get older, it becomes unceasingly more difficult to cut things loose before heading out on vacation. Not so many years ago, you simply came home from work one day and got in the car and went. Now, the aggrevation of getting all of the business issues taken care of and people to cover for you while you're away makes it seem that it is not worth the effort of going. My means to combat this is to start my vacation on a Friday so the week of vacation turns into a 10 day vacation. At least this way, by the time you answer and return all the cell phone calls and emails, you still feel like you got the week off! Maybe this is reverse logic, but it works for me!