GCP Tour Final 2009

#2 & #9 from the Verandah at Golf Club Praha (GCP) .  .  . tho' the weather is glorious Babi Leto (Indian Summer), I found myself a little melancholy after the round, after eating, nursing my cognac and smoking a cigar, overlooking this vista. . . the end of golf season in Prague . . .

Gearing up for the final tournaj of the GCP Tour, I had made a grim assessment . . . my performance in the A group was disappointing, to put it in the best possible light; Evidence of the Choking Dog, if I am honest with myself. Had not even come close to shooting handicap in 3 tournajs; one blow-off, in my first attempt, since I was nervous, for reasons I cannot comprehend; a 4^th place finish – I felt I was unlucky, so many times it’s not really bad luck anymore, if you see what I mean; another poor finish when I twisted my left knee . . . if I had just taken an ibuprophen, I could have returned to form.

So I had low expectations and a bulldog determination going in. Long story short, shot 50-44=94, with 6 pars, 7 missed birdies, 4 3 putts, with an 11 on a par 5 and a 7 on a par 3. . . . 35 stableford points . . . .3^rd place . . . Hadn’t played in 2 weeks . . . which doesn’t really bother my game tee-to-green, but my shortgame always suffers . . . didn’t make a putt all day . . . left 2 birdies on the lip . . .

After a strong start on #1 . . . hooked my drive so far left it caught a treetop instead of finding the wide-open rough, but I then hooked a 4iron onto the green, a shot so good I was willing to overlook the 3putt finish.

On #2 my drive was so center-cut it was behind the big tree in the middle of the fairway, and I guess I was thinking about that, when, as I crossed the road that bi-sects the fairway, I slipped on the steep wet slope, rolled over my ankle and chicken-winged my knee . . . the weight of my bag I carry kept me from falling gracefully . . . I musta laid there for 30 seconds . . . my partners all turned around and walked back toward me, but I managed to get up and limp thru the rest of the hole for a par, by virtue of a pitch to kick-in distance.

I took an ibuprophen right away this time, but my leg from my knee to my ankle throbbed – I still had my mobility, but it was always an uncertain proposition making my swing . . . there’s so many moving parts, there’s a lot to go wrong if I feel good, never mind when there’s pain to ignore. . . I blocked several shots right after that just from not being able to get back to my left side during the swing. Took 40 yds off my drives . . . but just by doing “arm-swings” on my irons I could get by . . .  in fact a couple of downhill wedges I pureed over the green by swinging easy. Maybe that bad leg was helping me stay behind the ball? . . . 8^D . . .

K-taak had a miserable round . . . in fact, as he put it, “My Personal Worst” . . . it didn’t matter . . . he’s achieved his goals for his first year of golf . . . his handicap is down to 25, he won a tournament (maybe two, and a couple of places or shows), and . . . drumroll, please . . . he won the GCP tour’s overall first place for most stableford points . . . he averaged 37 stableford points each tournaj, and he showed up every time . . . last year he didn’t even play and this year he’s a certified, prize-winning, golf-nut . . . 8^D . . .  first prize included an interesting trophy – painted, not silver or gold and a certificate for a all-expenses-paid golf trip to Tunisia . . . I looked it up . . . there’s 3 golf courses of note in Tunisia . . . who knew?

He broke another driver, tho’ . . . his 3^rd this year . . . the first two down by the hosel, but this one in the middle of the shaft, during a practice swing . . .

The tournaj always includes a lunch ticket . . . today’s lunch was duck leg with red cabbage and dumplings . . . the cuisine at the club is always good, even very good . . . I have assembled the array of possibilities: hezky/petky (nice), dobry (good), welme dobry (very good), vyborne (excellent), and parada (excellent and exciting) . . . if you can figger out where to insert Super! And Perfekt! Into that array, those words are in common use also, to describe golf shots or food, or anything . . . so I am just saying that the food is welme dobry, but not vyborne (well, maybe), but for sure not parade . . . if you see what I mean . . . 8^D . . .

But my leg hurts like heck now . . . I can’t sleep . . . .

Golf Praha Style II

 It may be an illusion, but then illusory is my modus
operandi, these days. . .

Golf Prague Style

From a picture in the Golf Club Praha . . . I've

forgotten the artist's name . . . But it's part of a whole series of
paintings

Armagnac - Chateau de Pallane

6341 M, Par 72, Slope 138 (estimated)

(1)

After le petite de jeuneur, I dashed downhill to the 1st tee . . . I didn't want to get caught behind a bunch of 4somes, and we wanted to spend the afternoon touring wineries & distilleries.

