Series: Diary of A Golf Scholarship
Entry 1: First Round
by Jonathan Gibbins

Well, I have arrived in America, and to tell the truth, I didn’t really know what to expect. My first impression was of everything being bigger and wider. However, I was dying to play golf in Florida.

So there I am, a skinny Englishman ready to start my golfing experience in America. I am wearing shorts for the first time in six months, and receiving plenty of jibes from my team-mates about how I look in them. Feeling inadequate, I head for the first tee.

For a special treat, we are allowed to take buggies in order to get round before dark. Having been paired with the head coach and the team captain, I hook my ball into the lake and then reverse the buggy into one behind me. I think I am nervous, and after I scramble my way to a one-putt seven on the first, I sit down and study the course.

Polo Trace Country Club in Pompano Beach claimed to be modelled on a Scottish links course, mainly because of the absence of trees and the presence of a stiff breeze on most days. The course had water hazards on 15 holes, the greens are bent grass (sand based), and the fairways are bermuda grass (very thick and lush).

I had noticed by now that there was no yardage chart, and upon asking my playing partners where it was, I was shown through all the gadgets on the buggy, rather like Q showing James Bond his latest BMW.

The buggy had a TV screen attached to the ceiling where a map of the current hole was displayed. There were yardages to every major spot on the hole like back of green, flag, and edge of bunkers. The yardage came from a laser on the front of the cart which updated it every ten seconds. You simply drove the cart to your ball and got the yardage from the screen. Not bad at all!

There were many other functions on the screen which I fiddled with like looking at future holes, getting a weather update for lightning in the area, and a call for help if your buggy breaks down. The whole operation seemed to revolve around avoiding the terrible drudgery of walking any distance whatsoever, and   with all these mod-cons around, the golf almost got forgotten.

After the bad start, I made some birdies on the back nine to shoot 75. The greens were fast and the ball travels about a club further because of the humidity, which were factors to adjust to.

My Florida experience is well underway.

Come back to the site next week and read the next installation of life on a golf scholarship!