It seems like an eternity since the leaves fell last November – but with the warmer temperatures and blooming flowers of late, spring 2009 has finally arrived in the Mid-Atlantic.

There are other signs as well.  The PGA Tour season’s already in full swing, and Tiger Woods is back hoisting winner’s trophies again – the planets appear to be aligning for another interesting and productive season all around.

Here at GolfTheMidAtlantic.com, we spent the off season dreaming about warm weather, experiencing a little bit of it ourselves (on a western Caribbean cruise), and making up for lost time.  For a multitude of reasons, the 2007 and 2008 seasons didn’t turn out the way we’d planned, but we’re happy to say that in 2009, we expect to provide full coverage of the best in Mid-Atlantic golf once again.

Towards that end, we have all new stories on the home page (completed over the winter), and we expect the site will be regularly updated in the coming season.

In addition to our full complement of local coverage, we will also offer our usual travel features, pictorials and product reviews of some of the best equipment in the golf industry.  We also hope to expand our coverage of the local golf scene.

We’d also appreciate your input – are there any subjects you would like to see, or courses or resorts that we haven’t been to in awhile, or aren’t in the archives?  Leave a comment below, or email jrendall@golfthemidatlantic.com, and we’ll see what we can do.

Here’s a link to the archives:  http://www.golfthemidatlantic.com/index.php?view=1&archive=true

We’re also in the process of updating the rate information at the bottom of the archived course and resort reviews – be patient, it will take awhile.

Here’s to a terrific 2009 season – and as always, we welcome suggestions and comments!

Jeff Rendall
Editor

Just got back from a trip to Hawaii (Maui), truly a great place to play golf.

Here are a few thoughts on Hawaii and golf travel these days:

First, traveling with golf clubs certainly isn’t getting any easier.  With airlines charging for extra bags, chances are it’ll cost you at least an additional $25 just to bring your clubs.

Second, make sure you’ve got a durable golf travel bag.  I’ve had good luck with Ogio, both with my older all-in-one ‘bag’ that doubles as a travel container, affectionately known as  ‘The Rig,’ and also their latest product (which will appear in an updated Ogio piece), called ‘Mammoth.’  True to its name, ‘Mammoth’ is huge, and acts as a cover for your regular cart bag – but also includes pockets for shoes, hats, and extra storage.

One note – be careful to keep it at or under 50 pounds – or the airlines will charge you for that, too.

It may be just me, but it seems like travel bags have been taking more than their usual beating from the airlines in recent trips.  The bag covers have come through with obvious signs of rough treatment – be wary.

Golf travel isn’t cheap – and with resorts often offering ‘discounted’ golf with different promotions (timeshare sales tours come to mind), courses are getting more and more crowded.  Is this a problem?  No.  We weren’t delayed any inordinate amount of time – just plan ahead and make tee times well in advance.

I can remember making trips to Hawaii where you wouldn’t see a soul on these beautiful golf courses – those days are gone.

I would certainly recommend golf in Hawaii as well as any resort destination that I’ve been, as long as you go prepared to pay for it – don’t expect to play in a tropical environment without a hefty ‘scenery tariff’ thrown in.  That being said, the experience alone is worth the money, and the quality of the courses is as good as what you see on TV.

We played the two courses at Kaanapali Golf Resort – Royal and Kai – made famous recently by the Golf Channel’s ‘Big Break’ reality show.  I only saw glimpses of the competition on TV, but these courses are incredibly convenient to the hotels and resorts along Kaanapali Beach in western Maui.  Both courses have recently been renovated and the conditions were excellent.

It was fun to putt on Bermuda greens as well – assessing grain and keeping the setting sun in mind.  I’ve never seen so many slow downhill putts if they happened to be against the grain.

One day we ventured to the southeastern part of Maui to play the island’s ‘best kept secret,’ the North Course at Makena.  Makena has two Robert Trent Jones Jr. designed layouts, but the South Course will be closed until late 2009 – so again, make your tee times well in advance.  Wailea Resort’s three courses are nearby, so there’s still plenty of golf in the area.

Finally, we took on what one visitor commented was the ‘hardest course I’ve ever played,’ The Plantation Course at Kapalua – yes, the one you see every January during the PGA’s inaugural tournament, the Mercedes Championship.

We only played a few of the ‘exhibition’ tees (where the pros play from), which lends a new appreciation to the distances that professionals hit the ball.

The day we played was pretty windy – but according to the staff, it was only a gentle breeze compared to many days out there.  There are certain holes on the Plantation Course that are barely playable for some regular players – take that into account, swallow your ego and move to the forward tees if need be.

I didn’t share the ‘hardest course I’ve ever played’ opinion – but the par five ninth hole, which plays uphill and against the trade winds – would rank up there in the most difficult holes I’ve ever played category.

The Plantation course is very wide in most spots with plenty of room to spray the ball.  The bunkers are challenging but not ridiculous, and the greens are huge – a very fair golf course.

All in all, playing golf in Hawaii was a tremendous experience, and you can easily build your trip around it (with the above precautionary tips) if you choose.

Aloha!

Jeff Rendall

Dear GolfTheMidAtlantic.com Visitor –

For many of you who are (or were) familiar with this site, you’re probably wondering what’s been happening with it. 

I’d like to employ our new blog to help provide the answer(s).  I launched GolfTheMidAtlantic.com in 2002 with the idea of providing comprehensive coverage of golf in the Mid-Atlantic region – and for several years, we took some big strides towards accomplishing that goal.

However, life’s circumstances changed two years ago – changes that impacted my (our) ability to work on the site.  The most striking ‘change’ was the surprise pregnancy and birth of our third child, Matthew (in late December, 2006).  Another departure was a change in my work situation.  GolfTheMidAtlantic.com has always been part of my writing portfolio – but ever since Matthew’s birth, it’s been a smaller part.

Working out of the home office, it was difficult to juggle taking care of my new son, taking on a new major writing client and also maintaining the work on GolfTheMidAtlantic.com.

We also switched over to a new web host, and adding new content became much more time consuming.  I’m not blaming my old partner, but the new situation contributed to the slowdown in work on GolfTheMidAtlantic.com.

I’m pleased to say, my other writing clients have also been providing me with a lot of work – but it’s certainly detracted from my ability to produce regular updates on GolfTheMidAtlantic.com, which includes the newsletter many of you were familiar with.

As a result, the site has not changed a great deal in the past couple seasons.

I’m also pleased to report that the site will be updated more regularly, especially this blog.  Will we be able to produce 40-50 new stories a year as we did in the past?  It’s hard to tell.  All I can promise is we’ll do our best to tell the story of Mid-Atlantic golf as we’ve done since 2002 – present the best of the new courses as well as the classics in this region, along with the latest and greatest in golf products and entertaining features to round out the site.

I’d like to send along my apologies to those who’ve been disappointed by the lack of updates on the site – and thank those who continue to make our click-through numbers impressive!  The archives is full of stories that are just as relevant today as they were when published, though the ‘rates’ numbers probably have changed for the individual courses and resorts.

Here’s to the future.  The life of the site is reader participation, so please share your comments!

Jeff Rendall