Making the Turn at the 9-Hole Muni

While on vacation at the Jersey Shore I did not see Snookie (or sadly Bruce Springsteen) but I did get to play a little golf. Asbury Park (or actually the next town over called Ocean) has a nice little municipal 9-hole golf course called Colonial Terrace Golf Course (watch the video). The course was less than 10 minutes from our rental house. The golf websites (not the city website) claim that it is a par-35, 3,704 yard course. They lied! It is actually 2,600 yards, but it was in relatively nice shape and it only cost $20.

I picked up a scorecard and put it in my back pocket and never looked at it again and now I cannot find it to provide more detail. As an aside, this little 9-hole golf course is on my GolfLogix Blackberry app. Every course that I have played since I bought the app has been mapped!

I played on Monday and the course was relatively empty. I walked the course with SO and she took some pictures and admired the wildlife. I played two balls and worked on my game. We played 9 holes in about 1 1/2 hours and then went to the beach. The two par-5 holes are about 440 to 450 yards and play as difficult par-4s. I birdied one of the par-5s and parred the other. The course was little better than your typical 9-hole muni course and the temperature was in the 80s and the humidity was not too bad so it was a nice walk in the park.

On Friday we went back to play Colonial Terrace again. I knew it would be crowded on a Friday during the summer so we got to the course at about 6 p.m. thinking that would be late for people teeing off. The starter told us that the last group had gone out 30 minutes ago so I thought I was home-free and would not catch up to the group until the last couple of holes. However, when I looked over to the first tee box, there was one group on the tee box and two groups in carts waiting. I was perplexed! The starter told me that those golfers were "making the turn". Huh, it is only a 9-hole course. The light bulb finally went off and I looked at the scorecard and there was a "back 9". The starter smiled and said "you get to play 18 holes for the price of 9". We put the clubs back in the car and went back to the house and enjoyed together time with the family.

My Kingdom for Two Good Nines!

I played golf with my friend and client Digger this weekend at his club, Moon Valley Country Club. As you may recall, Digger used to take some of the biggest tiger pelts you have ever seen as divots. I think that the club president and the course superintendent must have had a "come to Jesus" meeting with Digger because he is now picking the ball pretty clean and not taking much of a divot at all. I cannot, however, say it is improving his game.

I tried to get Digger to walk, but he was having none of that. He said something about going to the gym for an hour that morning and that was all of the exercise he needed. We played with another club member and his guest. The member was about 70 years old and walked with a pull cart, which made me feel ridiculous riding (although he seemed to be in the motorized cart pulling the pull cart along side most of the time) We teed off at about 2:30 and the weather was perfect. Digger was shirking his child care duties and told me that he was only able to sneak away for nine holes. I played really poorly on the front 9. For some reason I was hitting a lot of shots very thin and even topped a couple of 1-hybrids and skulled two L-wedges. On the 7th hole, Digger's wife called and told him to get home. As the man of the family, Digger played out the last two holes before running home with his tail between his legs.

I decided to walk the back nine with my two golfing partners carrying my bag on my shoulder like a real golfer. Walking in solitude helps you focus and "be the ball". I started flushing the ball on the back nine. I parred the 10th, 11th and 12th holes before my first bogey. We were playing really slow and I was worried that we would not finish before dark. I parred 2 of the last 5 holes and bogeyed the other 3 holes with one ball in the water. In the dusk, I hit my drive on the 18th hole into the water and my second shot into the greenside bunker and then I almost holed out from the bunker but left the ball one or two turns from the bottom of the cup. I shot a 40 on the back 9 to go with my ugly 47 on the front nine for an 87 total. One of these days I am going to put together a good front 9 with a good back 9!

The last few times that I played golf I used my GolfLogix application on my Blackberry Storm. I now have an extended battery and the application works really well. From the tee box or fairway on the par-5 holes, it gives me the distance to each hazard and to clear the hazard and the distance to the 150 and 100 yard lay-ups. From the tee on the par-3 holes and from the fairway it gives you the distance to the front, middle and back of the green (the scopes give you the actual distance to the flagstick). You can keep your score, tee shots in the fairway and left and right, greens in regulation, putts and other sundry information, and if you are really sophisticated (which I am not) you can measure the distance of each shot and the club used. After the round you can analyze all aspects of your game to see what areas require the most work. For $40 per year (plus the cost of the extended battery) I recommend this application over the $350 scopes or GPS devices.

