I know what some of you that have golfed with me in the past are thinking: he would never golf in the rain if he had a choice. Well I kind of didn't have a choice. My lovely wife got me a golf lesson for Christmas. That is scary because she has only seen me play once. Guess I didn't make a good impression! Anyway you get free rounds with the lesson so I had use them up before we leave Friday. She did her best keeping me away from the pro shops the first few days we were here so I didn't spoil her gift. I usually pay for a pass as soon as I get here that gets me all four courses.
Every year I get hooked up with a good group of guys to play with. This year I played with Dan from Illinois; Richard, Rob, and Gordon from Toronto; and Roberto from Monterrey Mexico. I have played golf with the entire continent of North America! The Toronto guys were really good. All single digit handicaps so I was forced to play from the next to last tees on the Legends course. Not good for me. Today I played the Reserve with Roberto who was a 76 year old gentleman who played from the forward tees and I joined him. He beat me by five strokes! We then played the nine hole Cranes Bend course and I got him to play from the white so I could take him. I did, by one stroke. (I am still working on the finer points from my lesson!)
The lesson actually helped but it so hard to make adjustments to a swing you have perfected (or perfected incorrectly) over the course of 30 years. Orange Lake is the home to the McCord Golf Academy. Rick McCord is a Golf Magazine top 100 instructor plus he is originally from Schuylkill County PA. I got my lesson from Scott who is on his staff. Rick's rate is about 3x the rate for a staff instructor. I recommend them highly if you ever come to Orange Lake.
Christmas day was spent here at the resort where we enjoyed a nice dinner buffet at the River Island Grilling Company and a stroll afterwards.
Well, New Years Eve was definitely different for us last night. We miss all of our friends that used to come to the house for our parties and I am sure you all found ways to stay entertained, but it was nice to relax and not have to do all that work preparing. We stayed here on the property and went to Breezes Key West Grille for dinner, drinks and live music
then came back to the room to uncork champagne at midnight
It was quite chilly last night (59*) but that did not deter some folks who were still swimming in the pool as the band played and a game played on the big screen behind the pool.
As a matter of fact the weather has been very chilly. The temp was in the 80's when we arrived, but this week the highs have only been to the low 70's at best and the lows have been dropping. We went to Downtown Disney and Universal City Walk a couple of nights and it is odd to see people in winter coats at those places. We ate at Planet Hollywood at Downtown Disney which was a mistake. We hadn't eaten there in years and now I remember why: a $20 plate of spaghetti and $10 drinks. Never again. Universal has a better deal. We got dinner and a movie for about $22 a person. The deal at Disney is one of those dine while you watch the movie set ups. First they charge you more to get in and then you have to eat while watching the movie, which I find distracting. At Universal you get your pick of restaurants (limited menus) and then a movie at the AMC Cineplex. We ate at Pastamore and the food was excellent.
We have been coming here for years and I thought we had eaten at every place at City Walk but Bubba Gumpps, but this might have been the first time for Pastamore. We walked around a little and bought t-shirts in Margaritaville before heading to the theater.
The nice thing about City Walk is you have your choice of the Hard Rock Cafe, Margaritaville, Pat O'Briens, Bob Marley's, NBA Cafe, NSACAR Cafe, Bubba Gumpps, and even a Whopper Bar.
At the movies we saw Grudge Match. Don't waste your $12. Some cutesy funny moments but not too good. Kevin Hart and Alan Arkin steal the show in my opinion. After the movie Doreen dragged me to see Rocky Horror Picture Show which was playing at midnight in the same cineplex. Oh my God! What is the fascination with that movie? I would rather sit through two root canals. Doreen loves it though and I have made her sit through her fair share of sporting events and the like. I consider us even!
Orange Lake is a great place and I hate to let it go. My sister and brother-in-law are probably going to take one of our weeks. So far I am not sure about the other one. I'll keep you posted.
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