My last two rounds of golf have been all about the social aspect of the game. Last weekend I was invited to play Southview Country Club with Tapemark Charity Pro-Am president Phil Callen, while Monday was guest day at Mendakota Country Club, hosted by my friend and former Northwest Airlines colleague Phil Keeney.

Saturday afternoon at Southview was a perfect day for fall golf – sunny skies, cool temperatures and a very light breeze. I was surprised to find the course so empty – we played 18 holes in about 3 hours. I played the front nine well, shooting 43 with two doubles and four pars. I also hit the purest five-iron I’ve ever hit on the ninth hole. Too bad it flew the green, bounced across the putting green and almost hit the parking lot fence…

The back nine was much tougher for me, but also included a few bad breaks. Phil played well, especially considering he just opened a new play the night before (Bill W. & Dr. Bob at the Illusion Theater in Minneapolis). I ended up with a 92 from the whites (6,121 yards, 71.0/136), while Phil had a 97.

The weather Monday at Mendakota was straight out of the British Isles – winds gusting to 45mph, temps in the low 50s and a spot of rain here and there. There were a lot of cancellations, but I was ready to play in multiple layers of clothing. We were joined by two other former Northwest revenue people – Gary Zehnder (refunds) and Mark Bodurtha (agency sales).

This was the first time I’ve played Mendakota since the changes on the back nine. The par five thirteenth hole had major changes that I really liked (removed trees, new target fairway bunker, green-side updates), as did the par four sixteenth hole (lengthened, green pushed back towards pond). Changes were also made to the par three fourteenth (new back tee) and the par four eighteenth (tees moved). I didn’t take my camera with due to the weather, but I’ll get shots of these changes soon.

My former pro-am partner (and Mendakota head professional) Dale Jones wasn’t in the shop Monday, but the rest of the Mendakota staff was very friendly and the food service before and after our round was superb. Despite the weather (and getting my butt kicked in the two-man scramble), it was really fun visiting and recollecting old NWA days in building B.

Thanks again to Phil and Phil for the invitations.

7MM Southview Photo Gallery | 7MM Mendakota Photo Gallery

This past weekend Colleen and I visited the Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant in Minneapolis for the first time to see Dan Wilson (of Semisonic and Trip Shakespeare fame). Ben Kyle of Romantica was the opener. We parked in the Target ramp and walked down Nicollet Mall until we found the place (it’s right across the street was from where Let It Be Records used to be).

I didn’t really know how seating or tickets worked, but we had a 6PM dinner reservation and they seated us on the main floor about four tables from the small stage located in the middle of the room. Music was scheduled to start at 7:30PM, which is about when our dessert arrived.

The food choices ranged from simple bar menu items like chicken wings and cheeseburgers to a three-course tasting menu. Our waiter asked us when we first arrived if we would be eating or just drinking during the show, so they really seemed to offer a lot of economic choices – a sign of the times, to be sure, but nice to see.

Colleen ordered from the tasting menu, choosing several of the specials:

• Blue Hubbard Squash Soup – maple-cracked pepper croutons, brown butter, sage
• Pekin Duck with Duck Confit – swiss chard, wild rice, blue cheese
• Smokey Dark Chocolate Cake – earl grey, pecan praline, port
• Wine – Szeremley, Kekfrankos, Hungary
• Apple Cider with Apple and butterscotch schnapps and whipped cream

I ordered off of the club menu and had the Steak and Fries – a 10 ounce Sirloin steak poutine “Tall Colin Style,” with tabasco-molasses sauce. The fries had poutine-style cheese curds, but replaced the usual gravy with the tabasco-molasses sauce. It was good, but the tabasco really overpowered the molasses and was very spicy.

Ben Kyle did a nice solo acoustic set, which really worked well in the space because almost everyone was dead silent and paying rapt attention to the stage. There was about a ten minute intermission, then Dan Wilson came out to play with just his acoustic guitar (although he switched to piano for a few songs too).

I don’t have a set list, but he did say they were recording the show for a future album. Some highlights for me included FNT, Baby Doll and All Kinds (each with great audience interaction). Ben joined him back onstage during the encore to play the Gram Parsons song To Love Somebody, which was incredible. Dan also gave a shout out to Neil Young, saying he draws a lot of song-writing inspiration from him. That was followed by a lovely cover of Long May You Run on piano.

The show wrapped up around 11PM and both guys stayed to sign CDs. Dan was selling his new Live at the Pantages 2-CD set that was recorded last winter and attended by Colleen and our youngest daughter. I also got to talk to him about his support of ARC of Minnesota. He performed at their annual gala and his daughter is a recipient of their services. ARC is one of the primary benefitting charities of the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am, which is a 7 Minute Miles client.

The cover charge for the show ($20 per person) was just added to our dinner bill. The service all night was wonderful, with our very knowledgeable waiter magically appearing whenever we needed him. I’m not sure how they assign tables when you make a reservation, but ours was in a perfect spot. My only regret was that I didn’t get down there a few weeks ago to see Suzanne Vega during her three-night stint.

Yesterday I was invited by my long-time friend and Apple employee Paul “Pash” Pashibin to a meeting of the Apple Consultants Network that was hosted by Apple retail. Pash used to support the national sales channel and now is a business manager for the four Minnesota Apple Stores (Mall of America, Rosedale, Ridgedale and Southdale). Managers from all of the stores were on hand to introduce themselves and hear ten-minute presentations from local ACN members.

