ACE!

Forget all the normal drivel about food and resort life, and get set for some real news.  Linda scored her 1st ever HOLE IN ONE today! 

The milestone event occurred on the PGA National Estate Course’s hole number 3, a 128-yard par-3.  Linda’s 5-wood tee shot carried the front of the green just right of the hole, caught the green slope, rolled cleanly and smoothly to the pin, and disappeared.

I immediately started yelling that it went in, and Linda just stood stock still, not yet believing what might be true.   It took a full 30 seconds before reality began to sink in, but there was still confirmation to be done greenside.  Finding no ball on the green or fringe, Linda looked in the cup, and then let out a whoop that was probably heard in the clubhouse.

Congratulations my sweetie!  I am so proud of you!

Compared to this, the rest of the day was terribly normal.   Breakfast at the resort, then a drive over to the Estates Course, the only one not onsite with the PGA National resort.  We found it a pretty course, and in better shape than yesterday’s round on The Haig.  Greens were faster and better grown in, albeit real sandy.  Fairways were watered better and were freer from divots.  We played the last 5 holes with a nice guy named Aussie who said he was from Miami, but his Latin accent indicated some different home to me.  Linda and I both shot decently in the mid-80s.

We especially liked seeing our friends from last year, the sand hill cranes, on a few holes.  There are lots of other birds to see, too.  Vultures, storks, roseate spoonbills, cormorants, white ibises, all sorts of herons and egrets and geese and ugly ducks.

Back at the resort Linda signed up for the daily golf clinic.  This is an excellent opportunity to work with real PGA pro swing instructors for peanuts (only $25 for a half hour).  Even so, Linda and I both know it’s always a dicey decision to accept instruction, especially when tinkering with a swing that is working well like Linda’s.  But we have both agreed that to take her game to a new dimension, it would be good to extend her distance a bit, and I believe she can do it.

Linda had the instructor Matt all to herself (although I sat by listening  to it all) so it was especially great for her to get a private lesson.  He praised her ball striking and also pointed out some things she can work on for increased clubhead speed, simple things related to setup and backswing.  He wisely advised her not to integrate them into her on-course game, but rather to work on them on the side as “homework.”

Lunch at the iBar, and we had to be careful not to celebrate the hole-in-one too loudly.  We’re all for the tradition (of buying a round for the house if you get an ace), but the iBar is one huge lobby bar and was especially crowded because thundershowers had forced everyone inside.   We celebrated, but let’s not go broke.

😉

Dinner at a wonderful place in nearby Jupiter we’d visited last year: Leftovers.  The place was packed when we arrived at 8PM, but we were seated after only a 30 minute wait.  I will try not to gush on about the food, but the kitchen here is very creative and original, especially with fresh fish.

They create a full special menu every day, with fantastic fish such as cobia, wahoo, yellowtail snapper, dolphin, and grouper cheeks.  For our foodie readers, I’ve included a larger-than-usual photo of the daily menu below (Just click on it to enlarge it.  Note, this page is in addition to their regular menu).

Great place to top off an excellent day on vacation and one very special day for Linda.