Monday, Monday, so good to me
Monday morning, it wasn’t all I hoped it would be
Oh, Monday morning, Monday morning couldn’t guarantee
That Monday evening, Torch would be heading South with me

A little personal reality improvisation on The Mamas & The Papas version.

With Google Translator as our interpreter, replacement parts 3 weeks away, decision to have surgery, cut and weld, was made.

Torch, my 1992 Infiniti M30 Baby, who has been in the hospital the last three days, was suppose to be all repaired and ready to go at Noon on Monday. No such luck. Granted two of those three days were weekend days and she made it to the Emergency Room on Friday. The word from Bridgestone was that the frame was bent, there is no more room for adjustment, you can’t get the full assembly for replacement so we will be forced to cut Torch, square her up and weld her true. New forecasted departure from the automobile hospital is on Wednesday at 3:30 pm.

Torch and I had been through a lot together. Even though we had an understanding, I wasn’t yet ready to leave her behind. Here we are moving… I liked the people who asked me if I was moving that day… NO I am a robber taking other people’s stuff to my new home!

Not what I had hoped for but then again what was I hoping for? A safe journey down to Rio and acquisition of more golf and Olympic history and spirit so that they could be combined into the ‘Olympic Spirit of Golf,’ which has been lacking in this world for the last 112 years. Logical thinking would surmise Torch is being repaired and returned to a condition of safety and more time, another two days, in the Olympic City of Mexico City would allow more pursuit of golf and Olympic history and spirit. On second thought this was exactly what I hoped for.

I took a taxi over to the historic and presidential Golf Club of Mexico (Club de Golf Mexico) where I had met with member Mario Ortega on Friday evening. He graciously extended an invitation to come back to meet the president of the club Mario Zertuche Díaz and minimally get a tour of the golf course in daylight conditions.

The Aleman Tree graces the 5th fairway in memory of the club’s founder President Miguel Alemán Valdes.

President Diaz was otherwise detained but a golf cart was arranged for me to have a look see at the golf course. There was a lot to see from the Aleman Tree on the 5th fairway (the Golf Club of Mexico was founded by a sitting president of Mexico in 1949—President Miguel Alemán Valdes) which reminded me (at the time, since struck by lightning and removed) of the Eisenhower Tree on the 17th at Augusta National Golf Club, to the logo picture of two cedar trees and the dormant volcanic mountain Iztaccihuatl, to the simple yet elegant bunkers in the 11th fairway to the difficult 18th complete with a burn and majestic view of the modern clubhouse.

With my new friends at the Golf Club of Mexico—Simon Ramirez, Zavada Samuel Leon Gonzalez, and Rodolfo Cavallari ( L to R).

At the end of the self-tour I can across three interesting men on the terrace overlooking the 18th green. As happens quite frequently on these golf journeys, they were interested in the guy with the notebook taking a lot of pictures and I was interested in capturing their story and somehow relating it to my pursuit of the ‘Olympic Spirit of Golf,’ which is soon to reemerge in Rio de Janeiro. We had a delightful visit and they graciously offered to host me for a round of golf the next day which I quickly accepted. Returning to see President Diaz I learned he was tied up for the rest of the day and hoped to meet him the next day.

I called my friend Ian Gardner and learned that he had arranged for me to meet and interview Federico Valdez, the Executive Director of the Federacion Mexicana de Golf (FMG), an organization similar to the USGA in the United States. The FMG headquarters wasn’t far away so I took a taxi there. It seemed like I was staying in the heart of golf and culture in Mexico City!

With Federico Valdez in front of the logo of the FMG—even an eagle likes to get its claws on golf clubs!

Mr. Valdez, a young guy, was very impressive and knowledgeable not only about golf and golf competitions in Mexico but around the world. FMG is a member of the International Golf Federation (IGF) whose mission it is to promote the development of golf around the world. Specific to the Olympics, they are the governing body that successfully promoted golf as an Olympic Sport with the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision on October 9, 2009 at its meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark to approve golf as an Olympic sport in 2016 and 2020. The IGF will be organizing the golf competitions in Rio, as well as the Youth Olympic Games and the World Team Amateur Competition, all of which are held on an ‘Olympic Cycle,’ every four years.

