Taos Golf

There will be a lot of talking this week in the golf world about St. Andrews, THE Open Championship, etc.

Here's my golf story.

This is a picture of my Dad and a couple of his buddies playing golf at the Taos Country Club about 1960.  It was a private 9 hole golf course carved out of sagebrush (duh - just look at the surroundings) and a clubhouse where lots of the business leaders ate, drank, played poker, and watched 16mm black and white movies of famous golf matches.

This is a picture of the golf course taken last week.  What once was the Taos Country Club, on the road to Taos Ski Valley, became the Quail Run Resort and the home to condos, etc.

I actually worked at a golf course when I was in high school.  It was developed by two of my uncles, Sid and Clinton Johnson in an area east of Taos known as Tienditas.   It is part of a beautiful valley, and the development was ahead of its time.  It remains a hidden valley.

And the golf course remains open.  The summer rains have helped keep it in nice mountain condition. I recall working there - slip sliding around the dirt roads after a summer rain - driving the road grader and dump drunks. And I remember having the responsibility for pin placements on the greens.

This pond - which we called a lake - was right outside the front door of Uncle Sid's first cabin on the site.  The pond remains.

Valley Escondido remains hidden - there are some locals and some Texans who have vacation cabins there - and I can certainly see why.  A beautiful place to get away from it all - and I mean that!

PGA Tour, USGA, PGA of America Should Dump Trump

It's about time the leadership of the major golf organizations in the USA (and abroad for that matter, like Scotland) dump any tournaments that are held on golf courses owned, developed or managed by the Donald Trump organizations.

I am sure it is within the abilities of the PGA Tour, the United States Golf Association, the PGA of America and the Royal and Ancient in Europe to find locations for golf events that don't further the growth of that red mop of hair.

What Trump has said with regards to the Mexican immigration issue should be reason enough - say nothing of his other spout offs.

Anybody with any sense at all knows that much of the labor in his hotels, at his resorts, in his businesses and on his golf courses is done by people who are immigrants.  They are probably offended too, but afraid to say anything for fear of losing their jobs.

I'm waiting for the major media outlets to start reporting on the misdeeds of Mr. Trump and his organizations.  It can't come soon enough!


Update -  The Dump Trump parade is organizing:

1)   Los Angeles school district officials have canceled plans to hold a fundraising tournament at the Trump National Golf Club in response to comments made by Donald Trump about immigrants.   The L.A. Unified School District asked the club to return its $7,500 deposit. So far, the club has declined to refund the money, according to the school system.

2)   The ESPY Celebrity Golf Classic was scheduled for Trump National Golf Club on July 14 but has been switched to Pelican Hill near Newport Beach.

 3)  The PGA of America announced Tuesday that the 2015 Grand Slam of Golf scheduled for this October at Trump National Golf Club will be moved to another location. 

Tom Watson - you are not alone!

Watching a leader in a professional golf tournament on TV,  sometimes it seems like they're taking a serene and pleasant walk down an isolated fairway.

Not!

This photograph was of Tom Watson as he approached the 16th green at Del Paso Country Club in Sacramento.  At the time he was the sole leader in the US Senior Open and getting most of the attention from the TV boys. 

I can tell you I counted 9 different cameras pointed at him for the shot, including one atop a movable robot pillar pushed (or pulled) into position from the edge of the fairway.

The player in this group on the left of the picture wasn't in the hunt.  It was one of those lonely walks for him, kind of!

Some of these guys get a little upset when a butterfly flutters in a nearby bush.  Can you imagine the distraction from this traveling band of video chroniclers?   

Jeez....

US Open Chambers Bay & Tesla too!

A report on a road trip--

It was year 3 for your reporter at a US Open golf tournament.   This trip to Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington - which is near Tacoma - which is near Seattle - was spectacular.

First they had to open the gates

Where to go?

View from the top looking toward Puget Sound (Pew-jet - not puh-get)... 

See the train?

Down the hill...looking up to the Trophy Club.

 Your intrepid US Open adventurers - Ed Mahr & ...

And we saw a Tesla:

WOW!

And so it goes!

Coyote and the bunny

Here are a couple of pictures I snapped with my phone during a round of golf at the UNM Championship Course this Monday.

This big fellow was just lumbering along in front of the first tee - and we all agreed he was stalking a mid-morning snack.   He was not one of those scrawny coyotes, he appeared very healthy.

And, then a few holes away we spotted this charming little fellow.   Hope he got out of the way of wylie coyote!

US Open around the bend

The folks in University Place, WA have turned a gravel pit into a golf course.

It's just waiting.

Aerial view from local newspaper

 The Trophy Club  - perched on a hill

When was the last time a train rambled through a professional golf tournament?  

May happen this year.

No Bull Bob Turner Dies

I was saddened to learn that an Albuquerque icon has died.

Bob Turner had one of the most successful car dealerships in our city for many years.  Bob was a salesman.   His big move came when he took over a fledgling Frontier Ford - re-named it Bob Turner's Ford Country - and then went on to build a new dealership headquarters.

Bob was famous (or infamous) because of his TV commercials.  Thanks to the work of Roger Dibble, who for so many years helped put them together.  There was "no bull" in those commercials - a tag line used for many years.  

(I lifted this photo from a Google search)

Turner was a good citizen of this community.  A Lobo fan thru-and-thru.  I think he even contributed substantial funds to help develop the team golf training facility at UNM.  The last time I saw Bob a few years ago was at the Mountain West Basketball tournament in Las Vegas - we were there watching the Lobos. He also had a home there.

Occasionally I'd see Bob at the now defunct Charlie's Back Door. He would always ask how things were in Taos (my hometown).

Oh, and I had another connection to Bob Turner.  The home we presently reside in, I've been told, was built and first occupied by the same Bob Turner.  I mentioned that to him one time, and in his loveable Texas accent he recalled..."Oh yeah, that house on Peeda Rose."   It's actually Piedra Rosa.

Thanks Bob for all you did.

No Bull!