Ay, caramba!!  Ok...enough of my very poor Spanish, although I will take some credit for good alliteration in a foreign language for my effort in the title.  Anyway, I made my second trip in three years to the La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, CA as part of a romantic Valentine's getaway.  You understand, of course, romantic is defined as my wife and I spent a day and night away from the children together, but spent most of the time doing our own thing: me golfing, her relaxing at the spa.  Ahhh, romance!!

Anyway, since our last visit, La Costa spent a good deal of money renovating the hotel, spa and, most importantly, its North Course, which is now the Champions Course (I refer to it as both in my review).  The redesign gets positive reviews from me, even though my score would not agree.  The South Course also benefited from some changes, and I think more are supposedly on the way on that easier, but equally enjoyable track.  See pictures here for an example of the change on number 8 on the North / Champions Course (never mind the color differences at that is a very simple phenomenon (the unusually wet SoCal weather in Jan 2011 above versus the horrible 75 degree temperatures and light breeze I had to endure in Feb 2013 below.

This is one of the earliest pictures of me holding a golf club.  My formative golfing years were spent at Saticoy Country Club, which is a great golf course, but I never felt like a snobby golfer or person, especially since there were plenty of those to go around at the course and my father as an oilfield worker was far from one of those.  When my father eventually sold his membership, I started finally playing lots and lots of other golf courses, hence this website.

Now, as GolfTop18 approaches 200 golf courses I have reviewed officially, I think I'm becoming more and more of a golf snob.  Let me be clear, I'm far from snooty when it comes to interactions with most golfers, clothes (i don't specifically buy golf clothes), clubs (i buy them rarely), a golfer's skill or anything like that.  However, a recent round at a less than savory golf course where I actually walked off in the middle, let me to come to the conclusion that I can no longer stomach playing golf courses that are mundane, poorly manicured or otherwise just bad.  I'd rather spend more money or drive farther to find a course that inspires me, and there are many of those.  They say the first step to address a problem is admission, and I'm there.  However, I don't really feel like I want a cure.

In honor of the PGA tour stop at TPC Scottsdale's Stadium course this week, I thought I'd share one of my best and most painful memories of that course.  Pictured below is the short par 5 15th with the island green.  It comes just before the "Loudest Hole in Golf".  I call this the "The Most Painful Hole in Golf".  Now, before you take this as a negative review, let me explain:

My second time playing this course was with a dear friend of mine who is now both a respected pediatrician and rock n' roll cover band singer (I know, the usual combo) in the Scottsdale area.  I have a history of being with him during some of his most miraculous golfing moments.  I was with him at a best ever round (at the time) when we were in our early 20's and I was with him for his first hole in one.  On this occasion, it was I who was doing something amazing, playing even par golf going into this hole.  That is when IT happened.  After pushing my drive right on the hillside, I got aggressive and hit another shot right towards the edge of the rough / tree line.  I then went to help my friend, who was debating whether or not to try to hit a wood over the water to the island green.  I encouraged him to do so and he did, perfectly onto the putting surface.  We then went looking for my ball, which i found in a low area of the desert under a tree.  I went to go retrieve it to take a drop and was then ATTACKED by a swarm of bees.  I must have tread near a hive as a group of about a dozen swarmed me and chased me around the 15th hole.  I ended up taking off my shirt to swat them away and still suffered at least 3 bee stings, one of which was on my neck.  To make matters worse, it was about 100 degrees, so I was now also sweating profusely and dehydrated.  Long story short, I dropped (probably a few yards farther away than legal, but at that point, I didn't much care), hit the ball on the green and escaped with a bogey.  However, I never was able to physically recover fully for the rest of the round and my once vivid dreams of even par slipped to a (still respectable) 75.  But, for the silver lining, after knocking in my putt for 6, I helped my buddy line up his downhill breaking putt and he sunk it for his first ever eagle on a par 5.  Two golfers playing one hole on the extreme opposite of emotional spectrum:  I love it!!