5/1/20
A Change of plan:
Well here I am just 2 months from my goal to retire on 7/1/20 and all hell is breaking loose around the country. The Covid-19 hit us in March and on April 1st 2020 I joined the ranks of the unemployed. I got laid off from work due to a drastic slowdown in business and so I am kind of semi-retired now just a few months earlier than I originally planned. So…my new plan now is to kick off this adventure on June 29th 2020. at the Reserve Vineyards and Golf Club in my home state of Oregon.
Another change is that my first golf partner will be my daughter (Priscilla). She is no senior and not even a junior but she is getting involved in the game and looking to play as much as possible. She will be helping me along the way with some social media stuff and she fully supports this whole idea. It seems appropriate to start off this way and so here we go…
6/29/20
Getting Started
Game number one is done! The first course and first 18-hole game are completed as planned. It was a great day, the course was beautiful, and the weather was great all day. You can click on “Oregon-The Reserve” and check it out.
7/1/20
Oregon is done
Today is the day I was originally planning to be my official retirement date. Even though that has not officially happened yet because I haven’t actually activated retirement benefits, I am having this time off and was able to get this golf the USA plan started a little earlier. Today I played the 9 holes game with 3 seniors at Claremont Golf Club. We had a good day even though it rained on us a little bit. Oregon is now done and the first 27 holes is on the map and I am ready to start planning the next State. The Covid-19 is going to come in to play with this so I will have to see what I can work out for the 1st trip out of my home State.
June 27, 2021
Virginia & Tennessee are done
Wow! I am finally getting out for some travel. The past year has been crazy to say the least with the COVID shut downs. COVID put a big hold on my travel plans and so I couldn’t go anywhere for golf except here in my home state of Oregon. Fortunately, I have been able to get out and golf locally but traveling out of state was just not happening. However, as of April this year I am fully COVID vaccinated and I am finding that the traveling is starting pick up.
I made this trip to Virginia and Tennessee and completed the 27 holes for each of these states and posted it. It all went great except for my game (see the post). The weather was great, the courses were beautiful but challenging, and the people I met and golfed with were fantastic. I will be working on plans for the next trip now and I hope to get 2 more in by the end of this year.
7/4/23
What Happened? It’s been 2 Years since my last trip
Yikes! It has been 2 years since my last posted activity. What happen? Well after 4th of July 2021 I got contacted by a great company that made me a job offer that I could not refuse. It offered work from home, travel and entertain clients by inviting them out for lunch, dinner, and golf outings. Golf outings? That was the part I just could not refuse. I thought I would do it for just one year and then get back to my retirement and golfing plan.
Well, here it is 2 years later and I am still at the job and squeezing in golf when and where ever possible. The job is a sales position and my focus is on the financial industry clients only. This is right up my ally of experience and too much fun to easily give up. It is low stress, and the salary + commissions is a big plus for adding to my retirement and golf budget plans. However, it is time to consider which is more important, having the free time to do more of what I enjoy most or continue working in a comfortable work environment?
7/1/2024
It is official. I retired! I am back on track and excited about making plans for my future trips. I am planning on California, New York, and New Jersey now.
7/24/24
I just completed California. I played the Talega Golf Club in San Clamente CA. The trip to get there was a night mare. Flight got cancelled and changed to a different airport (Burbank) that had no rental cars. My car reservation was at LAX so had to take “Lyft” to LAX. Ugh! The golf game was great (see post) and the return trip was smooth.
9/15/24
I made a trip to New York and stayed for a week (9/7/24 to 9/14/24). I stayed on Staten Island where I was born and raised untill I left when I was 25 years old. I was able to golf Staten Island at Silver Lake and got in LaTourtte golf course as a bonus. I also made it over to New Jersey and golfed Hyatt Hills Golf Complex. It was a great trip with weather being perfect and made some of my best scores ever so far.
1/25/25
I got out of the cold Oregon weather for a few days and completed a 4 day trip to Tucson Arizona. The weather there was sunny and in the low 60’s which was great for golf. I golfed at the Arizona National Golf Club in Tucson and now have Arizona marked on my golf map. This was the first trip for 2025 and made 8 states now completed. It was a great trip as you will see in the Arizona folder.
