The Hooked on Golf Blog World Tour was in French Lick, Indiana last week to experience golf and the French Lick Resort. In addition to the fabulous Donald Ross course, I had the opportunity to play the Pete Dye course at French Lick. Wowsies.
On a difficulty scale from 1-10, the Dye Course is a 12.3. With a course rating of 80.0 and a slope of 148, I’ve not played a more difficult course. And I’ve played some of the world’s most difficult courses like TPC Sawgrass, Wolf Creek, and Carnoustie.
I will be posting my full review of the French Lick Pete Dye course as soon as I’ve recovered from the beatdown it gave me. Stay tuned.
This past week the HOG World Tour was in French Lick, Indiana to check out two courses from two very different and equally famous golf course architects, Pete Dye and Donald Ross. The Donald Ross Course was the first on the menu, and I loved the entree so much I went back through the buffet a 2nd and 3rd time.
The Donald Ross Course 10th hole (left) with the practice putting green in the foreground
This was one of the more challenging Donald Ross courses I’ve played due to the large amount of elevation changes and horizontal movement of the holes. And the greens were some of the most extreme I’ve ever putted. Putting or chipping from above the hole is nearly impossible.
Par-3 4th Hole – 240 Yards
I was able to play this fabulous old course (1917) three times. It’s ranked 71st in Golf Digest’s Top-100. I’ll be posting my full review of the experience soon, but wanted to do a quick share and a couple of photos prior to that. Stay tuned.
Greetings from the fabulous and beautiful French Lick Resort in French Lick, Indiana. I think I can see Larry Bird’s house from here. I’m in French Lick on a press trip to review the resort and the three golf courses here. More to come on the golf.
View from a balcony room into the dome at the West Baden Springs Hotel
The photo above is a shot from the balcony of my terrific room here at the West Baden Springs Hotel. The hotel is circular with a huge dome in the middle. The reverberation is quite lengthy.
This is a very classy place. They obviously aren’t on to me being a blogger. They must think I’m a “journalist.” Shhhh. Don’t tell them.
Bananas Foster
Last night I had a dinner, feast rather, fit for a king. Above you can see the waiter making up my favorite dessert in the universe, Bananas Foster. Wow was that good. Great restaurants here at French Lick Resort.
Check back for some golf related posts from the Ross Course and the Pete Dye course.
In my previous posts I’ve discussed the Salt Lake City Amateur and how I feel a lot of pressure. Two days after that tournament I had to play a gross match against a 1.4 handicap opponent. I’ve not been playing to a level I expect from myself, so I had doubts as to my chances of victory.
I started out hot though. I made birdie on the first two holes, winning both. We tied the third hole and my opponent made birdie on the tough 4th, at which time I was just 1UP. We both had eagle putts on the par-5 5th and both two-putted. On the par-3 6th we both hit the green. I two-putted but my opponent missed a very short par-putt. Back to 2UP.
Then it got weird. On the short par-4 7th I hit a pushed drive down the right rough were there are some trees. Often the shot will finish in an okay position there, just a sand wedge to the green. My ball looked to hit right at the base of a tree and neither of us saw it bounce or go anywhere at that point. We searched for the allowed five minutes and the ball was nowhere to be found. I theorize the ball embedded into the tree somehow, or ended up climbing up and lodging high overhead. I had to go retee and ended up making a double. Back to 1UP.
I made a solid par on the par-4 8th and my opponent had tree trouble which produced a bogey. 2UP.
On the very difficult 195 yard par-3 9th I almost jarred my tee shot. It finished about four feet. I made birdie. 3UP.
We both tied the 11th with 2-putt-pars.
The Fall
Walking to the 11th tee with my 4-iron I stepped over a rope. Somehow my shoe caught the rope and I was not ready for that. I fell flat on my face and my ball, tee, and 4-iron went flying. I hurt my left wrist and left knee. Mostly I hurt my pride. Somehow I managed to hit a solid tee shot being a little shaken. I made par and my opponent made bogey. 4UP.
We both tied the par-5 12th. I got away with that one. He was a long hitter and was over the green in two. I made a clutch par saving downhill putt from about five feet.
I had a great opportunity on the 13th. My opponent made bogey and I ended up with a five footer uphill to win the hole and put the match to dormie. I should have been more aggressive. The putt tailed off and missed. That gave him life and he took advantage.
On the par-4 14th I made bogey and my opponent made an impressive birdie. 3UP.
