Cart Thieves and a Glizzy Garden of Eden
Glen and I continued to have a hoot and a holler down in North Carolina. There is far too much to relay to you here but I will try to give the highlights and limit bordeom. We were charmed by so many folks we met south of the Mason Dixon. Their accents fascinated us and it was fun to see their interest peak when we told them where we lived! We were a couple of wide eyed Yankees trying to blend in with the other golf nuts down there. I think we did a pretty good job of it until some Joe Schmo’s tried to sabotage our last evening down there- more on that coming in a later post.
On Tuesday we conquered the insanely fun Tobacco Road Golf Club in Sanford, North Carolina. It is a bear of a course that toys with your brain and makes you question whether you are still on earth. We got there early to putz around and peruse the pro shop. When we came out of the clubhouse, our golf cart was gone. We had already loaded our bags and organized ourselves for the journey. What the hell! Luckily, I saw our bags on the back of a cart heading to the first tee. Glen was on the case. He confronted the burglar and after an awkward exchange, we got the keys to our whip. Turns out the guy had had “quite a morning”. He mixed up his tee times and was supposed to be there the following week. What an idiot! Anyways, the golf was fantastic, and they offer one hell of a hot dog at the turn. In fact, every hot dog we had in NC was scrumptious. They go with a bit of a thicker dog, a warm bun (not toasted), and I usually opted for coleslaw and onions on the top. I ate mine in 13 seconds.
First Tee at Tobacco Road (yeah the weather was as good as it looks)
Besides the dog, we couldn’t swat the smiles off of our faces. A highlight for me was the 16th hole. The sightlines on this hole made my knees quiver, but I managed to bash a drive over the big hump on the right. I had about a 9 iron left to get up a steep slope that found a hidden green. I skulled it, but it went straight, maybe a little off to the left. I gulped with anticipation and scampered up the switchback path to the pin spot. The ball couldn’t have been a foot away. What a thrill! I tapped in for a birdie 3. Unfortunately, Glen did not have as much luck. But you can ask him about that. Also, ask him about all the putts he hit, it was otherworldly.
We had to hustle out of Tobacco Road to go meet our friend and coworker who was busy living the #countryclublyfe. We’ll call him V-A. What a delightful afternoon we had. We met him and his Dad for a casual round at the Carolina Country Club in Raleigh. Following the round, we dined on the patio surrounded by debutants and their dates. We took our hats (visors) off of course. The only thing that went wrong for me happened in the bathroom. The urinals were very shallow and I splattered urine all over my shorts. It was the worst I’d ever seen. I hung out in the bathroom for a bit too long to encourage drying.
11th Tee to the island green at CCC (crazy houses in the background!)
On Wednesday morning we had a highly anticipated tee time waiting for us at Southern Pines Golf Club. A 1906 Donal Ross gem that was recently renovated by Kyle Franz. The starter told us they knocked down 1600 trees in the process. The property was raw but breathtaking. Workers scurried about tailoring the land and dodging golfers. This was my favorite course we saw and I cannot wait to come back.
The halfway house put my emotions in a pretzel. We finished 9 and found the windows closed to what we thought was a Hot Dog Garden of Eden. I was despondent. Granted it was about 9:30 in the morning, but I needed a dog. After grinding through a few more holes towards one edge of the property, we turned back, and saw folks scurrying about the shack. My spirits soared. It was the best dawg yet.
First Tee at Southern Pines
For lunch we went to…wait for it…can you guess????
HARRIS TEETER’S!! (our hosts at the country club had good things to say about HT’S. I was very happy to hear this from a local source)
After HT’S we returned to our neighborhood 18 at Longleaf. We may have snuck in a few beers and both played quite well. Confidence was irrationally soaring. It was a great way to end the “treehouse” leg of our journey. Tomorrow we would be checking out and heading to the resort!
#3 at Southern Pines
