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Ponies, Rabbits, Cows, Birdies, and the Olympic Games

It has been a busy week with a surprising number of animals involved. I was at St. Andrews for the Open Championship where I mowed fairways and collected performance data from the greens, and I saw a lot of rabbits in Scotland in addition to the previously mentioned sheep. As an aside, I highly recommend the famous award-winning Anstruther Fish Bar in Fife. Look no further for the best chippie in Britain.

After the Open I went to England, visited a number of golf courses, and was particularly impressed with Bramshaw Golf Club's Forest Course in the New Forest National Park, Hampshire. I made three birdies in the first seven holes at this fun course. I saw ponies everywhere at the New Forest including many of them on the golf course.

July days are long in Britain, and that was useful on 21 July when I went from the New Forest to Salisbury (pictured at the cathedral at right), Bath, Minchinhampton, and then all the way back to London. I managed to fit in a round of golf at Minchinhampton that day, enjoying the scenery and history of Gloucestershire while making another birdie, seeing hundred of cows grazing on Minchinhampton Common where the golf course is laid out, and having a post-round pint of Black Rat cider, which reminded me in many ways of last years' Sam Khok diet.

Then I made a visit to Greenwich Park, site of the 2012 Olympics equestrian events and the Royal Observatory. Ive studied cool-season grasses for the past two weeks and am ready to see the tropical grasses again. It has been a whirlwind tour of Britain.

A Week of Quadracious Training

I write this from Lamberton Place, St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. When I went running here I passed sheep grazing on green grass in the cool, long days of a Scottish July. This has been a particularly quadracious week of training. It started at Hainan Island, China's Hawaii, it is called, where I spoke at a turfgrass conference and went running out of my hotel to the beach and turned left for Sanya. Running along the beach, every 500 meters or so I passed another young lady in a wedding dress pseudo-playing a piano as soft waves from the South China Sea lapped at her ankles. Her betrothed knelt at her side while a photographer with a large Canon snapped photos for their wedding album. See here the view from my hotel at Hainan.

From Hainan I went to Bangkok, where I ran twice, which is rather amazing considering the tropical rains that fell while I was there. I went out for an errand, encountered a thunderstorm, and then saw this street scene as I waited to get a taxi.

You can imagine that my usual running park is much less crowded at this time of year.

So after braving the wedding photographers and (apparently) waterproof pianos at Hainan, and the rains and floods at Bangkok, what better place to run than Dubai? I went for a late afternoon run along Jumeirah Beach. I saw two camels on the beach, but not many people. Perhaps they were deterred by the searing temperatures.

So in a week I had a chance to run at China, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. That's what I call quadracious. 

Wild Horses, Camels, and Birdies in the Desert

If you saw a band of wild horses in the Arabian Desert, would you dare to approach them? Using my horse whispering techniques, I tamed these horses at Dubai in the morning, just because I could. I had been at the Tiger Woods Dubai with Cameron Thompson, the golf course superintendent there, to have a look at the grass on the course and on the vast nurseries.

In the afternoon the weather seemed just right for a run, as it was cooling down from the midday highs, so I went for a run along Jumeirah Beach, passing two camels (really!) and feeling quite proud of myself for braving the 43° C heat (about 110° F). You may wonder what it feels like to run in those kind of temperatures. I felt as if I was running in a sauna.

What better way to cool off after a quadracious run in Dubai than to play night golf under the lights at Emirates Golf Club? I made a nice birdie and hit some good shots in preparation for my forthcoming UK trip. I haven't played golf in the UK since 2003. Stay tuned for my July golf report. It promises to be a good one.

Fourth of July Weekend

I was at Hainan Island this weekend to speak at a turfgrass conference. I first went to China more than twelve years ago. Some of the people I worked with at China a decade ago were here at this conference, including Parson Yao who translated the three presentations I made as a keynote speaker on July 3 and 4.

 

We had a fun weekend learning about turfgrass, discussing the golf industry in China, and drinking baijiu. Just like old times.

June Golf Report

I visited a lot of golf courses in June but played only one round. How was it, then, that I came to be holding the US Open trophy on a sunny afternoon at Pebble Beach? Connections, of course. And I like to think that my stellar matchplay record over the past few years had a little bit to do with that as well.

I visited golf courses at Indonesia, California, and Japan this month, but my only round was at Sugadaira Green Golf in Japan's Nagano prefecture. Sugadaira Green Golf is notable for being the highest golf course in Japan, sitting above a ski resort near the peak of Mt. Neko. Not only did I win my match, but I also walked away from the course with a box of soba noodles, three bottles of sake, and a voucher for a free round of golf later this year. Not bad winnings for playing with rental clubs. I would like to say that Ryo Ishikawa gave me a swing tip to help with my play . . .

