Of course, we had to play a warm up round. We chose to play Pacific Grove Golf course, which is, in my mind a great value for the area and the course itself (other than their "chemical burn" on the front nine greens). The round went well for both Kris and I; 84 and 88 respectively. I shot a 40 on the front, so that means I struggled a bit on the back nine...foreshadowing.
We played in back of two guys who looked as if it was their second time out. As we sat on the 4th tee, a par 5, we teed up and hit our shots. We really couldn't tell how far out; all we knew was they seemed to be waiting for the next group to get off the tee. We assumed that they were far enough away. Well, they weren't. And when Kris drove the ball over them, they turned around with their hands up in the air. I waved back to signify we were sorry. As we rolled up to close they said to us, "What the Hell.. They are still on the green!" Knowing it was a par 5 (and making a judgment on their game from watching previous shots; probably not nice), I shouted back, "You are 250 yards out!" They had to remind us, "C'mon..they are still on the green!" That prompted Kris to yell back, "You couldn't hit it with a shot gun!"
....silence..we knew he wanted to rip is shot on the green sooo bad! He awkwardly pulled back his fairway wood and hooked it into a tall metal fence that protected the homes on the left side and it made a nice "ping" sound. It was a classic line, that was said all throughout the round.
The next morning, I woke up not wanting to be too excited for the 1:30 tee time at Pebble Beach. I thought a walk would help my nerves a bit, so I went for a couple mile walk around the neighborhood, allowing me to check out 3 local chiropractic offices at the same time. We decided to get to the course about an hour and a half before the tee time to have lunch, hit balls, and putt.
We got to the course and the excitement began to kick in..This is THE course. I have watched it on TV many times, so just walking up to the club house and passing the first tee was bumping up my heart rate. We opted not to hit balls, since you had to take a shuttle to the range. Honestly, I didn't want to hit any balls with my nerves a little jittery. The gentleman handling our clubs asked us if we were with Travel Weekly. A responded with , "Should we be?" Hoping he would hook us up with some free stuff. He asked us what our tee time was and said we would be right after them. This would prove to add an extra perk to our round down the road.
At lunch I had my usual when travel..The Club Sandwich. Mia thinks I should start a website solely on Club Sandwiches and the critiques of the many I have had at various places. This Club was different. It tasted like many clubs I have had.. but I know at Carol's in West Sac, I could buy two for this price.
The starter asked us if we were ready to start a little early so we teed off at 1:20. We were paired up with a few guys in the tech industry, Mark and Brian. They were great, and Brian actually played the course, before so he proved to be valuable in that respect. They were regular schmoes just like us. While eating lunch, Kris and I were able to watch the Travel Weekly group tee off on #1. That settled my nerves a bit, watching them spray the ball every which way except for the fairway. But when I teed up my ball, I definitely felt my heart racing. That took about 5 holes to calm down.
Here is Kris and I on the #1 tee.
As we came upon the seventh tee, a 97 yard par 3 on an elevated tee that shot into a green that had the ocean as a backdrop. It looked as if we had a little back up on the tee. There were about 8 people on the tee, including Kris, Mark, and Brian. It took me a little while, since I had to grab my camera. I thought to myself that since we would be waiting, I would take some pics. As I walked up to the tee, Kris had a kid in the candy store look on his face. As I got to the tee, the man with his back towards me turns around and says, "Hi! I'm Mark O'Meara!" I though to myself..I know who you are!! No intros necessary! In hindsight, the statement, "have you ever thought about having personal chiropractor that would travel with you wherever you go?" would have been taking advantage of the opportunity. Mark has had great success at Pebble Beach as well as on the PGA tour. He was there with Travel Weekly, doing a piece and some photos for their magazine/website. I asked him for a photo op and he was very willing and happy to do so. He told us two things; "Whatever you do..enjoy today! This is a great course and you will always remember this round." And he said, "Don't worry about Tiger (Tiger is good friend and neighbor in Florida), he will be OK! He will make $110 million this year..He will be ok!" I turned to Kris after he left and said, "Man.. This was totally worth it now!" Subsequently, I parred the hole!
