Eddie, Bobby and I try to do an annual golf weekend. Usually it’s in Vegas, but we went to Miami once. This year, schedules were busy, and though Vegas was calling to me and Eddie, Bobby happened to be in the Bay Area for work for a couple weeks so we decided to meet here.
Eddie flew in on Thursday night and we went to dinner with Grace and the kids. On Friday, we drove down to the Santa Cruz mountains to play at Pasatiempo, which is an Alister MacKenzie course. I had never played there, but Grace told me it’s Charles’s favorite course in the Bay Area. It was beautiful and challenging. We played with a member, which was helpful. After the round, we tried to head to Santa Cruz for lunch, but it was too busy. We stopped in Palo Alto instead and had a great late lunch at Reposado.
Friday evening, we picked Bobby up at his hotel, which is only a couple miles from my home. We headed to San Francisco to have dinner at Epic Roasthouse. I enjoy the food there and the view is always appreciated by out-of-town guests.
Saturday, we played 36 holes on the Ocean Course at Half Moon Bay. Charles joined us for the first 18. I had the round of the decade, which isn’t really saying much, but was a small triumph for me. Charles wanted to try a burger place in town, so he took us to Ground-up Burger, which was awesome. We had more time to relax before our afternoon round, so we just relaxed at the resort.
The second 18 holes were very, very slow, but there’s no complaining when you’re golfing along the ocean. We ended up finishing just before our 8pm reservation at Navio, which is the main restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton. The menu has changed over the years and I didn’t always love it, but we all had an amazing dinner together.
Sunday, we had an early tee time at Harding Park in San Francisco, where they held the President’s Cup several years ago. I don’t often play there, but was reminded how different and beautiful it is compared to HMB. Usually we old men ride carts, but they’re always cart path only, which is more of a pain than a convenience. Thus, we decided to walk, which turned out to be easy and fast on this very flat course. My buddy, Dave, joined us as our 4th. It was a good test of golf for all of us. Photo credits of Eddie, Bobby and me go to Dave.
It always goes by too fast, but we managed to fit in a ton of golf and catching up. Thanks for making the long trip, Eddie. I’m already looking forward to our next outing.
