Tuesday was Pro-am day #1 getting to play with a fun 5-some that included LPGA player Shanshan (aka Jenny) Feng who’s one of the best from China (and she speaks better english than me) and lead guitarist for KISS Tommy Thayer who’s swing was coming around nicely the last several holes. And Feng had one of the best swings of any tour player I’ve ever been grouped with in my several Pro-ams and she showed it off perfectly with a hole in one (her 3rd) on #17. I’m wondering if my father had used up the family’s luck when making a hole in one in his first ever round of golf (and he only played a couple of times in his entire life!). Forget nailing my first ace, I’m just trying to hit the fairway occassionally off the tee. 🙂

Shanshan Feng picks up her hole in one ball on 17 in KNC Pro-am

The afterparty not only had great food and music (with a good Beatles tribute band) but also my sit-down chat with baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench. The greatest catcher I ever saw was also my unofficial personal caddy and ball retriever in last year’s KNC Pro-am (he lives at the course) soon after recent double hip replacment surgery, so it was fun to catch up with him again to talk about golf and the start of the new baseball season…

Johnny Bench with Ted Sobel at Kraft Nabisco:

Pro-am #2 is Wednesday when I’m in a group that includes 8-time PGA tour winner My Hyun Kim. And just before taking the Palmer course, I expect to sit down with last year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur champ Danielle Kang (the pride of Pepperdine and Westlake Village) and talk about her game and mindset before taking on the pros here on Thursday.