Itsagolfday

Moving Day!! After an amazing 2 weeks in Wildwood, FL (outside the Villages), we traveled 356 miles, just under 7 hours, through the middle of FL, to the Keys!!! The drive went by really quickly! We're looking forward to relaxing in the Keys, visiting a few State Parks, going down to Key West, and visiting Tortuga National Park!!

Next stop: Tampa, FL

We had an amazing week with our friends from PA!! They came down to visit the Villages, and it was quite the experience. We did EVERYTHING.... boozy bingo, live music at the squares, a number of Recreation centers, golf, pickleball, pool, darts, arcades, ping pong, a nature trail, shuffleboard and a show by Rocky and the Rollers. So much fun!!! Can't wait to see you again this summer!!

The Villages Southern Oaks Golf Club in the Villages, FL, one of the newer additions in the Villages (opened 2 years ago). Beautiful resort course with wide open fairways and gorgeous expansive views. The fast greens and forced carries over water added difficulty to the course. It was great to get a taste of what the 18-hole championship courses in the Villages. Another great day of golf with our friends!!

Water Oak Golf Club in Lady Lake, FL (outside the Villages). Repeat course because we liked it so much last week. Love the challenging layout and playing with our friends made it that much better!! We'll miss you!! 😘

The Villages, Evans Prairie Country Club, in the Villages, FL. Beautiful resort course has 3 different 9's to choose from: Osprey, Killdeer, & Egret. We played the first 2. There's plenty of water and bunkers on the course, but many aren't in play. That said, we found ourselves in quite a few bunkers. Excellent condition and really fun course!! A great day of golf with our friends!! We highly recommend the clubhouse restaurant as well!!

The Country Club at Silver Springs in Ocala, FL. Gorgeous course with fun and challenging hole designs. The length may seems short at first glance, but that's due to the many water hazards and forced carries. Some holes required thought on how you wanted to play the hole, where you wanted to hit, and sometimes, how much you wanted to bite off. The course was in great condition. Loved the course and would definitely recommend it!!
The Country Club at Silver Springs Shores

Happy hour at Brownwood Square at the Villages. We met some really nice people, and loved the outdoor seating!

Stonecrest Golf Club in Summerfield, FL (outside The Villages). Beautiful course with a good variety of hole designs. Don't let the short yardage for your tees fool you, there's plenty of bunkers, placed exactly where your tees shots would land, as well as bunkers around the greens!! The rain started when we got to the 10th hole, so we waited it out and was able to finish the round just fine. Loved the course and playing with our friends made it even better!!
Stonecrest Golf Course

Sherman Hills Golf & Country Club in Brooksville, FL (near Clermont). Nice course with wide open fairways, at least from first glance, and not many hazards to cause any issues. Some fairways seemed to narrow and curve on the way to the green, with drop-offs into some difficult rough. For the first time playing, even if you hit it perfectly, you never really knew if you hit fairway. We waited on every shot on the first 5 holes, but it picked up after that. Thank goodness we were playing with really nice people. Thank you Ming & Shiming!! We hope to see you in Tampa later this month!!

Leesburg Moose Lodge 1271 Friday night had fish and shrimp dinner AND live music!

Water Oak Golf Club in Lady Lake, FL (outside Clermont). Fun par 70 course with some elevation change (which is a nice change in FL) and plenty of forced carries. The fast, undulating greens were challenging and in excellent condition. They recently spent $6M renovating the course, and it looks like it was money well spent.

Moving Day!! We had a great time hanging out with family over Thanksgiving week!! We now head to Florida for the winter!! We're hoping for better weather than the rain we got all the way down. We hit quite a bit of traffic on the way down also, partially for a car on the center median going North bound, and partially just for too many people in the Ocala area. After 175 miles, over 4 hours, and a stop for gas, we arrived at Wildwood, FL (just outside the Villages). We're looking forward to seeing our friends next week, golfing, and spending some time in the Villages. We'll let you know how it goes....

Next stop: The Keys!!!

Smok'n Pig BBQ in Valdosta, GA. Always delicious food and a great time with family!! Thank you for a wonderful Thanksgiving week!!

Moving Day!! We had a great few days with family in Donalsonville. We drove about 104 miles to continue the celebration in Hahira, GA. We drove down some very small country roads, which isn't the easiest driving sometimes... especially when a tractor is heading towards you.

Happy Thanksgiving!! We're so thankful for our family and friends!!

Moving Day!! We had such a great time in beautiful Pass Christian, MS, as always!! We enjoyed seeing our friends again.... and making new friends!! We always feel at home here!! We drove 315 miles to Donalsonville, GA. It was a pretty uneventful drive, except for an accident on the I-10 that caused a 30 min delay. We're looking forward to spending Thanksgiving and the long weekend with our family!!

Happy hour at Sully's, followed by Taco Tuesday at Quarter Deck Bar in Long Beach. We really enjoyed hanging with Ronnie, Brenda, John, Debra, and CJ!!

Dinner at Bacchus as the Beach is Pass Christian with our friend. The Monday pork chop special, with the Bourbon sauce, is probably the best pork chops we've ever had. Delicious!!

Pass Christian Isles Golf Club in Pass Christian, MS, the 2nd oldest course in MS. Nice course with open fairways and not too much trouble you can get into. The course wasn't in great condition and greens were grainy. I'm not sure if it was a different type of grass, but we just weren't used to it. We had a tournament (a scramble) play in front of us, and somehow we still managed to play in only 3 1/2 hrs. It was a beautiful day for golf!!

A great performance by Matt Keel at the Whiskey Bar Saturday night!! Plus we got to visit with our friends Connie and Lenny!!

