I'm A Travelin' Man

 I don't know how many of you remember that Ricky Nelson hit song "I'm A Travelin' Man". I'm going to date myself here and say I remember when it was first released and the AM radio stations-my, that's a long time ago-used to play it a lot.  I remember watching "The Ozzy and Harriet Show" when Ricky performed it for the first time. OK, I am getting old so let's get that out of the way.  I'm also a "Travelin' Man"  and have played golf in a lot of diverse places.  I have haven't played outside of North America, but I have logged a few miles especially here on The West Coast. I guess that's why I call my blog and other things "The Golf Course Travel Bag".  It kind of makes sense.

I'm going to take a minute here to give a sort of explanation or "road map" if you will about what I am going to bring to you with "The Golf Course Travel Bag".  I am going to share with you stories about the golf courses that I have played and some of the locations that I have traveled to. Of course I can't get away with just writing about courses and locations.  I have to throw in a bit of off the wall humor and observations about golf and the issues surrounding the game.  For example, Why would you want to throw out a perfectly good golf ball because the pros are hitting it longer than the gutta perch ball with graphite shafts and not hickory shafts? That my friend, is a question for the ages.  I don't have time to answer that question because I have to leave for church and my wife gets a little perturbed when we are late, considering she is the choir director and I sing bass.   

In my over 50 years of playing this wonderful game I have played over 200 different courses. Many of those courses I have take pictures of.  I have a website in which I have listed and given some information about most of those courses. On my website you will find courses you can play and they are open to the public. I have played quite a few private courses that require an invitation or I played them in competition and I haven't listed these on the website.  Check out my website at http://the-golf-course-travel-bag.com. So, what else was I going to call it.

My wife and I have just returned from a few days at our time share in Palm Springs. What did we do?  We played golf, of course-pun not intended.  In the coming weeks I may share some stories about those few days, or I may not because I am retired and take naps.  I don't know the point I am making here, I am just trying to close this post. So, I guess I will just say watch for my next post.
  

Ouch! It Hurts

 So I have come to the conclusion that I am not as young as I used to be. It seems as though I have found places on my body that I never knew existed and guess what-They all hurt.  Not only that, those minor aches and pains become major and take a much longer time to heal. Believe me, they play real havoc with your golf game. I have to tell you that getting older is not for whimps. But, you do have to put all of this in perspective considering the alternative.

I would give you a rundown of all the aches and pains that evolved in my not so pure body, but I don't want to bore you any more than I have in the past with my earlier posts.  Let us just suffice to say that they hurt, and in many cases have kept me from playing golf.  I hate it when that happens.  I deal with sciatica.  My knees are bone to bone and I enjoy it when my orthopedist looks at my x-rays and says, "Are you sure your knees aren't hurting you?  I have seen knees that were in  much better shape that I have replaced."  Actually, they don't hurt and once a year I go in for my hyleronic acid shot and do a series of knee exercises. They are fine for another year. I thank God for that and back out to the golf course I go.

I honestly think it is a conspiracy.  My body is trying to tell that eighteen year old feeling brain that the body it is in is not eighteen, but is in a beat up seventy year old body.  The body has finally thrown a major monkey wrench into the brain/body controversy.  It has dealt an almost crushing blow with a new condition. I have been afflicted with the dreaded tennis elbow and it hurts.

The war is raging between the brain and the body.  When I first started hurting from this I decided that it would not stop me from playing golf.  What the heck, there is always the wonder drug ibuprophen. Four little tablets of this amazing discovery of the pharmaceutical world will beat back the pain and it will go away. I'll ice my elbow as well and it will disappear.  It will be as good as new-all will be right with the world. Wrong, well if I stop playing golf for a couple of weeks and keep icing it as well as taking ibu, maybe it will go away. So, I laid off .  

This was fine, but a complication arose. In September my wife out of the blue asked me if we had time at our timeshare the first week of January.  Yes, I almost fell off my chair because as you know, she doesn't like to go away and travel. I told her that I would look and lo and behold there was a week available in the San Diego area.  I told her about it and I grabbed the time.  I love the San Diego area and I was excited.  The next four months were filled with joyous expectation from me, enough to drive my wife close to insanity.

The weather was pretty nice in December, good enough for it to be pleasant on the golf course.  We played quite a bit. I felt a slight tug in my right elbow and thought nothing of it.  Unfortunately as the playing month wore on the pain got worse. The dreaded tennis elbow was knocking loudly at my door and it forced its way in. It got bad enough that on a couple of rounds, I had to quit about the fourteenth hole. My eighteen year old brain said play on soldier, but eventually the 70 year old body said, "Shut up kid, I hurt!"  I came to a compromise with the two factions.  I would play until I started to feel a bit of pain.

