Golf Tour 2007
 
 
Sunday, Dec. 2 -- Still moving south, today's outing was at Bryan Park on the northeast side of Greensboro, NC. The place has two 18-hole courses. The Championship course was closed for maintenance, so we played the Players course. Executive summary -- it was a day that brought out my best manic-depressive tendencies!
 
Pretty nice day, pretty nice course, though I wasn't so sure at the start, but it grew on me. The first three longer holes didn't seem very interesting -- straight, bunkers on both sides in various places, but basically, just hit the ball straight. And I really like having some sort of yardage book, and they had none. Yesterday at Vista they had no yardage book, but they had small 200-, 150-, and 100-yard stakes in the fairways that gave you a good idea of how far it was to, or over, various hazards. No such aid here. But at least the course got more interesting. Course website.
 
Bermuda fairways and greens, all dormant, and bent greens. The practice green was perfect; the regular greens were ok, reasonably quick but often a little beat up from ball marks. A lot of oaks, so leaves were a problem if you hit it near them.
 
Played the white tees, 6,516, par 72, 70.9/128. The length was not really a problem, only one green I couldn't reach in regulation, just a matter of execution....
 
1. Par 4, 421. Actually, don't know if I could have reached this in regulation or not, since drive was a drop-kick, maybe went 150 yards. Good 5 wood, then real thin lob wedge about 40' past pin, 3 putts. Double, not a good start.
2. Par 5, 461. Short/easy par 5, but made it hard. Pulled drive into bunker, so-so 7 iron, ok wedge but 45' short, 2 putts.
 
3. Pin was front right.
 
3. Par 3, 173 downhill. Good 6 iron to front fringe, 2 putts from 35'.
4. Par 5, 508. Really messed it up. Pushed drive into bunker, good 5-iron out, but then lousy 8 iron into front bunker. Chunked sand shot, moved about 2 yards and settled right under the lip. Took a drop further back, good sand shot this time, 2 putts from 9'. Triple.
5. Par 3, 168. Good 5 iron but pin was way back, 2 putts from 45'.
6. Par 4, 355. Perfect drive, fat 9 iron into front bunker, sand shot caught thin but stayed on green, 2 putts from 50'.
7. Par 4, 372. Sharp dogleg right, wasn't sure how soon fairway ran out. Hit a good drive down the right side, just caught tree, never found it. Second drive aimed straight, perfect, just before end of fairway, excellent 7 iron across pond, 2 putts from 30'. Another double.
8. Par 4, 362. Sharp dogleg left. Hung drive a little right but ok. 7 iron a little thin, semi-buried just under lip of front bunker. Got it out onto front fringe, but 3 putts. Another double. Getting pretty frustrated.
9. Par 4, 410. Dogleg left. Perfect drive. Perfect 3 iron 25' past pin. Good to 2-putt down the slope. So a 46 for the front side, though the 9th hole was good for morale.
 
10. Par 4, 363. Dogleg right, tough off the tee for my shot shape. Pushed drive, hit trees, found it this time. Good 3 iron through trees, chip from about 40 yards to 5', made putt. A very surprising par!
11. Par 3, 173 uphill. Lousy 3 iron short left, chipped to 20', 2 putts.
12. Par 5, 498 downhill. Perfect drive, so-so 5 wood, chip from 40 yards to 10' but missed putt.
 
Second shot at 13. I was about 145, Gail 140.
 
Shot to 13th green, stopped dead.
 
13. Par 4, 405. Tough hole, dogleg left and across pond. Perfect drive, perfect 7-iron to 10', made the putt! Finally, first birdie of the trip. And Gail played the hole -- perfect drive, amazing 3 wood cleared the pond, rolled to back right fringe, putt to 2' and made it. So we were 7 strokes between us.
14. Par 5, 488, uphill. Totally uninteresting hole, except it bent slightly to the right and was another awkward tee shot for me. But perfect drive, 5 wood, wedge, putt from 25' stopped on the front lip.
 
16. Pin was front right....
 
... which was where my ball happened to end up.
 
15. Par 4, 389, back downhill. Pulled drive, lucky it stayed out of woods. 7 iron with ball well above my feet, caught it cleanly and it rolled and rolled and ended up 6' from the pin. Made the putt, second birdie! Very lucky. One under for the 9 at this point.
 
16. No idea how far to carry the bunkers (turned out to be about 250), or to reach the trees on the left. Fairway sloped left, didn't make it any easier.
 
16. Par 4, 366 uphill. Slight dogleg right, good drive but cut the corner a little too close and just caught the bunker. Ok 6 iron, straight but 15 yards short, ok chip, 2 putts from 10'. Well, now I'm even for the 9.
 
17. I was well right of the right bunker.
 
17. Par 3, 181, across pond and uphill. Pushed 5 wood badly, good/lucky chip to 4', missed putt. Well, now I'm one over.
 
Second shot to 18. Plenty of room to the left....
 
18. Par 4, 422 uphill, especially at the end. Perfect drive, 5 wood from 190, pretty solid but pushed a little, caught bunker just below pin. Thin sand shot over the green, good chip back down the hill, but missed putt from 6'. Finished with a double, damn.
 
39 on the back side, 85 overall. Much better than it looked after 8 holes, but so many missed opportunities, as usual. But good at least to have the good holes. 7 fairways, 7 greens, 7 pars and 2 birdies. But also a triple and 4 doubles.
 
There's always another day....  :-)
 
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Bryan Park (Players Course), Greensboro, NC