A Few Quick Updates

Golf at Yale, A Visit From Mommom & Babo, and Caddying 45 Holes

It's been a good week. Despite a lot of work, there have been more than enough fun moments to keep me going. We're closing in on two straight weeks of blue skies and warm afternoons here in Hamden, and I can't remember a more glorious stretch of spring weather. I'm fortunate that many of my working hours are spent outside at the golf club, and as I tell the members when they ask how I'm doing that it's impossible to have a bad day when it's so nice outside. Here are details about a few of the best events from the past three days.

Thursday

On Thursday I enjoyed my first full day off (no work at either the golf course or at the restaurant) in quite some time. It was too nice to sit around or even sleep in, and fortunately, I had a golf outing with family friend Bob Ciulla planned at The Course at Yale. Joining us for our 8:30 AM tee time were two of Mr. Ciulla's regular playing partners: Ken Mackenzie, a former pitcher for the New York Mets, and John Godley, a lifetime veteran of the Yale course and author of a book detailing it's history.

The famous "Biarritz" ninth at Yale--the swale in the middle of the green is six feet deep!

I've had the fortune of growing up playing Taconic, the Williams College golf course. In all of the rankings, Taconic always finishes second to Yale for best college courses. Now Taconic is my favorite place to play golf, and I knew that Yale would have to be special to outmatch Williams's golf track. After eighteen holes at Yale Thursday morning, many memorable shots, conversations with Mr. Godley about the history of the course and the philosophy of the design, and two jaw-dropping moments when seeing nine and eighteen for the first time, I understood why Yale tops the charts. Every hole is memorable, strategic, and exacting, and though the views aren't quite as nice as those at Taconic, the individual holes are some of the most beautiful I've ever seen. It's easily the best classic course I've ever played. Plus, sharing the four hours with a few old-timers who didn't hesitate to yell at me for leaving a birdie putt short made the morning pure fun. 

Since I was already close to downtown New Haven, I used my free afternoon to visit two of our favorite food stops: Claire's Corner Copia and Gourmet Heaven. Claire's is an all-vegetarian cafe with incredible baked goods and drinks, and Gourmet Heaven is a market and deli with an endless buffet line of all types of foods. I picked up some sushi and fruit salad for dinner, and enjoyed a fabulous meal after my evening workout. It was a good day off.

Friday

I wasn't finished with spending time with Mr. Ciulla, because on Friday, my grandparents visited from Williamstown to see their friends the Ciullas, and of course, me. I showed them my home at 64 Fernwood Rd and the New Haven Country Club before leading them to the Ciulla's home, which turned out to be only a few miles away. Then the five of us went on a sightseeing drive--up to East Rock Park to look out over the city of New Haven, over to Ridgewood Rd to show off my cousin Leeza and her fiance Ben's newly purchased house, and then to Liuzzi's Specialty Italian Market. My grandfather absolutely loves Italy (hence the name "Babo"), so that was a lot of fun. I'll have to visit Italy at some point, although experiencing it with Babo would be the ultimate adventure. 

Later that evening we all rendezvoused at Park Central Tavern for dinner. I really enjoyed showing my grandparents where I've been working, and we were certainly treated well. It's fun to know the menu so well that I can describe any dish and make suggestions, but I have a hard time picking a favorite entree because they're all so good. Spending an evening at PCT with Mommom and Babo and the Ciullas was a treat, and I'm so glad they came down for a visit.

The Weekend

Today I was awake at 5:30, dressing in my new NHCC gear and rushing through a quick bowl of cereal so that I could be at the club by six. I did see a wonderful sunrise, which was perhaps the only benefit of being up so early. By seven-fifteen, we had forty-five carts staged and arranged by tee time for the Spring Member-Member tournament. The first groups went off at 7:40, but my work was far from over. I was asked to caddy for Mr. Reed and Mr. Colbert and gladly accepted, but I knew I had a long twenty-seven holes ahead of me. The tournament is arranged so that each pair plays five nine-hole matches against the other five pairs in the flight. Three matches Saturday, two Sunday, and then the winners of each flight play in the finals. Though carrying two bags for three matches was a workout, I was helped by the fact that my players were winning. I can be competitive if asked to be, so I read each putt like it was to win the Masters. We closed out our first match on the ninth hole with a clutch par putt, then dominated the second matchup. The first few holes of the last match of the day were a struggle, but we fought back to one-down with one hole to play. Unfortunately, neither could muster a birdie on the ninth and we lost for the first time. I was exhausted but glad we played so well. There's still a lot of golf left to be played, and if tomorrow goes well, we might just be competing for the championship tomorrow afternoon.