Hawks Creek and History

Hawks Creek is the course next to the Joint Naval Reserve Base (JNRB) or what was previously known as Carswell Air Force Base.  The course was originally part of the base and was the officer's course.  It has a great stone castle for a club house

 and the old commandant's house is still located within the course grounds.

 So as a military history buff I always find my mind wandering on the course about all those who played here and what became of them.   Also on some days when the folks are out flying at the base it can be pretty noisy :)

The course is a challenge and has some difficult holes for me especially 9 and 18.  I have played here alone on occasions and they usually will not pair me with anyone; I have even been squished between foursomes! 

On this day I shot a 75!  Wow I was so stoked.  (I must admit I play pretty well with my golf partner who is a scratch golfer playing from the back tees.)  Occasionally the pace can be a little slow here as well - and especially if you are playing as a single golfer.  Lots of local veterans play here and many of the volunteers are vets too; they are usually happily surprised to see me out playing and come by often during my rounds to see how I am doing and then we talk about their days in the military.

Indian Creek Golf Course and 70s on home course!

In May my golf partner came up to visit and play some golf and so I used my Eagle Card for great rates on both my home course and Indian Creek GC.  With my free round we split the cost and so paid half price basically for Friday and Saturday morning tee times.  Indian Creek is a challenging course and played fairly long for me even from the front tees.  The greens were large but a little tricky.  Lots of folks out playing so pretty slow play and pretty hot and humid with some standing water on the course in a number of places.  Only saw one or two other ladies anywhere on the course! 

On Friday I shot a 79 on my home course!  I was pretty excited as you can imagine and won a bet for a drink from my partner.  Enjoyed a great margarita that night :)

Golf in Corpus Christi

Traveled to see a friend (male) who is my golf partner/swing czar and play a little golf along the Texas coast!  Wow some gorgeous courses and views.  As a native Texas girl who lives in the north central part of the state, I enjoy escaping to the coast for some fun. 

For the first round I played, I had read about a great course along the strand of Port Aransas that had been built originally as part of a housing development but until or if enough homes are built, the course is open to the public.   The course is Newport Dunes and it is BEAUTIFUL!  The starter was happy to tell us about the course and how the grass remains so green although often has waves of salty ocean water splashing upon it - the fairways are sea grass!  A native grass that loves the gulf water and in fact thrives under it.

The course plays much like a links course but has some spectacular views of both the gulf and Corpus Christi Bay.  As is usual here along the Texas coast or anywhere in Texas really be prepared for lots of wind!  I played from the front tees and played pretty well with a score in the low 80s.  At the ninth hole, my partner hit a beautiful 5 wood onto the green on his second shot on a long par 5 -- unfortunately the twosome ahead of us was still on the green!  They were very good natured about it when we apologized.  I hit a great long bunker shot onto the green on the same hole; my partner had not seen me hit it and wondered if it was in the bunker!  I assured him that it was a bunker shot and I made par.  We then hooked up with the twosome on the next hole and played the rest of the round with these two really nice young men. 

I would highly recommend this course for anyone as it is gorgeous and very friendly.  Bring your camera for some great shots (I unfortunately forgot mine!)

The next day we played another fabulous course, NorthShore Country Club in Portland, Texas.  Again beautiful course with lots of natural grass and vegetation.  Birds of all kinds were everywhere.  The real beauty of the course, though arrived when we hit the holes along the coast!  The first hole on the coast was an intimidating par 3 from an elevated tee straight down toward the gulf and into about a 30-40 mph wind that day!  None of us hit the green but I was just off on the fringe and managed to make par - whew.  The next few holes then meandered along the coast line and had some pretty narrow fairways and greens with the wind and waves whipping along our left side.  See my pictures of these holes and notice the palm trees blowing in the wind.   

Golf Club at Fossil Creek

As I have mentioned in a previous post, Fossil Creek is my "home" course and I really enjoy playing here.  When I first started playing, I took lessons from the pro at the course.  I was a little afraid to play the course though as it seemed pretty intimidating.  At the time, I had girl friend who also played and we decided to take the course on!  It was not a pretty site but we made it around after losing a ton of golf balls.  But I was hooked and determined to improve my game and come back to the course and play better.

Well all these years later and I LOVE the course now and am not intimidated.  I can measure my improvements by my confidence on holes such as #6 (a signature hole), with its uphill shot across the creek or the tricky par 5 #11.  I can now make it to the green in three shots!  At the beginning of the summer my best score on the course is an 82 but I'm pretty proud of that score.

When I first began walking up to play as a single at the course, the guys in the pro shop were a little perplexed, and they had some difficulty placing me with other groups to play as they were mainly men.  If there were any women or couples or folks with children, I was always directed to play with them.  I also noted a rather sad occurence that has happened to me at other courses as well -- I, as the lone lady golfer, would often be paired with a single minority male golfer, especially African Americans.  Now what I mean by this is that if there were a handful of single male golfers and one of them was a minority, the white male golfers would be teamed up to play and then the single lady and the single minority male would be placed together - as if not sure others would want to play with us.  As someone who abhors racism/discrimination, I thought this was really sad, but I always had a great time with these folks although I believe sometimes the African American males were a little hesitant at first on how to approach me as the single white lady golfer, but I just made sure I smiled and walked up to introduce myself and break the ice.  Once we started playing and could talk about our games, everyone usually relaxed.  And it helped if I could hit a nice good 180-200 yard drive off the tee so that they could see I am serious about my game :)

The ownership of the course changed over time and the folks who work at the course all know me now as the lady who calls up to play by herself.  They are great and welcome me warmly.  The starters take good care of me as well and help place me with great folks or assure them that I will not slow down their play.  Or sometimes I just want to play around by myself and work on my shots and they are nice to let me do that as well when it is not busy.  TC always gives me a hug when he sees me and asks how my game is going.

