A Sunday drive up A9 took us around Inverness and up into the true Scottish Highlands to an obscure course called Brora (circa 1891) designed by the storied Scottish golfer James Braid.  This is a classic links stretching 9 holes out the strand and 9 holes back in.   The naked exposure to the coastline means you get maximum wind effect in nine hole increments.

Batten down the hatches-tattered flag tells you all you need to know about what is ahead

Set against the water and mountains brings back memories of County Sligo and Ben Bulben in Ireland

Headstones tell the story on every tee

Very unusual levered ball washer keeps the Titleist tidy white

Electric fences surround every green to ward off the wandering lawn mowers

This provides the juice…..hands off!

We are talking beef lawn mowers with serious appetites

They even have a cow short game area adjacent to the first tee

And then there are the bahhing sheeps-three bahs is a 3-flap wind

The holes are spendific stretching out on dunes terrain

Par 3 sixth looks like a Skee-Ball lane

The number 5 hole is a serious playing impediment

Plateau….the 16th…requires sherpa help to ascend to the putting surface

The 18th green complex can get you coming and going

Sipping a cold one in the bar with a perch view overlooking the march up the last.

(Click here to follow our trail to Day 3 at Royal Dornoch Golf Club)

For more detail click to see the Brora Golf Club Review

July, 2013

Our eight day tour of the north of Scotland began in the seaside town of Lossiemouth at a little known Old Tom Morris creation called the Moray Golf Club.  This is a simple links in wending among low dunes covered in gorse and heather.  A nice walk over firm and rumpled seaside turf with serious encroachment from an RAF Air Force base looking over your shoulder.  It has been a long hot summer and brown is definitely the new green.

The modest clubhouse perched above the 18th looks down on the shoreline below

Commemorative sundial honors the memory of locals who served in the Great War

A little Christmas in July

The full panorama of the links from the hilltop vantage point of the clubhouse

The John Murray Golf Shop sets an understated tone you feel throughout

Our tour guides for the day…Michael and Aaron…wiser than their years

The ever present reminder of the jet traffic above

Managing difficulty amongst the nooks and crannies

The final act plays out in an amphitheater setting below the clubhouse

Chillin’ out as the sundail’s work is done

(Click here to follow our trail to Day 2 at Brora Golf Club in the Scottish Highlands)

For more detail click to see the Moray Golf Club Review

July, 2013

A beautiful June afternoon for a picnic with friends and a little golf….The Keepers and SMGA/Wounded Warriors shared this great experience at our annual Wounded Warriors Outing at Woodmont Country Club.  Keeper guys and their wives hosted 15 Wounded Warriors and a pair of very cute service dogs to some golf instruction, lunchin’ on the lawn, a round of golf, and after game cocktails, veggies, and big fish stories.

The entire crew…including Tucker and Gunner….

Getting to know you…getting to know something about you….

Old SMGA friends reunite……….

On the way to the range……

Anchored, belly, or conventional putters…the debate goes on….

Some professional attention…….

Letting it rip……

Long drive competition

Pre-game chillin…….

Now that is dedicated service………

It is all about extension……..

Some pre-game conversation

On course reaction………

Keeper and Warrior buds…….

Apparently they could not agree on the putting line……

And then it all came down to eating and carousing with friends…..

With the help of the Salute Military Golfers Association our members have an opportunity to spend the day getting to know these men and women who have given so much to protect the freedoms we enjoy.  Their courage and perseverance in facing the challenges their service has presented is something special indeed.  Playing a little golf, sharing some personal time,  and getting to know these American heroes was an honor and a pleasure for all who participated.

(Click to read more about how you can help those who help military families)

(All photos courtesy of Rita Mhley)

June, 2013

Paula and friend doing a Dufner       (credit: @THEPCREAMER)

Apparently it is getting to everyone since Jason Dufner ignited the “Dufnering” craze with a Kodak moment during a charity appearance in a Dallas elementary school.  Tour players across the globe have taken on the challenge to do a Dufner.

