Day 51 - Sunday, October 9 - Texas << Index

Anticipated: Play golf at Oak Grove Golf Club in Texarkana, Texas.

Travel:   Itinerary: Leave motel for 9:AM tee time at Oak Grove Golf Club. After golf we will drive to a motel in Monroe, Louisiana. casino   States/Provinces Played:

Actual: (Photos and text)

Click on the photos below to enlarge Welcome to Texas sign and Alpine Golf Course sign Randy Cook, assistant club manager Scenes from the golf course More golf course scenes – 3 flags behind the 18th green

Change of plans for today’s golf. We had planned to play in Texarkana, Texas; however, the course we planned to play required that someone in the military accompany non-military golfers. We didn’t know this when we first started looking for courses to play. We found a course in Longview, Texas (about an hour south/southwest of Texarkana). We arrived at Alpine Golf Course about 10:15 AM and were able to tee off immediately. There were only a few golfers out ahead of us, and they moved along at a rapid pace, so we felt that we had the course to ourselves. Alpine Golf Course is in the midst of being renovated, so several of the tees were temporary; however, all of the greens were intact. They were a bit “hairy” so putts against the green were very slow, and those with the grain were much faster. The course has a good layout, and after the reconstruction is completed it should be a great course to play. Jim shot 80 (yardage = 6001) and Pat shot 100 (yardage = 4795). The course played shorter than the indicated yards because the fairways were quite hard (firm) allowing for added distance on the tee and approach shots. The pro shop attendants were very friendly. Brian Boorman was there when we arrived, but was gone when we finished. Unfortunately we didn’t take a picture of him before we teed off. Randy Cook was on duty when we finished, so we did get his picture before we left. We didn’t have far to drive after our game today. We are staying just east of Shreveport, Louisiana for the night, and will play Trails End Golf Club in Arcadia tomorrow. Arcadia is about 60 miles east of Shreveport. Note: We had planned to change our route and travel south to Baton Rouge to play a great course there (we were able to get tee times with the help of Frank Gumpert, a good friend and the Director of Golf at Country Club of Louisiana). However, we were unable to find a motel room anywhere within a 100 mile radius of the golf course because of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Under normal circumstances we would have stayed with the Gumperts, but their daughter and family were with them because their home in New Orleans was completely destroyed by the hurricane. It really hits home to learn of a friend that has been completely wiped out by a disaster of epic proportions such as Katrina.