The second day of Marty’s and my golf trips to the desert, we played Desert Falls in Palm Desert.

The course had just opened. It was a great deal. It remains my favorite course in the desert. It is now private. That day was incredible in spite of the 120 degree temperatures. We parked our cart next to trailer serving as the pro shop and unloaded our bags into my car. They had another, smaller trailer that served hamburgers, hot dogs and beer. We shunned the food but sat on the bench in the shade to drink a beer.

Marty had come out of the pro shop after turning in our cart key.

“Hey, i just read a flyer posted on the board in there. They are offering a life-time membership to their club for $10,000. They say it would give us fee green fees for our lifetime, no monthly fees.”

And we dreamed.

We both knew our wives would go catatonic if we did that. We acknowledged joining would require us to get a second home in the desert. We also knew a retired Army Major working in a second career in military contracting and a Navy Commander still on active duty didn’t come close to being able to afford that kind of expense.

After that, we play Desert Falls when we went to the desert. And we laughed as we saw the houses and condominiums rise from the sand until the course was rimmed with stucco and went private. We continued to laugh for the next thirty-plus years.

i don’t know if those desert golfers would have appreciated these two golfers.