BLOG Update- Tuesday, 10/22/13 San Antonio, Texas

Tuesday Morning, October 22th, 6:34 am Woke up at the JW Marriott Hill Country at TPC San Antonio!

Andy Reistetter with Tom Horan on 17th Tee, TPC Las Colinas at Four Seasons Resort & Club Dallas

Andy Reistetter with Tom Horan on 17th Tee, TPC Las Colinas at Four Seasons Resort & Club Dallas

I am definitely in golf and great hotel mode! The round Saturday at Four Seasons Resort & Club Dallas in the TPC Las Colinas Course was a beautiful experience! I played with Tom Horan, the host of Speaking of Golf who is a great guy! We were joined by Steve, a member at Cherry Hills in Denver and his son Joey who is quite a proficient player as he birdied Nos. 5&6 back-to-back! Joey is a sophomore in high school and it was good playing with him though the saying “C’mon, hit it while we are young, did not apply because well he is young! The par-3 17th is a great hole along with No. 18, both framed by the Four Seasons Resort!

Sunrise along I35 heading to San Antonio... just me and Torch, my Infiniti M30 Baby!

Sunrise along I35 heading to San Antonio… just me and Torch, my Infiniti M30 Baby!

Sadly I rose at 3:30 am on Sunday to drive to TPC San Antonio and the JW Marriott Hill Country for the 10 am Bloggers, Breakfast & Birdies media event (Twitter #BBBatTPC)  which was associated with the Champions’ Tour AT&T Championship this week on the AT&T Canyons Course. It was well worth it for two reasons. There is something about seeing the sun rise, especially when you are on a journey. Every day is a new day and the key is to not have any old expectations or think you know exactly what will happen that day. The second reason was that it was a great event! I met so many cool people and learned so much about social media, especially Twitter. My handle there is GolfJourneyRio and use the hashtag #JoueneyToOlympicGolf when you want to communicate with me via Twitter.

_Bruch Fun 3 Plate (640x480)After a scrumptuous breakfast we played the first nine (Masters lingo) of the AT&T Oaks Course. I was tweeting and somewhat distracted but managed a half way decent shot on the par-3 7th and surprisingly won the Closest-to-the-Pin contest! The gift was a signed TPC San Antonio flag by 2010 Valero Open champion  and Masters champions Adam Scott. I am using it for a raffle this week so please donate to The First Tee to get in! This trip is all about raising $100,000 for The First Tee. Please be one of my 1,000 friends that donate $100 or one of 10,000 that donate $10, the amount does not matter, do what you can and we will get there. Please join me on this trip by doing so!

Andy Reistetter with the BBB organizers- Sara Johnstone (social media consultant), Emily Kelly (PGA TOUR), GM Matt Flory and Lauren Harrison (Zimmerman PR).

Andy Reistetter with the BBB organizers- Sara Johnstone (social media consultant), Emily Kelly (PGA TOUR), GM Matt Flory and Lauren Harrison (Zimmerman PR).

Of course after a little time at High Velocity where we ate, drank and watched football I snuck back out on the course to take some beauty shots and played the last five holes. The par-3 16th with the bunker in the middle of the green and the mammoth JW Marriott behind (1,002 rooms) is spectacular! I rejoined the group at the firepit and had a great time personally connecting with the fun people to connect with on Twitter. Bloggers and Golfers, all are we!

The Bloggers in High Velocity at JW Marriott San Antonio with cell phones down at rest for a moment!

The Bloggers in High Velocity at JW Marriott San Antonio with cell phones down at rest for a moment!

Yesterday was a great day today as it feels like I am on a golf trip these days! Four of us, an A-List guy, a golf spy and a well-shirted minister played in the morning. Then in the afternoon I headed out to the AT&T Canyons Course and interviewed ten Champions players during a pro-am. I asked them for their reaction to golf being in the Olympics after an absence of 112 years, what they thought defined the “Olympic Spirit of Golfers” and what they thought of this fellow Andy Reistetter and this “Journey to Olympic Golf.” Some really good material! What a blast! Thanks to my recruited volunteer-turned-videographer Tom May!

Andy Reistetter with Mike Hulbert at the Champions Tour's AT&T Championship at TPC San Antonio.

Andy Reistetter with Mike Hulbert at the Champions Tour’s AT&T Championship at TPC San Antonio.

Here is my first interview with Mike Hulbert gauging professional golfers’ reaction to golf in the Olympics and the “Journey to Olympic Golf.” I played against Mike and Joey Sindelar in one memorable Section IV High School Championship at En-Joie Golf Club, home of the former BC Open and now Champions Tour Dick’s Sporting Goods Open. Memorable in the sense that I did not whiff on the first tee like my teammate and friend Chuck and only got beat by these Elmira/Horseheads boys by a handful of strokes. Okay so it was only a one day tournament!

I forgot that his first win on tour in 1986 was by one stroke over his childhood friend and high school golf rival  Joey Sindelar. Mike was insightful sharing words like “whole different thing, unique and challenging,” but it was his gesture to his heart that spoke to me. Somehow that gesture says it all when it comes to the “Olympic Spirit of Golf.” He had my “yardage” right too, about 13,000 miles to Rio from here!

CLICK here for the video interview with Mike Hulbert.

Today I head to Houston with the intent of interviewing Jack Burke, Jr. at the Champions Golf Club and attending the Opening Ceremony for The Spirit International, an amateur, Olympic-like golfing competition. After that I head into Mexico next Monday, October 28th! Wish me well, I need it! Good living and golfing until the next blog update!

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