It's still early, but the spring here has been really beautiful so far.

It rained last night, so today was cooler and fresher than yesterday. I have been getting out to walk this week, and for the third consecutive day, I was on the golf course. I could be wrong, but I think this was the first time in my life I have played golf three days in a row.

[caption id="attachment_1020" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Beautiful blue skies."]<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20110412_37.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1020" title="20110412_37" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20110412_37-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" /></a>[/caption]

Last night's storm blew away the clouds, except for a few wispy ones, and the skies seemed so clean and blue.

I rode today, but I did a lot of walking around the course taking pictures. It's funny. When I'm on the golf course I take dozens of pictures of nature, and when I look at them later, I hardly ever use them.

But I do enjoy looking at them. The course is getting greener and greener, and I can tell that by the time summer is here, it is going to be truly beautiful.

It started out to be a very frustrating round. The shots I had been making Sunday and Monday weren't going down today, and after eight holes, I had only one par and seven bogeys. I was looking at a score in the high 80s.

But things got better. On the ninth hole, I put my tee shot on the edge of the green and then two-putted for par and a 43 on the front nine.

Then I started having fun. I parred the 10th, which I don't usually do, and the par five 12th hole. I birdied the par-five 14th when I rolled in a 22-foot putt from the edge of the green, and then parred 15 and 16, leaving me just one over par on the back nine.

[caption id="attachment_1021" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Looking down to 16"]<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20110412_43.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1021" title="20110412_43" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/20110412_43-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" /></a>[/caption]

I'm not sure why, but 16 has been a tough hole for me. This was the first time I parred it, and even then it wasn't easy. My first putt on the par three was from 35 feet, and to complete the par I had to knock in an eight-footer.

I bogeyed 17, but came back and parred the last hole for the second day in a row. It gave me a 38 on the back nine -- the first time I've broken 40 -- and it meant that I had played the last 10 holes in just two over par.

Dang, I'm really having fun playing golf these days.

The 81 I shot meant that the last three rounds I've played are 81, 79 and 81 -- the three best rounds of 18 holes on a full-length course I have ever shot.

It's going to be a great summer.