Roundabout

My life posts are usually the weakest but every so often I do something that most people don’t get the opportunity to do. I woke at 5:30 today and drove up to Elizabethville (population 1,100) which is on the way to Penn State but you get off about an hour early at the Halifax exit. I was meeting a specialist in sash (window) restoration and was there to film some content for our line of paint scrapers in use. We spent the first part of the day going over his shop and capabilities and then discussed some product improvements that I would never have thought of myself. After some lunch we filmed about 13 minutes of content that will get edited down into an “advertisement” on youtube for our scrapers. I’m pretty excited to see what type of reaction we get to the video. That’s the great thing about having your own business, when you do something different like this, you get to see the benefit from the work put into the project. Days like these are what separate a person who goes to work everyday and someone who is making something happen. It also is a chance to get to spend time with someone who is an expert in their field and learn anything and everything you can.

I finished up at 3pm and knew I had a long ride on the turnpike home so I decided to play a round of golf at a course I haven’t thought of for a long time, Royal Oaks. I used to go there with the Schmidt’s for a golf outing when we were about 13 and haven’t even considered playing there ever again. I didn’t bring shorts so I needed to purchase a pair in Lebanon which proved a funny story. I put shopping in my GPS and 3 miles from the course was my savior, a Kmart. I walked in and had to drop the kids off at the pool quickly because I hadn’t since the night before. I then purchased a non-cargo pair of Wranglers in a size 32 and they only cost $14! This stop couldn’t have gone better. I proudly put on the shorts and drove to the nearby Royal Oaks and got prepared to play a round.

Their twilight rate was $24 bucks cart included!!! Oddly enough, Gatorade was $3.00 and I stole a ball mark that was being sold for .10. Pricing isn’t their strong point perhaps. I asked if anyone had teed off ahead of me and he said not for an hour. Perfect. The first hole was an intimidating dogleg left Par 5 and I decided that for this round I was going to play 2 balls per hole and keep track of both scores. I didn’t take a single practice swing and thought the back tees would be fine (6747 yards) and I ripped one down the middle. The second ball was a tad right but in play and I was off. I’ll expand on the round but first want to detail the course. 10/10 for value, 8.5/10 for the course. Awesome condition, greens were slick and fair, actually required some shot making, and general overall enjoyment throughout the round. I used a 3 wood 4 times off the tee because driver would drive straight into trouble. Lots of water and the pins were well guarded. I thought it was very well laid out as none of the holes were on top of each other.

I won’t bog down the detail with every shot and score but I’ll give my impression of playing two balls per hole. My one self beat my other by 5 strokes (92, 97) which I gather isn’t too surprising. If I took best score on each hole I’d shoot an 82 which is probably what I can shoot when I play my best. Out of the 13 driving holes (26 drives), I had 6 that I would consider “very bad” drives. Meaning I basically missed the ball and it went nowhere. When you hit that many more drives, it starts to show how consistent you are off the tee and these 6 bad drives led to double and triple bogeys. I also hit 2 straight 6 iron shots in the water on the challenging, 192 yard, hole 16 par 3, which blew my mind because each shot was identical. I had an eagle attempt on the 501 par 5 13th when I was on in 2. I got a par. I think I lost a total of 5 balls which I don’t think was horrible. I started getting tired towards the end but I think that was mostly because of lack of water on the course (only downside) and the fact I was up early. I totally enjoyed the round and finished in under 2 and half hours which is unheard of for 36 holes. Tremendous idea by me.

Royal Oaks Scorecard