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Go Goleta
Recently, the Goleta Department of Tourism invited me to help create the greatest promotional video that the world has ever seen. While the world's greatest tag may be a bit of an exaggeration, Goleta is certainly an excellent place to spend a weekend.
If you are like me, you are probably not familiar with the city of Goleta. Located just 15 minutes outside of Santa Barbara, CA, Goleta resides right on the Pacific Ocean. The best part about traveling to Goleta is the airport. Since the airport is the size of a Spanish villa, it only took me 15 minutes from landing to arrival at the Pacifica Suites hotel.
My buddies for the trip were members of our San Francisco Skeeball team, Adam and Trevor. That's right Ron Burganskee, Bill Braskee, and Gary Buskee (skeeball aliases) were getting back together. The trip would start off in Goleta Style with the arrival of an all world gift basket comprised of local Goleta offerings. Our group would dive into this gem with enthusiasm
First up on the agenda was a visit to the popular Sandpiper Golf Course. With camera crews present, the pressure was on to deliver high quality golf shots combined with superior modeling skills. Amidst the backdrop of the Pacific Ocean, we delivered in style... Goleta style. The back nine at Sandpiper Golf Course is exceptionally good and a couple of those birdies should definitely make the highlight reel.
The par 3 11th at Sandpiper sits right on the beach. View the rest of my photos here.
After golfing up an appetite at Sandpiper, our group headed to M.Special, a local brewery that has cornhole, giant Jenga, and several standout ales. We even brought in a Mexican fare lunch as the cameras descended on our dining experience. If you have never eaten tacos while being filmed at close range, I can assure you it's a pressure packed experience. We would rise to meet the challenge and consume our chips and salsa like seasoned models/actors.
Trevor displays his newly found skill at field goal beer golf, an impromptu skills challenge that probably won't become popular any time soon.
Maintaining your food model face is difficult work
After lunch, it was time to return to the Pacifica Suites and proceed to pool party like only Burganskee, Braskee, and Buskee can. The video and picture below should give you an idea of the top notch pool action that happened.
Our final round of the buddies trip was at Glen Annie Golf Club. With views of the pacific and the rolling foothills of Goleta, it's a fitting end to a fantastic weekend. Be sure to check out the rest of my photos here. If you are interested in making your own Goleta style experience, you can get started here.
A view of the 10th hole at Glen Annie with lemon trees in the backdrop.
The sun sets on an excellent Goleta weekend over Glen Annie Golf Club
Golfing up a Storm
Recently I took a trip to visit my parents new home in Paradise, CA. Naturally, this provided the perfect excuse for me to take a trip from Seattle down to CA and golf my little heart out along the way. I booked a ton of tee times, packed a bag, and threw my clubs in the car. This was going to be a monster of a trip covering 13 golf courses, with multiple 36 hole days, and walking every one of the courses. Feel free to click on the link of the courses to check out the full galleries and write-ups.
The Oregon Courses: On my way down to CA I took on 3 courses in the Bend area.
- Aspen Lakes Golf Club - I started the trip off with a bang visiting the #15 Best in State on Golf Digest's rankings. The cinder red bunkers gave this course a unique look and feel.
- Black Butte Ranch Golf Club - An early morning tee time for a day of 36 started off at this classic Oregon staple.
- Tetherow - Teeing it up with the club champion was a definite advantage in helping to navigate this challenging Kidd design. I managed only 4 pars, but rolled in 5 birdies.
The view from the 10th tee at Black Butte Ranch
The 15th hole at Aspen Lakes Golf Club
California Courses: During my stay in CA, I hit up some local gems with my Dad and friends.
- Table Mountain Golf Course - A local Paradise municipal track. The Dad and I had fun whacking it around the local layout.
- Sevillano Links - This John Daly signature course plays just under 8000 yards from the back tees. Like an idiot, I played the tips and had a blast grinding it out.
- Bidwell Park Golf Course - We teed it up with the local city champion who showed us how to properly strike a golf ball. The course features many friendly deer that you can walk right up to. They don't cheer for birdies though and seemed relatively uninterested in that 6 footer you missed for par.
- Bailey Creek Golf Course - One of the local favorites. This course came highly recommended and did not disappoint.
The 8th hole at Sevillano Links
The 18th hole at Bidwell Park
Complimentary Scoring Pie Chart
The 600 yard par 5 12th hole at Crosswater
The Home Stretch: With the end in sight I crossed the finish line in style
- Pronghorn Fazio Course - My favorite course of the trip. For a guy who likes to take pictures, Fazio makes it fun. Also there is a lava tube hole!!
- Bend Golf & Country Club - A classic country club experience and a fun course to play. I managed to make 16 pars for the second 18 on a day of 36.
- Pumpkin Ridge Witch Hollow - For the final round of the trip I teed it up with Sean Ogle of breakingeighty.com. Sean was a fantastic host and helped me to conclude the trip with finesse.
The 6th hole at Fazio's course at Pronghorn
Awards & Accolades:
- Best Par 3 - The 8th hole at Pronghorn's Fazio Course. Nicknamed the "Lava tube" hole, this was an easy victory for #8. Honorable mention goes to #5 at Running Y.
- Best Par 4 - With 130 contenders this one was tough but #6 at Tetherow takes home the honors. Honorable mentions to #6 at Pronghorn, #18 at Crosswater, and #6 at Pumpkin Ridge. The 6th hole cleaning up in this category.
- Best Par 5 - #12 at Crosswater wins the award here. I also enjoyed #2 at Running Y, #17 at Widgi Creek and #14 at Pumpkin Ridge.
- Best Photo: #18 at Pronghorn.
- Best Course: Pronghorn with a close runner up in Crosswater.
A big thanks to everyone that I played with and who invited me onto their courses. Until next time!!
The 18th hole at Tetherow
Bidwell Park has more deer per hole than I had strokes.
By the Numbers:
- 13 rounds of golf played
- 234 holes of golf played
- Average score: 75.1
- Pars: 137
- Birdies: 34
- Bogies: 54
- Double Bogies: 9
- Eagle putts missed: 5
The 3rd hole at Table Mountain
Oregon Courses: The trip back to Seattle. This would be the meat of the golf trip with 2 back to back 36 hole days.
- Running Y Ranch - Definitely the best value on the trip. The Arnold Palmer design was definitely the best surprise on the trip.
- Crosswater Club - Considered by every golfer that I played with as one of their favorite courses in Oregon. Cross water is one of the state's best coming in at #9 in the state on Golf Digest's list.
- Widgi Creek Golf Club - One of the higher end public courses in the Bend area. I finished up the day of 36 with a nice twilight round.
The par 4, 4th hole at Running Y Ranch
The tough par 5 17th at Widgi Creek
The par 3, 3rd hole at Bend Golf & Country Club
The par 4, 6th hole at Pumpkin Ridge.
#18 at Crosswater. A runner up in the par 4 contest
The 8th hole at Pronghorn takes the cake in Best Par 3.
#6 at Tetherow takes home the victory in the par 4 competition
My favorite photo from the trip comes from #18 at Pronghorn. This photo pretty much took itself.