A Dawg Lives the Good Life In San Diego

 (This week's contributor is Eric Wilks, who plays for our Old Dawgs squad on Thursday nights. Wilksie is notorious for the purple robe he wears in the locker room after the game- he is quite a character. Last August, he won a round of golf on a beautiful course in San Diego during the silent auction at our Dawg Nation golf tourney, and finally went last week. Here is the story of his trip. If you're a golfer at all, you're going to be jealous...)

When you think of a non-profit, you always think of what they do for their beneficiaries. This is a story about getting back while you give.

At last year’s “Tee it up for Dawg Nation” golf tournament and silent auction (in and of itself, a great day), I saw an offer for a round for three people at, what appeared to be a club in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I’d forgotten my reading glasses-Old Dawg, ya know.  I thought I had a good chance to get a couple people to take a road trip with me and I could help raise some dough for a great cause, so I made a bid.  Unfortunately, I thought at the time, nobody made another bid after I did and I ended up winning it. 

When I went to pay Cindy Richardson for the rounds, someone (now that I look back on it, I believe it was Andy Gerrie) said to me, “You’re going to love it.  That course is one of the best in San Diego.”  I told him that it was in Santa Fe and he corrected me, letting me know that it was for a course called “The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe” just outside of San Diego, CA.  After he spelled it out like that, I had remembered an early 2000s prime time golf event called, “The Battle at the Bridges,” where they matched Phil Mickelson against Tiger Woods with their partners.  I remembered how beautiful the course was and could not believe I was getting the opportunity to play it.

I immediately recruited Chris Courtiol, a member of my foursome that day, to make the trip with me and continued trying to recruit a third.  I never found another person who would commit, but Chris did.  This Dawg, despite having a 3 month old girl (he and his wife Tanya’s first) came through on the promise to go with me.  Chris even went so far as to get a tee time at another course on the Friday before our round at The Bridges, recruited a 3^rd and 4^th for that course and a 3^rd for Saturday, AND he made the effort to rent us a house in La Jolla for the weekend. 

So, on February 23^rd, off to San Diego I headed.  I flew out on my own, but Chris brought Tanya and Abby (the bambino) and another couple (Eric and Gina) came down from San Francisco.  But Chris didn’t just score us a house, he scored us a pimp pad.  It was a huge four-bedroom spread in the La Jolla hills with a swimming pool and hot tub in the back yard.   I was so excited that I giggled when we drove up to the house on Thursday night.

We woke early on Friday, ready to golf at a great course named Maderas, which was a beautiful place, a challenging course and a fun time for all involved.  I could not imagine it could get any better, even after Chris kept saying, “Wait until tomorrow.  It’s going to be unbelievable.”  That would become the understatement of the year.

We went to a steakhouse for dinner that night.  Chris’s friend Dave, who’d played with us at Maderas and lived in San Diego, suggested it.  When we walked in, Chris looked around that nice establishment and then at the tiny, fragile Abby in the little carrier he was carrying.  Then Chris turned to Dave and said, “you’re really putting me on the spot here.”  It didn’t matter, though, Abby was a little angel.  It ended up being a great meal and a great night. 

The next day, we arrived at The Bridges at 9:15.  The first thing we noticed was that the most common cars on the lot were Mercedes and Aston Martins.  There were some Audis, but the poor people owned those.  We were driving a Suburban.  I was concerned that, when we pulled out, the Valet would end up tipping us a $10.  Fortunately, however, the valets treated us as well as they treated everyone, taking our bags, loading up our cart and alerting our host (the man who so kindly donated the golf to the Dawgs Foundation), Dr. Robert Engler. that we had arrived.

