Cart Path Only

My last course for this trip to San Antonio was River Crossing with which I was completely unfamiliar.  My golf partner had arrived and he suggested this course that he had played quite frequently in the past.  So I had made a tee time and was warned that because of the drought and their conditions that the course was cart path only!  Figured all the walking would be good for me.  Unfortunately, the night before it rained!! I know, twice now when I am in San Antonio it has rained so maybe I am helping fight the drought.  The problem for us golfers was that meant the next morning it was SUPER humid on the course and absolutely no wind for the front 9; so very very steamy conditions.  We were dripping sweat just changing our shoes.

River Crossing was built as part of housing development that had not really taken off and so it was still open to the public.  There were some houses on the course but many vacant areas and some remote areas with no development.  The clubhouse was undergoing major renovations and so the pro shop was in a trailer.  The folks took our money but were not real welcoming; they seem to mostly have members to whom they cater. 

The course did appear fairly brown in the fairways but the trees were beautiful.  Again like La Cantera the water features were pretty dried up or nonexistent.  I did ask if the course crossed the river or ran alongside it, but was told no.  So not sure why the name?  [Of course I play a course near home called SugarTree and I have never seen a tree that grows sugar only a tree made of sugar in a candy shop!]

As I sweated my way around the course I worked on improving my 3 wood with helpful advice from my golf partner (swing czar).  It worked to some degree and I vowed to return home to the range to work on what I had learned.  Now we had a bet for lunch riding on the round (on these bets he usually gives me 10 strokes) and I was staying close after a few tough holes on the front nine. 

At the turn we apparently lost all the groups behind us -- nobody else could stand this heat and humidity!  But we plugged along.  The course is pretty other than the brown areas and is tree lined but more wide-open than Silverhorn.  Fun to play and challenging but not unfair.  Forward tee boxes were pretty brown and dried up compared to the other tee boxes but the alignment was not too bad on most holes although I noted 3 that had a tree blocking about half of the aiming point.   #1 Tee has a strange alignment from front tees with a split fairway.

As we came down to the last three holes I had a pretty good lead, and despite my partner's attempts to rattle me I managed to hang on at the end.  I did hit my drive a little too far on 18 and ended up on the far side of the protecting bunker.  I had to hit two shots to get out but managed to make a double bogey - just enough to win the bet.  I had never really hit long sand shots onto the green so he went back and gave me some pointers that I can now use.  So I learned some things with this round.

Now there was nothing out near the course, we were both quite drained and both had several hour drives to get home, so I settled for a small cheeseburger, fries and a large diet coke at the McDonalds across the street.  I was just happy to have something else cold to drink. On my drive home I thought happily about all the great golf I had enjoyed over the three days and all that I had learned.

There are still more courses in that area that I plan to return to play so I will be back!

Back to La Cantera Alone

I returned to play La Cantera again but this time on my own.  I called to make my tee time and then actually changed it the afternoon before, moving into a late morning tee time.  I needed to be done by 3:00pm.  When I arrived, the parking lot was full of pickups and trailers -- this looked liked Hyatt Hyatt Hill Country all over again except this time I learned it was the Texas Deer Association!  Never heard of these groups.  They were not playing golf but taking up the parking :)

When I arrived in the pro shop I was greeted quite nicely and told that the course was not too busy and little playing after me.  They knew I had played here before and so didn't see the need to give me a lot of instructions.  I hit a few balls on the range which appeared even more brown and dusty than previously.  The greens were again blazing fast as I noted on the practice green. 

The starter, Steve, was an older gentlemen and very sweet.  He gave me the whole spiel and then asked if I wanted to play the forward tees.  He drove down with me (as if I could not find them) and proceeded to watch me tee off and critique my shot which just happened to be smokin hot along the left side so that it rolled into the middle at 200 yards!  He suggested I hit two since there was a foursome ahead of me.  I did and hit the second one exactly same place :)  So I was off to a good start.

I was playing alone again though at a resort course -- a girl could get a complex with all these rounds alone! I did seem to be followed by some of the grounds crew for quite a bit of the front 9 as they seemed a little surprised to see a lone female golfer who was playing close to par.  I just smiled to myself and probably had a little more swagger in my step -- felt empowering to hit them well.

This time on number 2, I played the dogleg right by going over the trees and dropping the all on the fairway thus taking out the dogleg and making par.  You really must ignore the alignment of those forward tees and just aim where you want to hit it.

I did notice that more of the forward tees were in a little poorer shape than the other tee boxes as if they needed more watering.  And the course in general was a little brown around the edges but most fairways were pretty green.  The water hazards were pretty bone dry ( and a few stank).  I also made sure that on beautiful #5 with the elevated tees that I teed off from an elevated tee box instead of the lower forward tees.  Was really fun watching my ball soar down the fairway toward the green.

