Playing Lombard Street

    I have heard about Chabot Golf Course in Oakland, California and have always wanted to play it.  Finally, Denise and I took a trip out of the Central Valley and took the plunge. I was not disappointed.  What a great course.
     I am not going to review the course here.  I will save that for a full review at a later date.  What I did want to share with you is the unique par six,  eighteenth hole.  I had heard of it but really didn't know what to expect. Unique is not quite the word to describe the hole.
     As you drive into the course, you look off to your right at what appears to be a very high, totally green hill, mountain actually.  At the end of this hill is a green and you notice a cement path crisscrossing the hill. On the path are small little munchkin movers-- oh, wait a minute they are golf carts.  Those are golfers.  They are playing a hole.  This doesn't look like a golf hole, it looks like Lombard Street.  This thing is steep and long.

Lombard Street.  Notice the cart path.

It's steeper than it looks. Wahoooooooo!

It is all of 600 plus yards.  Notice the cart in front of the green.

     I have a suggestion for the City of Oakland.  Put a chairlift up the side of this hill and people can ski down it.  That would help the City's budget crisis. It snows in Oakland about as often as the A's win the World Series or the Raiders win the Superbowl--I can say that because I am an A's fan. You can always rent snow making equipment.  This is not a hill, it is a mountain. What a hole!

I'm Back...Sort Of

     Well, I went out and did it yesterday.  My back is feeling much better and I actually went out and did it.  Let me explain.
     I was invited yesterday to play golf, and I went.  I didn't know how my back would hold out but I am feeling better and almost back to normal.  When I was invited to play Stevinson's Ranch, I was apprehensive but I went anyway.  I am glad that I did.
     I have no pictures and I wasn't working to share the course.  My intention was just to play and enjoy the round and get through it.  I finished out, though my back was beginning to show signs of pain on the 16th hole, which I pared by the way.  I have decided I like Stevinson's, providing the wind isn't howling at 100 MPH. It is a great track.
     Yesterday's round at Stevinson's began at check in at the pro shop.  I know that that is kind of redundant because most rounds begin when you check in with the pro shop.  OK, a confession here.  I have snuck onto a golf course without checking in, but I have only done it___times. I was impressed with the shop staff and got to have a lengthy conversation about many things related to golf with Kris who was behind the counter.  He was very helpful and I enjoyed our conversation.  Mike later joined us, who also worked in the pro shop.
      We hooked up with two other guys on the first tee.  It seems that we had been paired with a couple of guys that were very pleasant and we enjoyed the round.  Doug and Greg were from Visalia and had been playing a lot of golf lately.  We talked and laughed through the whole round making the day enjoyable.
       Yesterday was my first day back in three months, and I actually played fairly well. the lack of play on my part was evident, but I did have some great shots and birdied number three. In the words of that immortal philosopher and cowboy singer Gene Autry, "I'm back in the saddle again!".