A Walk in the Park

I was supposed to play golf on Saturday with Fred Flintstone and Bamm-Bamm. Bamm-Bamm is home for the holiday break and he is talking his usual smack. Due to frost on the greens in the morning all tee times were delayed and we did not have time to play. Instead, we hit the driving range, chipping green, putting green and bunkers at the Phoenix Country Club practice facility and talked a lot of smack. Fred is a really good short game player, although his putting stroke is not quite as steady as it used to be. As you would expect, Bamm-Bamm has the touch of an 800-pound gorilla! Fred tried to work with me on my bunker play, but ultimately got disgusted and gave up. It was pretty dismal! But I was hitting my irons well and chipping really well. On the putting green, Fred Flintstone always has some game that I have never played. For some reason Fred always wins these games! Go figure! Bamm-Bamm is returning to school this week so we are going to try to play in the afternoon before he leaves. Since we are "even for life" it is like taking candy from a baby.

Fred and I played hooky on Monday afternoon and played golf at the Phoenix Country Club. Bamm-Bamm helped his girlfriend get ready to return to college. It was a beautiful low-70s afternoon and we decided to walk and enjoy the mid-January weather in Phoenix. When God invented golf, he intended that man (and woman) walk the golf course. We did not get started until about 2:30 so we were really hustling to try to finish before sunset at 5:30. There was an older gentlemen and his wife on the first tee when we arrived. The woman was playing pink golf balls (the kiss of death!) and whiffed on her first shot. We decided to walk to the second tee to begin the round. We played from the tips, which are 6,764 yards with a course rating of 72.4 and a slope rating of 129. The course has a lot of well-placed trees, including some that block your shot to the green from the fairway (see Bad Course Design Rule)! I started off well just missing a birdie on the par-3 second hole and I hit the ball solidly all round, but I had a few mishaps and errant shots and some bad luck! Fred cruised around the course making pars and bogeys and shooting his usual low 80s score. Since I did not have a scorecard and my Golf Logix GPS died at the turn (I forgot my Energizer XP2000 Power Pack), I lost track of my score (which gives you some indication of how high it was!). We finished the 18th hole just as the sun was setting and could have gone back and finished the first hole, but in the spirit of laissez faire, we decided to call it a day.

A Glimmer of Hope

I played golf with my friend Digger on Sunday at Moon Valley Country Club. The weather was in the mid-60s and a little overcast. I was dressed in long pants and a long-sleeve rugby shirt and I was still cold. I have become an Arizona weather wimp! We played from the gold tees, which are 6,584 yards with a course rating of 71.1 and a slope rating of 120. This course is a bear from the tips, playing over 7,200 yards. At some point, Digger and I need to play from the tips just for laughs.

I may have to change Digger's pseudonym because he is no longer taking the large tiger pelt divots on each swing. He mentioned something about the course superintendent threatening him with club expulsion if he did not adjust his swing plane. Digger is hitting the ball much better, but taking too many strokes around the greens to score well. Moon Valley has a short par-3 course called the "Moonwalk" and Digger needs to get his young son out to play that course and work on his short game.

I am really starting to see improvement in my game. I am hitting the ball generally where I aim and I am making good, solid contact on virtually every swing. That hubris will probably be the kiss of death for my game! On the first hole I hit the ball into the greenside bunker and took two shots to get out of the bunker for a double bogey 6. I then parred 4 of the next 8 holes and finished the front 9 holes with a 42! I had two pars and one double-bogey on the back 9 holes for a 44 and an 86 total! I was one over par on the four par-3 holes. I hit 6 out of 14 fairways and my misses were still playable (no out-of-bounds penalties), but I only hit 4 greens in regulation. Oftentimes, I was just off of the green and using my Texas wedge, but I had too many chips and two putts from the fringe of the green! I need to keep working on my short game to lower my score.

I have been using my GolfLogix GPS application on my Blackberry the last few times I played golf. Previously, at about the 15th hole the battery dies and I cannot get information or input information for the remainder of the round. For Festivus for the Rest of Us my SO bought me the Energizer XP2000 Power Pack that attaches to a Blackberry and provides additional battery capacity. It worked like a dream. I had no problem with battery power or back-lighting and it seemed to take less time to get satellite distances once you were stationary. The power pack costs $40.