I did get caught behind some slower playing foursomes but at the turn, the guys let me play through when they stopped for more beer.  They teased me that I was playing too well for them :)  On the back nine I did come across some pretty slow groups including several that were playing together as an unofficial tournament; they kept waiting on the tee boxes for group behind them so they could chat. They finally all let me play through as I was kept pulling up behind them. I was happy to let them linger over their games but I had somewhere to be later that afternoon.  One group let me play through and then watched me on the 16th tee where I drove the green at 200+yards!  What a great shot and I made birdie!  In fact birdied 2 of the last 3 holes to finish with an 80.

I will probably return here again to play the Palmer Course which is a little more isolated but supposedly just as fabulous.

Fun with the deer

I could not resist returning to San Antonio to play more golf before my semester starts back.  Played three days in a row on different courses.  Wanted to play Tapatio Springs but the head pro admitted they are in really bad shape due to the drought so I passed for now and will return when they have had some rain.

First day drove down to play Silverhorn Golf Course about which I have heard many good things.  Made my tee time online with a special so was able to play for almost nothing.  Did have a little trouble with traffic on I-35 because of an accident so I was boogeying to make my tee time.  When I arrived and was waiting to pay I was a little disturbed when after the person in front of me had paid, the pro told the starter that the threesome at 2:24 was now a foursome!  Well I had made a tee time as a single golfer for 2:24 so that was my tee time.  Hmm this did not make me happy.  The gentlemen then was startled when I stated I was there for the 2:24 tee time; he made an excuse but said that I would be able to play shortly.   I did hit a few balls on the range and then met the starter.  He too looked perplexed as he tried to figure where to place me and asked if I preferred to play alone.  He finally figured it out and he put 3 singles together to play pretty quickly so I only started about 15 minutes after my original tee time.   We did have a little fun when one of the original guys backed out stating he needed to hit more warmup shots first, then another single showed up.  The first guy ended up in the group behind us -- so he didn't hit too many more shots :)  I think he was just scared!

 I think he felt a little bad that I had to wait and since I was the only female anywhere in site (well besides the cart girl) he started to talk me up by asking questions.  Well small world but he was a retired college prof and now he and his wife spent their time golfing and travelling.  My two playing partners were two really nice younger men; one was a steel maker who was very curious about my playing.  We conversed quite a bit and he was very complimentary (flirting) which helped make what turned out to be a very long hot round enjoyable.

After rushing to make the tee time, I was still pretty pumped up and it took me almost 9 holes to get into my playing rhythm.  Plus the course is pretty tight with many trees on the edges of the fairways.  I hit some pretty good drives on some holes only to end up on the edge of the fairway behind a tree with the only shot a punch out to the middle of the fairway.  Frustrating!  The course also played a little long for me so that even with good drives of 200 yards I was still often playing longer irons into the greens.  The par 3 number 5 played 137 yards into the wind so that was a challenge but I hit a low 4 iron onto the green and made par. 

The course also had a number of holes (besides par 3s) that were cart path only -- again the effects of the prolonged drought, but it is a beautiful course in the middle of the city.  And deer were everywhere!  They ran across fairways and lurked around greens.  I only caught them with my camera few times but saw them all over and heard them rustling in the undergrowth.  Funny to step into a bunker and see little hoof prints -- guess they don't know how to rake behind themselves.

The first 9 holes we played in 2 1/2 hours but the back nine slowed to an absolute crawl so that the entire round lasted a little over 5 hours.  After my drive and the heat I was pretty tired and headed to my hotel to grab some food and rest.

Conquering my home course

Been playing my home course of Fossil Creek quite a bit lately and really have a feel for the shots I need to make. Even with my 3-wood and I not on speaking terms for most of the past month, I have shot a 75 and 77 recently here.  The greens are in fabulous shape and not too quick and that helps so I have been reading them pretty well.

I also have bought a new driver after 6 years!  A 2007 model Taylormade Burner - whew it smokes it more easily than my old Callaway C4.  The new driver gains me about 15-30 additional yards and is more forgiving and it sounds great too! 

Have been having continuing problems with my 3 wood however.  This is an ongoing issue for me as I am just not consistent with it and often rush my swing.  I even bought a new 3 wood this year a Nike.  Hasn't helped so I guess I will need to get some 3 wood help!

Only thing about all the golf I have been playing lately at my home course and a few other local courses, almost all my rounds have been alone!  Seems no one wants to play with me :) LOL  Actually it is probably the times I pick such as late morning after the retirees have finished their morning rounds when temperature is not yet too hot and before the much cheaper late afternoon rounds. Or I have played a quick 18 in the evening.  This is the great part about being a college prof who is either off in the summer or only teaching online --you can golf any time of the day.