So I took one look at the un-prepossive 1st hole, and just lashed my drive out any-old-where, into the right rough. It was wet, but not too long, no worries.

I realized here that I didn't know how far it was to the green . . . there was a cyan & puce striped pole, but I had not asked . . . amazing when you think how often I play at strange courses . . .

So I guessed 8iron and that was close enough . . . just a little short . . . I chipped up with a 7iron, missing entirely the subtle steepness of the flat-looking green, so that I wound up 8 ft away, tho' my speed had been good.

Missed the par. Saw people on the 1st tee. Scuttled off to keep moving without grieving.







(2)

Rather ordinary looking par 3, but 180m, so I hit a choke-down 7wood into the wind, pulled a little left, but pin-high . . . wary this time of the green, I was able to get up and down for a par.











(03)

There's water left of the landing area there, and OB on the right . . . didn't worry me too much, I tho't, but I hit a weak drive, over on the left side of the fairway.

So I pulled out my 3wood, to make up some distance, and hit it solid, but thin and low . . . it hit a peculiar little mound there in the middle of the fairway, so inconsequential it doesn't show up in the picture, but large enough that my low line drive caught the top and kicked left into the edge of the water. Once again, a flat hole has made me stupid and feel stupid.

This shot of the chateau is from near the hump in the fairway, looking up over the 1st tee . . . the entrance to the grounds from the roadruns into the 3rd fairway, then runs down along the right side to the green, then turns back to the chateau, past the 1st tee, and up the hill.

Awe-fully impressive, even if I was a little put out by the flat ordinary golf holes.

I fished my ball out for a drop, just pulled a 5iron out to make a solid shot, for sure, and blocked it pin high right, not quite into the woods, but in the deep rough.

I was able to flop a shot from there over the bunker, 12 ft away. quite pleased, and made the bogey putt.

(04)

#4 was more of the same, and this is my weakness -- inattentivity on boring golf courses . . . the good golfer licks his chops and proceeds to score, I wind up taking double-bogeys just from failing to pay attention. Like here: pull left almost to the 5th tee. chunk 2 wedges, 2 putts.

(05)

Another flat par 5, 566m long tho', so I just ripped a drive away from the OB on the right, into the rough on the left . . . then foozled another 3wood (uh-oh), hit a 4 iron just short of the green, didn't get up and down.

(06)

Almost a good hole. The tee is set interestingly up on the side of the hill, maybe 10m above the fairway, and it's only 376m, so, I figgered Drive & a Pitch. . . hit my drive solid but still had a full 6iron to the green.

In irritation, I pulled my approach left into a biozone next to the water. Took a drop out of that and semi-bladed my approach over across the green.

Naturally, that chip almost went in, but another bogey. .  .I couldn't even claim to have been bored anymore, and still fould up the hole . . . grrr.

(7)
Now THIS is an interesting hole, even if it is still flat . . . it's a puzzle, How much to bite off? Not enough, and you could wind up with an unplayable lie up on the hill, or even in the woods; too much, wet.


I just aimed at the trees as a target, and made dang sure I didn't slice.

That's not quite right, but you wouldn't know that as a first timer . . . I could have bitten off more, or faded it slightly (HAH! Like I know when I will) -- I wound up in the rough, with a sidehill/downhill lie.

I tho't maybe this would still be a good place for my 5wood -- not going for the green, just trying to make sure I got enough to get over the water intruding into the fairway that curls around right . . . but foozled it too.

I just hit it again, and wound up right of the green.

Very successfully lobbed a pitch over the trap to 15ft, but 2putted for bogey.
















(8)

Somewhat un-confident by now, I chose Aggression and hit the holy bejabbers out of my tee shot, at least 300m, up-hill and into the wind . . . I can't figger it out, I just live with it . . .

I hit a full wedge the remaining 88m, without doing too much algebra, and wound up on the front fringe.

Chip-putted with a 7iron 2 about 4inches from the cup for a tapin par.

Pretty pleased, this is one dang hard, uphill sob.


(09)

the par4 391m hole is right next to #18, and very similar looking.

I hit a tight draw over the trees on the right, and could see my ball bounding over the bunkers. It is downhill, and cross-wind right to left, but it still wasn't a big a hit as on #8.

I found my ball, in the fairway, but still only meters from the bunker, not miles, if you see what I mean. I tho't I should have a half-wedge, but I had a full9 to the green.


Hit my approach solid, pin-high, into the bunker right of the green (see illustration!)

Had a restricted backswing on my first shot and could get out . . . hit the 2nd too hard, to the other side of the green.

2putted for double bogey.