I went with the intent of doing a “test-drive” of ACN to see if 7 Minute Miles, LLC should apply for membership. In order to become a member, I need to pass at least one Apple certification test, obtain business insurance and pay the membership fee ($60 application fee and $395 annually).

Apple currently offers three primary levels of OS X certification:

• Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) 10.6
• Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC) 10.6
• Apple Certified System Administrator (ACSA) 10.6

There are all new classes, training materials and exams for Snow Leopard and currently only the first test is available (the others should be available next month). I think I can pass the first two tests without taking any classes, but I do need to study before plunking down $150 per exam.

I met a number of talented consultants at the meeting, but I was especially pleased to finally meet Charles Edge in person. Charles is the Director of Technology for 318, Inc., author of multiple books, prolific technology blogger at krypted.com and a prominent speaker. Charles had asked to be my friend on Facebook a while back, but I was pretty sure I hadn’t met him before (although we share a number of friends). He recently moved from Los Angeles to Minnesota and we had a very nice conversation after the meeting.

Here are some of the other ACN members who attended:

• Rashan Moore of Digital Coordination
• Clinton Little of Clintron X
• Brian Reichow of Escape Systems Corporation
• Bruce Greenberg of Northbrain
• Jason Hawke of Core Computer Consulting
• Kevin Kourajian from TechCheck LLC in Sartell
• Joe Skelley of Joe’s Tech Support
• Patrick Rhone of Machine Methods Consulting
• Chris Raymond of MacWorks
• Steve and Terri Zeh Jacobson of TechSource IT (and RSB)
• Tim Nyberg of The Mac Guys +
• Chuck Hauge of CPH Solutions

I was impressed by the Apple Store staff who spoke, as well as the ACN members. If I apply for the program, the local Apple Stores would stock my business cards and sell sheets, which I think would be very beneficial for future growth. I could also use the stores for client demos and other presentations. All of this means more business for Apple, so it seems like a win-win to me…

Yesterday I played in the Spare Key Golf Benefit at Willingers Golf Club in Northfield. Spare Key is a Bloomington-based non-profit organization that “provides assistance to Minnesota homeowners with critically ill or seriously injured children by making a mortgage payment on the family’s behalf, allowing them to spend time with their child.”

The driving range and silent auction for the event opened at 10:30AM, with a shotgun start at 1PM. The club was selling food for lunch before and a buffet dinner was included afterwards (that I had to skip out on). The silent auction has some nice items, including rounds at Hazeltine and Legends Club, a signed Y.E. Yang flag from the PGA and a diamond pendant from Tiffany & Co.

After nine years of working with the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am, I always find it interesting to see how other charity golf events are run. This event was a more traditional, one-day golf scramble with a shotgun start, so it’s not really an apples-to-apples comparison.

I’m not a big fan of scrambles for several reasons: 1) I like to play my own ball, 2) play is always so slow and 3) we never score well when handicaps aren’t used. Our round took a little more than five hours and we played terrible, finishing with a tournament-worst 73 (+1). That included bogeys on six, eight and sixteen and birdies on nine and thirteen. Not all the scores were in when I left, but 58 was leading (-14).

The volunteers were all very nice and the organizers did a great job with the sold out event. I took a peek at the silent auction table before I left and it appeared Spare Key raised a lot amount of money for the cause.

Special thanks to Jeff Miller and his wife Deb for the invitation.

Today was the women’s edition of the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am at Southview Country Club in West St. Paul. The weather forecast didn’t look great, but the rain broke up before it got to the metro area and the sun peeked out for most of the afternoon.

A record 142 golfers teed off for the 1PM shotgun start, which was proceeded by a nice buffet lunch prepared by the excellent Southview staff. Following the round, golfers gathered in the St. Andrews room for dinner and the awards ceremony. Here are the winners of the various flights:

• Championship: White-Beutel, 73
• First: Bixby-Shivers, 80
• Second: Hynan-Jeannette, 86 (tie breaker)
• Third: Begich-Swenson, 86
• Fourth: Hauff-Scheffler, 91
• Fun: Britton-Megan, 83

7MM 2009 Women’s Tapemark Photo Gallery

Golf is such a fickle game – after struggling to break 100 a few weeks ago, I visit Highland National in St. Paul last week and shoot a lifetime best score for 18 holes.

Granted, the 6,204-yard white tees, with their 70.3 rating and 128 slope, isn’t quite the same as playing from the tips at Hazeltine. The new design does have a fair amount of water, though, and you still need to hit the shots.

My favorite hole this time was the 405 yard, par four seventh hole. I pushed a drive to the left, with a large tree blocking my approach shot to the green. I hit a nice iron shot, but it clipped the top of the tree and dropped straight down. Still about 100 yards out with some branches in the way, I hit a low 7-iron shot that landed short of the green, then rolled up and in the cup for a birdie three.

Even with a three-putt on the par three fourth hole and a double on the par five twelfth, I shot a 40-41-81 (+9) to beat my previous best by one stroke (82s at Crystal Lake in 2000 and Hidden Greens in 2008).

The weather was perfect, with fog rising from the ponds during our early morning start. It looked like the greens had a deep tine process done recently, which didn’t effect putting nearly as much as normal aeration with top-dressing. The grounds crew was applying a lot of chemicals on each green in front us all morning, though.

The clubhouse had a power outage the previous night, so we weren’t able to pay until after the round. The weekday walking rate is $30 now, which we decided is just about right.

7MM Highland National Photo Gallery