Commentary by Rick Rodriguez
Alligators, rattle snakes, tornado warnings, and the best clubhouse I've ever seen all in a few days in Florida in January? You betcha! No, I'm not kidding....what the heck were we thinking? Surely, bracing ourselves inside a mid-size rental car was not what two neophytes from California had in mind when we scheduled a trip to the PGA merchandise show in Orlando, Florida! But, there we were driving straight into doomsday and without a clue on how to deal with it!
We had just completed our round at Bella Collina golf course, located in the small town of Montevedre, Florida, and a fabulous track with the most amazing clubhouse I've seen (above), when acknowledging an impending storm hovering in our direction, our hosts decided it best, we leave! Scurrying to our vehicles, we headed west toward Groveland and there we ran straight into a tornado. I wasn't too worried until the car started shaking, garbage cans began torpedoing by, and Vince, my buddy and driver, started calling in his final rights to his wife back home! What the heck was this force rattling our car like we were driving a hot wheel? A tornado....no way....were we really going to screw up our existences with a goofy mistake like driving straight into a tornado?
Groveland, UNITED STATES (USA), Wed 26 Jan 2011, 08:15 GMT
MORE THAN A DOZEN HOMES ARE REPORTED DAMAGED IN THE HEART OF FLORIDA - WEST OF ORLANDO.
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAYS A "SUPER CELL" MAY BE TO BLAME.
JUST ABOUT EVERY CORNER OF CENTRAL FLORIDA WAS UNDER EITHER A TORNADO WARNING OR WATCH TUESDAY EVENING.
IN GROVELAND, RESIDENTS ARE REPORTING TREES DOWN AND POWER KNOCKED OUT.
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAYS THAT 12 TO 20 HOMES ARE DAMAGED.
IT'S UNCLEAR IF A TORNADO CAUSED THE DESTRUCTION.
STEVE SMITH says: "There is a house that had a tree that had fallen in the back of the house, the homeowner is still there, they don't wanna leave, they have dogs in the house."
STEVE SMITH says: "But I've heard we had we've had approximately five homes that were damaged over there, and I think I've heard reports of two to three that are uninhabitable."
RONNIE SMITH says: "You gotta messed up Ford truck, that was in good condition. Now, it's worth nothing, probably. (Reporter: "Crushed.") Yeah, the cab's crushed in."
LOCAL RED CROSS OFFICIALS ARE IN PLACE TO HANDLE ANYONE WHO MAY BE DISPLACED.
THE FLORIDA HIGHWAY PATROL HANDLED DOZENS OF CRASHES AS THE STORM STRUCK
I certainly can't imagine what a full blown (no pun) tornado must be to experience. This one was relatively benign but I can tell you that we were at the mercy of Mother Nature. There was little or nothing we could do but continue driving through it. Once we made it through the cell, the rains settled and the ferocity of the wind diminished. It was a unparalleled experience for two rookies from California and one that I have no interest in reliving!
Despite this potentially devastating disaster, we were able to enjoy some pretty outstanding golf courses including the aforementioned Bella Collina; a private gem called Red Tail; and our hosts' home track Mount Dora Golf Club in Mount Dora, Florida! And, I was able to see and experience PGA demo day at Orange County National Golf Center, a singular golf experience held in conjunction with the PGA merchandise show.
The town, Mt. Dora, is located about 30 miles west of Orlando, it is a small town and is sparsely populated with only about 12,000 inhabitants. There is some incentive to return to this area as I have a friend that lives in an adjoining town of Eustis. Ironically, I met this friend running a half-marathon in Petaluma, California in 1993 and we've been friends since.
So, we dodged it, once again, Vince Howell and Rick Rodriguez, averted disaster. I've never felt so unprotected and vulnerable in my life as I did that day in Groveland! But for some reason, my friend and me always seem to find an adventure like this one. I guess it was okay I was with Vinny...we always seem to come out okay! But, it isn't like we completely ignore danger warnings. We didn't ignore this one because a short while later a 10 foot Alligator popped up on the hole we were playing! It was the 1st time I had seen a gator on a golf course and while it looked docile from a distance I didn't come anywhere near its domain.
The adventure concluded the next day at Orlando International Airport. Vince, my childhood friend, headed back to San Francisco and I headed to Los Angeles for yet another golf experience of hitting a white sphere with a metal stick. It promised to be yet another great experience sans the unique hazards found in this part of Central Florida!
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