LOOPIN’ THE LOOP
Definitions: “loopin”: Caddying, i.e. carrying a golf bag
with a shoulder loop or doing a loop; i.e. nine or eighteen holes; “The Loop”:
The Great Loop or Circle, circumnavigation of the eastern half of the United
States by boat. North from Florida up
the East Coast via the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, up the Hudson River;
across up-state New York via the Erie Canal, through the Great Lakes to
Chicago; then down the Illinois/Mississippi, or Tennessee River/Tom Big-Bee
Water Way to the Gulf of Mexico and across the Gulf to the West coast of
Florida and back to where you started, “crossing your wake”.
When we originally planned on doing The Great Loop, I
assumed I would have to give up golf for the year, not an easy decision for a
golf nut. But after doing some research,
it became obvious that we could incorporate golf into our Great Loop. We have always found in our travels that
wandering around looking for golf courses and the people we met while playing,
that golf was a good way to get to know the country.
Our Great Loop started in Ft Myers, Florida. Unfortunately we had to spend an extra 3 weeks in Ft Myers at the start of the trip waiting for
the boat yard to finish the re-fit
work on the Colorado Cowboy, but we got to play a lot of golf
while waiting. I got to see more Florida
golf courses than I have in the past and found it more varied and better
overall than my earlier experiences.
Some of the high points: Old Corkscrew in Bonita Springs: a high end,
tough golf course with lots of sand traps, water and jungle. Shell Point is in a religious affiliated
retirement resort, a great golf course but no beer! A surprise was Del Tura, a
27 hole executive course in a lower end modular home development in North Ft
Myers. Lots of activity and challenging
par 4s from the tips. My favorite: Ft
Myers Country Club. An old Donald Ross
designed course, recently renovated and now operated by the City of Ft Myers. Showed up as a single at dawn and played with
the dew sweepers men’s club group several days.
Finally got started on our Great Loop in early March and
headed south through Naples and Marc Island.
Didn’t play any golf until we got to Ft Lauderdale. Sally left for a week to go to Louis’ wedding
in Hong Kong so I was on my own to supervise some boat work that didn’t get
done in Ft Myers. One week turned in to
the better part of 5 weeks as we waited for parts and boatyards. All of Florida is booming, the boating
business included. Very hard to get work
done, everybody is overworked and can’t hire competent staff. Found a lot of good golf courses though. A lot of the big developments from the 60’s and on, built nice private golf
courses as part of the development amenity package. Now people are not joining private
clubs, probably due to the availability
of high quality daily fee courses and world wide travel. They don’t stay in Southern Florida for six
months like they used to so a lot of
these great golf course have fallen on hard times. Clubhouse are a little shabby, course
maintenance budgets have been cut, but the basic great golf courses are
still there. Played several course I remember from the
early years of televised golf, The Jackie Gleason at Inverrary, TPC Coral
Springs and many others. Favorite: Jacaranda East and West.
Got headed North again around the first of May. We stayed at St Simons Island a few years
ago and played those great courses and played Jekyll Island when we had the
boat stored in Georgia summer of 2016. Unfortunately had to pass on Kiawah
Island since it’s a walking only course and my knees have gotten worse. I don’t
have much of a bucket list, but
pulling my boat into the Harbor Town
Marina at Hilton Head, tying up under
the red and white lighthouse, and walking to
the Harbor Town Links was at
the top of the list.
I have been watching that golf tournament on TV for many years and
always dreamed of being there. We were
and it was everything that I imagined. Next golf stop was Georgetown, SC, south
end of Myrtle Beach and two great days at True Blue and Caledonia Golf &
Fish Club. Much better that other
courses we played in Myrtle Beach several years ago. Didn’t play any golf in North Carolina. Really enjoyed the old fishing towns long the
Intracoastal waterway, but didn’t get any golf in until we got to Chesapeake
Bay.
First golf stop in
the Chesapeake was a road trip from Deale.
Had the boat in a boatyard from some
additional re-fit work and Sally
went to London for a few days for
Maria’s first mini-triathalon. I took
the opportunity to take a road trip to the Shenandoah Valley and of course played some golf along the
way. First stop was Lees Hill Golf Club. Course is in the area of several Civil War
battles (Fredericksburg and
Spotslvania). Remnants of the battles are preserved around the
course. After a
morning on the Blue Ridge Parkway, found an old funky course on the
ridge above Afton: Swannanoa Golf &
Country Club. Friendly old
fashioned place, not very good
condition, but a fun play.
Got the boat out of the boatyard and headed to the Eastern
Shore, the undeveloped side of
Chesapeake Bay. Stayed at St Michaels
for a couple of days and played Hog Neck
golf Course, a county run course near Easton.
