The Golfchick

That chick blabbing about anything golf related.

Month: May 2009

Mesquite Amateur 2009

I’m home from my Golf Mesquite experience and what a trip it was! After four days of golf in the heat of the desert, late nights and early mornings, I was feeling pretty good. I guess the high of the trip wore off a bit because now that I’m caught up on my sleep my lower back is trying to tell me something. I’m not fluent in back but I think it’s got something to do with age so I’ll just do my stretches and ignore the nag.

My own performance in the tournament was embarrassingly poor (17th gross, T22nd net out of 31 players in the flight) but I had an incredible time.

Warm-up round

We played the Oasis Canyons course on Monday – Memorial Day – for our warm-up. It wasn’t really a practice round since this course wasn’t on the rotation for my flight, but I’m glad I got to play another course in Mesquite. It was a relaxed and easygoing round on a scenic and challenging course designed by Dave Druzisky. I played with a great group of people who developed into good friends over the course of the week and it was probably my favorite day of golf in this event. Given my love for competition, I might have picked a different day as a favorite had I performed better, but this one encapsulated my overall feeling about the Mesquite Amateur: good friends, good times, good desert golf courses.

golf chick oasis canyons

I needed a blue hat to complete my Memorial Day ensemble. Golf Mesquite Nevada gave us all blue hats but it was a couple days too late for the Oasis Canyons round.

I enjoy playing new golf courses all the time and one of the things I love about golf is all the different and gorgeous scenery. Mesquite golf provides that aplenty. Unfamiliar courses provide a particular challenge due to a lack of course knowledge and Oasis Canyons had a few holes that were particularly sneaky that way.

Oasis Canyons sneaky creek

This hole had a blind tee shot and the drawing of it on the score card didn’t show this water in front of the green. Luckily, my drive ended up just short of the cart path in the picture. I think this is #12 – can anyone confirm or correct that?

Canyons unknown hole

I don’t remember what hole this is but thought it was a good representation of the course and how it got its name.

Tournament Round One – Casablanca

As I mentioned in my previous post, we played the first official round of the tournament at Casablanca Golf Club. One of the women I played with that day (middle of the photo in that post) ended up winning our flight. Congratulations, Patti!

The Casablanca, designed by Cal Olson, was in good condition and had its share of beauty. Of all the golf courses I’ve played in Mesquite, this was the flattest and perhaps “easiest” even though my score didn’t show it. In a city of great golf courses, I have to say this one doesn’t exactly stand out. Plop it in my town – or many others – and it would be a gem. It’s just a comparison thing.

casablanca golf par 3

Here’s a pretty par 3 hole on Casablanca – perhaps # 8 – anyone?

So that’s the first two days of golf. More to come on the next two as well as hotel commentary and the spa experience. Also stay tuned for accounts of the nightly festivities which were a lot of fun including some embarrassing golf chick shenanigans.

Next post.

Mesquite Amateur – the preview

I’m here at the Mesquite Amateur Golf Tournament this week and so far it’s been a blast. There are over 600 players in the tournament and the hotels are packed with golfers. Oh, and the casinos are as well. Go by the card tables and you’ll see an ocean of golf hats and various sporty apparel. It’s awesome. I’ve heard “Where you playin’ today?” and “Good luck out there” so many times I can’t count.

There are multiple men’s divisions – mostly by age group – and one women’s division with three flights. Obviously we’re playing on multiple courses (I think 8 in total but more on that later) and it’s just a golfer’s paradise. The event’s title sponsor is Golf Mesquite Nevada, who have been great hosts with all the wonderful side events. More on that later as well.

Cody and Mesquite golf ball

Here is Cody Law, Executive Director of Golf Mesquite Nevada and one of our hosts. He recently won a qualifier that will take him to play Carnoustie in November. Passionate about golf and Mesquite, a total professional who makes everyone feel welcome and important, and an absolute cutie pie who has only been playing golf for a few years – congratulations, Cody!

Today’s round

I’m in the Sorenstam flight in the women’s division and today we played at Casablanca Golf Club. I’ve played courses in Mesquite before but all the courses on my rotation are new to me, which is challenging and fun. Yesterday was a warm-up round and the tournament started today. I haven’t met anyone here I haven’t liked, and the ladies in my group today were no exception.

casablanca girls

Sue, Patti and Brenda were a real pleasure to play with. Here they are on #? at Casablanca.

We were all pretty much evenly matched with our handicaps. Sue (left) is a __ year old grandmother who plays like nobody’s business. She was my cart partner and a real delight. Patti (middle) had an outstanding game and was a real power hitter. She had one drive that went nearly 300 yards and had a short game to go with it. This is my first Mesquite Am, and I hear they used to have a women’s long drive competition. She’d be a contender if not a shoo-in if they still had it, but I’ve heard they got rid of it after a trans-gender woman won it in the past. That’s not official, of course, but still – I think they should have it regardless. And if not, put something in it’s place like and extra closest-to-the-pin hole. I digress… Anyway, Brenda (right) was the only one of us who had ever played this event before – in fact I think she said she’d played it all 7 years it’s been happening. She was also a solid player and was invaluable for rules and procedures questions. None of the rest of us had been there before. All three of them outplayed me, which isn’t surprising considering I’ve only been playing once a month. Plus, I three-putted 16 holes (yes, for real) so I think I might sleep with my putter tonight even though my boyfriend just showed up and surprised me. Priorities.

Stay tuned… more to come.

Next post.

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