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Breaking News from Our Man in Vancouver……
By Andrew Horsfield | October 4, 2008
Yesterday was one of those days when you examine your career choice and wonder what you have done to deserve it. I thought about this as I rode the bus to the world-famous Fuzzy Creek golf course. The weather was incredible, the view was spectacular, and it was part of my job to go golfing.
Forty-four lucky golfers met in front of the Sheraton Wall Centre in the morning. Some of the faces were familiar from the last CSAE golf tournament, and the others made a point of introducing themselves. I rode next to Sue Daugulis, the president of Venue West. She acted as a tour guide on the way up as we traveled through the multi-billion dollar construction project that is the Sea to Sky highway. The highway to Whistler is being upgraded in preparation for the Olympics coming to B.C. in 2010.
The Fuzzy Creek golf course is famous. Golfers will want to know that the signature hole is a 217-yard dog leg left with the green surrounded on three sides by the Pacific Ocean. Non-golfers might be interested to know that the course was used in the Happy Gilmore movie. The entire course is very beautiful and very challenging. We were warned that there are bears in the woods so we needed to be very careful when searching for lost balls. And we lost balls. Lots and lots of balls.
It seemed like almost every hole was a blind tee shot over a huge ravine with a raging river at the bottom. The hills were so steep I thought we were going to wear out the brakes on our golf cart. The fairways are best described as narrow paths clinging to the side of the mountains. The greens were tiny afterthoughts nestled amongst huge trees and deep sand traps. By the fifteenth hole everyone in our foursome was wondering if they had enough golf left to finish.
WE LOVED IT.
Luckily, the other golfers in my foursome were great golfers and we came in third place. Though I need to ask the office if I can claim all the lost golf balls as a business expense.
Today the real work at the conference begins. I am looking forward to the seminars as a great learning opportunity. Registration is at 8:00 a.m., so I’d best get going. We’ll keep you posted.
Topics: Virtual Meetings |