(Click to read the Yahoo Sports report on Dufnering)

March, 2013

(arnoldpalmer.com)

He is the most immeasurable of all golf champions.  But this is not entirely true because of all that he has won, or because of that mysterious fury with which he managed to rally himself.  It is partly because of the nobility he has brought to losing. And more than anything, it is true because of the pure, unmixed joy he has brought to trying.

Dan Jenkins

The Dogged Victims of Inexorable Fate

1990

Bay Hill Club and Lodge is known to most golf fans as the home of the Arnold Palmer Invitational by Mastercard that fills our TV screens in March of each year. It is actually one of the finest golf resorts in Florida, the product of the imagination and hard work of Arnold and Winnie Palmer. The low key presentation of this top shelf golf facility
is a reflection of Arnold’s passion for the game and Winnie’s attention to detail in every interaction with resort guest and residents.

A stroll through these hallways is a walk through an Arnie Museum….this Wall of Fame has signed pictures of Arnie with friends of every generation including Ike, Gerald Ford, Dinah Shore, Ben Hogan, Jack, Phil, Bill Murray and countless others.

Then there is the comfort food…beside the waffle I recommend the Bay Hill Chips and garlic dip.

The watch tower that overlooks the practice green, staging area, and starter’s hut.

Old school….the Men’s Locker Room has a full bar, gin tables, and plenty of table space
to calculate the results. Shared lockers with Tiger or Ernie are an unexpected extra.

The Dick Tiddy Memorial Rock….commemorates his decades of service as the Director of Golf at Bay Hill..presented by The Shootout Gang.

Apparently not all paying customers know how to follow directions.

The show is coming…..preparation is well underway to handle the patrons.

Trust me it will be straight by game time.

Arnold thought of everything…here is a peek through the imported Magnolia hallway that frames 15th fairway.

A Do-Si-Do between the archer and counsel in picking the right bow.

The target…..#2…..seems so docile but actually a daunting task with trouble lurking everywhere.

Wind, water, hills, and sand make the approach to 8 a real challenge….take note of the white dimpled speck 25 feet left of the hole.

Robert Gamez’s 7-iron seared this image of the eighteenth in the viewing memory of the golfing public and Greg Norman in 1990.

The Little Lady and supporting cast…The Mish and Troy The Seer….apres game.

Bay Hill is a place where you can let your hair down, kick back, and enjoy golf the old fashioned way, one Arnold Palmer at a time.

February, 2013

(Click to read the full moegolf Bay Hill Course Review)

(Click to read the full moegolf Bay Hill Charger Nine Review)

(Click to read the moegolf Bay Hill Short Game Area Review)

If you are a narcotic golfer than the attached video of the back yard of Short Game Guru Dave Pelz from the “Million Dollar Rooms Series” is going to make you drool. We are not talking about driving range nets and chipping baskets here. We are talking a real scale full-featured short game practice facility with accurate replicas of some of the most iconic green complexes in golf.

In his yard you can play pitches, chips, flops, sand shots, three-wood chips, bladed sand irons….the works. Best part is that the surfaces play and respond like the real deal…..and he does not have to mow one blade of grass.

If you had this outside your sliding doors you too could be a contender!

Million Dollar Rooms Series

Dave Pelz’s Backyard

January, 2012

After watching this video of 21 month old Two Gloves Kopinskis you will understand why those Blue Blazers are banning anchored putting.  The game would be dominated by young whippersnappers like this and there are not enough diaper changing stations at your typical tour stop to handle them.

Owen has spirited his own method-right anchored with a left-hand-low-claw grip.  As you can see no yippin’ in this putting stroke and apparently he has the pitching game to go with it.  He needs a little work on the signature fist pump………but as they say………. baby steps…baby steps….

WLS-TV Chicago

January, 2013