The rain has slowed, so we're back out on the courses! I've actually just returned from my second round this week and it is good to be back. I played two fantastic courses, The Golf Club at Newcastle -China Creek http://www.newcastlegolf.com/ and Trophy Lake in Bremerton, Washington http://www.trophylakegolfclub.com/. Newcastle was freezing cold yesterday. It was about 41 degrees but it felt like it was 35. No sun, but fortunately no rain. The hardcore golfers seemed to be out because everyone was playing fast and our round took less than 4 hours. Newcastle has incredible views of Seattle and the eastside. I'm not a huge fan of the course generally though. It is poorly marked and it is so narrow that you walk up to the tee box and you can see a few different flags and it is not obvious which way you are supposed to aim. Also, players are right on top of each other because of the narrow fairways. You have to watch out for players' errant shots. If a player does not hit it in the fairway of their particular hole, it is in the fairway of another hole, or you could hit one of the several houses that line the course. The houses all look exactly alike ...suburbia at its best.  My final gripe with Newcastle is that it is expensive and they don't even have the computer screens on the cart to show you the hole and/or distances. But, the views are fantastic.

Trophy Lake, on the other hand, is sweet. It is an hour drive from Seattle. Beautiful course with several different lakes. If you wanted to, you could also bring a fly rod and fish in the rainbow trout stocked lakes.

During the winter, I took a trip to Hawaii and played a round at Plantation in Kapalua. Also, we went to  Fiji and played a cute little par 3 course on Taveuni Island. 

My first round back I shot a 92 at Trophy Lake, which was formidable, considering I haven't been playing at all. I beat my husband in a skins game in the process. He's got a 4 handicap and we are very competitive so it's great to beat him :-)