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My First Tee backpack has accompanied me to Mexico, Central & South America, Australia, New Zealand and most recently South Africa… 7-1/2 months of world golf travel!

I am home in the USA… 100 days exactly on the “Journey to Olympic Golf” from the farewell at TPC Sawgrass to waking up this morning here in Orlando… 14 countries… 18,471 total miles traveled… 6.549 with Torch… 157 interviews… 40 golf courses played… 35,149 pictures taken… 1,066 Torch GO PRO road videos (she is the STAR!)… more importantly the game of golf is even more firmly implanted in my mind, heart and soul… the way of golf and the game is so important, especially for young people… I already made my 2014 First Tee donation, please make yours today and really feel what I learned on this epic, historic and unique odyssey- don’t keep life to yourself, share yourself and life with others and so much more will come back your way! Overwhelmed in Orlando, resting up for the 2014 PGA Show next week! Hope to see you there! (-:   (Facebook Link, Andy Reistetter. 1/18/14)

Feherty Live!

That was my Facebook post when I made it back safely to Orlando! I can tell you the trip home was a lot quicker than the trip to Rio! I had four days to recover from the 100-day, 14-country, 18,471-mile “Journey to Olympic Golf.” Since my car was back home in Ponte Vedra Beach I used the I-RIDE shuttles to go to the outlet mall and buy some new clothes. I had traveled pretty light and the clothes I had were pretty worn out and more comfortable travel clothes versus business casual show clothes.

As a warmup to the PGA Show I went to see the Feherty Live production at Universal Studios. Quite entertaining, even more so in person and even more intimate and revealing during the breaks between the camera shots. But is Feherty ever not live and being taped these days?

On the Boots and Bandana Radio Show with John Reger Jr.

The three days of the show at the Orange County Convention Center was amazing! I did a few radio spots on the “Journey to Olympic Golf,” while plugging The First Tee and asking for donations. My goal is to raise $100,000 by the time the Olympics are completed in Rio. Being out of the country with not so good internet connections at times we are off to a slow start but still hopeful of achieving the goal if not by the deadline certainly over time. I enjoyed being on the Boots and Bandana Radio Show with John Reger Jr. and being interviewed by Mitch Laurance among others.

Dinner at Fresco 1 with Merri Daniel, , Joe Stine, Ken May, and Ann & Perry Dye!

It was a whirlwind show and one night I even had dinner with Perry Dye and his lovely wife Ann. We had fun recalling and retelling our meeting for the first time in San Salvador, El Salvador on JTOG Day No. 37. That young pup hasn’t fallen too far from the old oak tree. I like how much respect he has for his father Pete Dye and how he says he is the only one he needs to learn anything from. Quite moving, took me back to my visit with Pete at the Pete Dye Course in French Lick, Indiana and his long view of life and golf!  The story Dye Designs, led by Ann and Pete along with Perry and his brother P.B. is a fascinating story, a lot of which Perry shared in the interview in El Salvador.

With Jewels and Pedro celebrating my return home after an incredible odyssey to Rio and back!

My good buddy Pedro Luis Amengual-Gutierrez, Puerto Rico’s premier independent golf rep, gave me a ride home to Ponte Vedra Beach after the show closed on Friday, a week after I had landed in Orlando from Rio. Of course there was an OG Party going on with Jewels leading the charge and a trip to The Corner and some music at Ragtime. On Saturday it was all about getting the motorcycle out of the condo and heading to the beach to see if she was still there!

Safely home on Saturday, January 18th, 2014!

There you have it the 100th and final day of the “Journey to Olympic Golf.”

Picture memories of the 2014 PGA Show and the return home below these documentary Facebook posts!

Boots Farley, no, I have to thank you, Pepper Peete (formerly with the First Tee of Jacksonville), and John Gryzbek at Brentwood Golf Course & The First Tee of North Florida for the inspiration these past few years… you really connected me to the kids and what The First Tee is all about. That backpack shown here was a key to the “Journey to Olympic Golf” south to Rio… interesting pic taken at the muni gc in Buenos Aires… I think there will be an emerging connection between the First Tee and “the rings”… while the First Tee is not a golf program per say, it does introduce more kids to golf and that in of itself identifies the best talent and potential… Scott Langley is the first First Tee golfer on the PGA TOUR, who will be the first Olympic Golfer? (-:   (Facebook Post 1 Pic, Andy Reistetter. 1/18/14)

Here are 53 picture memories from the 2014 PGA Show:

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Here are 35 picture memories from the trip home from Rio:

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Outside my home in the Gavea neighborhood in Rio. Note the absence of golf clubs which I donated to junior golf before I left.

