The Golfchick

That chick blabbing about anything golf related.

Tag: Golf Trips

All Set for the Mesquite Amateur!

May 23, 2011 / / 8 Comments

Registration is closed and the numbers are in for the Mesquite Amateur golf tournament! Less than a week from today, 550 golfers and their guests will descend upon Mesquite Nevada for the 9th annual Mesquite Am!

Mesquite Am tent event

I’m told that’s more than we had last year (picture above from one of the nightly dinner event parties from the 2010 Mesquite Am).

So how many are participating in The Golf Chick tournament-within-the-tournament? Lucky number 69. Yes, 69 golfers (plus their guests) are going to have just a BIT more fun than the other 481 players. Haha.  Monday night in the tent, we will have reserved seating for our group (82 people) so we can meet, greet and mingle. We will also be selecting the lucky winner from the golfers to receive a Golf range finder! All the golf chick players will be receiving some bonus swag as well. Plus, we have some fabulous gifts to give away as prizes for certain accomplishments throughout the week as well as actual golf score results for just our group. (Follow along with me on Facebook and Twitter to participate in – and help decide – who wins and what for! You can also chime in to me in person in Mesquite but I’ll probably ask you to make it official on FB to make it easier to track.)

There are plenty of things going on for non-golfing guests to do as well, which you can see here.

It’s going to be a fabulously fun week and I can’t wait to see you all there! Luckily, I don’t have to wait long. Are you ready??? Some of you may know about how I came in DFL last year (in fabulous fashion, I might add). How mad will everyone be when I win it all this go around? I hope to find out!

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Oasis Palmer at the Mesquite Amateur

June 9, 2009 / / 7 Comments

Of all the new courses I played golf at the Mesquite Amateur, I was most delightfully surprised with both courses at Oasis – Canyons and Palmer. Hardly unheralded especially with the name Palmer associated with one of them, but for some reason I was expecting their layout and terrain to be more akin to The Palms or Casablanca Golf Club. That wasn’t the case at all. The rocks, hills, canyons, and overall scenery were beautiful and the designs quite challenging. Not the picturesque beauty of Wolf Creek or even Falcon Ridge (the poor man’s Wolf Creek), but not the flat and wide city courses either. They’re a satisfying and gorgeous compromise between the two.

Palmer course at Oasis Golf Club

The Palmer at Oasis Golf Club was the last course on my rotation at the Mesquite Am. In my first round, I was driving the ball great and putting for crap. After bonding with my putter, we worked better together the next day but my approach shots weren’t working out. I had hoped it would all come together on the last day, and it did – nothing worked. Next time I play the Palmer course I’m switching tees. This course just doesn’t suit my eye or game from the forward tees. I found myself using mid-irons off the tee in most cases so when I finally got the chance to use my driver on a couple par 5s, it was cold and bitter. And my putter was… well, it’s not my putter’s fault. There were many evil pin placements and some vicious greens in general.

Palmer course at Oasis Golf Club

I don’t know if it was the heat making the greens so hard and unreceptive, but nothing would hold. Even after recalibrating my distance for the altitude, I found myself putting or chipping from behind the green every time I “landed” one. The photo above is an example of the many holes where you can’t exactly run your ball up onto the green, either. Plus, on many holes, the greens slope dramatically back to front and it’s near impossible to be below the hole, at least with the conditions like we had. And either this was the hottest day or I was just fatigued and the heat got to me more.

Palmer course at Oasis Golf Club

About a minute before I snapped this photo, my ears popped and started ringing and I felt dizzy and weak with heat. As you can see, this green is tucked away in a nook that was the hottest place on the golf course. It was stifling in there and I thought I was going to faint. I was so happy to be out of there but it was a good reminder to drink more water and start cooling off with a cold, wet towel around my neck, which did the trick. The white circle in the picture is just there to point out the blue flag tucked in the furthest corner of this heat trap.

Golf chick at Oasis Palmer

Here I am on one of the easiest holes on the course. But where am I aiming? Nope, I didn’t draw it. I simply landed pin-high between those bunkers. Yes, I have alignment issues as well. Yes, by the last day I had all my excuses lined up and ready. After all, I wasn’t going to let my own poor performance take away from the overall experience of the Mesquite Amateur, which was incredible. I hope to do it again and again – only with a better game.

For more information on this great event, check out the Golf Mesquite Nevada or The Mesquite Amateur websites. I hope to see you out there next year!

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Coral Canyon and Decadent Delight at the Mesquite Am

June 7, 2009 / / 2 Comments

The second golf course on my rotation at the Mesquite Amateur was Coral Canyon, a course I’d been wanting to play for some time. It’s actually in St. George, UT, about a 45 minute drive from Mesquite. I’d been there before to play Ledges, and I just love the area. I’m a sucker for the red rocks and sand and have long thought Utah to be the prettiest state in the country. Coral Canyon did not let me down.