There are a few holes where the forward tee box is not in a really good location; this is especially true of #17 where the forward tee sits at the bottom of hill with no view!  You just stand looking up the hill and can barely see the tops of trees in the distance making it difficult to line up your tee shot and it is a long par 4 so you need a good tee shot that bends slightly to the right.  Number 11 also can be a little tricky; this is the long par 5 on the back.  You can reach the main fairway from the forward tees but they planted some trees that are making this more and more difficult; if you take the short short layup off the tee then it is really difficult to be able to reach the green in the 3.  I can hit it over the trees and onto the main fairway but it is a 180 yard carry minimum and in the winter with prevailing north winds this is a really challenging shot.  On par 5s I want the CHANCE to be able to reach the green in three if I can make a fair shot.

Below are some pics of #12 one of my fav holes as my slight fade on the driver usually puts me within about 90 yards of the green and this is another signature hole.  Supposedly, Tiger Woods filmed a commercial for Nike golf balls here a few years past and drove it onto the green!  A friend of mine hit from the back tees and just missed making the green but it is an intimidating shot :)

Eagl Card

In late spring I purchased an DFW EagleGolf Card.  My home course Fossil Creek Golf Club in Fort Worth, Texas is owned/operated by EagleGolf and they offer this great card each year.  You purchase the card for a one time fee and it allows you to play free rounds on each of 9 local courses they operate -- any day, any time.  Really a great deal and good way to try some different courses and layouts.  In addition, the card provides a 20% discount on rounds at other times and you earn points toward free rounds each time you golf at one of the courses. 

Now I am also a Player Development Program member at Fossil Creek and I think it is a great deal as well.  It provides free range balls, cheap twilight rates at 2:00pm everyday ($20), and free clinics offered twice a week with the golf pro, and a discount at the pro shop.  I play quite a bit at Fossil Creek and love the course with its variety of holes, and the folks who work there know me and are helpful when I want to book a tee time.  The starters are great guys and know me well enough now to place me with a variety of groups.

Thoughts from this lady golfer

I took up golf about 9 years ago when I had been divorced and sought a way to stay active in sports while meeting new people -- especially nice single, professional men.  I invested in a few lessons so that I could learn the basics and then it was out to play.  At first I golfed on a pretty basic wide-open course (really a cow pasture) and played in a ladies league.  It was a fun way to learn and little pressure and my game grew.   As a lifelong athlete who had played very competitive soccer for many, years I wanted a sport I could play by myself.  I enjoy the challenge of constantly trying to improve my game and the camaraderie of playing with others.

I soon found, however, that playing in a ladies league was not really what interested me.  Now I met some very nice ladies and they are all great folks, however, women tend to want to provide group therapy when they play.  Even the most AWFUL of shots are praised in some way; I mean a dribbler that goes 10 feet is said to at least still be in play!  I prefer the ribbing that one gets when playing with guys -- they razz each other mercilessly but all in jest.  OR ladies become uber-competitive and turn the sport into a pseudo-job traveling to win tournaments.  In addition, I am a college professor whose major area of study is military history and international relations; I am also a sports fanatic who LOVES football ( I could watch college football games all day on a Saturday).  I often have little in common in terms of conversation with other ladies who usually talk of kids and husbands -- of which I have neither.  I have always gravitated towards men when in groups so that I can join the conversations on sports and politics.  I also don't mind a good joke including a little off color.  Plus I found that when I played in the ladies league, I had little chance to meet single male golfers -- we were always separated!

So I have proudly set out to golf on my own. Little did I realize how rare it is for a single lady to simply walk up as a single golfer and want to play -- of course only about 20% of all golfers are women and in some areas (such as south Texas even fewer).  I love to play a variety of courses and enjoy meeting new people.  Most of my experiences have been wonderful but a few have been less than spectacular with only a few really bad.  I have met some great people and even been asked on a few dates.  I have also learned that some golf courses are more welcoming than others and some courses just see lady golfers as afterthoughts.

Over the last few years, I have mainly played with men.  They are often surprised and a little unsure of what to expect as we start out on that first tee, and they are curious.  Often about half way through the round, they ask why their wives don't play with them like this; I ask if they have purchased golf lessons for their wives.  The husbands often tell me they tried to teach their wives how to play.  I just smile and explain that no they need to have a PROFESSIONAL give their wives lessons so that there is no stress.   Then, they can enjoy the game together.  One of my goals is to maybe someday meet a great guy who would enjoy sharing a love of golf together and travelling to play courses around the nation and the world. 

I have started this blog as a place to record my thoughts as I have spent my summer of 2009 golfing a number of courses in Texas and noting how they treat a lady golfer.  The plan is to gather this information into an article on Texas golf courses and lady golfers.  I do have a great guy golf friend with whom I have played some of these courses; he is very lady golf friendly and has helped me with my game as well as with some of my reviews.  I have won a few meals and drinks in our friendly bets as well as buying a few and I am grateful for his input.