One our best golfing experiences was at Queenstown Creek across the Bay from
Annapolis. Their website said they had a
dock you could use if playing golf. We tied up at the small dock, a golf cart
appeared the next morning for the 5-600 yd. trip up the hill to the
course. Two great courses. Most of the golf on the Delmar Peninsula is at the southern
end near the ocean so didn’t play again until we got to Cape May, New Jersey.
Two rounds at Cape May National
GC. Not that great a course, but played
the second day w/ a sportwriter from Philadelphia and got a write up in his column (he got a few
facts wrong, but it’s the thought that
counts!).
Golf provides memorable experiences: Dave Weinberg
If I had my druthers, I’d never play golf alone.
Whether I’ve known the person or people for 10 years or 10
minutes, it’s nice spending four — or in the case of crowded summer weekends, five hours with people from different walks of life.
Or riding carts.
Sometimes the round produces happy memories; sometimes sad ones.
I recently experienced both in the span of a few days.
The starter at Cape May Golf Club on Saturday paired me with John
Savage, who was in town as part of an intriguing, exciting adventure he was experiencing
with his wife, Sally.
His stop in Cape May was one leg of a year-long boat trip along
what is known as “America’s Great Loop.” It’s a journey that takes people
between Florida and Canada via the Atlantic Ocean, Intracoastal Waterways,
Hudson River, Erie Canal, Great Lakes and various rivers. The weird part was
that until John bought his vessel, a Great Harbour N37 trawler, about a year
and a half ago, he had never been on a boat in his 66-year-old life.
John, a retired lawyer, grew up and still lives in Rifle, Colorado, a self-described
“cowboy town” of about 9,000 residents located about 180 miles west of Denver.
“I still don’t know why we’re doing this,” he said. “It wasn’t a
dream of mine or anything. And after we’re done, I’m gonna sell the boat. My
only hobby is golf. Playing golf and watching golf.”
John and Sally cover about 50 miles at a time and routinely spend
a few days at each stop. They usually stay on the boat, which he described as
an RV on the water, but sometimes book a hotel because Sally gets seasick.
To John, the best part about the voyage to date is that he’s been
able to play golf in every place. He docked the trawler at the marina in Hilton
Head, South Carolina, a few weeks back, grabbed his clubs and ventured over to
nearby Harbour Town Golf Links. He did the same thing a couple weeks ago in Annapolis,
Maryland.
Upon arriving in Cape May last Thursday, he docked at Utsch’s
Marina, took his wife to dinner at Tisha’s and played 18 at Cape May National
on Friday morning. The plan was to set sail Saturday, but storms and strong
winds prompted them to wait a day so that Sally didn’t lose her lunch. So they
ordered takeout from the Lobster House on Friday night and John joined me for
another 18 on Saturday.ID WEINBERG Staff Writer Jun 27, 2017
After Cape May
it was on to the Big Apple. After two days from the New Jersey
Intracoastal Waterway, we faced our
first major test. Out into the North
Atlantic! It was only 25 files from
Manasquan to Sandy Hook and the ocean was flat calm. Planned to play Bethpage Black while in New
York, but again found it was walking only and had to pass, maybe next year after knee surgery.
Took a break from golf for the next few weeks but got in a
round at Schectady NY before crossing into Canada. Had a great time on the Trent-Severn Waterway
across Ontario. There were some
golf courses around but didn’t get to
play until we got to Lake Simcoe on the
western end. Another session in
the boatyard (bow thruster ate a log in one of the locks) and Sally flew back
to Portland for a 50 year reunion. I
took the opportunity to play once in Toronto (the place is huge!), a couple of courses around Lake Simcoe. Drove north about 50 miles one day to the
edge of the Canadian Shield and played Muskoka Lakes Resort GC. A real rock pile, hard to figure where they
came up with enough dirt to build a golf
course.
After leaving the Trent-Severn canals we entered Georgian
Bay and then The North Channel. A few
golf courses but didn’t play any.
Kilarney had a golf course, but
it closed a few years ago.
Crossed back into the US at Drummond Island and found a gem
of a golf course, The Rock! Great
course. Then on to Mackinaw City on
Mackinac Straight (both spellings correct, both pronounced the same (makinah). Spent a day on Makinac Island (no autos, all
transport by horse drawn carts). The big
hotel has a golf course (The Jewell),
nine holes next to the hotel and a back
nine a couple of miles away. They use
golf carts on the golf course, but to
get to the back nine you have to take a horse carriage.
After Mackinac
Island, we had to cross Lake Michigan to get to
Green Bay and the Door Peninsula.
First leg was a day to Beaver Island which was still along the shoreline and not too much
open water. Once we got to Beaver Island the wind started
to blow, delaying the 85 mile Lake Michigan crossing. Beaver Island is a small community off the
cost of Michigan. Served by a daily
ferry from Charlevois, but only accessible by air for several months when the
lake freezes and there is a golf course!
