FATHER’S DAY: Yes I know I am a bit behind. It has been a month since Father’s Day Anyway my two sons took me to what was my home club when I was playing. Remember last post I was telling you what an excellent course. It was originally designed with hosting a PGA tournament there. in mind. I never played the PGA Tees. I never played the Championship tees either. We, (even in league,) play, used the Intemediate tees which most people play today. We did not have Senior tees. We had Blue Championship, White Intemediate, and ladies tees. I was really excited about playing there. First thing I noticed was the office and equipment area was missing the pool table and the entire area had been turned into a storage area. This area was in the lower half of the building, and you walked out to the card area which was also the course level. NOW the office area is upstairs, parking lot level. Had to wait for someone to come in if you wanted to pick up anything. NO free ball markers. NO free green repair tools. I don’t remember them having gloves, hats or anything. The office was where the entrance to the restaurant and bar were. The bar had been moved toward the office. and limited seating. No bartender. The rest was turned into a storage area. (The Food there used to be very good and reasonable; but now no restaurant. So I picked up a pencil and scorecard. The boys had already paid the green fees, and cart fees. I had already heard they had flipped the front and back nine. No big deal. But the tees (unlike before) was so hard you needed a hammer to insert your tee. Bushes had crept into the fairway, making a narrow fairway narrower. THEN the worse part. HARD , patchy greens. Cattails almost surrounding the water hazards, and weeds creeping up where the fairway was around the water except about a 20 foot area. Would not have been a problem in 1988 because I could drive to about 20 yards from this par 4 hole. (I am skipping around to different holes to explain how much MY Excellent course had gone down hill. The sand traps were so hard most golfers refused to hit from them. You get the idea. This course was really deteriorating. Primarily because, like so many courses NOT ENOUGH PLAYERS. You have to have many players to be able to maintain the course. Unfortunately the younger group does not play like we did, they have other interests. I don’t know what those interests are. But now on to the game. My youngest plays generally around 2-5 over par. My oldest plays bogey golf. I play triple bogey golf. They tried to talk me into playing the SENIOR tees. But I told them they were for old men. My problem was this: This was my home course. Instead of accepting my being older I kept seeing each hole through the eyes of my younger self, then getting aggravated because I couldn’t hit the ball as long and true as I could 35 years ago. to say I shot, a disappointing 126 for the 18. the boys of course were playing their usual games. Now I like to just tell my net score which in this instance was a 74, 2 over par. (Good old Handicap)! Yes I had a great time just being with my boys, score is score, BUT time spent with your children is golden. Before I go let me tell you what I learned that day. 1. I had to admit I couldn’t play like I did 35 years ago. So accept the Senior tees when playing with younger, stronger players. (When I play with my friends closer to my age,(even if they are 7-8 years younger), we play the intermediate tees. It is fair. 2. When playing the courses I used to Play. Forget playing there before. Treat them like a new course you never played before. That way you stop thinking “I used to hit this green in regulation or I can drive to within 20-30 yards of this hole. You CAN’T. You have to think… I never played this course before let’s see what I can do. 3. Conditions of the course are conditions. Just as fair for all players. 4. HAVE FUN. You aren’t a tour player. You aren’t playing for a living. You are playing for recreation. Remember these things, eventually you might improve your game. But if not (unless you are playing alone, you are enjoying time with friends. I am hoping to improve enough I can feel comfortable playing in some scrambles. After all I was once having a terrible day. And was heading home. I was stopped and asked if I would play a scramble as one team was short a fourth. I reluctantly gave in. I played terrible all day. The only shot of mine the team used was a 30 foot putt I sank which gave us the win. Until next time HAVE FUN with your friends, and if you have a SENIOR GOLF LEAGUE, sign up for it. Who knows maybe you are as good or better than some of the players, If not you still make new friends. Post Views: 88
Month: July 2023
Oly’s SENIOR GOLF WEEK 2. 2023
Got to the links again this week. My friend and I had been promising a friends grandson since last year we would take him with us sometime. We went to a new course I had never heard of before. But must say it is in better shape than our home course. Yes my friend beat me again. (But, remember he is about 7 years younger, recently retired, just this year. So is in better shape. He also plays twice a week, compared to my one time when he has the time). He beat me by 7 strokes. But I got him on net score. My handicap is pretty high SO I have the advantage there. Good old handicap. I am still somewhat erratic on my drives. But as when I played all the time my SHORT GAME, is my achilles heel. At least before I quit playing in 1988 my drives would usually give me an advantage by not having such long shots to be on the green. Now I don’t have that advantage. I really need to hit the practice green, the chipping green and driving range more. We had a really beautiful day to play. We played 18 holes that day. The only holes I didn’t break a tee were the par 3’s, (which I can always find a broken tee to shoot from. don’t laugh that little broken tee helps. Not much more than a 1/4 inch up. But it helps. I read that a round in the 120’s is a respectable score for anybody regardless of age. In fact that is where the majority of amateur golfers fall. The par for this course, is 72 with a slope rating of 122. Many big unprocessed tees out there. Water hazards on over half the holes. Even though we could use the senior tees, we don’t. We play on the second set of tees. Not the pro tees, the next ones up. The friends grandson did pretty good had his good holes and bad holes. Hit one way off the fairway and entered a farmer’s barn. But we had fun with him. We told him he could lay out of the barn and back onto the course with no penalty. After all there should not be a barn with an open door on the course. We looked in the rule book and there was no rule about barns with open doors, (had it been a regular player we would have enforced the out of bounds rule). He gave the excuse that the barn door was painted white like a hole, He just thought it was an extremely large hole. I wouldn’t mind playing there again, if it wasn’t so far out of the way. We originally planned to take him to a course that was only a few miles down the road where he lives. But when we got there we found it was closed, another victim of the diminishing golfing public. We played there last year. But like many small privately owned courses could not generate enough revenue to do the upkeep. One of the few around that still had sand traps. Great Hamburgers too. I was trying to figure how many courses near me have closed in the last 3-4 years. Ones that were premiere courses but fell victim to the economy. I counted at least 4 that were in a 20 mile radius of me. Now down to the dirty facts. I had at least 4 penalty strokes. And shot a 116 which translates to a net 65. Told you I like my net scores best. Final word. I never give nor expect a give me on any hole. I saw a scratch golfer miss a 6 inch putt. (can you say OVER CONFIDENT). I think next week my sons and I are going to tackle my old home course, which was designed to someday host a PGA tour event. Never happened. But has always been well maintained , Sand traps, Lots of woods, and water and a par 4 that is 1 yard short of being a par 5. Love this course. although I am told they flipped the front to the back nine and the back to the front. Still looking forward to it. I did play a scramble there about 16 years ago. My team won. I was a guest and it cost me nothing to play. As it was a Companies annual event, As a courtesy I was asked to play. (No prizes were given except for long drive and closest to the pin. I did find out that I had the longest drive. But disqualified myself because one of the Companies workers was about a yard behind me and in the fairway, I was in the rough. Until next time keep playing the COURSE and try to beat it not the other competitors. (More Fun), and easier to beat. Or so I have been told. Post Views: 95
