Just got back from a fabulous golf trip to Myrtle Beach. I would have given you long odds back in October that I could have played 36 holes for six straight days in hot weather, but I managed to pull it off and savored every one of them. Some may wonder about the wisdom of playing so much golf in a compromised state of cardiac fitness and it’s a fair question, but the urge to splurge was difficult to overcome. I did average 3.5 strokes per round higher in the afternoon replay rounds, which is an indicator of some fatigue, but I was having too much fun to stop and didn’t feel my health was at risk at any time.
This year’s venues were a mixture of high and middle end courses with different playing surfaces and widely varying conditions. From a performance standpoint, only you as a player know in your heart whether the trip was a success, and mine was. The self assessment:
- Driving: B
- Putting: A minus
- Irons: C
- Chipping B minus
- Pitching C minus
- Bunker: B
- Course management / mental game: B plus
Metrics:
- Holes played: 216
- Stroke average: 80.92
- GIR average: 6.83
- Putts per round: 30.08
- Low round: 1-over 73 at Possum Trot
- High round: 85, three times: Possum Trot, Pawleys Plantation, Glen Dornoch
An interesting side note: I hit every tee shot with my driver and 3WD using the same plastic frictionless tee. I found this tee on my April trip to Myrtle Beach and have now played 20 straight rounds without losing it. During our Wednesday round at Pawleys, the guys played a trick on me when the tee popped out after a drive and landed at the feet of my friend Mike who stepped on it and let me search for about 30 seconds in a panic fearing it was lost. I’ve done a bit of research on frictionless tees and most are three pronged, but this one (pictured below) is prong-less. Anyone recognize the model?
At Pawleys, the 13th and 17th holes are both par-3s that play out over seaside marshes. The teeing area is a long narrow stretch of elevated grass and cart path. I almost made the mistake of teeing up an iron on #17 with the treasured peg, but quickly replaced with a standard tee, because any forward or backward displacement of the tee would have found the marsh and ended the adventure. As the trip neared it’s close, every tee shot took on greater importance and the preservation of the tee had a life of its own.
The peg is no longer round at the top and looks more pentagonal from being battered about for 20 rounds. It might be time to retire this thing and call the World Golf Hall of Fame to see if there’s an endurance record.
Course reviews are coming, stay tuned!
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