During Masters week, I was a part of a group from Coyote Creek Golf Club that headed south from Fort Wayne, IN for a Masters practice round and some Spring golf. We would spend a night in Knoxville, TN, two nights in Columbia, SC, and end the trip with a very relaxing three night stay at an "under the radar" resort in Santee, SC.

​Since the Midwest weather had not yet been favorable for any golf, we set out on the last day of March, a Saturday morning, driving five and a half hours to the Knoxville, TN area where we played a mid-afternoon round of golf at Knoxville Municipal Golf Course.

Like nearly all mid-south golf courses, Knoxville Muni was in need of some grass-greening warmth of the sun and on this beautiful Spring day, the course was full of golfers with Spring golf fever.

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​We checked into our Knoxville hotel and quickly found a restaurant where we could watch the semi-final games of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

​After spending the night in Knoxville, we headed a little over four hours south to Blythewood, SC for an afternoon round at Cobblestone Park Golf Club, home course of the South Carolina Gamecocks.  Cobblestone park is a beautiful, rolling golf course and was brimming with activity on this warm Sunday afternoon.

We were less than thirty minutes from our next hotel in Columbia, SC where everyone (except me) prepared for the trip to Augusta, GA in the morning. Having seen practice rounds and a final round at the venerable course before, I spent the day doing what the Logo Ball Traveler was born to do -- play golf!

My trek across Route 66 this summer brought me very close to 1000 unique courses played in my life. At the completion of the 43 course Route 66 trip, the count was up to 998. This attracted the attention of my fellow golfers at my home course, Coyote Creek Golf Club in Fort Wayne, IN. Steve Turnwald, the Chairman of our board, told me he would make course number 1000 a memorable one. We would play Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, KY, site of the 2008 Ryder Cup and numerous major championships, most notably the PGA's won by Rory McElroy, Tiger Woods and Mark Brooks.

When I played course 999 at Bob-O-Link Golf Course in Avon, OH on September 18, I mentioned it to Steve and he sprung into action. Our club pro, Bill Blumenhurst, contacted Valhalla and in short order, my 1000th round was scheduled. It would be a two day trip with Steve, Bill, Assistant Pro Hartley McLeod III, and four other Coyote Creek members, Alan Buck, Jim Sprandel, Tom Putman and Gary Payne. We would leave Fort Wayne on Monday morning, October 17 for a round at Covered Bridge Golf Club in Sellersburg, IN, spend the night at the Horseshoe Casino in Elizabeth, IN, and play Valhalla on Tuesday, October 18.

Before solidifying the itinerary, it was necessary to check with me to assure I had already played Covered Bridge (my wife and I had on November 4, 1999) to keep Valhalla in line for number 1000.

We had fabulous weather for the trip with sun, some clouds and high temperatures in the 80's (although we had wind with gusts up to 30 mph).

Valhalla is a special place. It is the PGA of America's first owned championship site. It is some 20 miles east of Louisville, KY and opened in 1986. It hosted the 1996 PGA Championship won by Mark Brooks in a playoff against Kenny Perry. Tiger Woods won the 2000 PGA in a famous playoff against Bob May. The United States won a rare victory over Europe in the 2008 Ryder Cup, captained by Paul Azinger. And Rory McIlroy won the 2014 PGA Championship.

It was slightly overcast and windy with temperatures in the upper 70's as we headed to the first tee.