Happy Sunday!

I shot some images last Friday when I played Thunderhills Country Club.  I haven’t played there for a couple of years and it was fun see the course again.  I joined Thunderhills in 1987 and was a member for 20 years.  They have made major improvements over the years and it is a spectacular golf course and club now.

Of course I took my camera with me and shot images on every hole.  This is the signature hole of the club the 16th hole, a par 5 with the approach shot over a large pond with a narrow green to land on.

As you can see from the image it was a perfect day.  Temperature was in the mid 60s with a moderate breeze to make it interesting.  Beautiful blue sky with big puffy clouds.  I don’t think I could have designed it any better.

Mike my dear friend of many years asked me to be his guest this day and I played with him and his brother Rob who is from Des Moines, Iowa.  We were all pretty evenly matched skill wise so it was a fun morning of poor golf swings, cursing, insulting, and looking for lost balls.  🙂

Yes there is a windmill and even an old shed on the course.  You know I couldn’t pass up a chance to photograph a windmill and an old building.  They are both left over from the farm that was, before it became a golf course.  A group of golf enthusiasts each donated $500 and they borrowed the rest to purchase the land to build a golf course.  They were looking for something that was less expensive to play golf on then the Country Club but also not a public course.  It was for people who took their golf very seriously.

When I joined it cost $89 per month, which at the time was pretty steep for me.  But it was a wonderful time and I made a lot of great friends while a member.  In fact when I joined it was called “a working man’s country club.”

My work, the escalating cost of membership, and rapidly deteriorating golf skills eventually prompted me to leave the club.  Now I only play in group charity events and occasionally an 18 hole round with friends.  Last year I think I only played 6 times the entire year and that’s about what I’ll get in this year.

These flowers were on t he 15th tee area.  Each tee area has an assortment of flowers and shrubs growing.  The golf course was in the best shape I can ever remember.  They built a beautiful huge club house a few years ago and so now Thunderhills is a true country club in every sense of the word.

This is the final hole at Thunderhills.  A very long (for us that are skill challenged) and a difficult par 4.  That’s my ball on the left, which turned out to be a pretty good drive.  I managed to make a bogey but the drive was nice. 🙂

Amazing day finished off with some wine and a wonderful lunch at the clubhouse.  I can’t remember a day that I enjoyed more.

That’s it for today.  We’re heading out to the airport for the annual fly-in, drive-in breakfast.  I always like to photograph the airplanes that come in.  There are usually some pretty interesting experimental planes that fly in.

Thanks for stopping by the blog and enduring my rambling down memory lane.  I hope you enjoy your day and be careful.