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Series:
Diary of A Golf College Student
Article 12: 3rd Event
by
Jonathan Gibbins
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Our third tournament
is a welcome relief from the cross-country driving we have had in
the past. The course is only half an hour drive away and has the
obvious lush fairways, fast greens and water. I can safely say that
this event turned out to be the strangest I have ever played and
I doubt I will ever have a golfing experience like it again.
I
was very pleased to be paired with a fellow Englishman for the first
two rounds and possibly have a pleasant chat about tea, Monty Python
and crumpets, which most Americans seem reluctant to do when they
compete. Many players like to stay focused but I prefer to relax
in between shots by chatting about anything but golf. As it turned
out, the golf became the focus of attention and I will tell you
why.
So I have been
told, most of the courses that we compete at are tougher than courses
they play on the PGA Tour and the reason seems to be that they are
new courses which are being tested to see if they can maybe host
bigger events in the future. However, the course I am playing at
this week is an old course and is not very long and in order to
make up for this, the tournament officials have made the greens
as fast as they can (they are 12 on the Stimpmeter- as fast as Augusta).
This caused a problem because the greens were tiny and seemed to
have been designed by Laurel and Hardy.
I feel like
I am playing crazy golf at Disneyland with Seve Ballesteros.
Over the course
of the first round, five things happened that I have never seen
or done on a golf course. One; I hit it to 6 feet in two on a par
five and make a seven. Two; I hit a shot of 75 yards with spin and
saw it roll 60 feet off the green and into a bunker I didn’t know
was there. Three; I saw my playing partners both take 10 on the
same hole and still break 80. Four; I hit a tee shot 350 yards after
it skipped and jumped down a cart path left of the fairway. I still
made bogey. Five; I hit 17 greens in regulation and shot 79 with
two 4 putts and a 5 putt.
To cap off the
whole crazy state of affairs (mostly directed towards the comedy
greens), I injured my wrist in the 2nd round after trying
to get a tree trunk involved in a recovery shot. Not a good idea.
I spend the
rest of the afternoon melting ice-packs on my wrist and watching
my team-mates trying desperately to leave themselves uphill putts.
Come back to the
site next week and read the next installation
of life on a golf scholarship!
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