A New Kind of Golf

One of my passions in life has always been golf.  I come from a long line of golfers.  My grandad played and all my uncles played golf.  My dad played and my mom took lessons in the 50's and we became a golfing family.  All my brothers play golf.  Pam learned how to play when we were dating and we love to play golf.

Our kids learned how to play and do so sporadically.  Our son-in-law Jonathan plays golf and mentioned "Top Golf" a while back.  He and some buddies played for the first time near Atlanta.  Top Golf came to Virginia Beach a few months ago and his Anchor Church Men's Group booked an evening for about 25 of us.

I'm not much for gimmicky kind of things.  This is not really golf but it was a LOT of fun!  It basically is a three-tiered driving range

 where folks hit a GPS-enabled golf ball at a number of targets.  The points are immediately tabulated.  In some ways it reminded me of a bowling score card up on the screen.

After the group arrived, we got instructions how to get set up on the computer system/scoring board and learned about the different games we could try.  We all got some practise shots and quickly learned it was not as easy as it looked to hit those big targets!

We quickly divided up into groups of 5-6 people at each mat and the competition began.  For each game we got 20 golf balls and took 5 shots each.  They had men's and women's clubs to use and we just had to hit away!

 While folks were taking their turns, the rest of us hung around and chatted and got a chance to know each other.  That was the main idea of the event anyway--getting a group of guys together to hang out and to make new friends.

 In addition to the golf -- there was plenty of food included in the price.  It also included three hours of play.  Though it seemed a bit pricey at $58, I have spent more money on golf or recreation and it was worth every penny.  Everyone I saw was having a great time.  Both golfers and non-golfers.  We also found out you could rent a space for $25/hr for six people (without food), so that may be in our future.

Like the real sport though, it could be pretty frustrating getting that little white ball to go where you wanted it to go...

Here Bill and I are watching Sheldon take a few swings toward the end of the night.  It was a lot of fun, we met some nice young men, had some good clean fun and enjoyed ourselves.  It was a night to remember in Virginia Beach!

Have you ever tried Top Golf?

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Hitting the Trails Brimstone Recreation Area

If you love to 4-wheel and have never been to Huntsville, TN to check out the Brimstone track - you need to!  It is one fun place to spend the day!  Niece Michelle and husband Jeremy have all the gear and season passes to Brimstone Recreation.  They took their son and and his buddy and me for an outing that was a one great day!

Jeremy got the 4-wheelers and dirt bikes all ready and packed up.  We left a little after 8 and headed to Huntsville.

Of course, along the way, we had to stop for breakfast at Cracker Barrel in Lake City.  Then on to our destination.  We checked in to Brimstone and paid for a day's worth of trail riding for me.  Everyone else had season passes/wrist bands.

I was so impressed with the office/check in station.  These folks are high tech and first class.  They turned a gas station into their office and it was very well organized.  Very classy first impression!

We were greeted by Donika - the senior office manager who runs the place.  She was very helpful and we were all set to go in no time.

I liked the way the place looked and thought they were pretty high tech for an outdoor recreation business.  We checked in on a workstation at the counter.  Donika indicated the iPads should be in soon for that purpose.  If you go to their website:  brimstonerecreation.com you more impressive stuff.  Like the interactive trail map:

And you can find them on FaceBook.https://www.facebook.com/BrimstoneRecreation
They host a yearly bash/concert/competition called 'White Knuckle' that looks interesting.  And if you are looking for a vacation place to spend a few days running the trails and jumps of a great facility in Tennessee - add this to your list...

So if you are looking for another outdoor adventure on your 4 wheeler/ATV/off-road vehicle, you might want to check this out.

After checkin- we headed to our parking area near Trail 3.

Jeremy unloaded and we got our helmets on before Michelle checked out our waterproof map of the trails.  

Then we were off!

We road the easy trails and I had an easy 4 wheeler.  Mine had no clutch to worry about - all I needed to do was steer, watch my speed and figure out which gear to put it in.

Figuring this out was not too tough -- it was all about switching gears and speed.  I was pretty comfortable after about 20 minutes.

We stopped at the motor cross track up on top of the mountain near the power lines and spend time there going around the 'track'.

Then we hit the trail again and went back over to the parking lot to grab some lunch.  But first we had some negotiating to do…

After lunch our chief mechanic topped off the tanks and checked things out for our afternoon ride.

I like the way Jeremy plans things out and carries a first aid kit and set of tools for some contingencies in case some thing comes up.

Then we hit the trail for the afternoon session

We saw some beautiful country and made some wonderful memories.

Can't wait until our next outing...

That's all for now on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Thanks for joining us!