The following Friday, my brother Joe, my friend Lee and I took to the links for a free round (our 4th, Keith couldn't make it). We tee'd it up with 80 degrees, a 5 mile per hour wind and sunny skies as a backdrop. Now Lee and Joe had not played the course before, so I became the course guide.

The course is absolutely breathtaking, and has fast become my favorite in the area. It used to be a bargain but it has crept up to a price that is prohibitive to the unemployed, so we were glad to have the golf pro treatment. Since I played this course before, I had an idea of how to handle it. It is treelined and long, so shot selection is very critical.

Front side
#1
This is one of the shot selection holes. It is not long, but has a severe slope from right to left, and a dogleg. The approach shot is downhill to a green 40 feet below the fairway. I played a 5 iron off the tee and couldn't have placed it any better. My approach was perfect, but didn't spin back to the hole and I was left with a breaking putt from right to left and had to go uphill over a hump then downhill. I haven't mentioned this yet in my reviews, but my putting is stellar this year. I drained the 25 footer for birdie.

#3
After we all suffered our individual woes on hole #2 (Lee off the tee, Joe with short game issues, and my lost ball on the approach, we limped over to #3). Joe hit his shot of the day over the 150 yard gap with a burn and ended up 6 feet away from the hole. He made par easily, but really wanted the bird. Lee was misled by the ranger and picked up, when he didn't need to (the Rangers were strange all day). I took a bogey after a very difficult two chips and one putt.

#7
This hole is a B-buster. It is 196 yards from the blues (par 3), and it has another chasm between you and the hole, an elevated green and jail if you miss right. I put my drive in the middle of the green (which is a welcome first on this hole). Joe took my advice and missed in a safe place on the left. Lee had oodles of trouble as his ball went to the right. At one point, I wasn't sure if he was going to get on the green, because of the terrible lies that he had to deal with, but he finally did. I took par and just missed my second bird.

#8
Man this Par 5 hole was a cluster F---. I drove my first ball far left, then drove the provisional far right onto the woods on both. Lee and Joe both drove their balls right too. I went searching for my first one then gave up. By the time I got over to them there were a pleathora of balls from the adjacent fairway, and it seemed that everyone was playing Titleist, and noone had markings on them. I couldn't find my Precept either. We finally sorted it all out, and just as I was going to give up, I found my provisional, punched out to the fairway and put my approach to 6 feet, and made the bogey. Lee had an excellent approach shot that was a foot closer than mine, but he rocketed the putt past the hole about 6 feet. Joe had chipping woes (uncharacteristic of him, but hey, its early). It was a wierd hole.

Back side
#12
I kept telling the guys that there were certain holes where they needed to take my advice, and this was one of them. As we played the round however, I realized that my advice would work for Nelly and Dave, but not Pat, Joe and Lee, so I begged off their taking it. My advice was to take an iron off the tee, and just get into the fairway. The hole was only 358 from the blues and 335 from the whites. Joe took his 5 wood anyway (I'm glad he sometimes doesn't listen, hee hee), but drove it into the burn. Lee took my advice and got over the burn in 3 shots. I placed my tee shot in the middle of the fairway, and only had 100 yards in, but I got SCREWED on the bump and run, and ended up in chipping hell. I took a 6 after a perfectly executed tee shot.

Random golf theory thought:
After reading my "What's wrong with my irons" pages, you will have opinion of my game. I am sort of, kind of, slightly happy to say that the reverse is happening this year. My drives kind of, sort of stink, and my irons are Heaven sent. The thing is about having a good driving game and bad irons, is that you get yourself in trouble in "the scoring zone", which is bad for your game. On the other hand, if your driving is only OK, and you are not going into the woods on every tee shot, a crisp iron game will bail you out every time. This seems to be what's happening this year, and I am pretty happy about it. The last thing about this type of scenario is that if you can hold it together with one part of your game, eventually your drives come back, and mine did finally after patience and course management.

#16
This was MY hole... Of course, that was until Lee stole my thunder. I had a decent tee shot just off the fairway, played my second shot safely, and then landed on the green. I took two putts for an easy par. Meanwhile, Lee was quietly making his way up the course, and got on the green in 4 shots. He had about a 13 footer for par, and Joe said, "No pressure. If you miss it, you're buying us a beer." Lee responded with, "And when I make it, you buy the beer." And I added, "Witness! We have a bet." Well sure enough the ball dropped right in the center of the jar for par.

#17
I took apart the next hole with a 5 wood off the tee, landed safely on the green and two putted for par. It was textbook course management. I remembered from my previous round that a 3 wood would go too far and land in the woods. Lee and Joe also hit prefect tee shots on this hole. Lee had the longest drive (well, not exactly, I played mine from the blues), yet I thought that Joe's was further because of the ball flight, so Lee accidentally played Joe's ball based on my assessment. Whoops.

#18
On this very tricky Par 5, I usually have had a good drive, a good iron shot, a good chip or a good putt, but not together. This time, I placed my tee shot at the top of the slope. My second shot was a bomb out of the thick grass, over the burn, and up the steep slope, landing about 60 yards from the green. My pitch shot was perfect and cozied up to the pin about 6 feet. I missed the bird by about 3 inches, and tapped in for a par. That made three in a row, and a good way to end it.

Parting thoughts
I will only say this once kids, so listen up. The GPS distance finders on the carts are not accurate, so if you trust them too much, you are a fool. We had variations of 25 - 75 yards in some cases. Also, golf for free RULES! I can see why Pat tries so hard to get comped rounds. Lastly, its good to see Joe come through with some clutch shots, although his bread and butter which was his short game seemed to leave him here and there. Lee has been taking lessons, and the before and after photos would startle you. His new spikes help keep him in the batter's box, he is taking a much more relaxed stance, and his tempo is much improved. Time and a little practice will bring it all together.

-Until next time,

Murph