Vist Golf Club and Street Hockey  -  Apr 6th, 2008 11:19pm

Life can be so strange and wonderful.  Laying face up this evening on a street hockey court, so exhausted I could no longer stand this was the thought going through my mind.

I'm not sure why I'm on such an activities kick lately but I must be glutton for punishment because after a brutal day of golfing - yes you heard me BRUTAL - I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to play street hockey with Wilson.  I may have been pushing my luck though because I don't think I've been this wiped out since hiking in college with Palmer and I've got some world class blister brewing too.

Vista Golf Course is located in southwest phoenix on the north side of South Mountain.  I met Brandon, Adam and Nick there around 11:00am.  I've been golfing with these three several times before.  Brandon and Nick are really great golfers but when we first went, Adam was even worse than I was.  Fast forward a few months and apparently Adam has been practicing because he crushed me almost as badly as the course did.  Something I learned today is that not all golf course are created equal - and some of them like this course have 400 yard par 4's and 600 yard par 5's lined on both sides by sand traps, hills, trenches and ponds all designed by a satanist.

I spent so much time in the sand that it felt like a day at the beach, but I'm proud to say my 120 was 8 better than the last trip I made with this group.  Given how tough this course was, its a big improvement but Adam was the story of the day hitting 108.  Also as usual, Nick just edged out Brandon by 1 stroke for the win.  I have no idea how those two are always so close after 18 holes?

Once golf concluded, dehydrated and cooked to the core from all the sun, I headed out to Tempe to see exactly what street hockey was all about.  I had pictures of cones set up in the middle of a residential street and a 4 or 5 people shooting a a cardboard goal but this was a well organized game with 2 goalies, 10 players (1 subbed at a time on each side), metal goals and a dedicated court.  They run all this through http://www.phoenixstreethockey.com and meet about once a week.

I sucked pretty bad but had so much fun.  I even came back with all my teeth which was a huge bonus and something I was actually worrying about as this group wasn't holding back at all.  I think we played 5 games in all - each one to 5 points, switching teams members around for each game.  I probably should have quit at 4 because I bailed pretty badly on the last one and could barely walk by the time it was all over.

Time to crash hard :)