I got into some trouble on the course and found myself in the desert on more than one occasion. I was concerned about snakes but it was wildlife of another variety that gave me a start. After one errant drive, I located my ball near a short shrub on a hillside but it looked playable. I cautiously entered the area looking around for scary creatures and making some noise to alert anything living of my presence. After deeming it abandoned, I started taking my stance which included stepping on a corner of the aforementioned short shrub. Just as I did that, a quail panicked, screamed and ran out from under the shrub, which naturally caused me to do the same and making my playing partners laugh hysterically. I regrouped and successfully punched the golf ball back out into the fairway. Now I really had a shot and thought I still had a chance to reach the par 5 in 3. As I addressed the ball I thought I saw something crawling between my feet but put it out of my head. As I began my backswing, I realized there actually was some kind of creature there. Surprisingly, I finished my swing without a total disaster. As I was running away after an abbreviated follow through I realized it was only a baby lizard. The lizard was fine but my shot was short. Two harmless critters in as many minutes shook me up a little but we all had a good laugh. I didn’t get up and down for par but managed to save bogey.

Must’ve been a really errant shot!

Early in the round, we noticed something a tad unusual that put such “trouble” into perspective. Here we were on a beautiful day and a beautiful golf course delighting in our efforts to put a little white ball into a hole. Then we saw these guys:

prisoner work crew

I’m guessing the trouble they found was of a different variety than mine. Think I’ll stick to the kind that only comes with penalty strokes and startling silly birds.

golf chick coral canyon

No idea what shenanigans I was up to here but I like the backdrop.

golf course chipmunk

This little guy actually got up into our golf cart and started rummaging for snacks in the cubby holes. Sorry, brave chipmunk. No treats for you in there.

Rush, rush, RELAX

If you’re planning on going to the Mesquite Am next year (and I highly recommend it if you hadn’t noticed), check your course rotation before making your spa appointments. Just a word to the wise. When we played in Mesquite, the golf courses were mere minutes from the hotel and we were generally back from the day’s play around 1:00 PM, give or take. I figured even with the 45 minute drive from St. George, I’d still have plenty of time to make a 4:00 spa reservation. HOWEVER… after a particularly long round and a quick stop at the feed store to pick up some hay and horse medicine for my new friend Dee’s babies, we didn’t get back to the Casablanca until 3:30. I ran into the room, plopped down my stuff, paused for a proper boyfriend greeting, scrambled up some clothes and hurried like mad out past the pool and to the spa, still in my golf clothes. Filled out the paperwork, got my locker key, hustled to the shower and got my frenzied self back out to meet my masseur just a couple minutes late. His name was Mike and he had magic hands. He found spots I didn’t even know were sore and I luxuriated in the pampering for an hour. You know how it is – quietly soothing music, subtle aromatherapy, and a confident, professional touch of a Swedish massage that obliterates any leftover stress or aches. The frenzied feeling was gone as I got dressed and headed to the salon where I enjoyed yet another foot massage during my pedicure.

The Pampered Golf chick

I was feeling a bit spoiled since just the night before I had another hour-long Swedish massage that was as good but in a different way. My Swedish boyfriend had just driven out to surprise me and at bedtime, he treated me to a downright nearly professional massage and let me drift off to sleep when it was over. He wanted to demonstrate how he was there for me, not himself. Success. If he keeps that up, maybe he’ll be around next year and he can do both. Shouldn’t be that tough to get him interested in golf, right?

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What is the Mesquite Amateur?

June 2, 2009 / / 3 Comments

I think I got ahead of myself. I just jumped right into my experience at the Mesquite Amateur without explaining what it is. After all, it wasn’t that long ago I didn’t know what it was myself and I try to stay up on such things what with this blog and all so perhaps some of you are wondering just what the heck this thing is.

The golf

The Mesquite Amateur is a fun, well organized golf tournament that takes place in Mesquite, NV and the surrounding areas. Mesquite is about an hour northeast of Las Vegas. Amateur golfers of all skill levels bring their established handicaps (along with some bagfuls of sand in some cases) from all around the country to compete in the net event. There were even a few international players as well. The tournament is played on 8 golf courses in Mesquite, Coyote Springs and St. George, Utah. The courses are all open to competitors on the first day for practice rounds, then the tournament is played the following three days. Players are divided up by gender, age and handicap in their respective flights and assigned a course rotation. The top ten players in each flight at the end of the third day win cash prizes, and the top four from each flight go on to compete against one other one last day to crown an overall champion who wins a trophy and serious bragging rights. This was the 7th year of the Mesquite Amateur and I’m happy to report that, for the first time, a woman won the title. Congratulations to Sheila Stevenson of Austin, NV, on her final round of 84. Wait… with her 25 handicap that’s a net 59. Had to be the round of her life, right? Let’s hope so.

