One of the unique things about this trip is the “hit and run” nature of things. As I was explaining to a staff member of one of the clubs we have played it becomes an interesting dynamic when everything in your life is sort of fire and forget. Sometimes you have a bad round on an incredible course (I see you Forest Dunes and Olde Stonewall); other times it’s that attraction you whiz by on the freeways, not noticing it in time to stop, then – only seconds later – realizing it wouldn’t have made any difference if you had noticed.
There are also things that – no matter how well planned out the trip was – in retrospect you wish you had thought to do before things got started… like, say… grabbing a newspaper in each state. So, this morning our game is to make a short list of things we might have done different or moments we wish we could re-do. Not regrets, just things that, in a normal life we’d look at and say, for whatever reason, I’m going to do that again… trip Mulligans, if you will.
Regarding golf:
Sbj: First one is easy, 13th hole at Fox Hopyard. Fantastic round going not a single double on the card and I fire a triple to push the round into the 80’s (81).
Mj: I wish we had made a list of shots (pictures) Soren wanted – in a very generic sense – for every course (e.g. a fairway shot from the tee on every hole).
Sbj: In retrospect I would have tried to get a few more TPC type courses into the mix. We are playing amazing courses but Cog Hill made me realize (and really appreciate) the value of “straight up golf.”
Mj: I wish that I had tested and insured that I had a foolproof method of taking pictures in the rain while on the course.
Sbj: I’ve yet to use my 64 degree wedge even though there have been ample opportunities to do so. I never practiced with it before I left and haven’t had time to on the trip, that’s something I should have made time for.
Mj: I wish I had purchased a voice recorder to capture everything that came to mind or I was learning about golf on the course as we went.
Non-golf…
Mj: I wish we had very clearly defined all of the “things” we wanted to procure on the trip (e.g. yardage book, towels, flag from each course; newspaper, postcard or similar local souvenir).
Sbj: I would have been cool to stop at a rest area (or whatever) and take a picture of the flag of each state.
Mj: I wish we had established a better diet/fitness regimen for several months before the trip and maintained as much of that as possible during the trip.
Sbj: I wish we had planned the trip around Dunkin Donut locations!!! 😉 On a more serious note, I wish we had done more trip related posts.
Mj: I wish we had completed every possible thing we could have before the trip (e.g. charity write-ups, postcards, lists of local points of interest)
Sbj: Somewhere along the way I lost track of my planned effort to capture a sunrise in each state… this makes me sad.
There are, of course, other things… we both wish we had taken a bit of a different tack on our Kickstarter for example (launching it earlier and making a better video come quickly to mind) or started the planning in earnest sooner; but that’s a quick list. Again, I wouldn’t call any of them regrets and certainly none of them have ruined the trip in any way. However, in hindsight, if we had it to do over again (which, by definition, on a trip like this you don’t) these are some of the things we came up with off the top of our heads which we might have done a little differently.
Sending myself a postcard from every state I visited the last couple of years was a huge thing I am grateful to myself for doing. I quickly jotted down some of my impressions, so I could relive when I returned home. That’s good, because I spent so much time trying to get my companion to the shots he needed, I wasn’t ABSORBING as much as I would have liked. For some reason, I’ve slacked on every trip I’ve made so far this year (they were so rushed, I kept thinking I had time…and then time was gone).
You both have mobile phones. There are multiple voice recording tools for most smartphone platforms. Go ahead and grab one, and take notes for this last few days. And maybe fill in some of the things that pop into memory from previous day’s, as well.
No trip is ever perfect. There will always be “I wish” or “could have done” items, but I am glad to see you’re not considering them regrets. Because what you’re doing is AMAZING and life changing, and will hopefully inspire others to chase bucket list items for themselves.
I’ve crossed off so many bucket list items accidentally over the last few years, I need a new bucket list!! <3