In my free time I like to read books, play sports, go on adventures, and have fun.

Its a gamble but most things in homes are. 

Call on rental ads and ask the owner some questions.Do enough of all this and you'll start to develop a feel, not too dissimilar to the feel you get playing sports. 

California is not the market for cash flow, it is the market for appreciation which is speculation (gambling).

Either  1) You have the money to be cashflow negative (including mortgage) for a hold and flip with appreciation (gamble) 2) If you had the skills, you could find fixer-uppers and flip or improve equity and hold (safer) 3) Or you could be new developments that are ready in 1-2 years and flip them which I have done quite successfully.

While we were never overtly irresponsible with money (i.e. gambling debt, drug habits, credit cards, expensive cars), we moved many times, did PhDs, and spent the better part of our 20's and 30's doing things that might have been personally enriching, but were at some level exploitative of our time and not financially beneficial.

I recently been trying to pick up the sport of golf!

Or as done in the sports world practice, prepare practice repeat. 

I am a behaviorist and a sports coach.  

It's kind of like if you were in the market to purchase a bicycle and you find a nice shiny bike that's never been used at a garage sale you will expect to pay a lot less than the same bike at a bicycle sports shop or the Academy, right?