Nightly festivities

Each night after the golf, the players gathered in a giant tent at the Casablanca where dinner was served along with a show and prize drawings. There were plenty of buffet tables to accommodate all the players without bottlenecks, and people settled at their tables where they ate, drank, relived their rounds and watched the shows. There were also a lot of rules discussions from situations that arose during each round.

During the course of play, a video crew patrols the golf courses, filming various foursomes and catching the humorous antics of some players. The crew then compiles and edits all the footage from the day into a polished video segment for all to enjoy that night. Their fast and furious work is impressive and is highly anticipated entertainment each night. Take a 20 on a hole trying to get out of trouble in the desert? You’re probably going to end up on film. You know who you are. 😉

Happy Birthday, Mesquite!

mesquite birthday cakeThe city of Mesquite celebrated its 25th birthday this year and the timing coincided with the Mesquite Am tournament. Each night was considered a birthday celebration and came with a theme. Though I couldn’t always logically follow the theme throughout the night, the dessert tables were fabulous.

Then there’s the hired talent.

This year the acts were entertaining –kid fiddlers though perhaps not in the way the “talent” intended. The first night we were subjected to presented with the Kid Fiddlers. A frilly, cowboy-clad family of children with marginal various levels of talent, ranging in age from what looked like 5 to 18. And their mother, of course. They fiddled, strummed, tap danced, and sang (I guess that’s what that was) their way through a handful of songs and took a shot at audience participation. Some of the kids looked as pained by what they were doing as we were watching. The act was mercifully short but still the lowlight of the day.

The Mesquite-Toes

Mesquite-ToesNight two brought us the phenomenon known as the Mesquite-Toes. It’s a troupe of more than 50 female “dancers” with an average age of 66. And one man. They are raising money to take the entire group to China to perform on the Great Wall. They better install some kind of bumpers or side rails on that baby. Anyway, the team seemed to be endless in numbers as well as costumes and they just kept circling in and around the stage for what felt like hours. Each song had its own performers and associated costumes which got crazier with each change. The longer the show went on, the more it seemed to approach some level of grandma porn. The first song and dance was cute – “oh, that one looks like my grandma!” The second was variety – “oh look, new costumes.” And it just kept going and going … and going.

Magician Bram Charles

magician Bram Charles

By far, the best nightly show was on Magic Night, when they brought in Las Vegas magician Bram Charles.

He was talented with the tricks, kept us entertained with stories and humor and had a great stage presence. He did one bit that had me laughing so hard I had to keep wiping the tears from my eyes. He was supposed to make a yellow bandanna disappear – only the ACME Magic Kit he received included a banana instead. Maybe you just gotta see him do it. After the tent event, we headed back to the pool where there was always an “after-event” and that night it was Cigars Under the Stars. Bram joined us and treated us to some bonus card tricks in the moonlight. The guy’s got skills. Here are a couple shots with audience volunteers including one with my new friend, Kathy (hi chickie!).

Speaking of Kathy

She is one golf chick who’s always up for a challenge. I foolishly joked that I wanted to wear one of the Mesquite-Toes hats during the next day’s round of golf and promised I would if she could get it for me. And, of course, she did. Oh boy. I think that was Margarita night. Silly me. At least she let me remove the attached pig-tails. Looks much better on The Goose.

golfchick orange hat

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Mesquite Amateur 2009

May 31, 2009 / / 2 Comments

I’m home from my Golf Mesquite experience and what a trip it was! After four days of golf in the heat of the desert, late nights and early mornings, I was feeling pretty good. I guess the high of the trip wore off a bit because now that I’m caught up on my sleep my lower back is trying to tell me something. I’m not fluent in back but I think it’s got something to do with age so I’ll just do my stretches and ignore the nag.

My own performance in the tournament was embarrassingly poor (17th gross, T22nd net out of 31 players in the flight) but I had an incredible time.

Warm-up round

We played the Oasis Canyons course on Monday – Memorial Day – for our warm-up. It wasn’t really a practice round since this course wasn’t on the rotation for my flight, but I’m glad I got to play another course in Mesquite. It was a relaxed and easygoing round on a scenic and challenging course designed by Dave Druzisky. I played with a great group of people who developed into good friends over the course of the week and it was probably my favorite day of golf in this event. Given my love for competition, I might have picked a different day as a favorite had I performed better, but this one encapsulated my overall feeling about the Mesquite Amateur: good friends, good times, good desert golf courses.

golf chick oasis canyons

I needed a blue hat to complete my Memorial Day ensemble. Golf Mesquite Nevada gave us all blue hats but it was a couple days too late for the Oasis Canyons round.

