The lights came back on this morning at our Connecticut home, more than one week after a freak October snowstorm that destroyed thousands of trees and knocked out power to about a million people.  Coincidentally, the lights were restored just before 2 a.m., when all clocks were to be reset for the winter months.  Having our power back after a week without it gives new meaning to the term “daylight savings.”

        Not everything, however, is back to normal. Two months ago we bundled all our communication services –- Internet, television and telephone –- with Comcast Cable. We can certainly endure without television -– I watched the LSU-Alabama game on my mobile phone last night –- and we have our cell phones to receive calls and make a few if need be.  But the loss of Internet service is a royal pain; to post articles here at Golf Community Reviews, I need to find a coffee shop with wireless service.  Others have exactly the same idea, and the competition for a seat and electrical outlet is fierce.   Also, there are just so many cups of coffee a body can take.

        The experience of the last week has only encouraged my wife’s and my interest in establishing a more permanent home in the southern U.S. where we already own a condominium at Pawleys Plantation in Pawleys Island, SC.  If your experience over the last week has caused you to think along those lines, please contact me.  I will be happy to offer some ideas about golf-oriented areas in the south that would match up with your requirements.  I can’t guarantee perfect weather, but I can guarantee you will have a better chance of playing golf in January in, say, Charleston, SC, than in Charlestown, RI.

        I’ll be posting more articles in the coming days. It’s good to be back.

Pawleyswithmarsh

Nothing like an October snowstorm in Connecticut to conjure dreams of the Jack Nicklaus course at Pawleys Plantation.

     November 1 is the annual signal to hundreds of thousands of “snowbirds” that it is time to close up their houses up north and head to warmer climes before ol’ man winter blows in.

        This year, they waited too long.

        A freak late October snowstorm has brought more trick than treat for those who waited. Could this finally be the tipping point for all those northerners beaten down by the weather?

        Okay, no one wants to overreact to one freak snowstorm, but we also have memories of last winter when we actually had to rake snow off our roof in Connecticut lest the melting snow refreeze at night and send streams of water through the seams in skylights and windows.  Some homeowners went so far as to take their snow blowers up on the roof. This is crazy, no?

        While we were digging out from this snowstorm in Connecticut,

Last winter we raked snow off our roof in Connecticut.  This week we have been without power for four days, and looking at three more at least.  In between, we suffered through a hurricane that cut power.  The south beckons...

friends in South Carolina were playing golf in sunshine and 60-degree temperatures.  That sure sounded good.  Now we understand that some consider it risky business to move to the Carolina or Georgia coast because of the chance of hurricane damage, but we recall that the remnants of Hurricane Irene just two months ago caused a loss of power throughout the northeast rivaled only by this latest storm.  And today 700,000 of us who were left in the dark (and cold) in Connecticut found out that our utility company, Connecticut Power & Light, hadn’t yet paid the out of state utilities that provided crews to help fix things in August.  Those providers aren’t exactly rushing in crews this time.  Who needs this?

        Long sad story short: It is warmer in the south, it is cheaper to live in the south, the chances of a storm that affects your home life seems more remote in the south -– in short, what are those of us who are ready to move to a golf community waiting for?

        If you need a bit more convincing, we have an idea: Join us for the first ever Home On The Course “discovery weekend” at The Landings, just 15 minutes from downtown Savannah, December 1 to 4.  The weekend includes golf, dinners, a tour of the 4,800-acre community and its six golf courses and, at your option, a personal visit to homes for sale that fit your requirements and price range. (The Landings features homes from the $300s to the millions.)  For more information, please click here.

        Note: The Landings and Savannah are about as close to hurricane proof as you can get on the eastern seaboard, with only one storm that included winds of more than 80 mph in the last 100 years.  As for snow, it is almost as rare.

5Millstonesnowdamage

Your editor and his wife lost a dozen trees in the freak October storm.  It is enough to make a couple want to move south, and quickly.