The 7th annual Classic Cerritos Gold Tournament was changed a bit this year to become a two day event for 36 holes of golf, with a day of skins, and another of team play, with the total score of both days to win the trophy.
Our tournament this year was being held at the La Quinta Resort & Club in Palm Desert. We got a pretty good deal for the four of us where we ended up paying about $116 each for two days of golf and a Hotel Villa Room. Considering that we normally have to pay somewhere around $40-50 just for one round of golf this seemed like a good deal.
We’ve been pretty loose with the the actual rules of golf when we play because sometimes the game itself is hard enough like lost balls and penalty strokes. Now that everyone is at the same skill level we started counting lost balls and water balls just a the stroke as they were, and also allowing for 1 mulligan per round.
The first day we played the Greg Norman Course at PGA West and got out on the course at around 2pm when the sun was at its hottest registering about 110°. It personally took me too much time to get acclimated to the temperature this time around and i was never really in it for the entire round. I only won three skins, and was no where close to winning the closest to the pin or longest drive for the day. By the end of of it I was down 6 strokes to Brian and i was basically out of it.
Day two game day tooke place at the Pete Dye Dunes Golf Course we got at 10am when it was still under triple digits outside. This day I teamed up with Brian, while Brock and Roland teamed up for a total score team event. The good thing about having games within the games is that even though i felt out of it for the trophy i still wanted to play it out to win the team event. By the first nine Brian and I had the team event in the bag, and somehow by the 18th hole i was tied for the league. I wasn’t playing any better from the day before but everyone else just wasn’t playing as well as the day before. At the tee box of the 18th it was a par 4 with water in play to the right but wasn’t a concern for me. My first shot went way left so i used my mulligan to go again which everyone thought was a great play. For my next shot, i hit the ball about a total of six inches. No one could believe what happened, and i couldn’t either. I took my 5 wood, popped it down the fairway where i stepped up and promptly shanked it into the water at 90° angle. I carded a nine for the hole and lost by four strokes.
At least i ended up winning the team event and won a chipper which i traded to brock for his golf travel shoe bag which i really needed. While Brock took the chipper as prize for the long drive challenge, Roland took away the most money for winning 9 skins, while Brian got a Swiss Army Golf Tool for the closest drive and the all important Trophy.
Saturday night we had to take an $80 taxi ride into downtown Palm Springs to find actual people and food and drinks for the night. We ended up at Village Pub where we had plenty opportunity for some people watching while having a few drinks. The place was a trip because i didn’t know how many people come here to hang out, and it was such a weird mix of bachelorette parties (like 6), guidos, old people with medical enhancements, and the gays. The place was crazy with a live band in one place, a dj playing hip-hop up stairs and an outdoor area that had all the oldies hanging out. The guys got their drink on and each enjoyed being away from family for a night and not having to deal with three kids each, besides Roland and I. When we got back to the room i passed out while everyone else went to the pool at midnight and enjoyed the night.
