Back From Panama

[letmikee]

Panama is the place to play golf, trust me on this one. It’s a little hot and humid, but if you play in the early morning, say 7:30, by the time 10:30 rolls around you’re done and it’s very pleasant. The heat really comes on by 1pm but by then I was in the pool.

The course won’t beat you up nor will you beat the course. It’s about 6600 yards from the White Tee’s. The par 3’s are a little tough, being 170 yards or more each. It’s beautifully laid out with water hazards on about 8 holes. All the equipment is new and the course itself is about 3 years old. The greens roll true as true can be, the one thing that I really liked about it. They’re a little on the slow side because of the rain, so you can shoot for the pin and stick it. I stuck it all right, mostly in the traps.

The fairways are like carpet, the rough being like “shag carpet”. The pro, Douglas Clark is very, very hospitable. He’s from North Carolina and has been living in Panama for 11 years.

They had the senior amateur tour there last year and it was a big hit as they are returning this year for another go at it.

It’s well worth the price. I spent 5 nights at the resort, all inclusive, drank to my hearts content, played 2 days of golf, ate some of the best food I’ve had in a long time and enjoyed the beach all for $1300 including air fare from Costa Rica.

I’ll have pics up tomorrow.

Away from the resort, I visited the Panama Canal, Albrook Mall (the second largest in the world) and a real treat for me was going inside Manuel Noriega’s old beach house which was about 100 yards from the resort. The house wasn’t as large as I would have suspected it to be but you could tell he had a lot of parties. The bar was still there and it was all one giant room. The old General lived well as compared to where he lives now.

Tomorrow I’ll put up some pics of the trip and if you all need more info, let me know. I can book you down here and we can all go play Panama….