Pinehurst #6 & #7

Miles Driven: 6165



After 5 awesome days at Myrtle Beach, I headed to the last destination of this road trip, Pinehurst, NC. Seeing that I'll be heading back to California soon, I wanted to do something special to end the trip and there is no better place than Pinehurst. There is just so much history at this place with all the different US Opens and famous designers that has made their mark here. In fact, the 2014 US Open will be played at Pinehurst No.2!

Pinehurst Resort consist of 8 different golf courses designed by the likes of Rees Jones (#7), Tom Fazio (#6), and of course Donald Ross (#2.) The resort was founded in 1895 when the Holly Inn (where I'm staying at) was build. I can definitely tell the age of the building by the layout and warmness of the Inn. The Carolina was built in 1901 as the main hotel to accommodate the growing number of resort guests. The package I booked included golf, breakfast, and two fine dinners at the fine dining restaurants. Not a bad deal!

I started my experience yesterday at Pinehurst with a 7:51am tee time on Pinehurst #6. I got there about 1hr early to hit balls after not sleeping the night before do to sheer excitement of this week. Since I'll be playing 3 rounds at Pinehurst, I wanted to walk at least two of the rounds. So I carried my bag (no push carts allowed) and walked #6. I was out as a single since trucking along with my bag and had a 3-some in carts behind me. These guys were in a rush to catch a flight so I let them play through. Good thing since I don't like to be pushed, especially when I'm playing a 3.5hr round. Well, I scored my personal best of 83 at Pinehurst #6. All I wanted since I played last week was to break 90 at Pinehurst and I did it. Goal Accomplished!

Today, I decided to take a cart since I'll be walking again tomorrow. I arrived at the Pinehurst #7, a Rees Jones (Robert Trent Jone's Son) designed course from 1986. This course is much different from #6 with all the doglegs and elevation changes. Many of the holes were designed with a elevated tee box tempting the player to bomb the drives. However, the approach shots had elevated greens so club selection was key since it plays longer than it actually is. We played from the white tees today at 6324 yards but the starter says it really plays closer to about 6700 from the whites. I was paired with a couple from Boston, Mark and Janet and the funny thing is we are paired up again tomorrow at Pinehurst #2. There were great playing partners and I'm looking to finish my final round of my trip with a such a fun couple.

Here are the pics from Pinehurst #6 and #7. I'll give a report of Pinehurst #2 tomorrow.

Charleston, SC

Miles Driven: 5748



After Savannah, I headed to Charleston for a few days before I flew to NYC for an overnight trip. Being the foodie that I am, I made sure this was one of the stops I made. This city did not disappoint! I got in at around 1pm and had already booked a culinary tour of the city before I arrived. We walked around to different restaurants in the city and learned about the original of souther cuisine. One of my favorite local specialities was she crab soup (crab bisque) where they use crab roe in soup for additional richness. The traditional way to eat it is to pour sherry in the soup to give that extra kick at the end.

Charleston was a larger city than Savannah and on the second day of the trip, I did a carriage history ride around the historic parts of the city. Since it rained most of the time, it was a good time for me to catch up on my rest since my body hasn't been the same since playing 6 straight days in Texas (man, I'm getting old...)

I did manage to get in one round before I flew out to NYC. I woke up at around 6am the day I was to fly out and saw that it was dry outside. Since my flight didn't leave until 5pm, I figured I can do a quick round at Wild Dunes Links Course (Tom Fazio's first designed course) before I had to check out. I got to the club house, paid my green fees, and went straight to the first tee. I was paired up with a father and son that decided to walk. I was thinking, oh great, I hope I can finish in time before I had to check out. After the first hole, it started sprinkling and by the 3rd hole, it was a complete down pour! I went off by myself after the pair decided to take shelter.

I have never played in the rain and I can tell you I did not enjoy it at all. I had no grip on my clubs and the club would twist in my hand in my backswing. Since golf is a game of millimeters, that made a huge difference in my swing. Now I did manage to finish the course in 2.5 hours, and it was the shortest and the longest round I've played so far.

Here are the food and golf pics of Charleston. Enjoy!

She Crab Soup with Sherry

Black Scallops with Creamy Grits

Fried Chicken with Truffle Grits and Fried Egg...YUM!!

New Orleans, LA

Mile Driven: 4742 miles



Texas was fun but after being there for 2 weeks I was ready to hit the open road again. My buddy Scott decided to meet me in New Orleans since he's never been before. This is the 3rd time I've been to New Orleans and haven't been back for about 10 years. This is one of those cities that's much more fun when you have friends to share the food and memories with. Being a huge foodie, I knew this was gonna be an awesome trip. One of my fondest memories of New Orleans was going to Commander's Palace in 2002 and having one of the best dining experiences during Sunday Brunch.

I got in on Friday afternoon and decided to stay by the airport since Scott was flying in on Saturday morning. Besides, it was much cheaper than to stay in the French Quarter. I found an awesome little seafood restaurant by the hotel called Harbor Seafood and Oyster Bar. Sat at the bar and powered down a dozen oysters, cup of crawfish etouffee, and 1/2 an Oyster Po-Boy. Not a bad way to start the trip.

Scott gets in on Saturday and we checked into our hotel in the French Quarter. Since our room wasn't ready, we decided to hit up Bourbon Street for some day drinking and pub crawling. At night, we booked at table at Muriel's Jackson Square for some authentic creole cuisine. If you ever go, save room for the bread pudding.

The next day we did some sightseeing in the museums and walked around the Garden District after an awesome brunch at Restaurant Stanley. Follow by checking out Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar (built in 1722, the oldest structure used as a bar in the US) and hitting up Pat O'Brien's while watching Tiger win the Players Championship. I did manage to walk away from some jackass trying to pick a fight because he wanted to grab the seat I was saving for Scott. Whatever man, if you are that desperate to sit down, you can have the seat. No need to call me a "douche" because I'm from San Francisco and wanting to fight me when I said that was uncalled for. Loser...

After that brief encounter with the psychopath, we got cleaned up and went to Commander's Palace to celebrate my friend Lisa's 30th (for the 3rd time) birthday. The meal was a good as I remembered from 10 years ago! We then met up with my friend Chris that I hadn't seen since 1996 and stayed out until 3am. It was good to catch up with friends I haven't seen in a long time but I was definitely feeling the effects of the weekend this morning.

I didn't golf this trip but did have plenty of food...here are the pictures. Enjoy!!

Harbor Seafood

Harbor Seafood, Crawfish Étouffée and Oyster PoBoy

Deanie's, Stuffed Flounder

Muriel's, Turtle Soup with Sherry

Muriel's, Pork Chop with Sweet potato mash

Muriel's, Bread Pudding in Bourbon Sauce

Stanley's, Stanley Benedict with fried oysters

Commanders Palace, Gumbo

Commanders, Veal Tenderloin with Truffle Grits

Commanders, Bread Pudding Souffle

My saving grace after a night of drinking...biscuits and gravy