The Goofy Game of Golf Trying to Execute the Answer

It’s been a little over  a month since I last blogged. Usually that means that my golf game is not doing all that great, but this time it just means that I have been really busy, and the game has had it’s ups and downs. I am not any closer to executing the answer. The highlight of the month was that I shot my first even par round in about 2 years, and the low light of the month has been my horrible tournament play. I will discuss my golf game in more depth in future blogs. This blog is about two new courses I played within ninety minutes of my house. Its been a long time since I have blogged a course and I forgot two things that I usually do, stimp the greens and eat a hot dog at the turn. This will mark the 93rd and 94th course that I have played within the 90 minute parameter.

The first course is Tom’s Run, in Blairsville which is about a one hour drive from my house. This is a course I have played before, but have not played it since I started doing the blog, in August of 2010. It is part of a 36 hole facility with the other course being Chestnut Ridge. The course plays about 6800 yards from the tips and I played it that day from the white tees which were about 6200 yards. The course has a lot of interesting holes and was in decent shape with the greens being very smooth and the fairways and roughs not too bad. This course would be worth the trip if it were not for two things. Their rates are above average and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th holes are weird and just plan awful. I am not going into great detail here, but they are just not very pleasing to the eye. The rest of the golf course is fine, and I have played Chestnut Ridge which they renovated when Tom’s Run was built, and they did a really nice job. This is another course which I have played but have not blogged. The place is in a little financial bind I hear, and this does not surprise me since they have really never cut their rates.

The next course is the The Club at Shadow Lakes in Aliquippa Pa. which is about a 30 minute drive.  This is a course that use to be private, but again because of financial difficulties went public. Unfortunately they never lost their country club attitude. Their rates have always been above average. I did go play it about 2 weeks ago and I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised. The course has lots of water and many tree lined holes. The course plays about 6500 yards from the tips and that is the tees we played. It was in very good shape and the greens were fast enough and very smooth. The fairways were good and the rough did not have many if any bare spots. The golf course was relatively flat which is another bonus here in Western Pa. The customer service was not that great but overall this was very enjoyable course to play.  If someone would really take this course over and cut the rates and be a little more consumer savvy, this golf course could really make some loot.

I will try to get back into the swing of things, no pun intended or maybe I did, with the blog. As I wrote in the beginning of the blog the game is in a stat of flux, more like re-flux. Only time will tell if I can come up with anything to make the game better on the day we play.