Hello fellow golfers! My name is Richard and I am 58 years old, I can sometimes still play to a 12 hdcp, live in the golf capital of the Southwest, Scottsdale, Arizona and am now retired from the Golf & Travel Industry. I am fortunate to have a great golf buddy who gets me gigs inside the ropes at PGA Tour events as a part-time spotter for NBC Sports, CBS Golf, ESPN, TNT, TBC, BBC but most of the Spotter Hall Of Fame stories, gut splitters all, come while reminiscing about the years spent with ABC Sports, the network for golf coverage.

I can still recall clearly my fleeting moments of golf fame; the year, 1992, the place; Muirfield, Scotland, the event; the 1992 British Open Championship. ABC Sports red arm band securely fastened to my jacket, I am inside the ropes calling home the leaders, Nick Faldo and Steve Pate on the fourth and final day of a fantasy week in Scotland.

I also still work with a few golf groups, guys who come to Scottsdale to play golf just about every season. I have been doing this in one form or another in the Hospitality Industry for over 23 years, most of it in Scottsdale, for Scottsdale. Now I spend my time writing about other things relating to golf, amusing anecdotes, spotter stories, how it was to work in the golf industry in the "good ole days when they were opening courses at the rate of 8-10 per year – courses such as Grayhawk, Sanctuary, Talking Stick, The Raven, WeKoPa, Eagle Mountain, and many others. It doesn't matter what the topic is here as long as it's related to golf, whether it's Scottsdale golf, golf travel, golf vacations, golf equipment, golf humor, golf tournaments, golf personalities, and - well, you get the idea.

There was only one thing that I wanted to accomplish in the golf business in Scottsis only one regret I have after all those years of working with golf wholesalers/packagers – and it's something I wish I had been able to do a long time ago, especially back when golf was going crazy in Scottsdale in the mid-nineties and before the "suits" from corporate America decided that "if you build it they will come." There was a niche for everyone and Scottsdale was a gold mine if you had the bucks to invest. But what I had in mind back then would have been like a Ford dealership selling a Chevy, whew, the competition was fierce! These golf "wholesalers" that sprang up overnight were cash poor and their bottom line was an unequivocal "don't talk about anything that doesn't make money for the company". Sell our package and get on to another call.

So I was prevented from officially telling anyone what I am now at liberty to disclose through my "tell it like it is" blog about everything you always wanted to know about Scottsdale golf packages - Scottsdale Greens, with "insider tips" from me, the industry insider.

Just for credibility sake, during that 23 years of promoting Scottsdale golf, I got myself a well-rounded education in the Hospitality Industry (intentionally) so that I could experience what happens behind the scenes at all the components that make up a golf package, this meant working for Scottsdale Hotels, Resorts, Golf courses and Golf Travel companies and believe me they all have their own ways of doing business, I didn't always agree with their ways of doing business but I was a company man through and through (well, most of the time anyway) Needless to say it gave me a greater understanding of how to work with them and when you talk their language each of them.

Here is a brief rundown of some of my favorite golf jobs over the years: Director of Sales for Hilton Garden Inn Scottsdale North, Director of Leisure Sales for Summerfield Suites in Old Town Scottsdale, a Sales Manager for a privately owned and very well known Scottsdale golf resort, Director of International Travel for John Jacobs Golf Schools. VP Troon Golf Vacations and Hospitality Tee Times, VP TravelGolf West. Over the years I have led golf tours to exotic places to play golf and have enjoyed it all. Scotland, Ireland, Portugal, New Zealand, Spain, Hawaii, Mexico, Canada and some great golf destinations in the US. Now, in my semi-retirement I am content to bring the occasional golf group to Scottsdale, go work a PGA tournament when they are close by, write about golf and stay active.