Golf and Polo

This morning, we played the nine hole Penmar golf course on the border of Venice and Santa Monica.  It's not bad for a nine hole course; there are lots of nice tall trees throughout the course for plenty of pleasant greenery and the greens and fairways are in decent, though not great shape.  It's the perfect course for me; I get tired after nine holes anyway and the course isn't too challenging; I didn't lose any golf balls, which is always a good sign.  There's a mix of par 3s and par 4s, and maybe one par 5.  I did pretty well for me; very few awful shots and lots of decent shots, and most importantly, I was able to keep up with my group.  I wish I had the time to really get good at golf, but somehow there's never enough time.

I also picked up a pair of Polocrosse Pants at Lululemon in Santa Monica.  It's been rather chilly in Santa Monica and I've been wanting more long pants; I've gotten so accustomed to living in my luon, luxtreme and cotton all summer that jeans seem rather uncomfortable.  I find it unflattering on the website photo (like a lot of items; they need to change the model), but I've been wanting a pair of these pants ever since I tried them on in the black denim version a few months ago, and I've been very patiently waiting for them to go on sale.  I had to call four stores before I could find a pair in my size and on sale, which was fortunately located in Santa Monica.  None of the stores had any more of the black denim left (boo! I really wanted my jean leggings / jeggings), but I did snag the only pair of black ones on sale (accidentally, they weren't supposed to be marked down; they were full price at the other stores).  Black is probably more versatile anyway, and more comfortable for yoga / working out.  They are quite popular amongst the staff that works there; I've seen them on many of the staff at several different stores.  I love them; so comfortable with lots of interesting seaming details and pockets.  I have a feeling I will be living in these pants all fall / winter.

Day 3: The US Open

On Saturday, we went to Pebble Beach for the third round of the U.S. Open Championship (thanks Mom and Dad W!).  It was my first visit to a golf tournament and I had a lot of fun.  Pebble Beach is a gorgeous course in the midst of one of my favorite places in the world, the scenic seventeen mile drive.  Most of the holes have stunning views of the ocean, rocky coastline and cypress trees.  Unfortunately, for obvious reasons, they do not allow cameras or cell phones so I have no pictures of the event to share.  We started out by walking the entire course in order from the first hole and followed several different pairings, including Sergio Garcia, Ricky Barnes, Davis Love III who had a great start to the day.  It was great because we really saw a variety of shots and got to be really close to players; we were literally a feet or two away from Pablo Martin as he shot from the rough.  At the 17th hole, we fortuitously found great seats in the bleachers where we spent the rest of the afternoon so that we could see more pairings.  It was a great spot, we were just a couple rows above the players teeing off on the 17th hole, which is a gorgeous (and challenging) 208 yard par 3 hole that faces the ocean.  It was also the perfect spot because we could see the players putting on hole 3 and teeing off on hole 4, so there was a lot of continuous action.  They also had to walk directly in front of us across the tee for the 17th hole as they were going from hole 3 o hole 4.  We pretty much stayed for an entire round; we watched Tiger Woods tee off on hole 4 right as we arrived and saw him complete the 17th hole (which he birdied).  We caught up with him on the 18th hole, which he also birdied (3 birdies in a row on the last 3 holes ending with a 66, his best day of golf since he's been back).  I was surprised at how hugely excited and supportive the crowd was for Tiger; he probably got the most cheers of the day next to Phil Mickelson (who seems to have lost quite a bit of weight and really is a nice guy, even joking with the crowd before teeing off on the 4th hole).  We also watched Mickelson (who was tied in second place going into Saturday), Vijay Singh (poor guy, he was paired with Tiger and the media circus and huge crowds following Tiger), Jim Furyk, Ernie Els, Ian Poulter, Lucas Glover, Ryo Ishikawa (who had really cool black and white checked pants and the third largest media following behind Tiger and Phil) a ton of other people, and the eventual winner, Graeme McDowell.  It is really a special experience to watch the tournament live; you just get to see so many things that aren't showed on camera, particularly the interaction of the players amongst themselves and their interaction with the crowds.  It was such a fun and beautiful day.

Golf in the South Bay

 It's a little hard to see, but that's all ocean beyond the green

Sunday afternoon, K. and I headed south to Rancho Palos Verdes to play golf at Los Verdes golf course.  We randomly got paired up with one of K's college friends that he hadn't seen since graduation, so it was fun catching up in addition to playing golf.  Los Verdes is located on the cliffs overlooking the ocean and there were some pretty stunning ocean views, particularly on holes 15 and 16.  Pretty impressive for a public golf course, and it was only $30 including a golf cart during twilight, after 3pm.  Unfortunately, it was mostly overcast from June gloom, so the views weren't as striking as they normally would have been.  We were able to play a full 18 holes starting at 3:24pm.  It was a little crowded and we had to wait on a couple of holes, but we didn't mind since we were with good company.  I was actually pretty happy with how I played; I was able to keep up with the guys for the most part  The course is hilly, but not too challenging; I didn't even lose any balls. 

Reminds me a little of Pebble Beach, where we are going next week!

