When I play golf, I like to walk. That is how the game was intended to be played. Mark Twain called a game of golf “a good walk spoiled”. Over the years I’ve used a Fitbit to track steps and miles of golf courses I walk. I’ve done this at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Arizona, Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland, Princeville Makai Golf Club on the island of Kauai and TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. I’ve even done it here at The Fountaingrove Club, Sonoma County’s only member-owned private facility. (Had to get in a little sales pitch there for you!)
Last week, while on a Discovery Visit with a potential Athletic Center member, we started talking about access to the golf course, including walking the cart paths. Members can access cart paths 7 days a week! That led me to talking about my “how many steps” blog post. He asked, “Do you know how many steps and miles it is to walk the cart paths?” I didn’t. Until now!
Today, after dropping my car off for service, I headed over to The Fountaingrove Club, laced up my tennis shoes and started walking. Members can walk all day on Monday, unless the golf course is open for a special event. When the golf course is open, the back 9 cart paths are open from 6:00 am until 7:30 am to make way for golfers. Members can also bring their dogs. That is something that has changed in light of the pandemic we are currently living in. Before the club closed in March only service animals were allowed on property. Now, dogs are welcome on property anywhere food isn’t being served. I’ve seen dogs poolside, on the patio at The Sunset Grill and, of course, on the golf course during these daily walks. We simply ask members and guests to clean up after pets.
On today’s walk, I listened to an episode of The Clark Howard Podcast. I love his content. I’m also a big fan of Dave Ramsey, but Clark has a more realistic view on credit cards, has his popular Clark Deals and provides a different angle on investing for retirement. Clark is also humble and not afraid to admit when he is wrong. Clark Stinks! is worth checking out! When I made the turn, I turned on Open House Selections, a deep house podcast produced by PACE. Then my headphones died. Oh, well. Gave me a chance to just collect my thoughts and mentally prepare for the week ahead.
It was really neat walking the golf course this morning. Felt like I had the place to myself. Of course, Andy and his team were out maintaining the tournament playing conditions our members have come to expect. I really enjoyed seeing them in their element, saying hello in passing and witnessing several projects (for example, removing a dead tree on the right of hole 6) taking place around the course. Having spent several weeks working with Andy as part of the Troon LEADer Program, I have nothing but respect for these men and women.
Speaking of Andy, he hosted another popular Divot Filling Brigade this morning. I didn’t see our members out filling divots today, but know they do good work and thank them for their time and continued support of their club. Hannah, our new Marketing & Communications Manager was out there today. Maybe she got some pictures!
On hole 14, I saw Ms. Leni Kearns walking her dog, Toby. Leni is a golf member, Chair of the Golf & Greens Committee and sits on the Board of Directors. She is an avid golfer and is always out here walking the cart paths. She is also involved in the Divot Filling Brigade and is relentless about filling divots when she plays. Leni, thank you for all you do.
I like setting goals. For example, my daily steps goal is 10,500. Today I hit that on hole 18 at 9:16 am! Last year I tried to walk 10,500 steps every day. While I didn’t hit the goal, missing only a couple of days for various reasons, I walked a lot in 2019! Might try a similar goal for next year. In addition to tracking steps and miles I walk, I also track my walks/runs with Nike Run Club. When I stopped to see how many steps I’d walked on the back 9, I realized I forgot to turn it on this morning! Doh! It is actually on my bucket list to reach the Volt level on the app. Right now I’m on level Black. To reach Volt I need to track 9,320 miles. Right now I’m just shy of 4,000 total miles. Wish me luck! I have a lifetime of running ahead of me.
I’ve really enjoyed writing this blog post. I actually wrote it on my phone while walking the course! Walking up to 18 green having walked a total of 4,184 steps/2.03 miles on the front 9, 4,470 steps/2.33 miles on the back 9 for a grand total of 8,654 steps/4.36 miles. My legs are going to feel it tomorrow morning!
I didn’t know how long it would take me, but I started walking at 8:02. Was done by 9:19. Not a bad way to spend an hour! On my way back I ran into Doug and Andy on the range. We stopped and talked for a bit. Always enjoy conversations with these gentlemen. While we were chatting I came up with another idea… More information on that coming soon.
Now we know how many steps/miles it takes to play 18 holes AND how many steps/miles it takes to simply walk 18 holes. That was a fun little project and thanks to our potential new members for inspiring me to find out. Hopefully this blog post inspires you to get up and go for a walk. You can do it!!!
