This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

I have had the privilege of playing more than 200 golf courses during my “career” as I followed what some have called “the little white ball” around several-acre tracts of land.

It’s called golf, but how do I know the number?

Well, a couple years ago, I worked hard to make a list of courses I have played during my life as a follow-up to a challenge laid down by the editor of Links Magazine, George Peper.  He said he had his own records showing he had played 750 courses, which was enabled by his position as a long-time golf magazine editor, not to mention his trips to the “home of golf,” Scotland, where he lived for a couple years hard by the 18^th hole at the Old Course in St. Andrews.

I had no idea my number would exceed 200.  Great memories!

But, in truth, I play most of my golf these days on two courses – Illahe Hills Golf and Country Club in Salem area where I live above the 7^th hole, and The Palms Golf Course in La Quinta which is about five miles from where my wife and I live during the winter in the California desert.

Both Illahe and The Palms are challenging but fair tracks.  That’s how I describe both to friends of mine who have played neither — tough but fair.

Illahe Hills/All of the 18 holes on this 60-year-old track in Salem lay out in front of you as a golfer.  To be sure, there are dogleg holes, but usually the change in direction occurs as you play your second or third shots into a green.

The course is in great shape, even during the winter.  And this is due to the expertise of Illahe’s greens superintendent, Steve Beyer, who came on board about three years ago.  He had the tall task to replace a legend, the former super Bill Swancutt, who had spent more than 30 years in his role at Illahe, watching it, under his leadership, become one of the “must visit” courses in the Pacific Northwest.

The greens at Illahe are known as among the best in the region and, today, Beyer keeps them running fast, even in the winter.

Illahe also re-built all of its bunkers three or four years ago, a project that was due, if only because in the Northwest, it is tough to maintain bunkers beyond about 10 years, given the winter rain.

If I had to choose one course – and only one – to play for the rest of my life, it would be Illahe.

The Palms/This course, now just more than 20 years old, is very different than Illahe.  That may because it lies in the California desert rather than the rainy Northwest.

Like Illahe, however, The Palms lays out in front of you as golfer, with no tricked-up holes.  On occasion at The Palms, it makes sense to twist your tee shot one way or the other given the contours of the holes, but there is not a blind shot to be found.

What I tell my friends who have not played the course is that its main defense is the 18 greens – hitting them, holding them, and putting on them.

When I arrived as a member about four years ago, veteran Palms players told me this about the greens:  “You can try to read them, but the best way to play them is to memorize what putts do.”

The greens are good enough that legend has it that Canadian golfer, Mike Weir, came to The Palms to putt on the greens as a tune-up for the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, which he then proceeded to win for his only “major.”

Several other factors distinguish The Palms:

• There are no tee times.  The pros work you in on the first tee as you arrive at the course.

• You are required to play 18 holes in three hours and 40 minutes, which is unusual for desert courses.

• You can walk the course, if you choose to do so – and that, too, is unusual for desert courses.

Well, let me quit writing about these two courses, at least for now, though it’s fun for me to compare the two – and to remember as many as possible of the other courses I have played.

But, now, it’s time for me to go play golf…again.