Dad joker and dad rocker

I joined about 40 other golfers way up Napa valley to play in a vintage club golf tournament at the newest private golf club on the block, Brambles.

Foggy morning start at Brambles Foggy morning start at Brambles

Jacob and I both joined the lottery for this Fried Egg Golf event, and were denied in the first round. I first sent Jacob a text about Brambles back in the summer of 2022 after reading this article on Golf.com. This might have been the start of Jacob joining me in Fried Egg and golf architecture obsession; I remember us both listening to this podcast about the creation of the course.

So even though we both struck out, there were some drops because of overlapping membership (more on that in a bit) and folks backing out. About halfway through our drive out west Jacob and I each got an email from Will Knights (community manager at Fried Egg) offering us spots. Jacob had a trip to India scheduled that was just too close to the event, but I was free and in town by then so I eagerly signed up after some clarifications from Will. I was worried about my handicap being too high for the event, imagining that it would be primarily scratch golfers. He put my fears at ease.

The format of the event was Ryder Cup style with four clubs competing: Fried Egg, Brambles, The Lido, and The Tree Farm. Each of the three “real” golf clubs are essentially national clubs where members are not likely to be residents of the local area. Turns out some of those members are members of their club (maybe more than one), plus Fried Egg, and had signed up representing more than one team. This is at least one factor that created the extra openings.

Evening practice round Evening practice round

Will gathered all the Fried Egg team on WhatsApp, and a few of us coordinated a practice round on Wednesday at Brambles. The afternoon was magical: I met up with Kevin and Jonathan just after 2pm, and we had the bonus of member James joining us for 18. It was almost like having a caddy with us as he guided us through the loop. We dubbed him our “inside man”.

The golf course played fast on the fairways and, while it could never be called a true links course, it is about as close as you can get without being near the sea. The terrain reminded me of Wild Horse in Nebraska.

Hitting into one of the amazing green sites Hitting into one of the amazing green sites

The matches were a blast and Fried Egg took the trophy. I earned 2.5 points for the team (with partners for 2 of the 3 matches) out of a possible 3, but honestly the competition was a bit of a sideshow. The course and the fellowship were what made the event special. I made some new friends and new golfing contacts for my wanderings. Fried Egg did a wonderful job organizing and supporting the event and I’m going to look for more opportunities to join in the future.

Updated:

Recent Posts

Birthday Weekend in Monterey

After arriving in Napa we regrouped for a long weekend in Monterey to celebrate Jacob’s birthday. Sunset evening landscape in Monterey

Revisiting Bandon Dunes

I incorporated a short stopover at Bandon Dunes as we completed our nearly 4 week journey from Keuka Lake to Napa.

Pacific Coast Wanderings

After leaving Olympic National Park we slowly made our way south, exploring the wild and winding Washington coast towards Astoria.

Olympic National Park

After an overnight in the fairgrounds in Port Townshend, we drove across the peninsula to park at the Ozette Triangle trailhead. This would be the start of a...