The only bummer was that I lost my drivers license somewhere on the back nine, so I'm currently blogging from the Santa Monica DMV.  Do not believe the wait times on the website; it said only 29 minutes on the website but I've been waiting almost an hour with quite a bit longer to go.  The annoying lady next to me is filling out a stack of greeting cards that play music when opened; good thing I have headphones.

After golf, we dined at I-naba Restaurant, which is conveniently on the way back to the freeway. I thought it was a pretty good dinner deal, for $20, you get a small salad, choice; of sushi an rolls or marinated tuna bowl, assorted tempura and a hot or cold soba or udon.  I got the marinated tuna bowl and cold soba. They are particularly known for their cold soba and it was indeed delicious; thin, toothsome, chewy, without any graininess. Their tempura us also quite well known, It was perfectly deep fried with light and crispy batter.  It was definitely a good finish to a long afternoon of golf.

Los Verdes Golf Course
7000 West Los Verdes Drive
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA  90275
(310) 377-7370

I-naba Restaurant
20920 Hawthorne Blvd.
Torrance, CA  90503
(310) 371-6675

New Bite to Eat

After today's farmer's market, we stopped for lunch at the new Bite Bar and Bakery on Pico in Santa Monica in the old space that Violet used to be in.  I've heard a lot of internet chatter about Bite, particularly about its croissants and reuben sandwich so I decided to check it out.  The space is cheery and bright; a big improvement from the old Violet, with a large bakery bar, blackboard menus and random old kitchen utensils adorning the wall.

They currently serve breakfast and lunch but will be serving a full dinner menu starting at the end of this month.  We started out with Arnold Palmers in mason jars, a cute touch, which was nice and refreshing.

We ordered four sandwiches (photos in the following order): the reuben, the toasted crab sandwich, the pulled pork sandwich and the steak sandwich.

As I mentioned before, I'm a big fan of sandwiches and all the sandwiches were pretty good; my favorite probably was the pulled pork and my least favorite was the steak sandwich.  The pulled pork was fluffy and not too dry nor too overly sauced, and the slaw added nice contrast to the sandwich.  The reuben was also good with nice thick slices of pastrami.  I liked how it wasn't too salty and that there wasn't too much dressing.  I did think the cheese was a little boring though; could have used a sharper, more interesting cheese.  The crab sandwich was also good, although I think it could have used a little acidity; it got a little bland after awhile.  The steak in the steak sandwich, while medium rare, was a little too charred at the edges, which was a bit unpleasant.  Everything tasted good, although at the end it did feel a bit greasy and heavy; probably partially our fault for ordering three heavy meat-centric dishes with very little greens, either in the sandwich or as accompaniments.  Only the crab sandwich came with some greens, a watercress salad.  Prices were a bit high at ~$10+ for each sandwich.  While good, I'm not I had anything that I would go back for, but I may give their breakfast or dinner a shot.  We tried a sample of their lemon bars and espresso bars, both of which were very good; not too sweet, but richly flavored.  We ordered a couple of croissants and scones to go for breakfast. 

After lunch, we hit up Penmar Golf Course in Venice for 9 holes of golf to see how our lessons translated to real life.  Let's put it this way; I managed to lose two of my favorite pink golf balls over an easy and compact 9 hole course (I'm convinced the group in front of us took one and the other got stuck in a tree).  Still much more practice needed...
Bite Bar and Bakery
3221 Pico Blvd
Santa Monica, CA  90405

Golf and Yoga

Who knew that it was such a good combination?  I took a much needed half-hour lesson with James Hwang at the Rancho Park Golf Course this afternoon.  My grip was fine, a couple of areas needed minor adjustment: my stance (shoulders back more) and backswing (more open and not as tight or far back) and finish (just a little bit higher with the club), and I still need to work on relaxing and staying loose through contact with the ball.  I still have a tendency to tighten up as I am about to hit the ball.  He also had a camera and computer set up, which was very useful in analyzing my swings and helping me realize just what needed adjustment and comparing my progress.  I highly recommend James for private lessons: in a half hour, my swing improved dramatically and I hit some really good balls; I just now need to be more consistent in visiting the driving range to continue progressing.  I think I'm going to try and hit up an actual golf course tomorrow to see how I do.  After golf, I decided to test myself and went to a challenging class at Yogahop with Kourtney, always a good way to end an afternoon.  I may have pushed myself a little too hard during class though, I was definitely exhausted after the class and I think I will be feeling some serious aches and pains tomorrow.  Good thing I didn't have much to do tonight but watch the Lakers survive the Celtics (go Lakers!).

Getting back into the swing of things

Good thing those green dividers are there; I managed to hit some balls into them.
I did hit a couple of decent balls beyond the first flag though.

Since it was a beautiful sunny LA day after a chilly couple of days (even turned on the heat overnight two nights in a row), I decided to hit up the Rancho Park's driving range to get back my golf swing. I hadn't used my clubs since the summertime, and as the weather is turning warmer, I figured I would try to get back in the swing of things before hitting the golf course. I think many people had the same idea as me; the driving range was as packed as I ever seen it, I had to settle for the top, iron-only level. It definitely was a touch and go session, I hit some decent balls, and some downright embarrassing ones as well.