Matsui said:
How'd it go?
We enjoyed the round, minus my patented melt-down hole that invariably guarantees I can't keep it under 10 over.
Observations:
1) The new layout and condition of the course are light-years beyond what I played while in school. Tees, fairways and greens were all in excellent shape. The bare spots in the rough are really the only thing that I could criticize. I understand that it's the rough, but it detracts from the aesthetics in such a way that I think it hurts the course and the experience of playing it.
2) The girls qualified on Friday or some such. We were told the greens had been mowed and rolled. They were definitely flying on Saturday. I had a really hard time holding greens with anything other than a wedge and couldn't seem to keep the ball under the hole.
3) They sent a threesome off in front of us, then added another threesome to my son and I to give us 5. Then, like clockwork, some old coot ranger rolled-up on 2 to bark at us for failing to keep pace. What is it about those old ba$tard$? But since everything was somewhat back-ed up, we didn't have any trouble keeping pace after a couple of holes.
4) I'm really bad with fluffy Bermuda lies in the rough around the greens. Even the courses up here with Bermuda fairways have some native, cool season variety for rough. I never seemed to make the contact I wanted.
5) Pro-tip. If you play Saturday morning they will give you a parking pass for the the course lot. Then you can leave your car in the lot and hike over to your tailgate. That's a $40 parking spot on game day and a short walk to Spence park.
All in all, a great time with my son, an enjoyable round, and a bit of nostalgia for when I was young and had more time than money...not that I seem to have any more money, just a lot less time.