SPRING BREAK 2010 - GOLFING IN FLORIDA
April 2nd-5th 2010
By: John B. Holbrook, II
For many years now, my son and I have been going down to FL for Spring Break to getaway and see my father. We usually do the typical touristy things (Disney, Universal Studios, etc.) but this year we decided to make it a "golf vacations." So Friday morning we got up at the "butt crack" of dawn ("Daaaad...why do we have to get up at the butt-crack of dawn? Can't we get up at the lower back of dawn? Maybe even the shoulders of dawn?") and headed to the Dayton airport. Our flight this year took us through Washington D.C. (Regan) and as we got off the plane and boarded the shuttle to the terminal, we got a nice view of the Capital:
We then caught our flight to Orlando, grabbed our rental car (love Hertz's Gold Club) went straight to our first course - Southern Dunes Golf & Country Club. We were rushed, but we made our 1pm tee time:
The first drive of the 2010 golf season!
We really enjoyed Southern Dunes - very little water, but lots, and lots, and lots of sand bunkers.... The weather was fantastic - not a cloud in the sky. I finished the round with a 103, and John with a 120, which we were both quite enthusiastic about given that it was our first round of the year on a course we'd never played, using rented clubs.
After our round, we drove to my father's home in Lake Alfred, and three generations of Johns we out for a nice dinner together. The next day we got up and made a 10am tee time at Providence Golf and Country Club in Davenport FL.
A view of the club house from the 1st tee:
Providence was much more of a "Florida-like" course. Like Southern Dunes, Providence had plenty of sand bunkers, but also had lots of water hazards. Providence was a much more difficult course, but John and I preferred it to Southern Dunes - if for no other reason, it felt much more like we were golfing in FL at Providence.
The "gallery" at Providence:
"Uhhm...guys? Trying to take my tee shot here..." :D
We saw a pretty good sized gator just off the tee box at #10 sunning himself at the waters edge. He was friendly enough though - he let us play through. :) That happened on the day I didn't bring my camera....grrrrr.....
Whew! My ball BARELY stays dry!
The greens at Providence were small and fast!
We kept a very good pace of play - we started at 10am, and finished at 2!
I dropped a few stroke from the previous days round and finished with a 98, and John had an extremely impressive round (beating me on the back 9) and scored a 103. After our round, John and I went back home, cleaned up, then had some dinner and went to see CLASH OF THE TITANS in 3D.
After going to an Easter church service with my father on Sunday, John and I spent the afternoon at the pool:
Monday we played a second round at Providence, had lunch with my father, then headed to the airport to catch our 6pm flight back to Dayton. I finished with a career best 92, and John scored an amazing 105! Our trip to FL was one of the best we've had in several years, and if our scores on this trip were any indication, we're going to have a fantastic golf season this summer!
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