 OK, so that didn't work.  What was I going . to do?  Our San Diego trip and its four day golf marathon were quickly approaching. I sat out the last week of December and stoked up on the wonder drug as well as icing my elbow and putting heat on it.  I found out that YouTube is full of ways to alleviate the pain of tennis elbow. They helped, but the pain didn't go away but was lessened. San Diego and golf, here we come. That eighteen year old brain was fired up.  The 70 year old body said, "You do what you want, but I am not responsible for any catastrophes." On to San Diego we went. I love San Diego and I love to play golf especially in San Diego.

Did I say I love San Diego?  It is one of my favorite places on Earth.  I love the warm climate, Casa Guadalajara Mexican restaurant, Fillippe's Italian food, Point Loma and the Cabrillo Monument, the harbor and especially the golf courses. I was not going to miss out on this trip.  There was no way. We got to our resort in Carlsbad and checked in.  My arm hurt and my 18 year old brain told me that I would be OK, but my 70 year old body tried to warn me of impending doom and disaster.

We teed off on Monday and my arm felt OK.  There was a little pain but I had taken my ibuprophen and I was wearing my tennis elbow brace.  I felt great.  My eighteen year old kept telling me, "See, I knew you could do it."  My 70 year old body said, "You just wait, the round is not over yet." I made it to the fifteenth hole and my arm didn't hurt but it was starting to let me know it was there. I decided that in order to keep playing this week I should listen to my 70 year old body and sit the rest of this round out.  I didn't want to not be able to play tomorrow, so I thought I would rest the arm for the rest of the round. My 70 year old body was very happy.  We got back to the resort and I went in the jacuzzi and put the water jets on my arm.  It felt great.  I was ready for tomorrow.

I woke up and it was a beautiful Tuesday morning.  I'm ready for today's round of golf, I thought.  I took my ibuprophen and put on my tennis elbow brace.  Let's go conquer the world, my eighteen year old brain thought.  My seventy year old body was yet to be convinced.  We headed to the golf course and I was really excited about playing in this beautiful weather.

After checking in at the pro shop we got our cart, went to the car and loaded up our clubs. I felt good and it seemed that my ibuprophen was kicking in.  On to the first hole we went and teed off.  My eighteen year old brain kept encouraging me on and my 70 year old body reminded me that the round was not over.  I was playing golf and enjoying it with just a little ache and nothing more. 

I bogeyed the first hole, double bogeyed the second and pared the third. No pain here, just a very small ache. I had bogeys up until the seventh hole and I was still in good shape as far as any pain. My seventy year old body was waiting.  On the eighth hole tee I felt a little tug in my elbow. The second  shot was ok but on the third hole I felt a big pop-OUCH!  That was it.  My seventy year old body was now in charge.  This is as far as you go buddy.  I sat out the rest of the round in pain. That's it for today, but what about Thursday when we were going to play one of my favorite courses?  I'll be all right as I can rest my arm tomorrow.  Its going to rain tomorrow.

Thursday came and I was excited because this was the day we were to play one of my favorite golf courses Mt. Woodsen in beautiful Ramona, California. What a beautiful golf course in a mountain setting.  If you look at the numbers on the scorecard it doesn't look very tough and is short by most standards.  Yes, but a lemon looks sweet so don't let this course fool you.  It is hilly and has some great holes, especially their signature hole which is a par three and you have to cross a long quarter mile bridge that snakes through the hillside in order to reach the third tee.  What a wonderful hole and that hole had a significant role in my play for the rest of the week. 

 I hit my tee shot to the par three and it hurt.  Ok, let's pick the ball up and go on to the fourth hole. My tee shot on the fourth probably was one of the worst drivers I have ever hit and quite frankly was beyond description.  I was done for the day.  My 70 year old body had totally counter manned my 18 year old brain. That was it for today.  I tried a few more shots after that, but I found out that there were many ways you could hit a hosel rocket. 

There was no way this trooper was going to soldier on.  I was done. We had a tee time for tomorrow at another course but it was time to make some really mature decisions, and that decision was that my body didn't want me to play.  We decided to cancel our tee time for Friday which was a good thing because Denise's knees were bothering her. It was time to retreat to the safety back in Merced, recoup and rest in order to soldier on another day. Its a long drive from San Diego to Merced.  My 70 year old body was proud of me, and my 18 year old mind went off into a corner and pouted.  

