Admiral Baker Golf Course, North and South

During the last two days of our SoCal trip, hubby and I finally hit our stride in terms of daily golf. We'd heard the name Admiral Baker tossed around as another inexpensive local course, so we decided to give it a try. Whoever Admiral Baker was, he must have been a fun guy to be around because they named two 18-hole golf courses and a recreational swimming complex after him.

If you're active duty, you can get on here for as little as $11. As "unsponsored civilians," we still only paid $30. We played the South Course first, which is very flat and very walkable, though not particularly spectacular in terms of the view. The starter was as friendly as they come, and he paired up hubby and I with a middle-aged woman from Utah and her non-playing daughter-in-law, as well as a guy whom I will call Sunny since that's the kind of personality he had. Plus, his shiny bald-shaven head reminded me of the sun. He happened to work at the golf course as a groundskeeper, so he knew the lay of the land, literally. Not that it seemed to help out his game, because on one of the first few tee shots, he promptly shanked his driver so hard the club head flew off. On another hole, he mishit another tee shot and his ball bounced toward the middle-aged woman's golf cart and struck the non-playing daughter-in-law in the arm. It was as if Sunny was staging these Caddyshack moments for our entertainment. The round turned out to be full of chatter, but we had so much fun it didn't matter that I shot a 109.

Sunny told us we absolutely had to play the North Course. It had recently been completely renovated, and Sunny promised us it was as good as any resort course. I am not sure if I would agree, but for the price (same as the South Course), it is money well-spent. Unlike the South Course, the North Course has a fair degree of level changes and some holes feel carved out of a mountain or set atop a plateau. All the holes were marked by those fancy stones with painted fairway maps, as well as artfully arranged cairns.

There were lots of pretty palm trees. This bare twig of a tree appeared to be posing for our attention. If you look closely you can see the blackbirds sitting in a row on its longest branch. They must be avid golf fans.

 

As Sunny promised, there were some resort-worthy holes, such as this picturesque par 3. The bunkers are much larger than they appear. I think the bunker on the left is about the same size as my living room.

Then there was the intriguing set-up at this par 4 on the back nine. The hole was a sharp dogleg left down and around a steep, rocky hill. It involved a tee shot so blind, it had to have its own warning system. It was so very military.

Perhaps because hubby and I were on our own at the North Course, I was able to focus and play a little better and I shot a 98. Maybe not the greatest score ever, but at least I finally broke 100 on vacation.

Since getting home to the East Coast, I've been dabbling in the mid 90s and feeling somewhat frustrated that it's been a whole year and I still haven't beat my all-time low score of 87. On the upside, hubby played so well on our trip that it reignited his passion for golf and suddenly he wants to play every weekend again. Despite my lack of game, this kinda makes life rather blissful lately. In fact, our 7th wedding anniversary is coming up, and hubby's planned another golf getaway for us. We're headed to the Eastern Shore this time, and I just hope the weather holds up!