Yes, there actually is a place called San Diego in South America. I’m living there right now. Here’s the spectacular view from the balcony of my 24th floor apartment:
Can you see the airport? More on what’s so interesting about the airport a bit later!
San Diego is not the name of the city. It’s a neighborhood in the city. There’s no beach here like in San Diego, California. This paradise is nestled in a valley surrounded by a famous mountain range.
I have lived in San Diego, California, and believe it or not I think the weather is actually better here. The mornings are nice and cool with temperatures in the 60s as the sun rises over the Aburra Valley.
The afternoons are pleasant and warm with plenty of sunshine and highs in the low to mid 80s. Then the temperature cools down again as the sun sets majestically behind the mountains.
Sure, there is an occasional short rainy season. After all no place is perfect, right? Other than that though, you’ll experience the same nearly perfect weather day after day because this South American paradise is located near the equator so there are no seasons.
The weather is the same year round. To give you an idea, I rarely close the windows or the sliding glass door to the balcony. Neither heat nor air conditioning is necessary here at any time of the year.
And of course, you’ll find golf too. Unfortunately there are disappointingly few options as golf is not so popular here. However, I have played the home course of a certain PGA pro whose name you would definitely recognize. I’ll reveal his name later but I’m going to remain a bit mysterious for now.
One of the unique characteristics of this course is its location. The golf course is located near a small airport. I mean very near! And there is a steady flow of planes landing. These aircraft are especially noticeable on the first and last several holes.
And the runway is so near the 2nd and 17th holes that you seriously feel like you could hit the plane with your golf ball. If you don’t believe it, take a look for yourself and let me know what you think (My apologies in advance. I’m no professional videographer!):
I’ve played this particular course (the name of which I will reveal soon) several times now and I don’t find the planes particularly distracting to be honest. It’s not like there’s a plane landing every minute.
You can only see the planes on about six or eight holes and you can hear them coming so it’s no problem to back off for a few seconds to let a plane fly over your head.
I actually love this little quirk of the golf course. If nothing else, it’s certainly unique. I’ve never seen another golf course located so close to an airport.
The course itself can be quite challenging if you play from the back two tee boxes. Certain holes can be long and narrow. At 5,000 feet though, the length is not really an issue. I’m at least one club longer at this altitude – maybe two. Trust me, that makes you feel really good about your game!
The course plays much shorter and is quite a bit less challenging from the forward tee boxes. And the biggest challenge may not even be hitting some of the narrower fairways.
That’s because some of the greens are lightning fast. I don’t have a stimpmeter so I can’t give you a number. What I can tell you is I felt like I was putting on a parking lot or a sidewalk sometimes!
I’ll have more to share on this mountain paradise in my next message. You may be SHOCKED because having spent several months here I can tell you the world’s perception of this place is quite a bit different than the reality.
I’ll share more photos of the course too.
Until then…
Dedicated to Lower Scores and More Fun,
Robert “Mr. International Golfer” Phillips
P.S. Can you guess where I am? And what course I’ve been playing? Without using the Internet to cheat! Hit reply below and send me your guess. I’ll reveal the answer in my next message.