Several weeks ago I fell and braced my fall with my arms.  Needless to say this was painful and has caused me another seven weeks of a hiatus from golf. I am having withdrawl symptoms and I am dying to get back to playing.  Well, I'm just going to wait it out this time. I am going to display the wisdom of an almost 70 year old person and put my 18 year old brain in its place. I think the pain will do a pretty good job of that.           

   

  

     

Detail Your Car-Buy A Timeshare

 I know that this blog is mostly about golf. But it also has to do with travel and some of the odd happenings that I have been involved in during my life's journey.  This one doesn't necessarily fit into the odd category, but I think that it still is an interesting story and one I would love to share. At this point, I would think that you would be wondering what detailing your car and buying a timeshare have to do with golf?  Stay with me on this one.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?  Our 2014 Hyundai Elantra Hatchback was starting to look a bit worn.  It needed a facelift and a good cleaning on the inside. The time had come to find a service that would bring back that "new car" look and feel to that great car that had served us so well.  What shall we do and how do we find a car detailing service that would come out to our house and make the Elantra like new again.  

We looked into four or five companies that did mobile car detailing.  One of the companies offered a deal that if you had one of their service technicians come out and detail your car at your house they would throw in either a two nights stay in Reno at a top hotel or a three night stay in Las Vegas. Sign me up baby! There was a catch.  Yes, the room in Las Vegas was deluxe, but you had to attend a two hour sales presentation for you guessed it-a timeshare.

Have you ever been to a timeshare presentation?  Oh, come on now you can admit it. I have been to a lot of them and had yet to buy one.  You all know the drill.  You go in and they show you the resort and all its glory.  They tell you the advantages of owning a time share. There is the obligatory tour of the resort and after that you are led to the slaughter room.  This is where you are hammered and the salesman tries to get you to sign up where buying in costs an arm and a leg.. If you have been through this, you know what I am talking about so I'm not going to go into detail.

I was very confident that we would enjoy a few days in Las Vegas and I was sure we would pack in a round of golf which we did.  The timeshare presentation was just going to be a nuisance that was all part of a pleasant trip and we may even get a free show or Las Vegas attraction out of the deal as well for a couple of hours of our time. By the way, I should say here that both Denise and I hate Las Vegas and Denise doesn't like to travel. The appointment time at the resort arrived and it was time to go. I was ready.  I had practiced over and over my "saying no" skills and they were well honed.  Off we went.

As we drove to the resort where we were to attend the presentation I was confident that there was no way I was ever going to get mixed up in or buy a timeshare.  I know the drawbacks of a timeshare such as the limited availability of the resort when you want to go and spend your week or two weeks. You were lucky to get your weeks even if you book up to a year in advance.  Not only that, its cheaper to just book an Embassy Suites room when you want to go somewhere than to buy into a timeshare.  After you have bought the timeshare, you still have the dreaded maintenance fee.  There is no way for this cowboy.

The presentation/sales lobby was on the 9th floor of the resort. We were the only couple in the lobby and patiently waited as to what was going to happen next.  Out came this big guy and he said, "Mr. and Mrs. Rallis I'm Charles (the name has been changed to protect the innocent)  and its good to meet you. Come on back."  He was very pleasant, and inside to myself I was practicing-no, no, NO! I was comforted by the fact that I had been in this timeshare sales bullring before and I knew where this was going.  Besides, my wife doesn't like to travel so we were safe.

We sat down with Charles and chatted.  As a former salesman, I knew what he was doing.  He was trying to build rapport with us so that he could build an easy going relationship between us.  Yep, I could see right through him, but it was quite pleasant.  He talked briefly about the program the company was offering and I liked it, but I knew I was not going to buy. This company offered a points based program where you had access to several resorts in some very desirable destinations. He took us into a video viewing area where we were watched the rah-rah video for the company, and as we filed into the video room, he told us, "I know you are not going to buy, but I have to show you this video. After the video we can sit down for a few minutes more and I have a few more things to show you and then I will let you go to enjoy the rest of your day in Las Vegas." So, in we went and watched the video.  He was right, there was no way I was going to buy into this.

What he showed us was of course the numbers and what it was going to cost to buy into this. At first he showed us the cadillac plan that showed the premium membership.  It was expensive and Charles knew we would not go for it because it was way out of our budget.  He then came out with this, "For a limited time we have been authorized to show the plan that we offer to our employees."  This plan was quite a bit less and was affordable, all things considered. 

