I have three passions in my life -my wife, my work and my golfing game. Yes, in that order, though I get a little crazy when it comes to my favorite game. How crazy? Let me tell you how I spent my Saturday.

Don Schwenneker alluded to it a little bit Friday when he asked before the weather forecast how I was planning on spending my weekend. I said I would be playing golf. Then he asked me, knowing the answer, how many holes I would be playing. I told him, with a smile, 36 holes. Now for those of you who don' play golf, you might say that sounds a like a bit much but for those who do play, 36 is not an impossible feat. The pros do it all the time.


But Saturday, I did something a little bit different. 18 holes in the morning at one golf course in one county and 18 holes at a different course in another county. To join me on this day-long golfing journey, I asked two of my friends to join me. Joe Seaman and Scott Schutt having been golfing pals of mine for years. Together, we teed off at 7:45am at Lone Pine Golf Course in Washington. Fueled by an excitement about the day, we tackled the rolling hills and lengthy fairways. Scott shot a 3-over-par on the first nine. Then, I jinxed him by talking about the course record and he faltered to finish with around of 87. Joe bounced back to shoot 39 on the final nine holes. Here’s how we finished at Lone Pine

Scott 87 +15
Joe 86 +14
Andrew 100 +28




You can see we all had smiles on our faces - despite our scores - as we left Lone Pine at 11:30 bound for our next 18. A trip that would take us to Fayette County -- to Nemacolin Woodlands -- to Mystic Rock Golf Course. The same course that will host the 84 Lumber Classic for the final time. Joe and Scott were very excited about the round because it's rare we ever get the chance to play such a luxurious and well designed course. Just look at the photos below at the scenery surrounding the course.



We teed off just before 2pm and we were also fortunate to have a caddie. Jordan is a student at Pitt-Greensburg and he would help us fin dour way around the track, giving us directions and locating our sometimes errant drives. We teed off on hole 13 in an afternoon shotgun start and found the course a bit more challenging than our morning 18. We also found that while we weren't getting tired physically, mentally the round was beginning to take its toll.

When we play, we often have fun and tease each other. For instance, when Scott blew his drive on hole 6 some 50 yards past Joe, he turned to Joe and asked him the following:

"Did you hear about the mall they are building out here?"
"What mall?"
"The one between your ball and mine."

There are plenty of other jokes as well as references from the golf film "Tin Cup" featuring Kevin Costner. It's those verbal jabs that make it more than just a round of golf but also a day with the guys.

We had finally reached the 35th hole of the day - one hole away from finishing up and on the 507-yard par 5, I had made two of my best shots of the day and was less than fifty yards from the green with a real chance at birdie when I got excited and rushed my shot and promptly shanked it into the water. What was I thinking? Only when the round was over would I realize how costly my shot had been.

Scott 96 +24
Joe 99 +27
Andrew 101 +29



OK, I missed breaking 100 for the second time in 12 hours, but I was the most consistent of my group on the day. Still, I had a day to remember: playing both my home course and the fabled Mystic Rock course on the same day. While co-anchoring the morning news is what I do, golf is really who I am. It's a passion and a pleasure and while I love what I do, there is nothing better for me than a day on the golf course. Perfect weather, perfect conditions, perfect playing partners and that adds up to one perfect day.