4/21/25
I have been hearing so much about the Coeur d’ Alene Idaho golf resort that I decided to plan to play it. This is the one with the par 3 floating green that requires a short boat ride out to the green to putt and finish the hole. It is close enough to home in Oregon so I put a plan in place for a 6-day road trip to Coeur d’ Alene Idaho.
I found another course in the area called Coeur d’ Alene Golf Club and reached out to them to set up a t-time on 4/22/25 and played there first. Then I played the “floating green course” on 4/23/25. I took my time on the drive up and back so it all worked out very well. The weather looked questionable with dark clouds when I arrived on the 21st but by next morning and for the rest of the trip all was sunny and good. Both courses were great and I posted my experience for each. Check it out.
8/20/25
Alaska is on my list of courses to play this year and since they have a short golf season, I needed to make sure I could fit it in this summer. I contacted the Midnight Sun Golf Course in Fairbanks Alaska and they were very helpful in accommodating my plan. I was able to schedule this for close to the last week or two of good golf weather. I got a tee time set for 8/14/25 starting at 6 PM and with an expected finish of about 10:30 PM. I made the trip arriving in Fairbanks on 8/11/25 at about 11 PM. When I arrived, the sky was like dusk resembling about a 7 PM summer sky in Oregon. I found another course (Fairbanks Golf Course) and played there first on 8/13/25. It was just a 9-hole course and fun to play. I learned that the Midnight Sun Golf Course is the farthest north 18-hole golf course in the USA and the Fairbanks Alaska Golf Course is the farthest 9-hole golf course in the USA. I played them both so now I can claim that I played the farthest north golf course in the USA. That got me thinking, where is the farthest south golf course in the USA. I researched it and found that it is in Key West Florida. I think now I will make Key West Florida next stop. Stay tuned…..
11/27/25
Happy Thanksgiving to all. I am happy to say that my plan for playing the southernmost golf course in the USA worked out great. Now I can say I played the northernmost golf course in the USA (Fairbanks Alaska) and the southernmost golf course in the USA (Key West Florida). I contacted the Kew West Golf Club and explained my plan. They were happy to help and gave me a T-time for Wednesday, 11/19/2025 at 10:00 AM.
I arrived in Key West Florida on Tuesday, 11/17/25 and was at the course the next morning at 9:00 AM eager to start. I got teamed up with 3 others, but one dropped out after the 3rd hole. The weather was sunny 77 degrees and by noon it felt more like 85-90 with humidity. The course was beautiful and had iguanas, chickens, and turtles all over the place (see pictures in my game folder). Vultures are constantly circling overhead and can be seen anywhere if you just look up. Also, if you look down, you will find little Geico Insurance lizards almost anywhere you look.
This is the only golf course in Key West (except for one on a military base) and so I played it twice. I posted them both, and you will find them in the State folders.
I also visited the southernmost point marker that says, “90 miles to Cuba”. Now I figured I should play the Easternmost golf course next and perhaps the middle most golf course. I will start my research on them and post it
02/26/26
I went to Las Vegas for New Years, and it rained most of the time. When I got back home in Oregon it rained here as well for most of the month. I just had to get out to some place dry and warmer, so I made the next golf trip to Corpus Christi Texas.
I chose Corpus Christi because of its location close to the beach and because I found a golf course there that can be played at night under the lights. I am always looking for something unique and different and so that seemed to fit all of what I was looking for.
I played at the Lazano Golf Center where they have an 18-hole course (The BlueHeron) and a 9-hole course (The Firefly) that can be played at night under the lights. I played the Firefly first on 2/25/26 at night under the lights, and then the 18-hole course the next day on the 26th. The night golf was fun, but it was extremely windy and made it a challenge to play. The wind was warm but strong. Somehow, I finished with a score of 44 and was quite happy with that. The Next day the wind was much calmer, and the 18-hole game was great. I finished with a score of 87 and was extremely happy with that. The warm 89 degrees weather, sun, and even some wind was a much-welcome change. The weather is getting much better here at home now and so there will be a lot more golfing opportunities at home. However, I am starting to make my plans for the next trip that I expect will be in April of May.
Contact me: tluccigolf@gmail.com