Lauren's Explore Golf Blog

exploregolf.ca | facebook.com/exploregolf |@LaurenBcpga

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Best of May so far :)

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Whirlwind!

Wow, I have not posted since Australia.  Oops!

Since leaving Australia, I have flown home to Thunder Bay, then driven to Calgary to go back to my job at the Country Hills Golf Club!

Things have been steady here in Cow-Town; with getting re-acquainted to my responsibilities and being trained on new ones.  I've only been back for three weeks, and I am already 100% back-in-business: it's weird how fast old skills/know-how come back from deep in the memory banks. These are the things I will be working on this spring/summer:

Golf instruction (all types!)

Mixed League and Couples events.

Outside services manager (in charge of scheduling and payroll for starters and shuttle drivers at the club.)

Evening ladies league coordination.

Junior Performance Camp instructor

Social media liaison! (have a look at our new Facebook and Twitter accounts; just search for Country Hill Golf Club or @CountryHillsGC)

June is going to an exciting month at C-Hills! 

More soon,

-Lauren

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To commemorate our awesome adventure aboard the Allure of the Seas, here is our vacation photo book!  Great memories :) 

Click the link above to view.

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Here's a teaser!

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Pro surfers are gnarly.

They also like to hang-ten and rip foam!! Other terms heard during the day:

"She opened an account" = She took a wave

"She cashed in." = She chose a good wave and capitalized

"What an exchange!" = Both surfers took waves in same set/near each other

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to check out the Rip Curl Pro at Bell's Beach near Torquay, Victoria, Australia. This event is held annually, and this year they had such spectacular wave conditions, they were able to complete the entire event with 6 days remaining in their 'window'.  The men's final took place on Good Friday, and the women's final was on Saturday. 

Lisa and I left the house at 5:00 a.m. Saturday, picked up her co-worker Juliana, and we made it to the beach by 7:30. As we arrived, the first heat of the women's quarter-finals (round of 8) had begun. This is how the competition works:

1. Each heat is 30 minutes long, surfers paddle out in pairs and are scored according to his/her best two runs during those 30 mins.

2. If neither surfer catches a wave 10 minutes into the heat, the heat begins again; clock re-set to 30 minutes.

3. If player A catches a wave, player B has 'priority' on the next 'good' wave.  All this is discretionary, and it's not 'cool' to jump ahead in the queue.

The entire contest is dependent on the waves! We saw some beautiful waves during the semis and quarter-finals, and some amazing displays of skill and courage by the competitors. Here are some links to the highlights:

Semi Final 1: http://youtu.be/1kfEZ6LOXy8

Semi Final 2: http://youtu.be/dLv43d2QgTc

Final: http://youtu.be/bOFPvQbUKpY

Daily Wrap w/ wipe outs: http://youtu.be/GLfINH7DNvU

I can't believe how comfortable those girls looked out there, the waves were massive, and they make it look too easy.  

Watching from the beach was fun.  The tide was coming in, so we had to keep moving backwards in the sand.  I got soaked by a wave, typical tourist not paying attention to the sea!  The beach slowly filled up as the morning progressed, there were a ton of little girls running around trying to get autographs.  Considering the average age of the quarter-final surfers was about 20, these are some fierce young athletes, and great role-models.

In Ozzie terms; what a rad day, fully sick.

Will post photos as soon as I'm done editing them!

More soon,

-Lauren xox

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Last night, Annie and Derek took me to my first AFL (Aussie Rules Football) game! They cheer for the Collingwood Magpies, so Annie brought me a jersey to wear.  We were playing the Hawthorne Hawks, and the crowd was huge! There were 78,000 fans, split about half between both teams. The game itself was so exciting.  Lots of tackles and goals, the lead flipped back and forth quite a bit.  The Magpies pulled ahead somewhere late in the 3rd quarter, and it looked like they would hold on, but Hawthorne had a surge with about 15 minutes left in the 4th quarter, and held the lead until the end.  I can totally understand why the AFL is so popular.  It's fun to watch, easy to follow and you get to scream and boo the other team! I will definitely watch a few games on tv while I'm here. 

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On to the next sport!

Here, I continued my journey of sport spectatorship in Australia, as I took-in the Ironman Asia Pacific Championships! For those who need a refresher on what an Ironman race is, it consists of a 3.8 km swim, a 180 km cycle and a 42.2 km run.  Sunday morning, I woke up and caught the first bus to the train station. Turns out the first train wasn't scheduled for 40 minutes, so I sat around and played Tiny Tower and people-watched. (How people can use public transit barefoot, I will never understand...)

I arrived in downtown Frangers (Frankston, or DTF as Aaron called it), and there were people all over the place! This was 9:15 am and it could have been 5:00 pm, with people cheering and music blaring.

As you can see by the photo of the empty bike racks, I was a bit late (the race began at 7:15), but I managed to catch the final swimmers emerging from the icy cold water.

They set a cut-off time for the swimming leg at 2h45m, and there were some who didn't make it to shore on time. I can't even imagine swimming for that long, and there were some 60 and 70 year old women who did it! Inspiring for sure. I got a photo of the leader as he made it to the half-way point of the cycle leg.  Love the helmet, bet he can speed-walk really fast in that one!

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Happy Friday!!! Going lawn bowling with the PGA office today, there's a chance of hail!  I should excel at this new 'winter sport'! Wish me luck.

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This ain't no Mario Kart!

Yesterday, I went to my first F1 race; the Australian Grand Prix!  I had no expectations, except for the volume, and it turned out to be a fantastic time.  My work-mate Annie and I were generously given tickets a certain generous fellow from the PGA!  Annie picked me up and we parked downtown then made our way to Albert Park. 