They escorted us to the locker room where we changed into our golf shoes.  Just across from our locker was Phil Mickelson’s.  How many times have you had a locker 5 feet from a sports hero?   As we slipped out of our sneakers, Bob walked in and greeted us with the enthusiasm you would not expect from a man with the numerous achievements that one must have to belong to such a club.  He got us set to go and gave us a brief tour on our way to the practice tee.  Arriving there, we unloaded our bags from the carts and started swinging the pain out of our backs from the Maderas round (Chris and the other Eric had played at Torrie Pines on Thursday, as well).  Callaway had a demo day tent set up where you could try out all their newest equipment.  I decided that I did not want to try out the new clubs, figuring it was bad enough that, after that day, all other golf courses would be worthless and why do the same to the clubs I already own?  I was hitting every club really well, so I took as few swings as I possibly could and put my clubs away and watched everyone else swing.

While we were there, one of the club pros was roaming the practice tees.  Bob turned and asked her if she could give him a quick tip.  She spent a few minutes watching him swing and giving advice to get him ready for the day.  When she finished with him, Eric seized the opportunity and turned to asked her, “Can you help me, too?”  I always say, “Even if you are not rich, why not act like you are?”  With that, Eric had a new free pre-swing thought for the round.  When we went back to get in our carts, I realized that the cart was now backed into the space where we’d parked it head in.   It turns out, at The Bridges, they have a guy whose job it is to turn the carts around so you can get out of your spot that much more quickly.  My friends, THAT...is service.  Oh yea, the carts at The Bridges don’t have pleather seats, like every cart you’ve ever been in.  The Bridges’s carts have plush, cloth upholstery.

From the practice tee, we drove over to roll putts on the practice green.  Bob asked one of the starters how the greens were rolling.  Her answer was 12-13 (on the Stimp meter-a measuring device for green speed)  That is fast; kind of like putting on a hilly pool table.   My putting has been disastrous for the last two years, but I usually come up short, so I figured the extra speed would help (it wouldn’t, I three putted like I was getting paid per putt).

On the opening hole, a par 5, we were treated to a tremendous view of a very wide, playable fairway much like we would be seeing all day.   After having been pampered from the time when we first arrived at the club and feeling the 72 something degree sun, I felt as comfortable and relaxed as I have ever been on a golf course.  I stepped up to the tee and uncorked a beauty, right down the left side of the fairway.  I put the next shot right in front of the green, pitched one near the hole and two putted for my first par of the year.  It would be my last on the front nine, but it would not detract from the fun.

We went from hole to hole awestruck by the beauty and challenge of the course, the surrounding landscape and the mansions scattered throughout the hills.  Bob was the consummate host, stopping to show us the most interesting spots on the course, giving us little history lessons on the property and advising us of the best places to aim off the tee. 






Perhaps, the best part was that we were playing with a real doctor, and the three of us quickly felt comfortable calling him “Doc.”   I was calling him Doc so much that I started feeling like Bugs Bunny by the 6^th hole.   The fun would not slow down all day.  I won’t bore you with the details of every hole, but suffice it to say, it was a great course with fun, interesting playing partners.  It’s exactly what makes great golf, great.  Believe me, if we were playing this course with Donald Trump, I’d be singing a different tune.  People are really the lynchpin of a great day of golf.

Chris Courtiol, "Doc" Bob Engler, and Wilksie (left to right)

On the day we were playing the Bridges, there were over 30,000 people at Disneyland, just a couple of hours up the road, in Anaheim.  I’m assuming that, at a minimum, 10,000 of those were children (if not, this country is bulging with far more idiots than I thought).  Let me assure you, there wasn’t one of those kids that had more fun than I did.  I didn’t wait in any lines, I didn’t have anyone tell me what to do and I didn’t see one creepy person dressed as a cartoon character or have to hear “It’s a Small World”.  I didn’t whine or cry for one second, which I’m sure 90% of the kids at Disney can’t say.  

The long story short is that I got to see how the other half lives and I liked it.  But more importantly, I got a chance to hang a little with the other half, and they were cool, kind and treated me with a great deal more respect than I feel I deserve.  The Dawgs did not teach me that life is about people.  I already knew that.  However, being part of the Dawgs, I see how people react when they are offered the opportunity to help.  It has made me feel a great deal better about what is going on in the world today.  It is, after all, a pretty great place.

So, the next time you’re offered the opportunity to make a bid at a Dawgs silent auction, it might just be end up leading to one of the best days of your life.