CLICK here for the Video Interview with Federico Valdez, the Executive Director of the FMG.

Having a fascinating conversation about golf with the Executive Director of FMG Federico Valdez at their headquarters in Mexico City.

Federico is the most knowledgeable person I have met and conversed with when it comes to the selection (not qualification, no trials like swimming) criteria for becoming an Olympic Golfer. Check out his video interview for all the details. He even had a Excel spreadsheet which he shared with me identifying the 60 women and 60 men that had currently at that time, based on their OWGR (Official World Golf Ranking), met the selection criteria to compete in the 2016 Golf Olympics. Surprisingly, because of the limits of how many golfers can be selected by country (maximum 4 if within OWGR Top 15, otherwise maximum 2 per country), for the men the worse OWGR ranking to be selected was No. 350 and for the women it was No. 700. As golf continues to grow around the world with more parity emerging in terms of skill level, perhaps some day there will be sixty countries represented in the Golf Olympics?

Federico gave me a copy of Mexico’s bid proposal for the 2016 WATC which contains fascinating history on golf in Mexico!

Because of the work Federico and the FMG organization does in Mexico providing service to nearly 100,000 golfers that play on over 230 golf courses, Mexico was chosen as the site to host the 2016 World Team Amateur Championship. They will be held in September in Playa Del Carmen on the Greg Norman-designed El Camaleón Golf Course and Nick Price-designed Grand Coral Riviera Maya Golf Course.  The women compete for the Espirito Santo Trophy while the men compete for the Eisenhower Trophy. This is a huge accomplishment and compliment fort Mexican golf!

It was another full day of searching for inspiration in golf and life, searching for what defines the ‘Olympic Spirit of Golf.’ Torch decision to operate (cut and weld) was big and hopefully will be successful, seeing the Clifford Percy-Lawrence Hughes-designed course at the Golf Club of Mexico and meeting Federico Valdez was more than I could ask for on a Monday in Mexico City.

Monday, Monday, so good to me… Monday morning, it was all I hoped and needed it to be…

There are some more stories in the pictures below this request to make a donation to The First Tee…

I am looking for 100 new friends in the next 100 days to make a $100 donation (or any amount that you are able to make) to The First Tee. Each day I will be reliving the original “Journey to Olympic Golf” and hope to find a new friend in golf. Is that you? Please join me in giving back to the game we all love.

CLICK here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Please select ‘Andy Reistetter’s Journey to Olympic Golf’ on the drop-down menu for the question ‘What inspired you to make a gift today? This is for tracking purposes only, Andy does not receive any part of your donation or anything financially from The First Tee organization.

There are interesting incentives for making your donation to the First Tee…

PLEASE click here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Thank You!

To think how excited I was to do a cart tour of the GC of Mexico, imagine how excited I was to be playing it tomorrow!

I recognized the Olympic Village, University and Insurgentes but I was still lost in the Metro Bus station!

Thank you TROML book to Valeria Acosta for helping me navigate my way home Monday night on the Metro Bus!

Played Club Campestre de la Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico’s oldest club, yesterday with some new friends! Received a Spanish lesson too. Here are some pics, have to wait for the video for my new vocabulary. I love Mexico City, may not be leaving! (-:   (Facebook Link, Andy Reistetter, 11/3/16)

Club Campestre de la Ciudad de Mexico (CC of Mexico City)

Having the time of my life touring Mexico City!

JTOG Day 23 was a day of touring Mexico City and discovering the Cultural Olympics of 1968!

Turibus rocks! I had so much fun riding around Mexico City on the roofless upper deck!

The day started by taking the Mexico City Metrobus near the Sur Inn straight down Insurgentes Avenue to the National University by the Olympic Stadium. The red tandem buses have their own permanent lane with walk-on walk-off stations much like an above ground subway/ A great way to get around Mexico City. I was very pleased with choosing my hotel close to the University, golf and on a major thoroughfare!

With Javier and Leticia and their awesome family!

Today was a day of meeting people along the way like the nicest family—the Flores family who were waiting to meet their friend Simba from Zimbabwe. There was a major collegiate soccer match later in the day. I had to cut short my time with them as the Turibus arrived. Alberto Vargus was our tour guide for the day and he was excellent!

