Golfboarding in Yucca Valley

8 January

Another chilly night - woke up to 35 degrees.  We realize it is winter, but expected the southwest to be a little warmer than this.

A leisurely start as we wanted it to warm up a bit before golf today.  And we wanted to top off our propane as the RV park had propane making it convenient.  Sprinty only took 3.3 gallons of propane.  The last time we filled with propane was in San Antonio, over a month ago.  We probably used more than 3.3 gallons in a month, but Martin could only get 3.3 gallons in.  Our gauge was only showing about 3/4 full - we got the gauge to go higher last time.

Golf today was at Hawks Landing Golf Course in Yucca Valley, CA.  We were not sure of what to expect as the satellite view showed it to be brown.  A peculiar item on the web site (which quit working in 1 January as they did not renew the domain) was that the price for 18 holes was the same as for 6 holes.  As we learned later, it was a 12 hole course - to play 18 holes, you played the first six holes a second time.

When we arrived, we saw a Phoenix Cruiser RV in the golf course parking lot, a cousin to Matt & Lori’s Phoenix Cruiser RV, Ole Blue.


As we entered the pro shop, Darrell noticed two golfboards on the charger by the door.  For $15, you could rent one for 18 holes.  Sounded like a lot of fun, so Darrell was all in.  Kris decided golf was enough complexity and decided to ride a traditional golf cart.  To rent the golfboard, they required you to watch their instruction video, which was on their web site.  I tried again to access their web site, only to get the same error message.  The staff decided to let me rent the golfboard anyway - maybe it was the adolescent enthusiasm Darrell was oozing over the prospect.

After about a minute of instruction, Darrell was driven the golfboard out to the parking lot to load up.  


After three holes, Darrell moved the speed selector from “low” to “high”:


While warming up, we found the practice green to be slippery fast.  The surface felt kind of mushy, but the balls rolled very straight and fast.  A 15 foot normal pace putt had the ball traveling 40 feet.


We both hit nice tee shots on the first hole, with Kris hitting a better one.  Darrell nailed his putt for a birdie, taking a two stroke lead.  The guy in front of us let us through on the second hole, a par 3.  Like yesterday, we both parred the hole despite the audience.  For the next few holes, it was back and forth.  Darrell tied it up on the 8th hole with another birdie.  At the “turn”, Darrell was only up by one stroke.  On the back nine, Darrell made 8 pars, including five in a row to finish the day at 78.  Kris’ ball took a couple of detours to go swimming and play at the beach, else she would have been sub-80 as well.

On our way to Desert Hot Springs, CA, we made the necessary stop at Starbucks for Darrell to pay up.  Our destination for the night was the Palm Springs/Joshua Tree KOS in Desert Hot Springs, CA.  We stopped by two RV resorts with executive golf courses to inquire about being able to play some golf tomorrow.  As we expected, golf in the Palm Springs Area is very, very popular.  With over 100 golf courses in the area, we find that there are few choices at rates we prefer paying.  With limited time available, golf tomorrow is looking pretty iffy tonight.

Sunset behind Sprinty's glamping spot at Palm Springs/Joshua Tree KOS in Desert Hot Springs, CA:


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