New Year's Golf...why I love Southern California

It was a nice way to wind down 2006, and start 2007 - a bunch of us went to Elkins Ranch Golf Course in Fillmore to play 18 on New Year's Eve - we had two foursomes, plus one rider, and headed out at 11:30 and 11:38 AM.

It was sunny, crisp and beautiful, and I played in shorts and a sweatshirt, while everyone else was in slacks and sweatshirts. As the round progressed, it cooled considerably and in the shadows, it was COLD, I'll admit...(relatively cold, it was 57 degrees on the car thermometer when we got back...)

Elkins Ranch Golf Course is located amidst an orange orchard in Fillmore, CA, and it's about 45 minutes away from the house, but the beauty of the area, and the laid back attitude is a refreshing change of pace. The cheeseburgers or hot dogs at the turn are amongst some of the best you'll have anywhere...I don't know WHAT they do there that makes them SO tasty, but Elkins Ranch is widely known in the area for having some of the tastiest burgers around...

Their signature hole is #17 - an elevated tee 440 yard par-four that features some AMAZING views of the town of Fillmore, and the surrounding agriculture. This picture shows our friend Margaret teeing off, and the fog that was starting to move in...I shot a 91, and Cheri shot a 88 - my putting was pretty atrocious, and I will be making good use of the automated putt returner that our friends Mike and Michelle gave me for Christmas...

Speaking of which, I gave everyone their Christmas presents yesterday - it was a round of TartanGolfGrips.com putter grips for everyone!

• Margaret got one featuring County Offaly, where her family originated from in Ireland...

• Steve got one featuring the Kansai Highland Games tartan, since he's half Japanese...

• Mike got one featuring the Justus Universal tartan, since his family is German...

• Michelle got one featuring the Scozia Italian tartan, since she's Italian, and the Scozia tartan is a bit more colorful than the Italian/American "artan" design that I made up for Tim Rosaforte...

• Kirsten (Mike's sister) and "J" got one that I developed especially for them - the "Burner" tartan, which is derived from one of the "Burns" tartans...Dr. "J" and Kirsten recently moved to our area from Orange County, and purchased Anacapa Animal Hospital. The animals of Ventura and Ventura County are fortunate to have J and Kirsten taking care of them, and they have made some REALLY exciting improvements to the Anacapa Animal Hospital - it's a very impressive facility, with some amazing high-tech equipment to take care of the animals. We hope that the two of them can take some time off in 2007 to come golf with us some more!

We wrapped up our round with Jeff, our hamburger chef, who also mixes up a mean "J.D" (Jack and Diet Coke - consumed in honor of John Daly), and we toasted the New Year together in the bar area adjacent to the snack shack at Elkins. (I drowned my sorrows as my beloved Broncos looked PATHETIC in their loss to the 49ers, and got bumped out of the post-season...2007 started off nicely, though, as the Boise State Broncos beat Oklahoma to win the Fiesta Bowl!)

Everyone headed home, and we got together later with Mike and Michelle and "Mini-Michelle" from Las Vegas, and rang in the New Year together. It was a very pleasant day, and a great cap to a pretty decent year!

Here's the 2006 recap:

• 2006 started with me working with Sally Quinlan of the Ventura County Junior Golf Association to try and get a Ventura County Chapter of the Executive Women's Golf Association off the ground.
• I got the idea for TartanGolfGrips.com in early March 2006, and spent the rest of the year getting ready to launch the business, and develop the website and shopping cart. I launched the site and cart around Memorial Day, and spent the summer taking classes in Dreamweaver and Photoshop from Conejo Valley Adult School. The relaunched site went live at the end of October.
• My dog Rusti passed away in early September. Rusti's story can be found here, and I miss her every day - however, my life was improved by having her be such a big part of it, but she is greatly missed.
• However, "life is for the living" as the old saw goes, and a week after Rusti's passing, we adopted "Tailer" from the Agoura Animal Shelter. This is "Tailer" and his new Christmas hot dog squeaky toy: Rusti's buddy Triniti had been grieving and lonely since Rusti passed away, and we decided that she needed some companionship. The two of them have become best buddies, and they tussle and play ALL the time...here's a picture of Triniti:

• I've talked to a lot of people, and it seems that many of us feel that 2007 will be a better year, as the general zeitgeist seems to be improving...it's hard to believe that we're on the cusp of 2007, when it seems like only last year we were getting ready to ring in "the new millenium" - it's amazing how fast the time goes by...but I've learned that the best way to live is to live each day like it were your last, hug those that you love, tell them how much they mean to you, laugh easily and often, and play all the golf that you can! The PGA Tour season kicks off in only three days, and I'm looking forward to it, especially with the new FedEx Playoff format. I went through the 2007 PGA Schedule, and I'm especially looking forward to these tournaments:
• Mercedes Championship - Kapalua - One of my favorite courses in the world, especially the "Bay" course - even though they play the "Plantation" course, it'll be fun to see if 'The King of Kapalua', Stuart Appleby will make it four in a row, and the scenery and newness of the season gives Kapalua a special vibe...
• Bob Hope Chrysler Classic - This event moves up in the schedule this year, and I'm hoping for nice weather. The Pro-Am portion of the event is fun, and this year's grand marshal, George Lopez, should have the crowd enjoying themselves.
• Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines - I REALLY enjoy the "West Coast Swing" because so many of the courses are within 2 hours of my home, and Torrey Pines is ANOTHER favorite course. The scenery and challenge of the South course is really great, and this event is a personal favorite - it's also usually the first "Tiger sighting" on the Tour.
• AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am - In my opinion, this event is one of the top five all season, the others being The Masters, The U.S. Open, The British Open and the Bob Hope. The scenery of Pebble Beach and the Monterey Peninsula courses, the history of this event and the Pro-Am makes this THE West Coast Swing event...I actually sent in a volunteer form for this event this year, and I'd take vacation days to work this event...I know the pros hate the six hour rounds that the Pro-Am involves, but it adds a special and unique element to the eventthat makes it really special for me...

I used to say that SKIING got me through the dark days of January to March, but the West Coast swing is quickly taking over for me, although I hope to make a trip to Mammoth in February to get some skiing in this year!

New Years Day was sunny, breezy and about 75 degrees in SoCal. My wife is preparing for her securities license test later this week, so I met Steve and Margaret at Sunset Hills for a quick nine-hole round. One of the benefits of having a local team (USC) in a big bowl game (the Rose Bowl) is that the golf course was DESERTED...there were only about four other people on the course with us, and we had the place to ourselves! Steve's 17 year old daughter Stephanie is just taking up golf, so it was nice for her to not have the usual weekend pressure. The wind was pretty gusty, and came into play on a few holes...but helped my drive on #2 end up about 120 yards out, making that drive over 250 yards...wind-aided, of course...but it was still fun!!! Shot 46, and couldn't POST, because the clubhouse guys closed up early, but had a nice day anyway...

Happy New Year to all!