Thanks to an invitation from my friend (and Tapemark Pro-Am president) Phil Callen, I had the opportunity to lead the country club lifestyle the past three days at Southview Country Club in West Saint Paul.

We played an 18-hole practice round on Thursday, followed by three 9-hole matches Friday and two more matches today. Phil and I played OK, but we got smoked in our flight. Everyone was very nice, though, and the club did an incredible job with the event. Got a nice new pair of Nike sunglasses out of the deal, too.

Thanks Phil!

I do most of my golf writing at the Golfing in Minnesota website, but this post has nothing to do with Minnesota, so here you go…

Two years ago at the U.S. Open I attended at Winged Foot in New York, I snapped this picture of Padraig Harrington during a practice round. He was very nice to us as he went by and I was so pleased today when he repeated as champion golfer of the year at the Open Championship.

His second shot on the par-five seventeenth hole at Royal Birkdale today may be one of the best pressure shots I’ve ever watched during a major.

Cheers, Padraig!

Play in the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am golf tournament.

Completed June 6-7, 2008.

Last weekend I planned an executive retreat for my company at Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake. This was actually my second choice for venue (none of the Cabins at Deacon’s Lodge were available), but it turned out to be very nice.

I picked up the HSRA LA program director from the airport on Friday morning and took her to Al’s in Dinkytown for breakfast. Afterwards, I dropped her off at The Marsh spa in Minnetonka for a massage.

The actual retreat started with a dinner meeting Friday night at the buffet, which ended up lasting more than three hours. Everyone had their own rooms Friday and Saturday nights and we had a lovely meeting room from 8-5 Saturday and Sunday (the Winuna Room).

We used up all nine hours both days for meetings (with a few delays here and there), but I did manage to get in some fun things too. On Friday, I played a twilight round of golf on the Meadows course with a neighborhood friend. Also played a little video poker both days and lost $45–almost as expensive as the golf.

The family came out and stayed both days, taking advantage of the extra bed and the swimming pool. I didn’t get to see them much, but we did have dinner at the Meadows Grille on Saturday night (it was family BBQ night). Kid one went to a friend’s birthday party sleep-over Saturday night, but they all got to go to Canterbury Park before that to watch the Preakness (and see the live horses too).

In hindsight, I probably could’ve used a massage before this retreat as well. It was a little tense at times and was mentally draining. Our organization is small and has a loose, unstructured culture that is very different from my past corporate experience. That’s not a bad thing, but it does drive me crazy sometimes.

We’ve scheduled a follow-up meeting in California for the end of June. I think the next few months will be a very interesting time for Studio 4. More details coming soon…

Yesterday we drove the twisty Minnesota state highway 1 from the north shore through Ely to Tower and the Fortune Bay Resort on Lake Vermilion. I had a 2pm tee time on the Wilderness course, while the girls spent most of the evening in the swimming pool. We had dinner in the casino cafe, which makes a mean batch of cheese curds.

The hotel is adding 58 rooms and we had an older room right next to the action. We moved rooms today, so hopefully this one will be better. I played another round this morning at 8am, the girls are at the Heritage Center now and we leave for two different Soudan Mine tours in an hour. More video poker action tonight (I’m down $8) and then we head home tomorrow.

This afternoon we left WWDC early and headed out to Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco for a twilight round. The non-resident rates have been increased significantly since the American Express World Championships were held there in 2005, so we elected to wait until 5pm when the cheaper rates kicked in. We ate at the new clubhouse before the round, where I ordered fish and chips that were hot and fresh.

I was a little rusty out of the gate, but had a chip-in birdie later in the round and finished with an 89. We played the 18th hole in the dark, but did get the round in by hustling at the end and pushing the slower groups in front of us.

I felt like a superstar after the round–the driver our hotel arranged for us arrived right on time in a shiny black Mercedes. He was very polite (calling me “sir” is just too cool) and had bottles of water for us. Great end to a great afternoon of golf.

Harding Park Photo Gallery

Last Saturday, my daughters and I went to a free golf clinic hosted by Goldy Gopher at the U of M golf course. Free pizza, drinks, posters and one-on-one lessons made for a fun time by all. Pictures of the event have been uploaded to the private section of the photo gallery.