I love good golf holes that just make you feel like you can do better next time you play it. If it is a good golf hole, you may well do, but if it's a great golf course, you may find something else will go wrong, too.

If you know what I mean . . .

(10)

#10 is a downhill par 3, like I havent seen since AZ . . .either Rancho Manana or Quintero,
Those trees at the sides seem to crowd the flight path in a unique way, tho, and the green curls around a sumpy little pond, so there's lot to consider.

The card says 160, but I know it was further from the tee I used . . . I hit 5iron, solid and high. I heard my ball tick the leaves of the small tree left of the green, but I couldn't see.

When I got down there, my ball was pin high
(11)






(12)




(13)




(14)




(15)




(16)


(17)




(18)

Robin WIlliams on Golf

what can you say? Nothing.

GCP Tournaj

“You finished 19^th again,” said K-taak, “not even on the first page of the standings.”

 

“Gimmeanotherdoublecognac, prosim!” I signaled the waiter . . . we still had to wait for the B-flight results . . . I may as well comfort myself.

 

It was as I had expected . . . shot 46-46=92, 5 strokes over my handicap . . . you have to shoot your handicap, I believe, to win a tournament. . .

 

Twice on #2 I had foozled from 70m out, with a wedge in my hand, after a huge downwind-drive, into the front bunker, making doube-bogey.

Twice on #4 I had foozled my approach so bad, it threw off my whole hole . . . twice I lipped out the doublebogey putt from 4 ft.

Twice I made a snowman after a par-3-par.

Twice I wedged into a greenside bunker on #7, once left and once right, and made double bogey there. . .

All day long my wedges had betrayed me, turning routine holes into escapades.

 

The last 5 holes were the grimmest grind I ever ground. Bogeys – not a sniff of a chance at par – from 4 to 8 ft, but I made everyone. The grimmest was #18, after I hooked into the fairway and the sidehill slope pushed my ball off into the woods. I found it just to be sure, then hiked back and hit another drive properly, up unto the crown of the hill. . .

 

“That’s the longest drive I ever saw on this hill!” exclaimed K-taak.

 

“Grrr-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r” I grumbled.

 

I hit a 6 iron, as I had done in the front 9 . . . when I parred #9 for the 3^rd time in a row. This time, it took the hook lie, and curved around the woods, rather than flying straight across the dogleg.

 

“That was a fantastic hook you hit!” exclaimed K-taak.

 

“Grrr-r-rr-r-r-r-r-r-r” I grumbled.

 

The sun was in my eyes after I hit my wedge to the green, 81m, uphill. I had no idea where it went. K-taak said nothing. I assumed it was in the bunker, but I found it 8 ft away from the pin on the lower tier of the green. . . I knew just what this putt would do. I made it, for my grim bogey, a virtual birdie. . . I will never eagle this hole, but now I know how to birdie it.

 

I went home and tucked into my Armagnac. About 9pm K-taak texted me, “I’m sorry . . . you were 4^th “ I jumped onto the internet and checked the GCP tournament web site, and it was true. I was 4^th, 2 stableford points behind the winner. If I made 6s instead of 8s, I would have been the easy winner. If I hadn’t foozled wedges on #2 twice, I would have been the easy winner. If I could hit a wedge on #7 onto the green, instead of the bunker, I would have been the easy winner.

 

4^th is much worse than 19^th . . . . all those bad shots really eat at me. . . not winning the special prizes is bad, but not doing my best, is worse.

Armagnac -- Guinlet

Par 70, 5675M, Slope 131
Never have been a fan of a par3 1st hole . . . while it's true that I usually DO hit a good teeball on #1, a par3 puts a little extra pressure, especially an uphill shot 201M -- I think it slows down play right from the git-go, too, design-wise, if you see what I mean --

I hit a 5wood, popped it up a little bit right. Landed 1m away from those trees, pin high.

Had just enough room to swing a normal pw . . . landed it on the edge of the green, where it rolled right up to the hole. An unexpectedly easy par.

The tilt of this fairway felt even steeper than this picture . . . I might have listed left taking the snapshot, just from vertigo . . .

While a little intimidating, it is not perplexing . . . you gotta hit a high fade at the right side to get the ball to stay up. So . . . I got a double-cross, natch: a low bullet hook that almost trimmed the trees on the right then rolled across the fairway into the trees on the left.




NFG. Here it was obvious what the problem was, but I still clipped a branch and came up short of the green.

I lobbed up over the trap past the back pin position, to the fringe . . . could have been makeable, but I didn't. A bogey.

I'm starting to wonder about this course . . . M from Mont de Marsan had never heard of it, tho' it is only oh, 40 klics away, and there ain't so many golf courses in Armagnac a golf nut can't keep track of 'em.

