A couple of weeks ago I made the journey down to sunny and warm Florida and enjoyed some good golf architecture on the way.
From the first stop at Pinehurst to play the brown Dormie Club in a cold torrential downpour (for the first five holes)
with this beautiful pond in winter (not in play)
........ and onwards to the Country Club of Brunswick with its wondrous Rossian greens.
............. and on to Brooksville for World Woods and the Pine Barrens, one of tom Fazio's gems.
............. and on to the Steve Smyers' modern golden age design at Twin Eagles.
2014 ended on a golfing architecture up note
But then January 1 rolled around and I had an afternoon tee time at Raptor Bay, a "Ray Floyd" designed resort course. I've played here a number of times in past years and enjoyed the course and always appreciated the greens as fast and true. So, I booked a tee time at 2:20 p.m. for myself with my wife walking/riding with me (because her back is bad). I purposely booked an open slot not wanting to join up with the two twosomes who had booked the preceding two tee times. I figured that they'd play quickly in the interest of finishing before dark or that they'd let me through if they were slow or that I'd go around them if I wasn't invited to play through.
So, arrived at the tee a bit early at the same time as the 2 pm group - a couple, and the 2:10 group - two young kids (like 7 years old) and their non-playing father; and another couple who'd been a late addition to my 2:20 time. The 2:00 pm couple took off - they definitely wanted to be first and before the two kids.
The father with the two kids said they were definitely going next because the kids were playing forward tees and were tournament golfers so it wasn't going to be a problem. The 7 year old - dressed like a pro - said to all that he could certainly play well and had just shot a 41 for nine. Kind of arrogant, I thought.
The other couple were very nice but suggested I go on my own as the wife had only played for 6 months and would be intimidated playing with someone else. But, they were fast - they usually played in 3.5 hours. I was OK with playing alone in front, but the starter said no way - they'd have to go first. The couple insisted I go first. The starter relented. I asked if the course was open in front of the first couple because there were few cars in the lot. I figured I could start on 2 or 3 and catch up the holes at the end. The starter was adamant that wasn't going to happen. I would run into a wall of people right away. (Turned out there were at least open holes in front and probably more).
So, I tee off after the two tournament tykes and their dad. I sit in the fairway with my drive. The kids had really good swings, but, they played in order, and only played when their dad discussed the line of play with them and got them aligned and commented on the results, and filled their divots. Same procedure after their second shots and on their chips on to the green. On the green, he read each kids putt in turn and walked along the line gesturing how the putt was going to break. Kid 1 comes up 30 feet short on a 60 foot putt. I could here the whining from 100 yards away. The second kid misses too and bends over and holds his head. They putt out everything, of course. In order, marking each.
My wife, who was walking is already complaining that she can't walk this slow. I figure we'll give them one more hole and then I'll go around. The first couple is already a hole ahead.
The 2nd was a par 3. I arrived just as the left the tee. No notice from them. Fortunately they were close to the green, so the whole chipping/ putting process didn't take too long. The dad waved to me, acknowledging that he knew I was there. The couple behind us was on us. I birdied the hole, so was at the next tee quickly. They had gotten out of driving range, so I drove away. Then dad went through the same prolonged process of aligning their shots and describing the play they should make. Same process on the green, still walking each line and marking the path for them. By this point my wfe had walked forward and was way off to the side of the green. Dad apparently told my wife that I could play through on the next hole - another par 3.
This is one of the saddest things I've seen on a golf course in a long time. I haven't seen such an obsessive parent since I coached minor hockey a long time ago. Kids being taught to play tournament gold at 7 years old by an obsessive dad. Trying to make another Rory or Tiger. And, paying $84 each to do it on a fairly tough golf course in the middle of other people playing for fun. And, the kids didn't even seem to be having fun. How truly sad.
I played through. Thanked them and said "Have fun". Butchered the hole.
On the next hole, the couple behind us had caught up because they skipped the par 3 and asked if they could join us. I said sure. They played the rest of the front nine with us - quickly. The wife completely melted down with performance anxiety over me watching. My wife suffers the same way and tried to talk to her. Me, I didn't care, they played quickly. They decided to play the 1st nine over because by then we were catching up to the lead couple. There were at least three open holes in front of them and they were playing relatively fast. So, there was no wall to run into, as the starter had warned.
I walked the back nine and s stayed comfortably behind the lead couple. We finished in 3.75 hours.
Now as to the course, I noticed as we drove in that the grass siding the road was the brightest emerald green I'd ever seen. I thought it might have been painted, it was so bright. The whole course was overseeded and consequently quite green and quite soggy. There were some ground game opportunities in the design but absolutely no possibility of using them.
The greens looked kind of barren in spots where it looked like the overseed didn't work too well. The greens had been cut but in swathes that stopped short of the edges. And, they hadn't bothered to do the last path around the perimeter. Totally sloppy mowing job. And they were cut long - maybe 5 or 6 on the stimp and very grainy to boot. It was so slow that I putted with some speed down a 4.5* slope and had the ball stop halfway down. Just hopeless when they're charging full price for the experience.
I'll not be back this year.
Really so sad about dad's teaching kids the wrong way to play at that early age. but, maybe that's how the superstars of tomorrow are created.