The TOP 100 list represents premier golfing establishments in 34 different states.  Unfortunately, not all of the courses are located near major airport cities.  It's usually a flight and a 200-mile rental car trip, because places like Blaine, Washington or Karsten Creek, Oklahoma can best be described as the "middle of nowhere."  

     This means it is awfully hard to justify an annual Golfest trip to the venue, especially if there is only one or two rated courses in the region.
       
     That is why many members of Golfest Online schedule "fly by's."  These are normally tied to a business event, the back end of a family trip, or just as cheesy way to use some soon to be expiring airline miles on what would have turned out to be an unproductive weekend.

     No matter what the reasoning, the basic concept is an event where we fly in, golf as much as we possibly can, and fly out at the first opportunity.  No sightseeing, no tourist activities, just enough golf to scratch off a few more courses from our list.


     (9/20/07 - Written by Jim Allen) ... Mark Suzda and I scored a three-state Golfest fly-by through Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania on September 6-7, 2007.  The three day excursion was a "road trip" in its truest form, racking up 623 miles of windshield time up and down the Eastern seaboard.  During one 36-hour stretch, the duo knocked out 72-holes of golf at four rated courses with temperatures in the 90's and enough humidity to drench a Nike dry-fit on the front nine.  

     Two of the courses were worthy of their reputation -- The Golf Course at Glen Mills (#85) and Bulle Rock Golf Course (#33).  The other two, while nice in their own right, left a little something to be desired.  A little like kissing your sister -- feels okay, but just isn't right.  Those honors went to the Virginia courses -- The Golden Horseshoe Gold Course (#84) and the The Tradition at Royal New Kent (#71).
        
     The Golden Horseshoe Golf Course in historic Williamsburg, VA was the first stop on the trip that started at the Baltimore Airport.  The course had recently hosted the NCAA championships (won by Stanford) and was promised to be in pristine condition.  It was a scenic venue worthy of many screensavers.  The drawback is this entire course is crammed into 120-acres of space.  Let's put it a different way:  It was the kind of place that golfers would get seriously hurt during a 17-handicap beer-drinking, best-ball tournament because fairways, greens, and tee boxes crisscrossed and were jammed very closely together.  Despite pre-planning to avoid key issues such as green aerations, the landscaping crews were in various stages of slicing up some of the greens.  Some putts had to be put in four-wheel drive in order to reach the hole.

    The friendly course starter informed us that the course record was 60 from the tips.  After a few holes, we realized that that would have been an absolutely perfect day, because most of the fairways are only 30-yards wide.  In addition, those same fairways were camel-backed, meaning a drive down the center would either roll down to the right or left sides.  With us, the course record was safe, plus another 30-swings.

     From there, it was a 45-minute drive up the road to the Tradition Golf Course at Royal New Kent.  The name fits the course, because this is a Irish-links style course reminiscent of places like Ballybunion.  This place is definitely worthy of a "Top 100 most unique" golf course.  To best describe it would be to say it was a hilly, golf-ball eating, stay the heck out of the rough, blind-shot promoting golfing experience.

      Mark and I hooked up with Mike and Dave, a pair of NCIS federal agents, who made the event pretty entertaining.  Actually, Dave was retired and was working for the government as a "contractor" -- meaning he is finally making some real money now.  The duo had the same corrupt sense of humor that we had and helped clear up some important facts for us.  Little things such as whether real NCIS agents work with hot chicks like the television show.  The answer is NO (unless Dave was in charge of hiring).  We also asked to hear about some of the strange things they were investigating.  We were issued the standard government agency response of, "if I told you, I'd have to kill you."  Since we still had 36-more holes to conquer, we determined it wasn't really that important.  The duo even picked up the tab at the 19th hole - THANKS!

     From there, it was long 260 mile journey to our next destination in Pennsylvania.  A four-hour drive gave Mark and I ample time to come to the conclusion that neither course would have made it into our personal top 100.  A decent supply of Arby's roast beef sandwiches, some sunflower seeds, and a four-pack of Red Bulls gave us the energy we needed to make the trip to our next stop.  That would be the Holiday Inn Select (Claymont) just south of the Pennsylvania border.

     Day two of this trip made this entire road show worthwhile.  The Golf Course at Glen Mills started off on the right foot with a friendly staff.  This was a very scenic venue and the fairways were smooth as carpet.  On this morning, we were paired up with Jack Kimel and Steve Frucht.  This duo has this golf thing figured out.  Jack is an insurance agent and Steve is a home builder in Virginia.  But in a joint venture, they sell high-end Christmas ornaments to fund a massive golf trip every year.  They have been to everywhere from Pebble Beach to Sawgrass and about 25 ranked courses in between.  Somewhere during our four hour round, they polished off a bottle of bourbon, making them candidates for future Golfest tours.  They are interested in joining the mix.  By the way, that is Jack, digging one out of the water.  He almost fell in during his practice swing.  He played the rest of the hole barefoot.  Glen Mills served up a very challenging golf course that made the 91-degree temperature and high humidity more than tolerable.                      

     From there, it was a quick 50-mile drive south into Maryland to a city called Havre De Grace.  The course was Bulle Rock, host of an annual LPGA event.  You have two ways to enjoy this course -- (1).  Walking with a caddy or (2). Golf carts with a fore caddy -- cart paths only.  The course highly recommends option number one to fully enjoy the Bulle Rock "experience."  We experienced it with a 3:00 p.m. tee time.  Our intention was to miss the weather we just mentioned.  That theory didn't work out so well since it was smoldering hot. 

     Because of a tournament, we went out as a twosome, starting our walk on number 10.  Our caddy Shane was double-bagging it, killing my urge to bitch about how hot it was.  The course was awesome.  However, it was almost too hot to carry a Gatorade bottle.  Around the 15th hole, Mark and I began serious negotiations on whether a cart would better serve our needs on the second nine.  After all, we had fully enjoyed the "experience" and neither of us actually knows how to perform CPR.  At the turn, we grabbed a cart and put Shane in a fore-caddy role.  The results were immediate.  On the first hole, with the tail end of the tournament letting up play through and providing an audience, I birdied the hole and Mark just missed his birdie putt.  Two-thumbs up for carts.  The rest of the round was very enjoyable.

    When we were finished, it literally felt like we had jumped into a swimming pool fully-clothed.  We were soaked to the bone with sweat, promoting a stop at the pro shop and a wardrobe change in the parking lot so we could grab a bite without offending anyone.

    We only had to return to the Bulle Rock clubhouse to enjoy a great dinner at their restaurant.  In fact, Mark said his dinner rated as his "best ever" meal at a golf course.  We ate like kings (or depending on your perspective - PIGS!).  From there, we bootlegged a local wireless connection in a residential neighborhood to Google a hotel near the Baltimore Airport.  An hour and a half later, it was lights-out at the Hampton Inn in Columbia.

     End result:  Four more pegs in our Top 100 board and five hours of sleep on the 5 1/2 hours of flights on the way home.  We plan to post full course reviews on these venues in the next few weeks.