lonnie poole

well we have another event behind us, thank goodness. this was certainly a fun round, with some really regular guys! the more i play golf with groups the more i appreciate the game and friends. most of you know it was a tad bit cool yesterday morning, my mercury was right at 27 when i left the house. we already knew there was going to be a frost delay, so meeting at the farmers market restaurant was more of a leisurely breakfast than a bite to eat before the round. i had never eaten there before and was quite surprised at the size of the place as well as how busy they were. the staff was absolutely regular! great service, lots of smiles and the awesome food didn't hurt much either. during breakfast i think we solved the gun control problem along with many of the other pressing issues our country faces. we have a new regular guy who was introduced to us by the lawnmower guy, i did not get to play in his group, but look forward to the next time he gets to play...he will be know as the colonel. i do know that the colonel managed to pull in a closest to the hole, which is a great thing on your first event! meaning of course, there is now a target on his back.

the regular folks at lonnie poole had the frost delay under control; they shot gunned everyone and got us out as soon as it was safe to walk on the greens! a great group of professional guys working in the pro shop, hats off!

both of our groups started on #11 and the game was teams, front - back - overall and closest to the hole on all 5 par 3's... the closest to pins went to the colonel, the marine, the air force guy, the insurance guy and myself...we all rock! the teams were once again very fair and it was extremely close. the lawnmower guy's group managed to edge the concrete guy's group out by one hole, winning one side and the overall. the course was in great shape and the greens were rolling good, but extremely difficult to read, or at least everyone in my group had challenges. there were several 3 putts and even a few 4 putts...no names will be given...other than i think i four putted at least one.

when you play lonnie poole, you really don't even realize that you are in the middle of raleigh, except for the fact that you can see the skyline from several holes. it is a very long course and would probably be a great venue for a professional tournament. i do remember seeing 3 baby fawns on one of the holes and could hear the resident hawks screaming at us several times. i think the only way it would have been better is if the pirate would have brought some beer!

i think the group is on the grow and looking forward to our next event, which will be at chapel ridge on february 9, if you are interested, shoot me an email and i will make sure you get in on all the fun. i have played chapel ridge a couple of times in golfweek amateur tournaments and always had a good time; they boast to have the best greens in the area.

until next time, don't forget to golf your balls!