I woke up on Friday morning, January 17th one last time in Rio de Janeiro as the “Journey to Olympic Golf” was coming to an end. I was in my room I rented through airbnb in the Rue Vice Governador Rubens area on the east end of Gavea near the planetarium. I was staying in an apartment with a mother who spoke no English and a daughter who spoke English and acted as a concierge and tour guide for me during my 10 nights in Rio. I hope I can return there during the Olympics as it was a very convenient location, an easy walk down to Ipanema Beach and an easy bus ride 26 kilometers west to the Olympic Golf Course (OGC). I may even take the expanded and completed Metro Line 4 during the Olympics!

The Rocinha fevela in Gavea on the way to the Olympic Golf Course, maybe my home in 2016 during the Olympics!

It is quite a dramatic ride from where I stayed in Gavea to the Olympic Golf Course. Gavea sits below the National Park of Tijuca and in some places the mountains literally go right down to the South Atlantic Ocean. So much so that there are three tunnel passes through the rock formations on the way to the OGC and the Barra da Tijuca—Zuzu Angel, Pepino and Joa. Coming out of the Tunel Zuzu Angel is Rio’s most populous fevela called Rocinha. I may be staying in Rocinha during the Olympics and would love to capture the humanitarian stories found there. Rocinha, with a population of 70,000 people has its own website!

On my way to Ipanema Beach with Christ The Redeemer in the background.

This final morning I will take the easy and beautiful 20-minute walk down to Ipanema Beach to catch the 2018 Bus to GIG, Rio’s International Airport called Galeao, named after the nearby Galleon Beach. Down the elevator, out the gate, turn left then another left and walk along Rua Mario Ribeiro.  Past the Jockey Club Brasileiro, a racetrack in the shadow of Christ the Redeemer statue set high atop a mountain. Take a right onto Avenue Borges de Medeiros at the Lagoon Shopping Center and walk along the edge of the Lagoon Rodrigo de Freitas in a park like setting with skate parks and walking trails. Any right will then get you down to Ipanema Beach to catch the 2018 Bus which costs about 20 dollars.

Outside the new Metro Line 4 Station that I will likely use to get to the Olympics in August 2016.

I enjoyed the ride along Copacabana Beach and then through Botafogo and Santa Theresa into the heart of Rio de Janeiro. On the way we also stopped at Santos Dumont, a smaller airport. It was a daylight ride with memories of seeing Sugarloaf at sunset with a full moon a few nights earlier.

My 9-hour direct flight to Orlando left Rio at 2:35 pm and arrived in Orlando at 8:35 pm. That was a quick return of 4,352 miles versus the 14,000 plus miles and 99 days it took me to get to Rio! I am happy to be flying round trip out of JFK to GIG for the Olympics in August 2016!

Here is my returning Facebook post and 138 picture memories of that walk to the beach, the sightseeing bus ride to the airport (note all the pre-Olympic construction in January 2014), and my time in the Rio airport:

Catching flight in Rio for Orlando! Reentry to the USA in progress… new phone number… … message me for the new number if u r in Orlando for the PGA Show… Safety for all travelers as Dad use to say… hopefully for this one too! WOW, 98 days and counting down to the last one on the “Journey to Olympic Golf!” (-:   (Facebook Post, Andy Reistetter, 1/17/14)

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Admittedly I really had no idea where we were going when we set out to find the Olympic Golf Course!

So the highlight of the ‘Journey to Olympic Spirit’ was walking the newly designed, yet still a sandbox (no grass), Olympic Golf Course (OGC) located in the Barra da Tijuca. I had an invitation to meet Gil Hanse, the golf course architect there at 3 pm and join a previously scheduled tour with Michigan State University’s Landscape Architecture Professor Warren Rauhe. Sounded great, and the OGC was only 26 kilometers from the apartment I was staying in and basically a straight shot on a major road. Easier said than done and half the fun was getting there.

