Now On The Tee
A year in review post that comes out over six months into the following year? Utterly ridiculous, I know, but please indulge me as I attempt to make up for lost time. 2017 was supposed to be a year devoid of golf travel but fate intervened in late July, when an opportunity that I had been waiting my whole life for presented itself. Almost a year later, I still shake my head at my good fortune. For the first time in recent memory, I went into the year without any set plans for a golf trip. White Columns is a true family-oriented country club, with myriad amenities and a Tom Fazio designed golf course on a rolling piece of land. A solid member's course. My eight year old son Evan started getting into golf a bit more in 2017 and we went out to Brock Golf Course a couple times, a little par 57 executive course just outside of St. Catharines.
I grew up playing at Brock and this was the first time I had played the course in three decades so needless to say, it was pretty cool getting to experience it with my boy. In mid-July, I visited Royal Niagara Golf Club in Niagara-on-the-Lake for a fundraising tournament for my son's hockey team. Royal Niagara was designed by Ted Baker in 2001 and incredibly hosted a Telus World Skins Game back in 2003, with Vijay Singh prevailing over Sergio Garcia, John Daly and Canadian journeyman Ian Leggatt. I say incredibly because Royal Niagara is not a world-class course in any respect and the conditioning was famously awful when it hosted the event only a short time after opening. That all said, there are some decent holes out there and we had a very successful event for our boys so it was a good day. I've always dreamed of making the excursion overseas to see the great links courses of Great Britain and Ireland but at this point in my life, I had yet to travel off the continent. July 24, 2017 was the day everything changed.
That's the day I came across a post at Golf Club Atlas, a golf architecture discussion board I frequent. I was immediately intrigued. I had never met Howard R, the gentleman who made the post but I had conversed with him on occasion both on GCA and through social media. There was some comfort and familiarity here for me and I knew this was a good group of guys, without question. I reached out to Howard via email to get some info and I soon heard from the trip organizer, Chris H, who sent me an incredibly detailed itinerary. I soon received emails from Andrew and Matt, encouraging me to join them as well. The first thing I checked on was work and it immediately looked like a no-go, as one of my fellow staffers had already blocked that week off for vacation. I casually asked about her plans for the week and she immediately said "well, I don't really have anything going on so I was actually considering moving my vacation up a week instead". I walked back to my desk shaking my head in disbelief - getting the time off work wouldn't be an issue.
Of course, now I'm thinking about my family and most specifically, my better half. There was no way she was going to be okay with this on such short notice, I was sure. My wife and son were actually up north at a family cottage when this opportunity presented itself so I started chatting with her via text, just casually dropping a reference to the opportunity presented to me. Me: I'm fine. Had a dentist appointment this afternoon then got a ridiculous golf trip offer today so that's kept me busy daydreaming. Wifey: What trip babe? Me: Scotland - some friends are going in three weeks and had a cancellation. Makes me cry it's so good LOL. We continued the conversation via text and I was even more surprised that she asked what was on the itinerary. But I should have known better - at the cottage were some family members who had been to Scotland before and they wanted to know the courses I'd be playing.
