My Golf Roadtrip!!: Classic Club

Classic Club
Yards: 6229, Par: 72, Slope: 71.0/129
Score: 99, Putting Average: 1.83
Miles Walked: 7.1
Total Miles Walked: 22.2

Happy Easter everyone! After 2 days of not playing golf, I was itching to get out there an hit the course again. Today I played the Classic Club in Palm Desert. Classic Club is designed by Arnold Palmer and hosted the Bob Hope Classic (now the Humana Challenge) from 2006-2008. The course is managed by Troon Golf and since I purchased a National Troon Card, I thought I might as well play it to get the reward points. So glad that I did.

The past few rounds have been hit or miss with my swings and I decided to take a lesson to work out some kinks. I hooked up with Jason Smith, one of the PGA teaching Pros at the Classic Club yesterday and he worked on my swing for about 1.5 hours. Comes to find out, I've been using my hands too much with my swing and not using the big muscles (legs, hips, shoulders) to hit the ball. This caused to me casting the club at the ball and resulting in either a pull or a ballooning slice. I also have a tendency to come out of my swing and lift up and again resulting in the slice. Now I just need to remember to stay behind the ball and coil instead of having the right to left shift that I'm so accustomed to. Since Jason fixed that problem, I'm starting to hit a nice draw on the golf ball. I've been trying to do that for years....thanks Jason! If you are ever in Palm Desert, go see Jason. He'll get you fixed up.

My original tee time today was at 10:50am and since I wanted to walk the course today I got there at around 8am to see if I can get out early before it got too hot. I was lucky enough to get out at 9:10am and was paired up with 3 locals that knew the course very well. The next 4.5 hours was probably some of the most enjoyable golf company I've had in a long time. Blue, Gino, and Joe were great guys who played golf with each other on a regular basis. I have never laughed so hard at some of the jokes they told. I guess the kind of joke you told when you were in your late-teens are still funny 30 to 40 years later. Overall, it was just a good time with great company.

The course itself was in great shape. Lush fairways, challenging (but fair) holes, and smooth greens. It was a classic Palmer course with lots of fairway bunkers and water on the right. This course was different from a lot of the courses in the area since it is located North of the I-10 freeway and it had no palm trees. The course has some smaller pine trees that will grow out in the next 5-10 years and make this course a nice change from the rest of the courses in the Palm Springs area. It still amazes me that the ball will turn towards the Salton Sea on your putts even if it reads uphill. I've seen it it 2 different courses now and I'm definitely a believer.

After my round with the 3 amigos I treated myself to a nice Easter Steak dinner at Mastro's. I figures that I burned off enough calories today that I should at least treat myself to a nice Easter meal. I'm playing again with Blue, Gino, and Joe tomorrow at Terra Lago North. Will give you all an update on that course after my round.

Don't worry, I still haven't forget about reviewing my new irons. Just need a few more rounds with them. Enjoy the pics below.