Saratoga Springs to Myrtle Beach: Where I've been and what I've learned

Dateline: 12 May Saratoga Springs, NY

I’m ostensibly up here to review Saratoga National, a Roger Rulewich design. The real reason I made the trek to the North Country is to watch our son row a boat in the state crew championships. He has no idea how good he is and could be, and doesn’t plan to row in college. From 40 looking back, it’s hard to keep quiet and respect his decision.

I’ve spent the last month coaching my school’s girls golf team. We start out in one of the area’s two domes, spend a month of snow working on our swings, then break up for two weeks of Spring break. Upon returning, we head outdoors, then head to Canada on Wednesdays to compete in the Canadian league (the only one within a continent that has girls’ golf!) Coaching a girls’ team is so different from the guys’ team that I work with in the fall. I always tell both groups that they round out my education as a parent and a teacher.

You may have heard me on the TravelGolf.com This Week podcast. Host Dave Berner is the most patient guy in the world, and editor guy Mark Nessmith is the most trusting. Dave works through my umms and errs, and finds something cogent in what I utter. Mark lets me run with my hunches, which is never a bad thing.

Locally I filmed four holes for a third-year series with our local ABC affiliate. Since the Sabres are in the stretch of a playoff run, we don’t know when they will air. However, they are fun to shoot and watch, and I’ll let you know when they are online.

Along the way, I’ve shepherded four Spanish classes through another year (huh, they shepherded me?), helped turn out a school yearbook, screwed up an interest rate on a credit card, and watched four Mon offspring grow a little more comfortable in our world.

Coming up are trips to Philly (Stotesbury Regatta and The Golf Club at Glen Mills), Koehler, Wisconsin (Irish Course and Whistling Straits, Blackwolf Run Meadow and River Courses), and Myrtle Beach (Five courses that I’ll let you know about soon.) Oh yeah, three weeks of the golf camp that I direct. It’s a busy life, and I’m lucky to lead it.