Blinded

I was invited not long ago to join two groups for golf at a recently restored course a few hours away. Considering the golf course had a unique history involving being situated on a glacial deposit, was originally designed by a Scottish immigrant, and underwent a major renovation and restoration a few years ago, I was excited to see and experience this classic course.

After making the journey a couple hours north, we arrived and were greeted by our host. Arrangements had been made for their superintendent to join us for lunch prior to our round. It was awesome to meet the superintendent and talk a little about the changes to the golf course and their maintenance practices and challenges.

During our brief warm-up period, I made notes on how they set up their hitting area on the range tee to share with our professional when I returned. You always learn something when playing other places. I hit a few putts on the practice green and was treated to some uber smooth Pure Distinction bentgrass. If the putting greens on the course were remotely close to the practice green, I knew I was about to have my personal top two or top three all-time putting green quality and consistency experiences.

The first tee is located just beyond the practice green, except for the tips. The back-tee markers are on the back of the practice green. As our first foursome made their way to the blue tees, our host said we were welcome to “tip it out if we wanted to see the entire course.”

Secretly, I cringed at the thought of playing a golf course more than 7,300 yards long. I would have voted to play from one tee set forward of the blue tees if the group was on the fence. My days as a back-tee golfer are long behind me, and I play from the forwardmost set of tees on many occasions when using hickory clubs.

The wind was gusting out of the northeast making for cooler than average temperatures, and our host said this would make the hardest holes on the course more difficult as a northeast wind is not prevailing. I could sense the other two members in my group were reluctant to go against our host’s wishes, despite him claiming he did not want to play the back tees yet insisting they were “fun” and telling us we would “see the entire course.”

As I looked at my Titleist Pro V1 teed up on the practice green, all I could think was to smile and make the best of it. I was an invited guest and truly appreciative of the opportunity to be included with this group.

The golf course was extremely firm and fast thanks to the intensive level of conditioning and the crisp, dry air. Balls in the fairway would run, making the course play shorter than its listed yardage. I promptly drove the ball off the first tee into the right rough.

The rough just outside the immaculately defined intermediate cut was turf-type tall fescue maintained at 2¾ inches. It grabbed my ball like a catcher’s mitt and stopped its forward progress like a hockey goalie making a pad save.

Unfortunately, my drive off the first tee was indicative of most of my tee shots on this day as the breeze made it difficult to get comfortable and I struggled to get the ball in play. Second shots into par 4s were played from too far away to reach a green in regulation unless I could play it cleanly from the rough and use the firm, tight approaches to bounce one onto the putting surface.

Our host was right: the golf course was fun. The challenge presented on this day was more than I could handle from where we played. But the difficult scoring conditions did not diminish the fun and thought-provoking shots this golf course possessed. I saw all of the golf course — and even more of it than I originally desired. But it is one I would love to play again, both with modern clubs and hickories.

Whoever was the first person to suggest golfers need to play the back tees in order to “see” the entire course was … well … not my favorite person. In fact, sometimes when playing from tees more forward there are bunkers and other features that come into play that one of modest ability cannot reach from the tips. I would argue that it is not that there is more course to see, but rather a different course. Sometimes the difference is more fun.