I enjoy playing new golf courses all the time and one of the things I love about golf is all the different and gorgeous scenery. Mesquite golf provides that aplenty. Unfamiliar courses provide a particular challenge due to a lack of course knowledge and Oasis Canyons had a few holes that were particularly sneaky that way.

Oasis Canyons sneaky creek

This hole had a blind tee shot and the drawing of it on the score card didn’t show this water in front of the green. Luckily, my drive ended up just short of the cart path in the picture. I think this is #12 – can anyone confirm or correct that?

Canyons unknown hole

I don’t remember what hole this is but thought it was a good representation of the course and how it got its name.

Tournament Round One – Casablanca

As I mentioned in my previous post, we played the first official round of the tournament at Casablanca Golf Club. One of the women I played with that day (middle of the photo in that post) ended up winning our flight. Congratulations, Patti!

The Casablanca, designed by Cal Olson, was in good condition and had its share of beauty. Of all the golf courses I’ve played in Mesquite, this was the flattest and perhaps “easiest” even though my score didn’t show it. In a city of great golf courses, I have to say this one doesn’t exactly stand out. Plop it in my town – or many others – and it would be a gem. It’s just a comparison thing.

casablanca golf par 3

Here’s a pretty par 3 hole on Casablanca – perhaps # 8 – anyone?

So that’s the first two days of golf. More to come on the next two as well as hotel commentary and the spa experience. Also stay tuned for accounts of the nightly festivities which were a lot of fun including some embarrassing golf chick shenanigans.

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Mesquite Amateur – the preview

May 27, 2009 / / 4 Comments

I’m here at the Mesquite Amateur Golf Tournament this week and so far it’s been a blast. There are over 600 players in the tournament and the hotels are packed with golfers. Oh, and the casinos are as well. Go by the card tables and you’ll see an ocean of golf hats and various sporty apparel. It’s awesome. I’ve heard “Where you playin’ today?” and “Good luck out there” so many times I can’t count.

There are multiple men’s divisions – mostly by age group – and one women’s division with three flights. Obviously we’re playing on multiple courses (I think 8 in total but more on that later) and it’s just a golfer’s paradise. The event’s title sponsor is Golf Mesquite Nevada, who have been great hosts with all the wonderful side events. More on that later as well.

Cody and Mesquite golf ball

Here is Cody Law, Executive Director of Golf Mesquite Nevada and one of our hosts. He recently won a qualifier that will take him to play Carnoustie in November. Passionate about golf and Mesquite, a total professional who makes everyone feel welcome and important, and an absolute cutie pie who has only been playing golf for a few years – congratulations, Cody!

Today’s round

I’m in the Sorenstam flight in the women’s division and today we played at Casablanca Golf Club. I’ve played courses in Mesquite before but all the courses on my rotation are new to me, which is challenging and fun. Yesterday was a warm-up round and the tournament started today. I haven’t met anyone here I haven’t liked, and the ladies in my group today were no exception.

casablanca girls

Sue, Patti and Brenda were a real pleasure to play with. Here they are on #? at Casablanca.

We were all pretty much evenly matched with our handicaps. Sue (left) is a __ year old grandmother who plays like nobody’s business. She was my cart partner and a real delight. Patti (middle) had an outstanding game and was a real power hitter. She had one drive that went nearly 300 yards and had a short game to go with it. This is my first Mesquite Am, and I hear they used to have a women’s long drive competition. She’d be a contender if not a shoo-in if they still had it, but I’ve heard they got rid of it after a trans-gender woman won it in the past. That’s not official, of course, but still – I think they should have it regardless. And if not, put something in it’s place like and extra closest-to-the-pin hole. I digress… Anyway, Brenda (right) was the only one of us who had ever played this event before – in fact I think she said she’d played it all 7 years it’s been happening. She was also a solid player and was invaluable for rules and procedures questions. None of the rest of us had been there before. All three of them outplayed me, which isn’t surprising considering I’ve only been playing once a month. Plus, I three-putted 16 holes (yes, for real) so I think I might sleep with my putter tonight even though my boyfriend just showed up and surprised me. Priorities.

Stay tuned… more to come.

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Road Trip Update

June 27, 2008 / / 1 Comment

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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When simply not losing is winning

June 4, 2008 / / 5 Comments

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

May 29, 2008 / / 2 Comments

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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