Florida is mobbed this time of year. I could not find a decent course with an available tee time today for 18, so decided to just squeeze in a quick and cheap 9 at Rolling Green. Though it was cheap, it ended up being far from quick.
What a dump. Didn't bother keeping stats. Head wasn't in it. Way overcrowded with tee times spaced about 2 minutes apart it seems. The first hole, a par 5, had at least 4 super-senior groups on it at the same time. One every 150 yards or so, eacb group hitting it about 100 yards at a time. I would have laughed except for the fact that I, myself, was in line to tee off on that same first hole behind about 6 other carts all sitting and waiting at the first tee at the same time. It was like a circus surrounding the tee. Ridiculous. I guess that's what you can expect for 20 bucks at 3 pm in the middle of winter in Florida at a "locals" course. I don't know why I even subjected myself to that. It was not enjoyable at all, except when I think of the snow and temps back in CT.
Course conditions were surprisingly soft, even though we haven't really had any rain to speak of. The last few rounds I played at nicer places all had fairly hard conditions. So was surprised to find this place so wet. Didn't even consider using my low bounce 60 degree wedge, even though it would have been perfect in many situations if the ground weren't so soft. Used a higher bounce 56 in place of it in most cases, or just used bump and runs when necessary.
There was little grass on the fairways. The rough was thin too. The greens were the only thing good about the course, though they weren't super fast. They putted pretty true though. Paired up with a nice couple, but they were not very good golfers, along with a NY lawyer-type who had no idea about golf etiquette. The three of them hacked the ball all over the place. It did not make for a comfortable round. Hard to concentrate. The NY guy is pulling the pin before everyone was on the green. I like my pin in when chipping or lag putting from the fringe, yet he has it out and laying down already, because HE was on the green. He, on one par 5, hit a house OB, then a tree after dropping a ball a hundred yards ahead of where he went OB, then another tree, then another tree, then another tree, then another tree, and still had another 100 yards to the green which still took three more shots. This is not my idea of fun golf. Couldn't wait for it to be over. My score was okay, but I played poorly as a result of the golfniks going on around me.
Should have just practiced today and not bothered to attempt nine. But weather not looking good for next couple days and leaving for home on Saturday morning, so just wanted to get in another round. Here's another example of where quantity is not as good as quality.
