Thoughts from 30,000 feet

A little bit of this and that as I make my way out west for the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association annual meeting...

One of the massive bunkers on the Doak 18 at Streamsong.

• First, some good news. We set another personal record here at the Golfdom Daily last month. In March we had our best month ever in terms of visits in a single month. That was very exciting. But that record didn't last long. The very next month we blew our one-month record away by 2,000 hits in April. ...So thanks to the thousands who stopped by the blog to see what we had cooking in April. In case you're curios, this post featuring photos of the crew getting work done at Augusta National led the way and became the most viewed page in the blog's six-year history.
• I heard the sad news of Stan George's passing while I was in Florida last week. Stan was the CGCS at Prairie Dunes CC in Hutchinson, Kan. I had the pleasure of meeting Stan back in 2002 when I did a cover story on the course in anticipation of them hosting the U.S. Women's Open. From that point on Stan was always a trusted colleague and friend in the industry. Not that it does much good, but our condolences here at Golfdom go out to Stan's family and friends.
• I'm on the last leg of six trips in four weeks now, as I head out to the TOCA meeting. I'm excited to be returning to Portland, Ore., where I last visited just a few months ago when I spoke at the NW Golf and Environmental meeting. No alt-rock concerts this time (caught the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion show last time, dragging architect Andy Staples with me) but I am happy to see a recent report on CNN that named Portland the No. 1 beer city in America.
• Last week's trip to Florida ended well, as I wrapped it up with visits to Reunion Resort and CC of Orlando. I spoke at the Calusa/Sun Coast GCSA chapter meeting at Coral Creek Club in Placida. The speech went well, I'd say, but my golf round was beyond lousy... which, as Jackson mentioned here on the blog, was even tougher when you consider that I was playing with a 0, a 3 and a 4. Oof! We're playing in Portland this week... it has to get better, right?
• More updates coming this week from Portland, especially in regards to the TOCA awards ceremony, which takes place Thursday night. Fingers crossed that it goes well for us. Although I can tell you right now that whatever we do this year, 2013 is going to be even better. And if you see misspellings on Thursday night, please excuse me, but remember: it is the No. 1 beer city in the U.S.A...