Our first stop was in the festive little village called Coyoacan. There was a lot of food and ongoing Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead similar to Halloween) activities and displays. My new friend Alberto gave me a guided tour and encouraged me to try Atole de Guayaba (a hot drink made with guava juice) and Pan de Muerto (baked goods) which of course I did and liked them both. There was a 100 Anos (Year) celebration of the birth of Julio Cortazar one of the founders of the Latin American Boom of poetry and literature in the 1960s and 1970s. Visiting this little village of Coyoacan for a little bit could have easily turned into a whole day affair.

With the ‘Angel of Independence.’

Next up we toured through the Reforma and Centro Historica seeing all the artsy and historical buildings from a birdseye view. I met Beatrice from Switzerland and Paco and his wife Carmen who were locals on a romantic weekend getaway! Going past all the great sights of Mexico City—the Angel of Independence, Constitution Plaza (Zocalo), and the Metropolitan Cathedral along with many more.

The most amazing part of the day was getting off the Turibus at my final stop at the Fountain of Cibeles, who was a Phrygian goddess, a personification of nature, motherhood, fertility, and creation. I saw a film crew and of course ventured over to learn the nature of what was being filmed. There I met the producer and television talk show host Paula De Labra who was filming a piece with musicians Hector Infanzion (jazz) and Rodrigo Macias (classic).

CLICK here for Video Interview with Paulina De Labra explaining the 1968 Cultural Olympics.

With Paulina De Labra, Hector Infanzon, Rodrigo Macias and the film crew.

In another amazing twist of the ‘Journey to Olympic Golf’ I learned Paulina’s uncle was Lenin Molina, the architect of the first Cultural Olympics which were staged in Mexico City in 1968! It’s a small world but really, c’mon I had just learned of the Cultural Olympics for the first time two days ago from Cristobal Lopez Yanez at the National University and now I met someone with intimate knowledge of the 1968 Cultural Olympics.

Even though I had a great time today I was thinking about Torch in the automobile hospital called Bridgestone. It was the first time we were apart for the day during our Journey. I was hopeful she would be repaired and ready to go come Monday morning. I repeated my usual routine tonight in Mexico City with a walk down the Avenue Insurgentes with dinner on the street. In my room at Sur Inn I would review the day and download my videos and pictures from my camera to both my computer and an external hard drive which I kept in separate places in case I lost either piece of luggage.

Dinner on the street, the best place to eat in Mexico City!

I was tired, it was a full, fun and exciting day. I was still networking via email and the computer for here in Mexico and thinking ahead to Guatemela but I needed a good night’s sleep for I would be playing my first round of golf in Mexico tomorrow at Camp de Campestre de Ciudad de Mexico, a.k.a. the CC of Mexico City.

Life is good on the ‘Journey to Olympic Golf!’

There are some more stories in the pictures below this request to make a donation to The First Tee…

I am looking for 100 new friends in the next 100 days to make a $100 donation (or any amount that you are able to make) to The First Tee. Each day I will be reliving the original “Journey to Olympic Golf” and hope to find a new friend in golf. Is that you? Please join me in giving back to the game we all love.

CLICK here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Please select ‘Andy Reistetter’s Journey to Olympic Golf’ on the drop-down menu for the question ‘What inspired you to make a gift today? This is for tracking purposes only, Andy does not receive any part of your donation or anything financially from The First Tee organization.

There are interesting incentives for making your donation to the First Tee…

PLEASE click here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Thank You!

In Coyoacan still celebrating Dia de Muertos!

I liked being on the top of the Turibus!

My awesome Turibus guide Alberto Vargas!

Yes, USA wins Gold at The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship, congratulations team and Coach Paige MacKenzie, nice article Mike Bailey!   (Facebook Link, Andy Reistetter, 11/2/13)

Dinner in Mexico City Thursday night with my new friends!

I arrived in Mexico City on Thursday evening, taking three days since crossing the border in Neuvo Laredo on Tuesday morning.

The border crossing went well with no lines or any issues at the border. In fact I did not even realize I went through it as I was waved ahead without any questions and thought I was headed to the next immigration check point. It did take two hours though as I stopped to register me (personal visa) and Torch (car registration). There was an issue with Torch as she appeared as “unclassified” in their computer system, likely because of her age.

