The Golfchick

That chick blabbing about anything golf related.

Category: Golf Travel (page 3 of 3)

Star Valley Ranch Golf

I just finished playing Cedar Creek in Star Valley Ranch in Thayne, WY. Beautiful. I’ll give more details later as I’m blogging from my GooseBerry now.

I am about to head back up the Grey’s River above Alpine, where about 35 or 40 of my family members have taken over a great lodge. Big party up there tonight for my uncle’s birthday with a terrific band. My family knows how to party!

We have ZERO cell/internet service up there (not to mention limited electricity) so I figured I’d post this real quickly before making my way back up.

More later!

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Road Trip Update

We’re almost there. It has been a leisurely drive and we’re taking our time. We also have company in our convoy but I still can’t release details since the surprise hasn’t happened yet. We have seen many golf courses and Greg may go play a little nine-holer across the street from where we’re staying in the morning while Vito and I sleep (relatively) late. We only have a couple hours driving left so we aren’t in any rush. I’d play with him but we can’t leave Vito alone in the room.

Anyway, here are a few photos from our journey so far. More to come.

road trip

I love Utah.

vito great dane ear flap in window

Flapping in the 70 mph breeze. Too bad the camera didn’t catch the lips in full flap position.

vito great dane yawn

Are we there yet?

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Road Trip!

Would anyone in their right mind take a 2000 mile road trip instead of flying these days? Dunno – you’d have to ask someone in their right mind.dog on board

Despite the insane fuel prices, we’re going on a road trip tomorrow. Of course we have to take Vito with us, and he’s nowhere near ready for the trauma of being stuffed in a giant crate and treated like cargo on an airplane. So we’re loading up the car and heading out. That’s quite a trick with a dog this size and luggage and golf clubs, but we’ve got a plan.

Can’t give you too many details now as our arrival is meant to be a surprise and even though the surprisee will likely never see this, better safe than sorry. I don’t think I’ll have much opportunity to blog while I’m there but I’ll try. If not, I’ll be sure to fill you in when I get back. Meanwhile, stay cool out there!

May they all roll true…

Great Dane Vito

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Great golf course closing soon – play now!

There are a couple of weekends left to get your round(s) in at a terrific golf course. I’ve written about Primm Valley Golf Club before and I absolutely love both of its 18-hole courses.

primm valley golf club lakes course

There are two golf courses on the property – the Lakes and the Desert. They’re amazingly different from each other so you’ll want to play both. My favorite is the Lakes, simply because I play it better and I like all the water. But here’s the thing: Primm uses bent grass on its greens and some poa annua grass has crept onto the Lakes Course greens. It’s spreading around (probably on people’s cleats) but luckily it hasn’t reached the Desert Course. Many courses use poa annua by design or by accident because it takes over. The greens crew is keeping them rolling well for the mean time and the course still plays great (I was just there a few weeks ago).

Rather than attempt the commonly failed overseeding method to fix it as some courses do, Primm is closing the Lakes Course down completely for 3+ months to repair the greens. At least they chose the hottest months to do it. The date of closure is June 30 so the last day to play Lakes is June 29.

That leaves two more full weekends to play both courses on an affordable trip. Primm Valley Golf Club is owned by Mandalay Bay, but they partner with Terrible’s, the casino/hotels on the Nevada side of the California/Nevada stateline. The courses themselves are a couple miles down the road on the California side. They’ve got great rates (even lower in these hot summer months) that allow you to stay and play without breaking the bank like many of the resorts in Las Vegas proper. Two people can stay Friday & Saturday nights and play both courses on Saturday and Sunday for just $195/person. So if you’re tired of “stay-cations” and want a quick getaway, this is a great option. But you’ll want to play both of these golf courses so you better get cracking.

The course reopens on October 18th 2008, when the rate for the above mentioned package increases to $295/person. Still a great deal, especially since the weather is so nice then, so if you can’t get away this month, just wait until fall.

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When simply not losing is winning

It was a fabulous weekend at the Nevada/California state line. The golf took place on the California side at Primm Valley Golf Club and the gambling and a little sleep happened on the Nevada side at Terrible’s. The weather was the best we’ve ever had there – topped out in the low 90’s with very little wind. Beautiful!

The Golf

Well, we didn’t win anything here. My swing was in tact and thanks to the extra strokes I got for playing from the white tees with the men, I even netted three eagles per day by making par on some of the toughest holes on both the Lakes and the Desert courses. However, our team scores of 66 and 65 (131) were nowhere close to being in the money. In fact, the second day winners shot a net 50 (yes, 22 under!) which also propelled them to win the two-day prize.

primm lakes hole 10


lady noodle and eat golf tee

Little Victories

In past years, I have donated several golf balls to each of these courses. This year, I was pleased to finish the weekend as the proud owner of the golf ball and tee I used both days. By the way, the new Lady Noodle has been my favorite ball for awhile now.

Psst… hey Rich – that’s my last remaining Eat Golf tee. Guess I scattered the rest of them around courses across the country. Time to do the same for some Golf Chick tees, eh?

The Gambling

Here’s where the “not losing is winning” comes in. A couple fun nights at the Craps table allowed me to return home with more money than I took with me – yes, including the cost of the trip. The pit boss said I was the best shooter of the week. Wish that would have been true on the golf course as well. I almost expected to get upgraded to a winner’s suite. Alas, maybe some day.

Vito was quite happy to see us when we returned. Unfortunately, his anxiety manifested with some digestive problems (sorry, Mom!) as he probably thought he had moved on to another foster home. One day he’ll realize we will always come back for him! Huge thanks to Mom for taking such wonderful care of our boy.

Also – many thanks to all who sent in well wishes and inquiries about the outcome of the weekend. We had a blast!

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Nevada Golf This Weekend

I’m so psyched. Every year our club goes on an away trip, and I always have a great time on it. We’re headed off to Nevada for a two-day tournament of partner best ball. Greg and I have won it two of the three times we’ve competed in this event at this location. Previously, we had different formats each day so we only won one day. The second day format used to be a modified Pinehurst alternate shot format (at which we suckeddesert golf hole as a team) but somehow in the best ball format we have managed to pick up each other’s slack more often than not. This year we are both playing from the white tees which means I will be getting a few extra strokes but losing the distance advantage. We’ll just have to see how that works out.

As I mentioned in my last post, I only just rediscovered how to swing a golf club and I can only hope that carries over for this event. I promise I will write more about when, how and why that happened!

Since Greg went on “our” last trip without me, he was prepared to stay home with Vito this time if we couldn’t find a suitable alternate circumstance for our sweet Great Dane. I really didn’t want that to happen because we always have such a great time golfing and gambling together on this outing. Thankfully, my parents (and sister who is visiting them) agreed to take wonderful care of him in our absence. It has been just over a month since we adopted him and while I’m still reluctant to exacerbate his abandonment issues by both of us leaving him for the weekend, I also think it might be good for him to be without us for awhile and have us return. I hope it will help him understand that we will always come back to him.

So we’re in for a big weekend on several levels as you can see. Regardless of the results of the golf or the gambling, I know we’ll have a wonderful time and I’m sure I’ll tell you more about it when it’s all said and done.

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