I played a course a couple of days ago which I’d played dozens of times, many years ago. It isn’t on my current rota of regular stops. It was fun to get back there and play for a good change of pace. Somehow I managed to birdie the first three holes. Of course after that the golf gods clamped down on my joy and let me have it. Taught me a lesson. It didn’t hurt that much because that’s exactly what I knew they were going to do. So I outsmarted them.
On the first hole I had about an 80 yard approach shot to a back pin. I hit it 85. The ball landed behind the green and bounced backwards to about 6 feet. That was odd, but I wasn’t complaining.
They’re overwatering the golf course and the road!
Through the rest of the round I couldn’t help noticing how soggy and wet the course was. Approach shots all had to be long because they would not bounce forward. Chipping was difficult because the shots would hit such soft ground and stop almost instantly. The greens were so soggy that player footprints made putts bounce all over the place. If I stood in one place I would slowly sink, leaving a large depression.
The course was nice and green though. Sigh. I get that we are no longer in a drought, but good hell ease off on the water. Let the ball bounce. Allow the player to run up some shots. Every course doesn’t have to be as green as Augusta National Golf Club. Take links golf in Scotland for instance. The ground is very hard. The golfer can be creative by running the ball and using the contours of the ground, rather than just having to fly shots to the target.
It’s got to cost more to maintain courses that are so wet. First there’s the water cost. Second, the grass has to be cut more often and something has to be done with the clippings if they’re not mulched. Then there’s the mud issues like I saw at this course. There were areas so wet they had to be roped off.
Please rake the bunkers, in your scuba diving gear…
I ended up in one of those roped off areas short of a par-4. At the time I was in the midst of an awesome round at -3. I had to take a drop because there was standing water. Nearest relief was in the fairway. I hit my chip and the ground was so wet that the club sliced through the turf and went under the ball entirely! I don’t think the club actually touched the ball.
Take it easy with the watering. Let your members have some fun with longer distance and more creative ground game shots.
Episode 978 of “weird stuff you find on the golf course” is here. While entering Hidden Valley Country Club today I couldn’t help noticing the cheeseburger on the ground.
I feel bad for whoever lost this cheeseburger. It looked good. #lostcheeseburger
Golf courses and their infrstructure can be huge casualties of flooding. Check out these photos from The Wilderness at Lake Jackson. Some super-smart person found the highest points on the course, apparently two greens, and parked the gear around them to keep it out of the water. Very cool and absolutely brilliant. Well played.
Normally I dread fall and winter. But when I have an apparel piece as nice as this sitting here burning a hole in my psyche it’s a different story.
Say hello to the new Galvin Green Dash Jacket. I just tried it on. I may wear it the rest of the week, even though the temperatures here are still in the upper 90’s.
It may take a few weeks to put this beauty to the full fall test so stay tuned and I’ll get my review posted as soon as conditions allow.
I must make a shout out to Utah’s Impact Golf Center and my buddy Jordan there. They’ve helped me quite a bit with club testing, club fixing, club maintenance, re-grips, and golf simulator/launch monitor time. I often get clubs in for review which aren’t setup right for me, or need different grips because of my tennis elbow etc. They’re great with helping me get setup to do my reviews.
In my last trip I did some sim time with Jordan who was helping to determine a shaft for the new Cobra driver which recently came in for review. Often times stock shafts are not, shall we say, consistent. I found a good shaft for my dual chicken with granny over the top swing and will be attempting to get a demo for my review. Once I had that Cobra setup right my accuracy and spin rates really dialed in.
Above are some swings with a bunch of different shafts as seen on the simulator. Strangely, I never went left. Always right or straight. That’s not the way it is on the course for me. I’d love to be that consistent and be able to ignore one side knowing it isn’t in play. Unfortunately I also learned that my swing speed is not what it used to be. Average 96mph and maxed at 99 once. I’ve lost 5mph in the last year or so.
I also had the shop take a look at my old Hogan Apex Edge Pro irons. They checked the lofts. I had to put those back in play because right now I can’t hit the Miura baby blades.
If you’re in northern Utah and need some work done on your golf gear, or need new gear, check out Impact Golf Center. In the winter they have simulators for those of us who need to play any kind of golf we can when we are buried in five feet of snow.
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