I took a nice tollway to Monterrey deciding not to stop there as it wasn’t that far inside the border. I missed the turn to the tollway to go south towards Mexico City by way of San Luis Potosi. Instead I chose the scenic route down 85 to Ciudad Victoria. It was a beautiful ride with the flat plains turning to rolling hills turning to mountains. I pulled into an Applebees to use the internet and found the Viva Inn which turned out very nice. After traveling 2,763 miles in 17 days in the States I drove  only 327 miles on Day 1 of the International segment of JTOG!

With Mother Sophia and daughter Martha at the quaint Posada Santa Elana.

On Wednesday I again chose the scenic route heading to Tampico on the Gulf Coast and towards Tuxpam to approach Mexico City from the east. I planned ahead to stay at the Posada Santa Elena in Minerals Del Monte near Pachuca, about 100 miles outside of Mexico City. The roads were rough, travel slow and darkness came while I was traveling through the mountains. This was a new low point of the journey, lower than the Oklahoma speeding ticket and wrong way on a highway in the opposite direction for 30 miles. I did end up finding my bed but just barely as I almost gave up and went to Plan B (get another hotel where I was) but persevered through and I am happy I did.

After a good nights rest I woke up to a beautiful sunlit peaceful village with only a 100 miles or so to my hotel in the south part of Mexico City. It was a beautiful drive down from Minerals Del Monte, which the  Garmin had at 9,277 feet above sea level, down through Parchuca into Mexico City. The drive through the city was okay as my Long Island, New York City, Chicago, L.A. driving experience came in handy.

With Visitors Guide Adriana at the National University who gave me a great interview.

As fate and luck would have it I was listening to the Garmin but not looking at the display map and took a wrong exit. Low and behold it took me to the Olympic Stadium at the National University. I stopped to take a few pictures but ended up on a mini-odyssey interviewing a tour guide, a Visitors Center guide, a school newspaper reporter and best of all getting a tour of the Olympic Stadium! It was a festive college campus scene as they were celebrating Dia de Muertos, our Halloween and All Saints Day. I felt like I was back at UB and welcomed a sense of the 1968 Olympics and the young people at the University.

I learned more about the tragedy just before the Olympics were staged here where hundreds of students were killed. Like The Spirit International, whose debut in 2001 was only weeks after September 11th, there is a sense of international tragedy and joy occurring simultaneously. Sort of like a wedding celebration in the midst and aftermath of a tragic death in the family. Both over time need to be given there due and respect and in time both factor into our life that goes forward.

In Olympic Stadium which hosted the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.

So I am safe and sound, yes I am of sound mind, on a “Journey to Olympic Golf.” Only three weeks into it I would say it is going well! Of course, there is golf along with the Olympics here in Mexico City as I am visiting the Golf Club of Mexico later this afternoon and playing the oldest course in the country, the Country Club of Mexico City on Sunday.

More on that low point in the next update. Planning to leave here on Monday and head towards Nicaragua bypassing Belize to minimize the mileage and wear and tear on my beloved Torch. Keep her in your thoughts, we are a team on this journey!

With Bridgestone Store Manager Fernando, happy that we have a solution!

It was good to get settled into Mexico City!

I already felt yesterday with the afternoon seeing the Olympic Stadium at the National University of Mexico City and learning about the 1968 Olympics was a great start to this key stop on the ‘Journey to Olympic Golf.’

But to continue on this odyssey I needed to get Torch fixed. Her back right wheel was tilting even more and I knew it would only get worse if driven any further than I had to. I decided to take her down to the Bridgestone Service Center on Insurgentes Avenue that I saw coming to the Inn Sur last night. After all their tag line is “Your Journey, Our Passion” sort of fit my situation.

With Alberto Corral, our translator, who saved the day! Incidentally he lives in the nearby Olympic Village now converted to condos.

Fernando, the Bridgestone Store Manager, was great.  He was interested in fixing Torch but the only problem was that he didn’t speak English and I did not speak Spanish. He put poor Torch up on the lift and it was obvious that she was in poor shape. Fernando sketched his repair thoughts in my journal and we used Google Translator to converse in a bit more detail. What really saved the day was Alberto Corral walking in the front door. Fluent in English and Spanish, little did this Bridgestone customer know that he would be a translator too! It looked like Fernando could make the necessary adjustments and have Torch ready to go by 10 am on Monday. Not bad for an American car repair that showed up on Friday morning.

