Clos La Chance winery

A couple of nights ago I discovered a hidden, private golf course located in Almaden Valley in Northern California – The Boulder Ridge Golf Club. Because it’s a members-only club I felt fortunate to have this special opportunity to take a peek during a two part adventure: A sunset drive in a golf cart so I could shoot some of the photos you see here…and a fabulous dinner.

Although you’re right in the middle of Almaden Valley, you feel like you’re in another world. Since it’s a private club I thought it would be fun to take you on a photo tour so you can get a “behind the scene” view of this stunning course.

One of the first things you’ll notice are the beautiful hills which give you the most amazing views at sunset.

This is driving range where you’ll find stacked balls in the shape of a pyramid. I have no idea who does that but what a job. (You can just barely see them in the photo.)

On the road driving in…

You’ll also find a Pavilion where they hold parties, weddings, events and the view is spectacular. The photo shows the approach to the Pavilion along with my faithful driver, who patiently waited while I snapped a few 😉

Bolder Ridge Pavillion — Boulder Ridge Pavilion

When you arrive at the Pavilion you’ll see this walkway out to where they hold events and weddings. You can see the chairs lined up over on the right. I’m sure there’s not a bad seat in the house.

There are also a number of areas where you can sit and have a drink…I don’t believe helmets are required but I would keep an eye out for a random ball – especially if someone like me is playing.

Photogirltravels.com: Photography by Shelley D Spray This photo was taken outside of the bar / restuarant where there is a cozy patio where you can watch the sunset and sip a glass of wine.

And finally, our fabulous dinner. Filet mignon with a special sauce, risotto (which was amazing), mashed potatoes and veggies. The spinach salad was great too (sorry, no pic). A special thanks to my most excellent tour guide. What a fabulous adventure! 😉

About the Club:

Their website: www.boulderridgegolfclub.com

Also, a special thanks to Sandie Weis, the Director of Food and Beverage and her team for the fabulous service – and of course our bartender Tracie (and Lisa too!)

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The thing I love about living in California (and there are many) is that you can drive a short distance and find yourself in a different world. As most of you know, I live in Los Gatos. I’m two hours from Napa Valley, an hour from the quaint, seaside town of Carmel, and I most recently discovered, 30 minutes from one of the most beautiful golf courses – The CordeValle Championship Golf Resort. If you joined me when we visited the AT&T Pebble Beach PRO-AM you know I have held a golf club before. Granted, the ones I have look like they are made of bronze (they have titanium shafts which I’m sure have been obsolete for years) My driver head is about 1/16 the size of the ones they sell today. And Arnold Schwarzenegger could have weight trained with my bag – apparently it’s that heavy. But even so, someone was brave enough to take me with them to play on the CordeValle Championship Golf Resort last Friday, knowing I had not swung a club in almost 15 years. 😉

I will admit I was a little nervous. I have hit a few scary balls in my time, so the ones who should have been nervous really should have been the other three in this foursome. I mean, how can you hit a ball that shoots out directly in front of you. No, not to your left, out toward the green but directly in front of where you are standing. Or, I’ve even heard of someone who hit a ball and it shot out behind them. Even with these life threatening occurrences, people still grab their clubs and head off to play a round. I’m surprised they don’t make you wear a helmet if you’re playing with someone who has not broken a 100.

As I smacked away at the ball I kept thinking, thank God I’m not driving because I truly had no idea where we were going. I mean, I knew where the green was, but the cart path seemed to wind around in a multitude of directions once you picked your ball off the green. A one point, we let other players through – although I picked up my ball many times to keep the game moving, I’m sure I still did slow things down a bit. But when you have lemons, what do you do? You make lemonade. In our case, we drove this little lemon over to the Clos La Chance Winery, got her a bottle of Pinot (I did share), and headed back over to play the rest of the course.

So you may be wondering, how did I play? Well, with the help of some very good instructions from the “hummer”, I did play 18 holes (sort of) and, I actually parred one!

So I’ll leave you with my sunset photo – We played later in the afternoon so when we got to the last holes we saw a gorgeous sunset… all in all, it was pretty spectacular day… A special thanks to my very brave hummer for taking me along for the ride. 😉