Easter Golf news

After attending a local sunrise service, and heading out to an early breakfast out with Mom, Cheri and I headed over to Elkins Ranch Golf Course with our favorite other golf couple.

I wanted to go to Elkins because the citrus blossoms are in bloom right now, and I enjoy their scent immensely. Elkins is also a fun, friendly little course that is located smack in the midst of citrus groves on three sides, and mountains on the fourth. It's quite far out away from civilization, and it's a nice getaway that's still pretty close by....

Elkins is located in Fillmore, California, which is a town that is in the midst of changing from mostly agricultural, to suburban residential, which is kinda sad, because once all those groves are plowed under, where will we get our oranges and lemons???

For the time-being though, a trip to Elkins is like a trip back to the '60's, when the course was first built. My favorite hole on the entire course is #18, which is a dogleg right into a large amphitheater green that is framed with large pine trees on the left and center, and the snack shack/bar/bar-b-cue patio on the right....it's a funky reminder of days gone by, and you can almost imagine the horn-rimmed and cat's-eye glasses on the people that played golf there when the course opened in the early 60's...and the HAMBURGERS are LEGENDARY - we joke that it's probably because the grill hasn't been cleaned thoroughly since the Eisenhower administration, but there's SOMETHING there that makes them taste EXTRA good....

The day was cloudy, and cooler than normal, and a bit of a breeze kept everyone bundled up in sweatshirts and jackets, but the citrus blossoms did their thing, and EVERYONE shot REALLY well...we had a bit of trouble with their fuzzy greens from poa annua, and all of us left SEVERAL putts short of their intended destination, and pumped up the scores, but I ended up with a legitimate 87, and edged Cheri out by 1 stroke, but she was playing from the forward tees, and I was playing from the blues...

We had a great day, and Cheri was just LAUNCHING her drives...her tempo was nice and slow, and she was just BOMBING the ball off the tee...we measured one drive at 276 yards on a flat fairway!!! How you ask???

Our playing partners brought along one of those new SkyCaddie GPS devices!!! Now, I'll be first to admit that when I saw them advertised by Pete 'n Nat on the Golf Infomercial Channel, I thought they were a joke, being the traditional purist that I am...sorta...

After being out on the course with friends that actually HAVE one of the little babies, and knowing exactly how far out from the green we are, and hitting DARTS into the green...I want one....(more confessions...sheesh) I STILL think they're too expensive, but if you have the disposable income, they are COOL! We had access to the high-end model, the SG4, and they had downloaded all of the coordinates from the website, and we new EXACTLY how many yards INTO the pin, and how many yards OUT from the tee-box we were, and we were able to measure EXACTLY how many yards out Cheri had launched her Callaway Big Bertha Red golf ball....it was pretty FUN, actually...