Torch’s back right wheel did not look good from any angle, especially from below.

I was sad to leave Torch in the Auto Hospital but that is where she needed to be. We really did take on this Journey together, it was as much about the car making it to Rio as the golf explorations.

CLICK HERE for the Video Interview with Mario Ortega, Member of the Golf Club of Mexico.

Delia, my new friend from The Spirit International in Houston had arranged for me to meet a member of the Club de Golf Mexico, a.k.a. the Golf Club of Mexico. His name was Mario Ortega and he was no ordinary member if there is such a thing. Born into the club, he has been a member his whole life and knows the history of the club intimately. The Golf Club of Mexico was founded by a sitting president of Mexico in 1949—President Miguel Alemán Valdes. Current president, of the club, is Mario Zertuche Díaz and he has led an impressive revitalization and modernization of the club. It is spectacular!

With Mario Ortega. member for life at the Golf Club of Mexico!

The Golf Club of Mexico hosted the Mexican Open, an official event for the PGA Tour Latinoamérica, in 2013 which was won by American Ted Purdy. Two-time Major Champion and future World Golf Hall of Famer Lorena Ochoa moved her LPGA Invitational event here last year with Christina Kim winning the event. As Mario mentions in his video interview Lorena won many amateur events at the Golf Club of Mexico.

Mario was 10 years old and a Boy Scout when the Olympics came to Mexico City in 1968. The Boy Scouts were recruited to act as marshals so he got to see a lot of the athletes and the competitions up close and personable. He is excited about golf coming back to the Olympics in 2016 in Rio. His hope is that Lorena Ochoa comes out of retirement to represent Mexico but if she doesn’t maybe Gabby Lopez, who comes from the Golf Club of Mexico and calls him Uncle Mario, will represent Mexico in the Olympics. She is a junior at the University of Arkansas and finished runner-up in the 2015 NCAA Tournament with an impressive bogey-free 66 final round.

It was exactly 6 pm when I got my first look at the Golf Club of Mexico. Quite impressive!

My first full day in Mexico City was quite exciting getting Torch hopefully the help she needs and visiting the Golf Club of Mexico and learning all about its storied history and more about the 1968 Olympics from someone who was there!

Tomorrow will be an exciting day too!

There are some more stories in the pictures below this request to make a donation to The First Tee…

I am looking for 100 new friends in the next 100 days to make a $100 donation (or any amount that you are able to make) to The First Tee. Each day I will be reliving the original “Journey to Olympic Golf” and hope to find a new friend in golf. Is that you? Please join me in giving back to the game we all love.

CLICK here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Please select ‘Andy Reistetter’s Journey to Olympic Golf’ on the drop-down menu for the question ‘What inspired you to make a gift today? This is for tracking purposes only, Andy does not receive any part of your donation or anything financially from The First Tee organization.

There are interesting incentives for making your donation to the First Tee…

PLEASE click here to make a donation to The First Tee.

Thank You!

Using a golf cart to light the 18th green, these guys take their golf seriously!

A mural of the club founders. President Miguel Alemán is in the brown vest.

Golf Club of Mexico!

Wow. Lara Patangan is a very gifted writer! Funny thing about this story is she interviewed me right after I got that ticket in OK. Trying to be safe, I pulled over near an entrance ramp and stopped to do the interview. Then when I started out my GPS thought I was already on this highway to nowhere I wanted to go so I followed it and lost another hour going 30 miles the wrong way. I thought about Gary Player and how legend has it he would get on the highway and follow the slowest car to develop patience. At first, I did not want to do an illegal U-Turn even with no one around fearing two tickets in one day. But then I just accepted that this “Journey to Olympic Golf” will lead me where I need to be led and it is really doing that! I hope you are having fun in life and make that First Tee donation choosing “Journey to Olympic Golf” from the drop down menu for the question “what inspired you to make a gift today?” (-:   (Facebook Link & Pic, Andy Reistetter, 11/1/13)

PV man’s Olympic journey charts a route from St. Louis to Rio