October, 2007 - More about Annika's
Academy
10/07/2007 - Yes, I am home now, but if
you want to see more about this adventure to Annika's Academy,
please watch for it on The Golf Channel and ESPN as they were
filming the big winner and ESPN was on the course taking interviews
with all of us while we were playing with Annika.
10/02/2007 - Here, I am at 7:00 AM having
breakfast at the Clubhouse restaurant. We get to meet Annika
today at 8:00 am. Our golf clubs are on the carts and our
names too. I have been assigned with Dave who is from the
Midwest and sells healing oils (no not snake oil). We drive
down to the academy and walk up the steps and in the door
and who greets us but Annika herself, along with Christian
who is the Assistant Operations Manager and a very competent
golfer in his own right.
She asks us to go into the conference room. Once everyone
is there she starts out with the introduction of herself,
her sister Charlotta and other staff members. We then get
a tour of the facility and are put into two groups, A and
B. I was assigned to group B along with Dave, Bill and Judy.
Group A consisted of Jerry, Sue and the grand prize winner
Kathy. Both Kathy and Jerry were new to golf so they tried
to split the groups into beginners and more advanced players.
Group B was first to go on the range and then Group A to the
fitness guru, Kai. Kai has been with Annika for six years
and is one of the top trainers in his field. After about 1
hour we then switched and Kai had us, Oh! Oh! Even though
he was doing the exercises on a low level they were intense
since they focused on specific muscles. The agony!
After that was lunch served in a bento box. Obsolutely, exquisite
and nuitritious. We all then went out on the course, Tom Watson's
Independence course. We played only nine with Charlotta which
turned out to be the back nine when the LPGA plays their tournament
there. It was great and I was only 2 over after nine. The
course was Bermuda grass both fairways and greens and the
greens were a little slow since it is a Resort after all.
Charlotta gave us hints on our swing if she saw something
was amiss and followed each group for about half of the nine
holes. That's the end of the first day which saw me hitting
more balls than I would in a normal six months of going to
the range.
10/01/2007 - Well, I finally arrived at
the Orlando International Airport (approximately 10 hours
later). I recommend taking a direct flight if you can afford
it and going 1st class. I drove up to the GINN Reunion Resort
about 30 minutes south of the airport and was amazed. Driving
in through this gated and secured community with wetlands,
golf courses, homes and condos was quite an experience. In
the distance I could see this exquisite hotel and clubhouse.
I was told that I was to have an early arrival so the anticipation
of having a nice bed to flop into was overwhelming. As I approached
the front desk, the gentleman in front of me was being told
that there were no early arrivals and that the rooms would
not be ready until after 4:00 PM; I was promptly told the
same thing. That's 1, I thought to myself. So I introduce
myself to the gentleman who had been turned away, his name
was Jerry, from Illinois who also had had a long flight. It
turned out that he too was one of the winners of the Annika
"Share-my-passion" sweepstakes. We decided to have
lunch at the clubhouse since they at least gave us our room
keys so we could buy something since it is a moneyless system.
Finally about 4:30PM our rooms were ready and two tired guys
emerged victorious with room keys in hand and headed for our
rooms. Jerry was on the third floor and I on the fourth.
I opened the door with some trepidation and was total in
awe of this absolutely goregous suite. Marble floors, granite
counter tops in the kitchen, washer/dryer, two bedrooms and
for you guys a 45" LCD Panasonic TV in the main room
and a 32" LCD Panasonic in each of the bedrooms. The
bathrooms were huge and had both a shower and large soaking
tub. In the closest was a satin robe with terry cloth. A veranda
was outside the main room which viewed over the driving range
and practice facility and you could see two of the courses.
In the distance I took my first look at the building I would
come to know as Annika's Academy. I really wanted to get some
sleep, but the staff kept checking in on me every 1/2 hour
to make sure every thing was satisfactory, brought up my luggage
twice and then my wife called, whoops!
The one thing that made this first day of arrival was the
food. They must have some of the best chefs in the United
States working for them because the food was wonderful and
the presentation outstanding which for desert made you not
want to eat it. If you ever eat at the Clubhouse resturant
there, make sure you try the bread pudding covered with raspberry
and carmel, but in my case they had run out of carmel. I did
ask if he had anything else to put on the bread pudding and
he said only chocolate. I said let's try that and a new desert
was born. Out came this large peice of bread pudding with
whipped cream on top with chocolate peices and splashed with
raspberry and chocolate in a large white bowl. It was absolutely
beautiful. If I had had my camera I would have taken a picture
with it. Time for bed. |