The course sent a car to pick us up and Sally and I played the 9
holes. A pretty rustic course, but
enjoyable. I went back the next day
(rode my bicycle w golf clubs on shoulder
the 5 miles out to the course) and
played 18 holes.
After sitting out the
blow for a couple of days, we made the 85 mile crossing to Washington Island at the northern tip of
the Door Peninsula. Then on down the
Door to Sturgeon Bay and left the boat
at Jim Schaus’ dock for a trip home for bow season.
After the break
headed south along the western shore of
Lake Michigan. First golf stop was
Sheboygan and Kohler. Decided not to
play Whistling Straights (walking only) but played The Irish Course (Hole in 1 on the 13th!)
and the next day the two Blackwolf Run courses. Knees
stood up pretty well playing 36 holes so decided to try and play Erin Hills (2017 US Open) from
Minneapolis. It’s a long course, 10 mile
walk) and rolling terrain, but with a caddy and a couple of
pain pills made it. Great experience.
After a few days in Chicago, we
headed down the Illinois
Waterway, the last
leg of the Great Loop, only 1500
miles to Ft Myers. The
inland rivers are dominated by commercial traffic and have big locks
and lots of levees along the banks. Water levels vary by 20-30 feet (high in the spring and low in
the fall). Mostly you are in a river
valley with river valley 10-20 feet below the top of the bank and the banks
covered with trees. Can’t see much from
the rivers except for big industrial
facilities (refineries, gravel
pits, steel mills, and
power plants). First major stop
was Ottowa, IL at Heritage Harbor.
Took a couple days break. Rode my
bicycle to Davies Ridge GC. A local
muni-track, but its golf! Next stop
was Peoria, IL, home of
Caterpiller. The Caterpiller
museum is impressive and the golf
was much more interesting that
I expected. I assumed it was all flat, but we played two
courses (Weaver Ridge and Lick Creek)
both of which were hilly and great courses.
That was it
for golf until we got down to
Tennessee. It wroas a long trip down the
Illinois, then a couple of hundred miles down the Mississippi to Cairo where the Ohio comes in. Headed up the Ohio and had to wait for water
levels to drop so we could
get through Lock 52. Once we got on the Tennessee River, the scenery improved. The
Kentucky Lakes area is beautiful.
We left the boat at Green Trutle
Bay Marina and took a road trip to Nashville, Knoxville and up into Kentucky
to visit relatives in Louisville, Cincinnati and Dayton Ohio. Golf at the Kentucky University Big Blue
course near Lexington in the Kentucky Blue Grass country. Played with cousin Mark Leonhardt at Fuzzy
Zellers Covered Bridge Course in Indiana
across the river from Louisville and
then tried to play Kenny Perry’s Country Creek GC at Franklin. Unfortunately it rained all night and
continued that morning so we got only
nine holes in, but a good experience.
No more golf until
we got
to the Gulf Coast. The 450 miles
from Pickwick Lake to Mobile
went on forever. Had a break Pickwick Lake where we hooked
up with my old golf partner Wayne Perkins and toured the Shiloh Battlefield but no golf. Once we got to Mobile, we planned to cruise back west to New
Orleans but the weather didn’t cooperate
so we left the boat in Biloxi and
drove to New Orleans. Played the TPC Louisiana course and met up with brother Dan, Suzanne, and her brother
Chris for dinner. New Orleans was fun,
saw some of the aftermath of Katrina (Katrina actually did more damage to the Gulf Coast east of New
Orleans, it was the flooding and levee failures that did the damage in New
Orleans). Once back in Biloxi, we stayed
another day due to weather and played The Great Southern Golf Club in
Gulfport. We like the old fashioned
parkland courses.
Headed east along the
Gulf Coast and getting anxious to complete the trip. Its been great, but
time to go home! Stopped in Panama City to see some
family and played two rounds at the Holiday Club. Good course, lots of
retired military guys. The Gulf
Coast is solid military installations from Mobile Bay through Pensacola to
Panama City.
Early December made the
overnight crossing from
Apalachicola to Tarpon Springs. 185
miles, perfect weather.
Got our dose of greek food in Tarpon Springs then on to Clearwater. Golf
at several area courses and
down to Sarasota the home of
Ringling Bros. Circus. Gold
at The Bobby Jones Club. Not sure why its associated w/ Bobby Jones,
but an ok old fashioned track.
Crossed our wake at Ft Myers Beach and tucked
away in Salty Sam’s Marina until thekids and grandkids get here for
Christmas. Nothing to do but get the stuff packed up to send home and play some golf around Ft Myers.
Its been a great trip, wouldn’t do it
again, but glad we did and very glad we
decided to keep up
