5/25 - Travel Day - DESTINATION ORLANDO ... It's not often that people fly all the way across the country to Orlando, get within 1/2 mile of the front gates of Disney World, and never visit the place.  But then again, I did use the word "atypical" to describe our group.  If Mickey has standing between us and the first tee of Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Club, that big rat is getting a severe beating with a seven-iron.  Get out of our way -- this is Golfest 2010 baby!

     By some not so strange coincidence, 10 of our 14 golfers ended up on the same connecting flight from Phoenix to Orlando.  That part was pretty entertaining, but the poor baggage handler who volunteered to move our luggage and clubs from the claim area to the rental car area earned every dollar of his huge tip.  Dinner for most of us was served up at the Lone Star Restaurant, where they quenched the huge void left by the three bags of Southwest Airlines peanuts.  It's obvious that this group was ready and raring to swing some clubs.  Two others in our group were scrambling to get to Florida, one by the most unfortunate of circumstances.  Mark Suzda, who had actually packed his shirts in the order he was going to wear them, had to cancel the night before liftoff.  His 42-year old sister passed away.  That is not a call you ever want to have to take from a friend.

     First time Golfestian Mike Calahan had more of a planned delayed departure.  He did the right thing and went to his kids graduation ceremony today.  He then took the "red-eye" and arrived at 6:30 a.m., an hour and a half before our first tee time.  In a last minute scramble, Mark's spot was inherited by another Mark, this one Pickering.  He improvised at the last minute with a $500 plane ticket and arrived at midnight.  The only reason he was able to go on two-hours notice, was due to the fact he was laid off the week prior.  In his situation, "vacation approval"  only required spousal endorsement.


6/26 - Reunion Resort Golf Club - Legacy Course - Reunion, FL ... The first round of the Golfest 2010 was set at the Reunion Resort and the Arnold Palmer's designed Legacy Course.  The course staff was very accommodating despite being overwhelmed by four vehicles that pretty much showed up at the same time to unload our golf weapons of mass destruction. With our high profile custom shirts, they stated we looked like a NASCAR pit crew.  But they were envious, because they wanted to know if they could get one of their own.  We look good! 

     The Legacy Course, which make up 18 of the 54-holes on the property, was built on a former citrus grove and opened in 2004.  It was a great track that looks wide-open and includes 15 different varieties of native grasses, azaleas and camellias. However, despite the wide open "look", level lies were definitely in short supply.  This course has more hill, humps, and gullies than your average motocross course and some scorecards reflected that fact.   That wasn't a bad thing, as much as it made things entertaining.  Bob Potts stuck an iron shot inside four feet to win the closest to the pin and finished with an 83.  Mike Rittner  had an 86.  From there, we raced to ... 

5/26 - The Bay Hill Club & Lodge - Orlando, FL ... Our morning round ran a little long and we arrived just five minutes before our first group was due to be summoned off the first tee.  However, the Bay Hill staff was very accommodating with all of our needs, especially securing forecaddies, food, bag tags, cocktails, and photographs.  By the way, never show up here with CASH, because they don't take it - even if you give it to them.  When you check into the Lodge, you are assigned a card.  Everything you buy ... and I mean everything ... is signed and charged to your room.  You couldn't spend a $20 bill here if your life depended on it ... which must be the main reason why Arnold's tournament is sponsored by MasterCard.