Lady Golfs Across Texas & the US: 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.