AUGUST 2001
Well, once again I've been abandoned by my playing/business partner. He's off to New York to play a little golf and bet the ponies at Sarratoga. What a life! I managed to play three rounds this week in Kentucky.
I took the wife (I know, I know, those of you who know me are yelling "you have to marry her to call her your wife") out to Weissinger Hills for a round of golf. We had exceptionally nice weather. Weissinger is in fair condition. The rough is getting a bit crispy from the heat. They keep the rough cut low to help move the plethora of golfers in attendance every day. Weissinger still only has 17 playable golf holes. The new (HA HA) green at 16 is just about toast. I think it's time to erect the old "two putt maximum sign" at 16. It's seems odd to me that a course would let a problem like this go on for...what is it?...6 years now. Oh well, it's a swell enough place and it's cheap. I shot 73 from the white tees. (I was accommodating others in the group). Enough said.
Persimmon Ridge with the regular guys Joe and Mike was next on the week. Persimmon is in pretty nice shape. They have a little funk (fungus) on a few fairways, but it was of little hindrance to play. The greens were moving pretty fast. I find Persimmon to be a beautiful place to golf, but I'm starting to see why some are critical of the green areas. You are severely penalized at Persimmon for the slightest of inaccuracies on approach shots. You can miss a pin on some holes by 12 feet, bound off a firm mound and end up with a 60 foot triple breaking putt on slick greens. It's a nice place, but its too tough on and around some greens. I shot 85 from the blue tees. I felt like I hit the ball great with the exception of one hole. Joe shot 90. Mike shot 97. I know they wouldn't want to be left out.
Next up, Nevel Meade. I've played this course a hundred times It's consistently in good shape. There is always a breeze at Nevel Meade, lending to the links style course design. It's a good design in my opinion. They have bent grass everything, except the places you are not supposed to be in. Over the years they have lessened the amount of tall rough to help move play along. They have a bevy of sand traps. Number 2 and 3 are the toughest holes on the front nine. 2 is a par five that temps you. You cannot see the rather small green on your second shot, making "going for it" a little ominous. Number 3 is just a straight up, long, tough par four. Depending on wind, you can be hitting wedge, or 4 iron into a well bunkered, elevated green. If you don't par number one, you may be in for a rough start. On the backside, look out for 14 and 17. The par five 14th is a brutal tee shot with any left to right wind. Like we had. Tee off from a elevated tee with O.B. on the right. That's the toughest part of the hole. 17 is just a ridiculously long par four. 474 from the tips. Tee off from a shoot that doesn't allow the eye or mind any comfort. A creek borders the left edge of the fairway just for fun. That's where I went. Fortunately, 18 is a reachable par five where you can get at least one back. I failed to get one back after 3 putting the rather portentous green. Leaving me with 76 on the day. I've seen Nevel Meade in better shape, but I'm still making it our Pick of the Week. They have added a nice deck overlooking 18 and 9 greens. Now all they need is a beer license, so we can enjoy an adult beverage while watching our buddies flounder in!
Once again we find ourselves weary from travel and unable to play much golf in our own state. Moe ran off to the Carolinas and I went back to Ohio to see if I could beat up on the Buckeyes again. I played in a 3 man scramble called Shark Scramble. We limped along to a 6 under score to tie for second.
Moe did manage a round at Wasioto Winds on his way home. So you can get the low down on that Pineville course at the MoeRon course review page.
We went out to Shelbyville Country Club and played wolf with Chuck and Paul. As we have mentioned before we love this place because the members don't show up on weekdays 'till afternoon. So we run around the course in about 3 hours and are usually gone before noon. The course is well kept and mature. Usually the clubhouse gang is hospitable, if not jovial. This day was unlike any other at Shelbyville CC. It took 4 hours to play. Of course, we did have a foursome so we were well within the confines of respectability. We began our day with a rather snippy dissertation on course procedures and etiquette. We had never seen our new instructor before. We took our lumps graciously, and moved on. After bragging to Paul the night before about what a great place Shelbyville CC was to golf, we were treated to a bacteria bath from the poorly timed sprinkler system on the front nine. The smell was awful, but the feeling that you were being showered by a pond scum mist was quite disgusting. Not to mention it's difficult to golf when you are dodging live sprinkler heads. Feeling a bit embarrassed about subjecting two of our advertisers to this, I apologized and tried to explain this was not normal. As we made the turn, I was summoned by the aforementioned golf Nazi behind the counter. He explained, in as condescending a manner as he could muster, that we were running 20 minutes behind. This was difficult to swallow after our front nine experience. There was no one behind us. We had let a threesome play through on the 5th hole when they caught us. Upon checking Paul's watch, we had completed nine holes in 2 hours 10 minutes. So if we are not holding anyone up, why does he care? A) He's a bored member on a power trip! B) They don't want non-members to play there anymore. There is no other apparent explanation. I hope that the club has not digressed to the snooty days of golf, that we all hope have passed us by. Probably just an isolated bad experience. We completed the round without further incident or embarrassment. We hope to never have another experience like that at Shelbyville CC. We will go back, because as I said, we usually love this place.
Oh yea...we did play golf, I shot 77. Missed a short putt on 18 that would have put me way up, but I still pocketed more than anyone else. Paul 99. Chuck 104. Moe 87. So...you know what this story tells you? This is not the pick of the week! But it is the only Kentucky course we played this week.