When we attended the Live South trade show in Connecticut last weekend, we met two pleasant young agents representing Pine Ridge Plantation, a brand new community in Edgefield, SC.  They were brimming with enthusiasm without being cloying.  We had visited Edgefield briefly 18 months ago on our way to look at communities in the Aiken, SC, area.  It is an historic town with a quirky distinction:  It is the home of the National Wild Turkey Foundation (the bird, not the bourbon).
    But Edgefield is a good 45 minutes from the nearest airport (Columbia) and not exactly a destination.  To encourage visitors to Pine Ridge, the developers are offering an impressively priced discovery package that includes 3 days and 2 nights of accommodations and a round of golf for two for just $69.  Non-golfers can opt for a dinner certificate in lieu of golf.  Of course, you will have to sit still for a presentation of real estate opportunities, but that comes with the territory.  Model homes (three bedrooms) begin at $227,000.
    Pine Ridge's new web site is up and running but not exactly full of info yet.  Click on the golf tab at the site and up pops a generic photo of a golf hole, followed by another page with two paragraphs right out of the golf cliche textbook.  ("You'll feel rejuvenated by the soothing views of the tranquil ponds...").  We feel rejuvenated as well by the thought of $35 a night for a room, golf included.
    If you visit, please let us know.
    Ford Motor Company CEO Alan Mulally took a beating yesterday in the Detroit Free Press and elsewhere for having putted while Ford burns.  Five days before Ford announced a mind-boggling loss of $12.7 billion for last year, Mulally was playing golf at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.  Two weeks after the announced loss, he played in the pro-am at Pebble Beach.
    As you might imagine, Ford workers, their friends and neighbors are miffed, to say the least.  But Mulally is not without his supporters, according to the Free Press.  Tour player Len Mattiace, Mulally's partner for three rounds at Pebble Beach, probably won't endear himself to the thousands of Ford workers afraid for their jobs.  Of Mulally's time at the tournament, Free Press columnist Carlos Monarrez wrote, Mattiace said:  "I can tell you there's no downside to him being there.  There is a lot of networking. All the CEOs of major companies are there. And I know when he's off the golf course, he's spending a lot of time with all these other CEOs, and I think it's smart of him and it's great for the company for him to be there."
    On the course was a different matter.  Said Mattiace of Mulally's play:  "...he certainly didn't play like knockout golf, you know?"  Must have had something on his mind.