GGGoesRVingFullTime: March in Tucson

On Friday, March 1st, I drove down to Green Valley to meet up with my cousin Lanny Eason, whose sons and grandsons I saw in November in Boca Raton, Fl, for a round of golf. We played at San Ignacio Golf Course, which is very close to where he spends his winters and a course I hadn't played yet. The course itself wasn't in the best of shape, but had nice views of the mountains and the observatory at the top of them.

It is the first course I have played that had instructions on how the players are to communicate with the beverage cart driver.

We had quite a bit to catch up on as I hadn't seen him in around 30 years. After the round his wife Kay joined us in the clubhouse for refreshments.

Monday March 4th John and I went to Oro Valley for me to play a practice round on the course the Golf Tracks group would be playing the following Monday. Driving in, I though the course was completely over-seeded, but it turned out that only the holes near the sales office were. The rest were only over-seeded at the tees, fairways and greens (typical of most Arizona courses.)

More nice views of the Mountains.

I quite liked the course. It turned out that I won the event, beating the course member who was in my group. The course is quite a ways from Tucson, so I arranged to car pool with my friend Julie Walters. On the way back we stopped at Bottago Michaelangelo for drinks and snacks. They had quite an amazing happy hour menu. I'd like to go back, but it's a bit out of the way for me.

Thursday March 14th was the first of three rounds of the Randolph Ladies League Club Championship, in which I was runner up in last year. On the range prior to the round Judy Miller the 13 time defending champion injured her right hand when someone else practicing caught the rope in the front of the hitting area and it struck Judy's hand. Both Julie and I were also there, but were not hurt. Her hand was somewhat scratched and bruised, which effected her ability to play well. After round one, I was the only player with a round in the 70's, shooting 79. I had a three shot lead over Linda Maynard, a new member this year who had a similarly low handicap.

John took an extra day off, so that on Tuesday March 19th we were finally able to go to Tubac Golf Course and Spa, something I had been trying to do last winter. Tubac is where some of the movie Tin Cup was shot. I ended up being rather disappointed. The course was not in very good condition. The bar stools were interesting though, saddles on a stand. Being a resort the food and drinks were expensive.

Par 3 Island green adjacent to patio area.

Horse saddle bar stools.

We didn't allow enough time to see the town of Tubac, which I've been told has lots of nice little shops. I guess I'll have to go back there on my own to browse around.

Wednesday March 20th was Purim, kind of like Jewish Halloween. The rabbi dressed up like a Leprechaun. Very cute.

Thursday March 21st was the second round of the Randolph Club Championship. I had another good round, shooting 77. Again the only player in the 70's. Linda shot 86. Beth Wrigley shot 83 following her opening round of 84 to take over 2nd place. I held an 11 stroke lead over her.

That evening I attended my first event at the McKale Memorial Center, U of A's arena for basketball. I've been told it is impossible to get tickets to the men's games, so this was an opportunity to see the Women in the playoffs. I had a good look around the venue before the game started. There is somewhat of a museum there. There was a nice story about Fred Enke one of their former coaches, who had my favorite of the city golf courses named after him:

There is also a list of their players who have made it to the NBA. The Women won the game with a small crowd in attendance.

The pep bank is very peppy!

Saturday March 21st after synagogue I went downtown to check out a street festival. It featured retail vendors and food vendors.

High Mark-up on Apples!

It was very well attended.

Large crowds.

Sunday March 22nd there was a big free airshow at the military base. John didn't want to go, so we went golfing instead. The show was a bit of a distraction as the planes were performing seemingly over top of us, leaving their vapor trails in the sky.

Thursday March 28th was the final round of the club championship. I was in a good group with the top players:

Beth, Me, Julie & Judy.

Beth started out on fire with a few birdies on the opening holes and I wasn't playing all that well, but in the end I managed another round of 77 and despite Beth's low round of the tournament, a 75, I still managed to win by 9! Beth was 2nd, Julie was 3rd with a final round of 80 and Judy was tied for 4th after shooting 87, 80, 82. Everyone else from the club who played that day was waiting on the back of the 18th green watching us come in. I was told that they hadn't done that in quite some time.

My name will soon be on this plaque, following Judy's 13 consecutive wins.

That evening I went to the next playoff round of the Women's basketball. The crowd was a little bigger and they won again!
Saturday night March 30th after John finished work we went out for a nice dinner at Claim Jumper, a restaurant across the road from the 7th & 8th holes at Randolph. I had seen it many times and had always wanted to go there, but it is primarily a steak restaurant and John prefers the Silver Saddle Steakhouse, which we have been to a couple of times. He had won a gift card for Claim Jumper at the company Christmas party, so we finally got to use it! The decor is sort of rustic.