. . . but I will have to take full credit for the win at Sugadaira, as our conversation at Pebble Beach never strayed from the quotidian. If you haven't been to Japan recently, you may not be aware that Ryo is ubiquitous. I saw him on a McDonald's poster, in an ANA captain's uniform, and with Ai-chan at the Kinojo Golf Club in Okayama. So it was really a pleasure to see him in person at Pebble Beach. By the way, I would endorse the Srixon Z-Star if I could. It is a great ball and one that I have won a lot of matches with.

Tsuyu (rainy season) Tour of Japan

I report here on last week's tour through Japan and its flavors and fashions. You may already be aware of Blueberry & Hazelnut Pringles. Why stop there, though, when you could work your way through an assortment of flavors including a daring Lemon & Sesame combination or the ever-popular soft-shell crab?

The first part of the week was surprisingly sunny considering the meteorological department had officially pronounced the rainy season begun. So after a few days of visiting golf courses and squinting in the sun, I soon found myself shopping for sunglasses and modeling headwear at a Uniqlo shop in Fukui. Naturally, rain began forthwith and I have not yet had an opportunity to wear the sunglasses.

I bet you don't know what color raw shrimp eggs are. I didn't know either, until last week. The pregnant shrimp I've eaten at Thailand have always been cooked. So at a small fisherman's restaurant at Fukui, I was surprised to find that the color of shrimp eggs is blue. I can only imagine the possibilities for a Pringles flavor of shrimp eggs and lychee or some such concatenation. The taste is quite good and serves as a textural and flavor change from the rather translucent and floppy fresh shrimp itself. You see the eggs prominently in the foreground here (I've eaten the body of the shrimp already).

 

After a dinner such as that, our group was feeling quite merry as were the proprietors of the excellent restaurant. The fish and squid we had eaten for dinner were caught that very day. And now I know what color shrimp eggs are prior to cooking.

Climbing the Santa Ynez

The Santa Ynez Mountains are in Southern California. The mountains begin in the east at the Ventura River canyon and the Santa Ynez River flows just north of the mountains. In the Santa Ynez Valley, sun shines on the vineyards, at this time of year, from cloud-free skies. And that is how I came to find myself alone at the peak of the Santa Ynez Mountains this afternoon, looking out at Santa Barbara and the Pacific Ocean to the south, and the vineyards of Santa Barbara County to the north.

I had spent the morning at Carpinteria, running along the beach, and went for a look round Santa Barbara at midday, and I wanted a more expansive view of the countryside, so I climbed and climbed up and over the warm boulders — as Steinbeck says, almost as one wants to climb into the lap of a beloved mother.

On Farmer's Markets, Free Samples, and Almonds

I woke up this morning and ran from Palm Desert to Indian Wells. After that invigorating run through the desert, I drove west, reaching the sea at Carpinteria. Part of my quadracious training program involves vigorous exercise. Another component of the quadracious program is a healthy diet. And that is how I came to be holding organic leeks and carrots beside the sea this afternoon.

The farmer's market at Carpinteria is unique in its proximity to the Pacific Ocean. The market is typical of others in this part of California in that the wares are, to some extent, irresistible. You may have guessed that I refer to the almonds of Fat Uncle Farms, and you are correct. Whether it is the blistered almonds with sea salt and rosemary, or the roasted almonds with honey, coconut, cane syrup, and sea salt, the pleasure I experienced when eating these almonds was ineffable.

Another delight of farmer's markets (and of the New Chitose International Airport) is free samples of the wares. Today I had goat's milk feta, nectarines, and a guava, gratis.

Kebun Raya

I was at Java this week for a visit to a golf course near Bogor and I had a chance to spend a morning at the Bogor Botanical Gardens (or kebun raya in Indonesian). These gardens, which opened nearly 200 years ago, cover 87 hectares and it would require much more time than the brief visit I made to cover the expansive grounds. I saw large Sumatran pines (the only Pinaceae naturally-occurring south of the equator) and broad lawns of close-cropped Axonopus compressus. There are over 15,000 species of tropical plants at the gardens including thousands of orchid varieties. I made a close inspection of the lawns in particular as I wanted to know what species of grass would be found.

 

The large trees at the garden were especially impressive, as was the quiet orchidarium.

May Golf Report

The scorecard this month: four wins, one loss, one draw, one eagle, five birdies. Steve thought he could emulate my play by wearing the same shirt as me during a round at Manila's Army Golf Course. That strategy backfired though, as he was three up with three holes to go only to see me roar back with a string of pars and birdies to salvage a draw. I played at Navy and Army courses in the Philippines, at Bangkok's Navy course, and at the challenging Kurmitola GC in Bangladesh (also on military property), where despite my facility on the greens, poor ball-striking led to a few balls in the water and a round that I can only classify as a defeat, to the course.