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BY: RORY SPEARS, Editor & Director of Content
A return to Kinderlou Forest started my 2015 golf season. Pictured the par 3, 17th hole.
It was great to be back on the golf course again. 70 degrees (at least for a few holes) and a beautiful day, sunny and no wind.
I took some time off at the end of last year to recharge for a busy 2015. In yesterdays column I mentioned some of what’s going on in the months ahead. It should keep us golf guys busy. You fans will have plenty of tournaments to go to, and some renovated courses to play.
BIG 3 partner Len Ziehm and I start by tackling the PGA Merchandise Show’s Demo day today outside of Orlando. Ziehm has been the advance scout having been in Florida for a while now, in the meantime Tim Cronin holds down the fort in Chicago.
The pretty par 4 12th hole at Kinderlou Forest in Valdosta GA. You can follow Rory out of the forest here right of the fairway and on Twitter @GogBlogGuy.
The time off 10 weeks with no golf left me ready to play. It wasn’t pretty, the scorecard that it is, even if it felt good to just to play. Too many doubles and triples showed there is plenty of rust to work off.
Highlights, Yes there was a few. The 60 foot birdie putt on the par 4, 7th hole was the first of 2015. Three par’s including a near ace on the Par 3, 195 yard 15th give’s us something to write about, and another reason to be fired up about getting right back on the golf course. Which will happen later this week after the PGA show closes down on Friday. I hit the ball okay for the most part, but 8 bunkers 7 off tee shots didn’t help.
It was great to catch up with former Kemper Lakes head golf professional Bob Spence who is involved at Kinderlou on several fronts. First up was the golf side, but now Spence is involved with creating the next phase of this great South Georgia property just 15 miles from the Florida state line.
A new lake at Kinderlou is being dug out by Spence and crew.
A new lake just to left of the 13th hole, will wind back through the trees and be portioned off by two dams. 100+ new home sites will be created around the water. This project is taking shape as I write this, what’s not known is how fast another golf course will come online here.
Spence has submitted a design for a second course, but no date on when that could happen. Inn the meantime you can check out if headed on Int. 75 Valdosta way, the new Kinderlou Inn right next to Austins Steakhouse and the interstate. Exit 16 is new look inn, that was in the past a member of a chain of motels. So if you didn’t follow our advice about a Kinderlou visit last year, do it this year. I’m staying in the best villa here on property I have seen on a golf course. Four bedrooms, full kitchen, fireplace, big screen TV, Whirlpool tub, two-car garage, you get the point. See Kinderlou.com for more information.
After demo day, at the Orange County Golf Center where Masters Champion Bubba Watson will be hitting some shots tomorrow, will be two full days of roaming the Orlando Convention Center. Not sure what I’ll find yet, but there will be plenty to see.
What I do know, is it’s time to travel golf, play golf, see golf and go speak golf. I’ll be in touch all week long. Stay clicked in. It was great to be on the course again. Go play, or practice in the domes. RS