Upon entering, we grabbed some food and drinks and wandered around doing some sightseeing.  Annie kindly bought me a survivor kit containing bandaids, earplugs, some sort of pain pills and sunscreen!  We crossed a floating pontoon bridge, see below:

There were three airshows: the Roulettes (like the Canadian Snowbirds), a fighter jet (don't know what it's really called) and a huge Quantas plane each did flyovers! Robert and Andrew, these photos are for you guys:

The antique cars were great too!  I prefer them to the new ones ;)

There were huge crowds, but we found a place with the rev-heads between turns 10 and 11! The race was 58 laps, and the fastest lap was 1 minute, 29 seconds.  We watched some of the race on the big screen, so we could figure out who was leading.  The cars go by so fast, it's impossible to see what colour they are! I heard the announcer say that the cars use 2.5 kilos of fuel per lap, and the car the drivers begin the race with handles and feels completely different than in the finishing laps. There weren't any major crashes; just a few fender benders, a stall and one blown tire. I'm glad though, I flinched every time the cars got really close to crashing.

It's really hard to describe the feeling of watching the race, but I'll try: I think it goes by so fast because your brain is constantly having to look and listen, and your heart is pounding from the excitement and the feeling of the deep roar of the the jet engines. I definitely want to go to more races, so long as the world supply of oil is still around...

More later!

-Lauren

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Earplugs mandatory! 2012 Australian Grand Prix, between turns 10 and 11, first lap.

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Weekend of March 10 and 11, 2012

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Sail, Surf, Sore.

This weekend was jammed full of activities! On Saturday, I was welcomed aboard Circe (a proper sea-worthy sailboat named after the Greek temptress), as part of a relay race on Phillip Island.  Phillip Island is home to a Grand Prix racetrack, a koala conservation area, kangaroos, bottlenose dolphins, humpback whales and giant stingrays!  The race is called '3 Humps', and involved 6 teams of sailors and runners competing for the fastest times in 5 legs (3 running legs and 2 sailing legs).  I ran the 5 km leg, and then spent the rest of the day lazing on the boat and taking photos! Our boat had the second fastest sailing time!  We won't mention the running time. :)  The best moment of sailing was when they attached the colourful spinnaker (kite) to the front and we picked up speed with a tailwind!  There were a few moments where I thought we were going to tip sideways, but the skipper assured me we wouldn't.  This is one of the other boats, you can see one of the people holding on for dear life!

We sailed from Newhaven to Rhyll and back.  After sailing there was a bbq and awards ceremony, then we packed up and drove to the Penguin Parade! I've been waiting to see these little guys since Auntie Sharon told me she had loved them! It was a warm evening, and the little guys started emerging from the ocean at around 8:30.  They waddled right past us and made their way back to their little wooden homes! I couldn't take any photos, but trust me, they were all very cute, especially when the babies were crying out for their parents from the nests.

On Sunday morning, we slept in a little bit, then packed up the car and went for a bit of an island tour before high tide.  I should mention the amazing couple that I stayed with this weekend, thank you so much Shaz and Danny for your warm hospitality! We went to an observation area on the tip of the island, and I got some great shots of the huge waves hitting the rocks.  There are great white shark and seals out in that area!  I was anxious to get out into the water, and we ended up surfing at YCW beach.  The waves were pretty big, and I think I improved a bit.  I think if I go one more time, I will be able to get up and actually ride a wave. 

So, I had a leg workout on Saturday and an arm workout on Sunday.  I'm pretty sore this morning!  Sore muscles are a small price to pay for such a great time.  Will post photos next! 

More later,

Lauren

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What am I doing?

By the looks of the photo above, I am either posing as a crossing guard or a garbage man.  The second is closer to the truth!  On Sunday, I participated in Clean Up Australia Day, a national event to help clean up the country.  I managed to scrounge three bags of garbage and recyclables.  Now my street is squeaky clean!

What else have I been up to?  Hitting a lot of golf balls, chipping, putting, pedaling my bike into the wind and running.  Eating, sleeping and laundry too!  

I'm going on an adventure this weekend.  Sharon, from the tournaments division at the PGA, invited me to be on her team for a sailing/running race called the 'Three Humps'.  We will board a sailboat on Saturday morning, and alternate between sailing and running (I'm doing two running portions), until we reach the finish line!  This is pretty much all I know.  I will write a detailed post on Monday, if my legs will allow me to get out of bed. 

Goodnight, oh and KONY 2012. Make him famous!

-Lauren

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For my friends in Australia, here is a set of my winter photos!  They were taken all across Canada including Thunder Bay, British Columbia and the prairies.  Enjoy!

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Surf's Up!

When I was falling asleep last night it still felt like I was in the water lying on my board waiting for a wave.  Bobbing up and down, up and down, really rhythmic and peaceful!  Wish I could have that feeling all the time.

Yesterday, Natalia (nice girl I met, from Toronto, has lived in Aus for 8 years) picked me up and we drove about 40 minutes to Pt. Leo Beach.  We joined a group lesson and got suited up in wetsuits and booties and made the trek to the water.  The instructors were really cool; we mainly had Prue, an older woman who has been surfing for 40 years in Australia and still surfs every day! What a life.

To the water we went, and to my estimation, the waves were about 1 metre tall; way bigger than what I have experienced on Vancouver Island!  There were a few sets where I thought that I was going to be pounded, but I survived and got up on the board a few times.  My longest ride was on my knees, and it was still so much fun!!  I just can't wait to go again.

Here are a few shots from the day, or check out the montage video I made below.

All for now, more later!

-Lauren