Read all about it in our Forums HERE.  Nickesquire’s quest to play as many golf courses that offer Birthday specials (i.e. FREE golf on your Birthday) continues.  His first golf course — Mile Square Park.

Day 1, Mile Square (Fountain Valley) Players in the a.m., Classic in the p.m. (36 holes of fun!)

I left the house @ 4:55am and after grabbing a quick snack, was in the Mile Square Pro Shop a little after 7am. I had called the day before and they would not give me a tee time as a single, but advised me that it was “wide open”, should be no issue getting me out.

Wide Open? It was packed like on a weekend, 4some after 4some. I finally got out matched up with a 3some and teed off @ 8:52am after waiting over 90 minutes. Played a very enjoyable round with 3 senior ladies in 4.5 hours. Shot 86 on the Players. After holing out on 18, walked over and met Dave @ the Pro shop for the afternoon round.

Played the Classic with Dconnally & Stickboy. Again played in about 4.5 hours after teeing off a little later than our 2:07pm tee time, finished around 6:45p. Drove and picked up dinner and my wife @ her office in L.A. and got home around 9:15p. Fun day, good company, Vince (Stickboy) played solid golf throughout and Dave (Dconnally) put on a show on the back 9 with fairway, green, 2 putt par on about 7 holes. They both shot around 80, I was definitely getting fatigued by the end of the walking 36 marathon coupled with driving over 200 miles total and close to 5 hours in the car.

Day 2, Legends (Temecula) in the a.m., Dos Lagos (Corona) in the p.m.

Had a 7:20am tee time, again on the freeway before 5 and made the 127 mile trip to Temecula, getting there a little after 7am. Rat-Patrol (Jim) was there waiting and raring to go. We ran into 1Rudedog, who was playing with his normal buddies behind us. We tee off on time and played a leisurely 4 hour round as a 2some. Both using our B-Day week-of certificates. Tough to beat $15! Both shot 84 and had a good time. So we both hit the freeway and headed north, 35 minutes to Corona.

We walked in and Dos Lagos had us on the 1st tee within 15 minutes of arriving. We again used our B-Day week-of certificates, again $15 with a cart is hard to beat. We had another enjoyable, leisurely 4 hour round. Jim was playing some good golf and shot 78, I stayed with him for awhile before fading to an 87. Thanks much to Jim for making the trip up from San Diego., it was a blast playing with you!

I was glad all 36 today was with a cart after the walking & driving I did yesterday. The 250+ miles I drove today were a piece of cake with little traffic both ways compared to battling L.A. work traffic last night. Got home @ 7pm.

Day 3, A.M. Shorecliffs (San Clemente), P.M. Crossings at Carlsbad (Carlsbad)

Shorecliffs in the A.M. I was expecting ALOT more. Free golf and free cart = great start. However, I was kicking myself AD for not going to Tustin Ranch and paying $40 on my way to S.D. Combination of my cheapness and a little bit of Sixpez (wanting to play a new course) made me go for the free golf over what I knew would be a good course.

The course was in poor condition and the layout was tight and not good in my opinion. Put it this way, I won’t come back for a free B-Day round in the future. Enough said.

Crossing at Carlsbad in the P.M. Headed the 45 minutes farther down the coast for another totally free round. Everything about this place was an excellent experience. The firm, smooth, medium-fast greens seemed like a 15 on the stimp after playing on the bumpy slow greens of Shorecliffs in the a.m. The course layout reminded me alot of the Creekside-Ridgeline 9’s @ Moorpark C.C. Fabulous clubhouse, attentive customer service, the whole place was first rate. I think I already have Tustin Ranch and Crossings booked in my mind for next May 7th as places I want to experience on an annual basis. I would play here semi often if it were not well over 100 miles from my house.

Day 4, Riverwalk (San Diego) in the A.M., Riverview (Santa Ana) in the P.M.

Riverwalk in the A.M. Had a 6:57 tee time. Slightly before 7am, it was pouring. So I waited until a little after 8 to pay my $19 B-Day rate and start in a slight drizzle. Even in the rain, the greens were firm, medium fast and putted excellent. These greens were even better than Crossings overall! They have 27 holes here and I liked all 3 nines. This is a course I would play often if I lived in the S.D. area. I liked the layouts and the condition of the things that mattered were great.

Played the Friars-Presido combo 1st. The 2nd 9 was the only really bad rain I encountered on a rainy Friday. For about an hour it rained hard. Not a shock that 9 was by 6 strokes my highest nine hole score of the day, ended up with a 93 after an excellent front 9 considering the conditions.

I had been forewarned by numerous people that Riverview was nothing special. Couple that with a 2 hour drive north and very questionable weather conditions, I was wavering on making the drive north not knowing if I could even play there in the afternoon. So with the assistance of JohnnyGK, did an audible and just stayed at Riverwalk AD. John got me set up for a comped replay so I could play all 3 nines. So it was off to the Mission-Presido combo. Weather was much improved, sprinkled on me a few times, but got around quickly playing as a single and shot 87. Still only 2:45, so did another replay and got in the Mission-Friars combo and played with a couple of different groups for a few holes each as I played with and through different combos. Other than one 15 minute stretch where it poured, the weather was the best of the day, shot 82.

So 54 holes here made for an excellent day of golf in spite of the inclement weather. Started @ 8:05, finished @ 5:55, so averaged barely 3 hours a round considering going into the pro shop to make accommodations for the next round & waiting to tee off again in between. POP was excellent, not many golfers out due to the weather.

So the final tally of the B-Day blitz, week one was:

Nine 18 hole rounds of golf on regulation courses in 4 days.

If you count each combo on Riverwalk as a new course, 9 new courses.

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The Tally

• 809 total miles driven, not counting my return trip home from S.D. tomorrow.
• $19 highest fee paid for 18 holes & a cart over the last 7 rounds. Since several rounds were totally free, it was far less than $1 a hole spent on actual golf on B-Day promotions. Slightly more than $100 spent on gas.
• GKers played a round with = 3.
• Fun had = much.
• Needing a rest today = VERY much!

 

However, after taking Mothers Day weekend off, on Monday the assault starts anew. There are still over a 1/2 dozen courses that offer B-Day deals within a week after your B-Day. Several of which I have never played. So many courses, so little time!

 

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Nickesquire — self proclaimed golf junkie.  He is one of the reasons why the GK community offers so much to so many people.  We love golf and so does Nick.  He is what you would characterize as an extremely avid golfer and southern gentleman — and that in his spare time.  In between the rounds of golf he teaches and practicing attorney.