On the par-3 15th from 225 I chunked a 4-iron. I then chunked my 2nd shot. At this point I’m beginning to battle the choke mechanism. I lose the damn hole to a bogey. Not impressive.
The 16th is a very reachable par-5. I knew my opponent would have a good shot at birdie or even eagle. He blocked his drive into the right rough and had a slight tree issue. I was a couple of feet in the left rough about 250 out. I hit a killer hybrid which crept onto the front of the big green, but the pin was back. My opponent blew his shot past the green nearly into some trees. He had no backswing. His third shot hit the rough behind the green and he chipped onto the green to about 15 feet. I was too conservative with my eagle putt and ended up 3-putting for a par. My opponent made a clutch putt to tie and keep the match alive. Dormie 2 (2UP with two holes to play).
At this point I’m getting nervous. He has the momentum after that clutch putt and clawing his way to dormie two from 4-down. He hit a stellar shot to the par-3 17th and had about 10 foot birdie putt. I gagged my tee shot and ended up short of the green. Would my nemesis chipping and bad short game lose this hole? Not if I use a Texas wedge! I putted from about 10 feet off the green to about four feet. My opponent missed his birdie and I gave him the par. That left me a slick left to right four footer for the win.
Nailed it.
I shot -2 on the front nine with a double (the tree ball), and ended with my best round of the year, 74. It would seem I felt much less self-induced pressure in this match than in the City Am over the weekend.
Match play is without a doubt my favorite form of golf. The intensity and pressure of a one-on-one match like this is so fun. I should have had the match in the bag, being 4UP with five to play. But it’s very hard to not let your brain get in the way of finishing off the match in that position.
My next match is likely against an even better player, a +2.5. He’s human. I hope he brings his C game. 🙂
In the previous post about the 2016 RCK Salt Lake City Amateur tournament, I mention briefly a sock scripting malfunction. I thought the story deserved it’s own golf blog post so here it is.
In the 2nd round of the tournament Sunday I had some other problems in the shoe/sock department. I can laugh now but at the time I was not laughing.
Foot Injuries
I walked some 20+ miles in some new shoes early in the week and as a result got a bad blister on my left heel, along with some kind of injury on my right arch. So I had some pain in both feet, which makes walking 12 miles in the tournament a little difficult.
I taped the hell out of my ankle and changed shoes on the 2nd day. That helped a lot. The new old shoes did not rub or make the blister worse thank the golf gods.
Sock Scripting Malfunction
It was about 7 a.m. and my bedroom was still dark Sunday morning, the day of the second round. As to not wake up the lovely sleeping beauty bride, I quietly grabbed a pair of white Kentwool Tour socks from my drawer and tip toed out of the bedroom and headed to the tournament. In the parking lot of the course when I attempted to put the socks on I found they were about 8 sizes too small. They were my 3-year-old son’s Kentwools, accidentally located in my sock drawer! Complete and utter sock scripting #fail.
I had no choice. I stretched them and put them on. Surprisingly I could stretch them enough to cover my feet and ankle. My playing partners/buddies told me “just buy some damn socks in the pro-shop!” I told them, “I’m not going to buy a crappy pair of cotton socks. I’d rather wear my 3-year-old’s Kentwools than adult size crap socks.” They thought I was nuts. Then again, they don’t wear Kentwools so they can’t possibly understand.
A few holes in my toes were being crushed together and the stretched fabric was not giving me enough padding. I knew if I continued on I’d do even more damage to my feet. On the 3rd hole I called lovely bride and asked her to bring me new socks.
On the 8th fairway a cart from the pro-shop came down with a grocery sack for me. Special delivery from the wife. Inside was a pair of white Kentwools. Thank you thank you. On the 9th tee I started to put the socks on and realized something. The socks were my wife’s socks, not mine! Too small again! Dammit to hell! I looked in the sack and fortunately she brought an extra pair of Masters green Kentwools, which were my size. What a relief.
Below are all the socks involved in this event, after I wore them all. The smaller sizes are a bit stretched out now.
Left: 3-year-old’s socks | Middle: wife’s socks | Right: my socks
I finished the hot round in 95 degrees with comfy feet and no further issues. Ironically I played better in my 3-year-old’s socks than ones that were my size.
- Score while wearing 3-year-old’s socks: one over par.
- Score while wearing socks my size: six over par.
The stats don’t lie. I guess I’ll be wearing my 3-year-old’s socks from this point on. Kentwools only, of course.
« Previous
1
…
125
126
127
128
129
…
1,163
Next »
HOGWire – Golf Industry News
