The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

Another good week, and a very productive week, as I did course numbers 66 and 67. The first course was North Park, which is the county course north of the city and about a 40 minute drive. North Park and South Park, which we played earlier, are very similiar courses with greens that are exactly the same in the way that they look and putt. The day we played, the greens ran about a 5.5 on the stimp meter and were very smooth. North Park played 6400 yards from white tees which we played and about 6800 yards from the blues. I feel that North Park plays harder than South Park but the course rating and slope are higher at South Park. Many holes are tree lined and the course is hilly but there are not as many blind shots at North Park so maybe that has something to do with the lower rating. The fairways were good and the rough did not have many bare spots.The one other thing that I think makes North Park harder is that the greens have more undulations in them, than at South Park. North Park was in much better shape than South Park when we played there, but I think that has more with the fact that we have had one of our best springs, compared to the terrible spring we had last year. North Park was definitely worth the trip with very reasonable fees. The hot dog at the turn was just ok but the lady who served it was very nice. She was nicer than the starter who told us before we signed it that it would be a 6 hour round. The course didn’t seem that crowded to me when we drove in and I couldn’t figure out why he would say that unless he was trying to discourage play. Well the starter should become a weather forcaster because he was about as right as they are, as the round took only 4 hours and 6 minutes to play. When I turned in the cart key I told him he only missed it by and an hour and 56 minutes. He did chuckle so maybe he isn’t so bad after all. The game is coming around as I shot a 75 and Pete had a pretty good day with a 79. Today we went to Birdsfoot golf club in Freeport Pa. about a 55 minute drive. This is a solid golf course, that can be stretched out to 7000 yards but we played the tees that play 6500 yards. This course is  newer,  so there are not many trees, but they don’t have too much of that heather around, so the course is enjoyable to play. The greens were very smooth but a little slow at 5 on the stimp. The fairways were excellent and rough was not too bad with some bare spots. The course has a great variety of holes and is very hilly. This course is worth the trip, although their green fees can be a little steep at times. The hot dog at the turn was good, but it could head into the top five by a condiment, that was called vegetarian chile sauce. It made the hot dog taste just like a chile dog with a little spice but only better. It added 5 yards to my drives on the back nine YUMMY! This course is pretty tough and my 76 here was even better that the 75 at North Park. Pete had a one of those days that I have talked about before, when you are not playing well and even your luck is bad and struggled with a 90 and Tony had a 79. This week I had a 9 hole 39 and a 77 at Indian Run. The ball stiking is getting better and even the short game has had its moments but there are still struggles. The putting has been a solid good. I haven’t made many putts of length but I haven’t 3 putted much. I have tried some new things putting and chipping more on the mental side and they seem to be working out pretty well, but too early to tell if this is something worth sharing. I tweaked the “swing thing” a little but the basic principal is still the same. Progress is being made. The search will continue and the numbers will tell the tale. Sixty seven courses down and twenty three to go.