The Club at Diamondhead, the Pines course, This is one of our favorites in the area, as they have 2 courses to choose from, both with good layouts and always in good condition. They had a tournament on the Cardinal course, and we still played in just 3 hours. We had a great time playing with Frank and Trish!!

Happy hour at our favorite... Shaggy's. We really enjoyed chatting with Terry and Billy from Oklahoma!!

So, I'm not quite sure what happened. We went grocery shopping for Thanksgiving, met a super nice guy at Winn-Dixie, and then... voila!! Here we are at the Long Beach Yacht Club having dinner with our new friends Ronnie and Dave!! I'm not sure what it is about this area, but everyone we meet is so nice and welcoming!!

Moving Day, part 3!! We made our way from Baton Rouge to Pass Christian today, an easy 128 miles, to complete our journey for the week. We're looking forward to seeing our friends and getting a few happy hours in!!

Moving Day, part 2!! We got a head start this morning so that we could miss the traffic through Dallas/Ft Worth. We stopped at a rest stop on the other side for the day, before heading out again later in the afternoon. We were able to get another 506 miles of driving in, before stopping at the Westside Moose Lodge #2007 in Baton Rouge for the evening. Unfortunately, they're only open 2 days a week, so we weren't able to check out this moose. Maybe next time. Looking forward to finishing our long drive tomorrow!!!

Carlsbad Caverns National Park in Carlsbad, NM, a geological formation that is millions of years old. These caverns are located 754ft below ground in the middle of Guadalupe Mountains. We walked down the Natural Entrance into the caverns and did the Big Room Trail. The also took a ranger-guided tour of the King's Palace, a tour that goes through four highly decorated scenic chambers, which was absolutely spectacular. We learned a lot about the various speleothems, cave formations and decorations that formed by the depositions of minerals. We all know about stalagmites and stalactites, but equally as beautiful were the draperies, columns, soda straws, and cave pearls. We missed the Bat Flights at dusk, sadly, as the bats have already migrated back south.

Moving Day, part 1!! We had an amazing time in El Paso!! We loved all the time we were able to spend with our brother (Thank you Rich for a great extended weekend!!), and really enjoyed meeting up with our friend Mark. Since we were so close to Carlsbad Caverns.... we just had to go. It was pretty long day, about 576miles total, but the stop at Carlsbad made it doable. We stayed the night at a Cracker Barrel in Weatherford, TX, and started back up early in the morning.

Butterfield Trail Golf Club in El Paso, TX. Links course with wide open fairways that provide plenty of roll. There is plenty of trouble to get into though, so play smart. The course is visually intimidating, with plenty of bunkers and waste areas. And the elevated and protected greens made the approach shot more difficult as well. A really fun course and a great day of golf with our brother and our friend. Thanks for joining us today Mark!!!

Painted Dunes Desert Golf Course in El Paso, TX. Option of 3 different 9's, East, West and North. We played the East & West. Beautiful desert course with beautiful mountain views. The platform fairways, with drop offs on either side. were different, and required some thought into how you were going to play the holes. But the rough wasn't penal, so you could really play from anywhere. The course was in great condition. The pace of play could have been better, but had a great afternoon of golf with our brother and Ben!!
Painted Dunes Desert Golf Course

Red Hawk Golf Club in Las Cruces, NM. Beautiful desert course with gorgeous mountain views and a challenging layout. Not an easy course, with plenty of water hazards, well-placed bunkers, and desert areas on either side of the fairways. The elevated and protected greens required good iron shots in, and the undulating greens didn't make it easier once you got there. There wasn't a flat putt to be had! Some fairways had some drainage issues, but it was easily overlooked by condition of the rest of the course. A fun course and a great day of golf with our brother!!
Red Hawk Golf Club

Horizon Golf Club in Horizon City, TX (outside El Paso). Well, we tried. We played 10 holes, waiting on every shot, in 45 degree weather. That wasn't ideal, but it was doable. But when it started raining on the 9th hole, being cold and wet became unbearable. Still had fun hanging out with our brother, though hanging out indoors where it's nice and warm will be better.

Moving Day, part 2!! We woke up at 6am this morning to kids getting dropped off for school at church. We probably shouldn't have parked next to the entrance. We drove another 160 miles this morning to our home for the next few days in El Paso, TX. Pretty easy drive today since we did the heavy lifting yesterday. We're looking forward to visiting with our brother, seeing our friend, and getting some golf in.

Next stop: Pass Christian, MS, with a few stops along the way...

Moving Day, part 1!! We left Bullhead City, AZ yesterday, and drove through all of AZ and most of NM, to our stop for the night at a nice church in Silver City, NM. We drove about 525 miles, through some pretty tough mountain roads and to an elevation of 8,534 ft. The driving was easier than the Rockies, in that it was a little more gradual (4-5% grade vs 10% grade in WY). We did almost hit a huge elk standing in the middle of the road as we turned a corner. Thankfully, Roger has quick reflexes and the elk eventually moved, albieit slower than we would have liked, so Roger had to slam on the brakes. We made it relatively unscathed, with just the loss of our coffee maker, which was thrown across the RV, and the TV stand that disconnected from the wall. But the RV, the elk, and us were unharmed so I can't complain. Just a little scare to get your heart pumping.

Moose Lodge 1860 in Bullhead City, AZ.

Mojave Resort Golf Club in Laughlin NV. Beautiful course at Avi Resort & Casino, recently overseeded and in excellent condition. The course is challenging, with plenty of hazards and tough greens. One of our favorites in the area!!
Mojave Resort Golf Club