Preview of Course Corrections

My latest book shares some fiction, some philosophy, and some Merced County History

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The General Archie Old Golf Course at the March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, California. Photo: General Old Golf Course website (www.generaloldcourse.com)

I hope you will enjoy my new book Course Corrections, available through LuLu.com.

In the book, I take my passion for the game of golf and share about thirty stories of my experiences, my imagination, and my philosophy behind the game.

If you’re a golfer or have a golfer in your life, this may be something to pick up.

If you appreciate local history, there are a few stories sprinkled in the book about Merced County and golf. Here’s a sample from the chapter on the man who led a historic military mission back in the late 1950s that started right here in Merced County. His connection to golf is a course in Riverside County that bears his name.

In the history of local golf courses, very few people will know or even care about the General Old Course in Riverside, California.

The course is on the site of the former March Air Force Base. The base was renamed March Air Reserve Base in the 1990s as part of the Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC) that was designed to improve Defense Department efficiency. March now houses Air National Guard, Army, Navy, and Marine reserve units.

The land has since been put to new military uses in the ever growing southern California region.

This sign greets golfers playing at the General Old Course in Riverside County, California. Photo: General Old Golf Course website (www.generaloldcourse.com)

But the golf course that was on the base still stands.

It’s named after Lieutenant General Archie Old.

It was named to honor the man who played a key role in a little known military milestone from more than sixty years ago.

That milestone was the first ever around-the-world non-stop flight by an airplane. It is known by the mission’s name: Operation Power Flite. It happened in January of 1957. The mission made possible the first-ever around-the-world flight of a jet without landing to refuel.

Operation Power Flite, and I note the Air Force used the spelling of the word that the rest of us spell as “flight”, began at Castle Air Force Base in Atwater, Merced County deep in the center of the Central Valley of California. .

A contingent of three aircraft took off from Castle on a cold January morning.

One plane developed mechanical troubles and had to land. A second plane left the group, as planned, over Great Britain.

The third made it around the world. Thanks to aerial refueling, the jet could keep going for the forty-five hours it took to circle the planet.

Although the jets started from Castle, the mission didn’t end there.

Foggy conditions in Merced County led to the decision to land at March Air Force Base.

Behind the controls for the landing was Lieutenant General Archie Old.

Operation Power Flite was an important chapter in our nation’s military aviation history.

In the middle of the Cold War, the United States wanted to send the message that it could scramble a group of aircraft from any place in the world within minutes, and keep those planes flying for as long it would take. It was the kind of deterrent many thought would keep the Soviets at bay.

The 1957 mission was considered by military experts to be a significant development in aviation.

The role Castle Air Force Base played in the nation’s defense is documented at the Castle Air Museum.

The Museum created a small display area within its’ permanent collection to commemorate Operation Power Flite.

The story of this history making flight made the cover of Life magazine on January 28, 1957.

The story took up over a dozen pages in that week’s issue. The pages are so large that it’s impossible to copy a single page on a regular eight-by-eleven or eight-by-fourteen inch copy machine.

Magazines were much bigger back in the 1950’s; not only in the size of the pages, but also in the influence wielded in our society.

Magazines back then were a big deal. Life magazine, especially the cover story on Life magazine, was a really big deal.

Course Corrections-My Golf Truth, Fiction, & Philosophy

If you read the rest of that chapter, you’ll learn what’s in the future for that golf course.

That chapter is available for a free preview right now on the book preview page.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

He will be the featured speaker at the annual meeting of the Merced County Historical Society in February.