The condition of the course was clearly sub-standard, but the layout was starting to look interesting. The second hole was lined on both sides by little cottages, called "gites" i think, under construction, as the course is apparently to be the anchor for a resort-type community.

The par3 #3 looks like it should have a sign "abandon all hope, ye who tee up here" . . . 174m, all uphill, totally blind.

I did the algebra, and selected 3iron . . . back 20 years ago, 3iron was my favorite club . . . I called it "the magic 3iron" used it for everything except sand shots, great trouble club . . . now, not so much . . . but if I pick my spots, I still get good results . . . like here . . . hit a bullet that ascended 10 feet off the ground the whole way up the hill, straight at the left side of the green.


Even blind, I knew it was right . . .

I could see by the ball trails in the dew, how my ball caromed off the left hump, rolled around the back hump, and trickled straight down towards the hole, 4 or 5 ft away from the pin.

You can see how someone else putted almost the same line and missed left. My birdie putt is in the heart . . . so this gave me the same number of birdies in Armagnac as I had in the Czech Republic.




PBFU.
One thinks one is past all that.
One would be wrong.
Hitting a 3iron stripe can do that to me . . . make me think I know what I'm doing . . . So I tried to hit a power-draw for some extra roll down the hill on the par5#4 . . . didn't take . . . the ball one-hopped into the treeline, which I didn't think was so bad, but, they had a hard winter here, too, apparently, cuz there were a lot of downed trees and messed up, uneven ground. . . . couldn't find my ball, which I tho't was unfair, so I generously allowed myself a Phoenix-style desert drop, instead of a lost-ball penalty.

Didn't help, really . . . I was still 2 5irons and a wedge away . . . I wonder if I was looking far enough down the slope for my ball? It's 514m, but all downhill . . . 2 putt double bogey.















This, I tho't, is freakin' ridiculous. Uphill par3s are very nice and all, but in moderatin, please!


I didn't calculate right, and came up short, but handy.

My short game reverted to form, too.

7iron chip scooted past the hole, and the comebacker lipped out.

The course looks like mid-winter condition, rather than late summer . . . tees and greens are fine, and -- for the most part -- the grass in the fairway is just brown, still playable . . . but there are large patches of, er, patch growth, too, and places where the gravelly subsoil shows thru.

I guess, on a par 70 course where you have 3 par 3s on a 9, it wouldn't be that unusual to have a stretch of 3-5-3-5 . . . but it feels weird.

Absolutely hammered my drive with a power fade down the left side . . . learnt my lesson with my so called tame hook on #4 . . . the slope took it almost all the way across the fairway to the right side.







This is what I think I want . . . an uphill lie on a par5 2nd shot so I can launch a 3wood at the green.

I guess I could claim I hadda wait too long on the 4some in front of me, by myself. Despite my best intentions and confidence, I still jumped at it and bellied the ball only about half-way.

That left only a 9iron, and I laid that on the green with a smooth swing.

Then an inexplicable 3putt, if that's not too redundant. I could still read the trails in the dew, after the fact . . . I guess that green was much slower than I figgered.

The card says #7 is only 317m downhill, but it looked further, and had some sort of trouble, some bunkers in front,right of the green.

So I played strategic-like, I didn't want to stand around waiting for the 4some, anyway, and hit a 5wood . . . pulled it a little bit, into the rough, but it was easily found and playable.

Except for a wedge-foozlin' fool like me. Incroyable! I guess there was some part of my subconcious rebelling against my club selection.

My second attempt, my 3rd shot, flew straight over the pin.

An easy 2putt bogey, that could have been an easy 2putt par, or even a 1putt birdie, I felt.














Well, except for the vile little pond in front of the tee, this is a beautiful hole . . . the grayness of the day kinda takes the shine offn't, but from the tee, even tho' it's a little bit of a blind shot, it seemed clear to me what to do.

So I hit a nice high tight draw down the tree line on the right -- to heck with lessons learnt, if I'm going to 3putt and foozle wedges, I'm going to pretend I know what I'm doing on the tee, too!






Wound up in the middle of the fairway, looking straight uphill again . . . I had time again to cogitate on this shot, waiting on the 4some. I decided on 5iron, and to keep from brooding on it, I tho't about that tee shot. . . It sure would be nice to be higher up on the hill, but you'd have to challenge those trees . . . and hit a power fade to hold the roll, which I don't know if you would get far enough then. Good hole.

It IS the #1 handicap hole.

When the green cleared, I followed my plan without ado, to minimize the chance for doubts to creep in . . . hit a career 5iron with a tight draw . . . never know when that's going to happen, and off an uphill lie to an uphill green didn't seem likely, but it happened.

