EWGA Conference

I am in Palm Desert for the Executive Women's Golf Association (EWGA) Conference. In addition to attending the conference, I was a featured speaker Thursday afternoon giving a seminar on "What's In Your Bag? Clubs to Use & Clubs to Lose" - where I talked about how to determine the set composition and which clubs women golfers should be sure to include in their bag. Of course, wearing my PGA of America national promotions hat, I didn't miss a chance to promote our Play Golf America programs, the new Get Golf Ready program and our 2009 calendar of National Promotions.It was lots of fun presenting outside at the practice range with the palm trees blowing in the wind and the snow-capped mountains as the backdrop on all four sides. It was by far the best "classroom" in which I've ever taught!

Tuesday night I had the honor of sitting at the same table for dinner with LPGA Tour Legend Patty Sheehan. What a thrill to sit with her and visit for the evening!

Friday morning I gave a beginner golf clinic for three hours with two fellow golf professionals. We had a great time talking about golf and helping our students put our ideas into action. We finished the day by playing the 18-hole putting course with our students as a way to help explain the rules of golf and other on-course situations.

Friday night I had dinner with my friends Chuck and Sandy Springer, who were the people who introduced me to the Cochella Valley and the Palm Springs area when the golf team first visited them in 2003. It's always fun to visit and catch up with friends and we discovered we'll be at the Masters the same days in April, so I'll look forward to seeing them again.

Today I spent most of the day flying from the West Coast to the East Coast--back to West Palm Beach. The day began with a 6 a.m. flight from Palm Springs to Salt Lake City, a brief layover in Salt Lake before my flight to Atlanta, followed by a three-hour layover in Atlanta before arriving in West Palm at 8:30 p.m. Everyone says the West to East flights are the worst and I got to experience the "all day" trip home. Still it's been a fun week and a great experience for me to attend the EWGA Conference!

~Le Ann

Headed to Palm Desert

I had a fun long weekend in Minnesota. I flew home at 6 a.m. on Saturday morning--which allowed me to be in Minneapolis by 10:30 a.m. I didn't enjoy the 4 a.m. wake-up call, but it was nice to be home before noon. I met Lorie for lunch before enjoying a nice Valentine's dinner with the family. Sunday we went to church and as usual, it was fun visiting with friends I hadn't seen since I was home at Christmas time. Sunday night David and I went to Outback for dinner with Don and Jane Peterson--complete with the post-dinner trip to Barnes & Noble to look at books and magazines while enjoying a Starbucks. Monday I ran some errands and packed for my trip to Palm Desert for the EWGA Conference.

I'm at the Minneapolis airport waiting for my 11 a.m. flight out to Palm Desert. It's one of my favorite places to visit, vacation and golf and certainly brings back good memories of being there three times with my St. Olaf golf teams and spending our last family vacation in the Valley.

~Le Ann

Another golfing weekend

We are finally getting rid of the cold front that stalled over Florida the past week or so...the locals are complaining about temperatures in the 40s and 50s. Saturday we went for our 4 mile walk along the beach, then I went to PGA National to play golf with Stephanie and Randy. We are getting ready for the EWGA Conference in Palm Desert in two weeks so thought we might as well get together on the golf course to talk about our presentations!

After golf I met Pam for dinner at Olive Garden...no signs of a bad economy there as we waited 45 minutes for a table!

Sunday Kathy and I met for breakfast and our beach walk before I headed to Fort Pierce to play golf with friends from the PGA Education department. It was a great day, great weather, many laughs and surprisingly, a few good golf shots as well! We had dinner after golf, so by the time I got home at 8:30, it was another fun-filled and fast weekend!

Another week at work before I head out on the road for a week.

~Le Ann