 I knew that this was coming and I was totally prepared to say no. We were going to say no and the new opportunity was what Charles would try to close the deal with.  I was ready.  All that practice saying no and here it came. 

Charles did an end run. He looked away from me and turned to Denise. "So, Denise how do you like this opportunity. Can we go ahead and write it up and get you into ownership today?" There was silence. And then my wife said, "Yes, that looks great.  I like the idea.  Let's go ahead and write it up."

Uh, what did you say Denise.  I thought to myself what did you just do dear? Who is this woman sitting next to me and what did you do with my wife Denise? Needless to say I was quite taken aback. I was OK with the deal but was shocked that my wife said yes. The "Big One" almost came because of the shock. She did ask me after she said yes and after the long pause, "That's OK with me if you're OK with it." So, we now own a timeshare-congratulations-or at least that was what Charles said. 

As I said before, Denise does not like to travel.  In order for her to go anywhere it has to cost dearly as far as loosing money and paying for something she is not using. Let's face it folks, this timeshare is costing us an arm and a leg but it is worth every penny of it.  We use our timeshare, and use it a lot. Yes, its never going to pay for itself financially but it has paid off in us travelling where we hadn't traveled before. We have chosen a resort we like to go to (Palm Springs) and that is where the golf comes in. Besides, we like Palm Springs and with our timeshare company we have other options as well.  In fact, we just came back from a week in the San Diego area and what else-played golf. We love it.

I am still not a fan of the timeshare industry and idea. In fact, if you are at a resort and are offered a good deal on cheap attractions, be careful. Most likely you will have to go to a lengthy-they are never the one hour presentations that they say they are-timeshare presentation where they will hammer you to buy a timeshare. However, for us it has worked out and we just were hooked up with an opportunity that we can live with and enjoy. Oh and by the way, if anyone needs the name of a good car detailing company I have one for you.

   

Take Me Along, If You Love Me

 How many of you have lived on this planet long enough to remember United Air Lines advertising campaign saying "Take me along if you love me"?  It was meant for guys who flew a lot on business trips, yes guys, to take their wives along with them on those business trips. United dropped this promotion because they found out that guys were bringing along a female companion but they weren't the guys wife. That lady didn't qualify for the "spouse" title, and the lady that he was traveling with, let's just say the guy was not legally tied to.  The result of this promotion was a rash of divorces, but that's a different story.

A majority of the time when I travel I take my golf clubs. I take them along because for the most part I love them most of the time. Yes, my wife plays golf as well and she normally is with me when I travel, as she does the driving. I love her to even more than my golf clubs. She loves golf almost more than I do, if I didn't take her along I would once again be sleeping in that dog house that I mentioned in my other blog, David Rallis Writes (https://davidralliswrites.blogspot.com-check it out). I do take her along most of the time because not only does she love the game of golf, but I love her and enjoy being with her especially to play golf.  She loves me-I think. I can't not take her along because as I mentioned before she does the driving. That's another story in and of itself but we won't go there right now. 

There are times when I visit my daughters, one lives in Las Vegas and the other in Spokane, Washington, that I fly and I take my clubs.  My wife does not come with me on these trip, but I do take my clubs. My daughter in Las Vegas is quite the golfer and when I am in Spokane I like to play a round with my son-in-law, and I should clarify that is a round of golf so get your mind out of the gutter, who used to be a Class A Pro at a country club. Life is tough, isn't it but golf is always on my mind when I travel. 

As we travel about the country, usually somewhere around the State Of California and we are driving to one of our timeshares, we pass some great golf courses. The timeshare is another story, but I will save it for another post.  When we travel on I-5 through the Los Angeles area we pass right by the courses at Griffith Park.  I haven't played much golf in the Los Angeles area but whenever we pass Griffith Park and see the courses on the right side of the freeway, I always say, "We should play there some day." Denise's reply is always, "Why?"  I must admit that she is the realist of the family.  Don't worry, we will get to play Griffith Park someday. The same is true with San Clemente Muni. 

I originally intended this post to be about how I almost always take my golf clubs along with me on trips.  It kind of morphed into how when I travel out of town and take my golf clubs, I am normally graced by the presence of my lovely wife.  All things considered I think that's a good thing. I guess that it can be said that in general when I travel I take along two very special things in my life, my golf clubs and my wife, not necessarily in that order dear.  Yes I do take her along because I love her, I really do and she does the driving.