ILMgolfnut

I've heard that was possible, maybe even still is, but you have to catch them at just the right time. It's kind of a shame that they've eliminated the overnight line; you apply the previous day for any open spots in foursomes the next day. In a way I was lucky. There were eight openings on the tee sheet for October 26 (which happens to be my birthday -- that was quite intentional on my part) when I checked the previous afternoon. I could have probably gotten some sleep, even though my B&B was 15 miles away, showed up around 5 or 5:15 am and gotten a tee time. But I wanted to make absolutely sure I got on. So until 4 am, I WAS the line. But if they'd been booked solid, I would have been out of luck. Probably would have played the New Course that day instead.

Old Course kicked my butt, but I think that was largely due to sleep deprivation after staying up all night to get a singles tee time. I didn't think it was as difficult as Royal Dornoch, which is much more undulating. Cruden Bay puts them both to shame.

You're braver than I am to attempt Car-Nasty. That SSS 74 tells you all you need to know: That course is fricking HARD.

Good morning Spies! Got back to the Casa at 12:30 am, didn't get to sleep until 3. Yuck. It had just stopped raining when I came out of the airport terminal; I had no such luck when I got home. And the trash cart was still on the street so I had to retrieve that, close the driveway gate, and take my stuff in. I was pretty much drenched when I got inside. Fortunately the flight home was uneventful and no sprinting through airports to make my connection. Or bounced landings, either. Hoping to get out this weekend and at least hit some balls. Haven't had a Garmin session in ages.

Good morning from the west side of Illinois, Spies! Work and travel today, hopefully no more aborted landings. Should get back to the Casa around 12:30 am tonight. Unfortunately that's pretty routine. Rain possible this afternoon, but no time for golf. Just hope weather doesn't impact my flights. Hit 'em straight and putt 'em straighter!

Reached the St.Louis burbs without further incident after our apparent near-miss on approach this afternoon in Charlotte. Got in a Fit For Golf workout in my room after dinner. Unable to get together with @skraeling; it turns out we're on opposite ends of the STL metro area, probably 50 miles apart. Wasn't gonna make him drive or make me drive.

That was fun. On approach to Charlotte, felt like we dropped the last 15 feet to the runway WHAM. Pilot went full throttle immediately and we lifted off right away. My dad is a pilot and I know that what we just did is called a touch and go, but I've never had a T&G in 45 years of flying commercially. Circled for 15 minutes and finally landed, not that it was a whole lot smoother the second time. Which damn near made me miss the flight to STL, but I got there as Group 9 was boarding. Hoping for no further travel adventures today.

Good morning Spies! Sitting at the airport headed for STL. Looks like the appointment I spent yesterday trying to ramrod through is actually happening, so I'm glad my efforts weren't wasted. Only one night in the burbs, flying home tomorrow. That site wraps up its participation in this study tomorrow so it should be my last trip there. Taking my bands to get in a FFG workout tonight. @skraeling I land at 2:14 pm at STL, should be in the hotel by 4.

Sounds like a plan. I'm staying/working out in Fairview Heights.

Not golf related per se, but GF bought this cup for me.

Normally this is one of the weeks where I'm driving all over North Carolina for work. Not so this week; they're sending me to the St. Louis burbs to cover a colleague there who is assigned elsewhere, and I'm being covered in NC by another colleague who lives in Boston. But most of the people involved are flying, so the airline disruption has come at a very bad time (not that there's ever a good time). We had to cancel an appointment this morning in Charlotte because two other people couldn't get there, and trying to get it rescheduled this week has been like herding cats. But we finally got it rescheduled for Thursday morning; everyone involved is already there or will be in NC tonight, and we also had to add an appointment in Raleigh tomorrow which is also fully staffed now. Not technically part of my job description to herd all these cats, but as I have told my manager, I've become the assistant manager in charge of North Carolina scheduling. Which she appreciates me taking this off her plate. Problem here is that there is no one person in charge of this catherding process. My manager assigns the seven of us, someone else assigns the two nurses for each appointment, someone else coordinates with the patient. And one of the patient coordinators is out because her father just died, which made it even harder. We had a group Slack with nine people on it, not including the one in charge of nurse assignments, but I think we got it fixed without him. And I'm wondering if the St. Louis appointment on Thursday is going to happen, either. Can AA get me there? One of the nurses drives there so she's fine, but what about the other nurse? It's stuff like this that sends me to the driving range to beat hell out of balls for pure stress reduction. If the thunderstorms leave the Casa, that is. Otherwise I may have to clean up my simulator area which has become a cat playground, and hope it's not too hot in the garage.

La Guardia is always a fun landing. Used to be just about the worst terminal in the country, too, but they spent a lot of money on it and it's better. Glad you landed safely.

Neither one is fixed, yet. The dishwasher needs a control board and a drain pump and the fridge needs a new diffuser and a couple other parts. He said he'd have to submit it to the landlord to see what they want to pay for. So we shall see.

Having once attended a PGA in August in Tulsa... I know why they moved it. You don't want to be out there in August in that kind of weather in a large chunk of the country.

Good morning Spies! Sitting here while technician is fixing my dishwasher for the second time in two weeks. Not only that but my fridge is fouled up too. Hoping this visit will resolve both. And that the landlord doesn't bill me for the repairs. I mentioned last week that the driver shaft fitter put me on the BGT Brava shaft. Found out more about BGT. It's the latest venture of Barney Adams, of Adams Tight Lies fame. BGT started out making putter shafts and is now dipping its toes into shafts for woods and wedges. Still haven't decided to pull the trigger on a $500 shaft but the option is there.