Even when i looked over the tall fence i wasn’t sure if that was a golf course and if I was in the right place!

Remember I had already ventured out a few days earlier via public transportation with pre-written notes in Portuguese asking to help me find the new Olympic Golf Course. That trip was unsuccessful as I was innocently and helpfully misdirected a bit inland and saw the Itanhanga Golf Club through the windows of the bus. No need to stop as I refocused and tried in vain to find the Olympic Golf Course.

This day would turn out to be just as challenging but ultimately successful! A friend I had met earlier in the week offered to come by and pick me up and take me to the golf course. Sounded simple enough but there were two barriers; one to communication as she spoke mainly Portuguese and very little English, very little and the other to location as it turned out we had the right address but the address wasn’t properly displayed, at least in terms of American GPS or road signs. How could we miss a golf course? But we did for a long time!

I finally found the nondescript gate to the new Olympic Golf Course!

There was a tall fence for what seemed like miles and our GPS placed us about a half mile down the road from 10033 Avenida das Americas in the Barra da Tijuca. Across the street from the Rio Mar Hospital. A white gate with the address on it and graffiti covered walls.

I was a few minutes late and joined the tour as it started.

CLICK here for the article on Gil Hanse’s Olympic Golf Course in Rio de Janeiro.

On the way to the OGC my friend dropped me off to meet up with Beto Chiclete at Gavea Golf & Country Club. Beto started up a First Tee-like golf facility for junior golfers out in Japeri about 90 kilometers inland and up in the mountains. Another place I tried to visit but could not figure out the logistics and them on a whim and with luck was able to play Gavea G&CC. Who is my caddie? Amazingly Beto and I had never met or even communicated with him previously. I had only heard about his remarkable and heartfelt endeavor. I hope to get out to Japeri during my August 2016 visit for Olympic Golf.

Getting Beto’s story on starting a junior golf facility was very interesting and inspirational!

I presented Beto with my golf clubs, bag, and golf shoes, basically everything I had brought golf related except the scorecards I had accumulated on the journey. I wanted to support his efforts to bring the game of golf to the young people of Japeri. I was able to interview Beto a little more with my friend playing translator. He had brought several newspaper clippings too to explain what he was trying to do. Pretty successful!

We also stopped at the Lokau Restaurant on the beach which when I looked on GPS is basically across the street from the OGC on the South Atlantic Ocean beach. My guess is Lokau means Lookout in Portuguese but no such translation per Google. Definitely a restaurant I want to return to during the Olympics. Who knows I might be sleeping on the beach across the street. I am sure their breakfast is as good as their lunch was!

Heading home on the bus to Gavea.

After the three-hour or so tour it was getting late and getting dark. I took the bus home and by the time I arrived it was dark with streetlights on. My what an adventurous day and thanks to my friend one that made the ‘Journey to Olympic Golf’ completely successful! What’s a journey without reaching the final destination? Next time, returning in August 2016, my focus will be connecting with the “Spirit of Olympic Golf” as some of the best golfers in the world, both men and women, compete for Olympic Golf Gold Medals and the right to be called “Olympic Champion” for the next four years!

Here are my picture memories of a fun day getting to the Olympic Golf Course for the first time!

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Yesterday was sightseeing day in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil… high above at Corcovado with Christ the Redeemer and down low at Sugar Loaf… had to jump the gate and was nearly arrested… celebratory dinner at my favorite Rio restaurant Lagoon Gourmet… a place Frosty The Snowman, Jeffrey Rothstein would love… what amazing experience and really has been a nice way to say good bye to a continent I have grown to love since coming aboard on December 9th, what a month in South America on the “Journey to Olympic Golf”…   (Facebook Post 13 Pics, Andy Reistetter, 1/16/14)

This looks out to Ipanema Beach, I would walk from were I stayed on the right past the Jockey Club (racetrack right of lagoon), down past the lagoon to the beach…

Reminded me of parasailing…

With Masrcos, the owner of Lagoon Gourmet, nice guy, great business!

I don’t know, maybe it’s better if we keep our mouths shut!