I tho't it might go over the green, but it was short. I gave it the ol' west texas 7iron chip right past the hole, then made that 4ft comebacker. Felt pleased as punch.

I had plenty of time on #9 tee to gloat . . . did the math and hit a 7iron 144m, slightly uphill . . .

I saw a puff of white sand when it landed, and had a bad moment when I tho't there might be a hidden bunker up there.

But it was just ground-under-repair . . . I was pin-high, with an uphill putt for birdie, coming off the fringe.

I liked my chances, but it wasn't a smooth roll . . . there were tractor tracks or something there . . . not really treadmarks, but an indentation where the wheels had rolled. Came up short, leaving a one-handed tap-in par. Sigh.

There's another concept known only to the most informed cognoscenti: PPFU . . . a condition that sets in when the confirmed duffer gains the unjustified opinion that he now controls his game, after making a par, or in my case, 2-in-a-row.

On this charming, short par 4 I attempted a smooth swing, instead tried to steer it, which for me means my swing plane flattens and I pull hook the ball . . . sometimes a solid hit, like this one, but hopelessly left, into the small copse of trees.

When I got to my ball it was resting -- as any duffer could predict -- exactly in the root of a tree on the opposite side of the green, just as moss always grows on the north side.

The 4some in front of me, walking to the 11th tee adjacent, all came over to look, with amused concern on their faces . . .
"You were unlucky!" said one, in an English accent.
"Well," I said, "I WAS careless."
They watched me chop it out, left-handed, with a pw turned over, but that didn't go well, because of the roots: it was still in the trees. I hit a 3iron trying to chase the ball up near the green 60m away, but the rough was very plush in this spot, then I flopped the ball over the green into a bunker on the other side, back onto the green and a couple of onehanded putts.

So I was not surprised to see that #11 was the #2 handicap hole, a par4, 433m hole where the tee is set back in that copse of trees, there's OB all down the left (I hate those straight-line OBs!), more trees crowding in on the right side, then all uphill from the landing area.

I've played a lot of par5s easier and shorter than this. In arizona, some of them were the #1 handicap hole, too.

But since I didn't steer it, in fact put a little west texas red-ass on it, that drive was perfect, long, long, long, with a power fade down the left side.

I could tell, by the length of time it took the 4some to clear the green that this was a hard hole, so I took the walk up to my ball very leisurely, made my algebrations thorough & deliberately, selected my club thoughtfully, then jumped and hit the ball before I could think about it. . . it's amazing how far it still was. I ripped a 5wood, thot itmight be long, a little left of the green. Worried about the OB behind the green, but I was short and handy.

I'm not making many claims of golf expertise, but I gotta tell you not many duffers could hit two shots that good on the same hole, and I still missed that green short and left. Whew!

I chipped with a 7iron past the pin 8ft. and missed the comebacker. A green on a hole like that ought to be bowl shaped so that everything funnels down to the hole, if you inow what I mean . . . 8^D . . . instead of full of ridges and mini-mounds.

As I walked to the next tee, the groundskeeper stoped on his mower to chat, his English was very limited, but he tried . . . "the grass is very . . . very . . . " he groped for words not just because of his English, but also because of his apparent frustration with the conditions . . . "difficile . . . "

I clapped him on the shoulder with as much comraderie and compassion as I could convey non-verbally and said, "And it all rests on these shoulders!"

He understood that and smiled ruefully. I waved au revoir, and he went on to mow.

I might say more about #12 if I had played better. It's attractively downhill, claustrophobically teed, and modestly greened. For reasons I don't understand I topped my tee shot. Lobbed onto the green 12 ft past the pin. Missed the par. Phooey.

The tee to #13 feels just like this. All I could do was keep my head down and swing smooth. Swang so smooth I put a big fade on it(didn't finish, hung back in my congenital reverse pivot) out into the sparse tree line along the fairway.

That fairways is 100% uphill, way uphill . . . the algebration were pretty complex, in addition to everything usual, I had to add in slicing around and under a tree.

Couldn't do it. Just a foozle . . . or an extremely conservative safety, if you wanted to stay positive, which is not my forte.

In my irritation I bladed a wedge over the green into an area sort of torn up for more construction of more gites. I gave myself a drop from there and desultorily got up-up-and-down.

That is one hard green. . . sloping away from the fairway, tho' elevated 10 or 15 meters from the landing area.













Now my mental set was bad, not focussed.

I hit a weak short slice into the right rough.

topped a 7wood down the right edge of the fairway.

skulled a 5iron further down towards the green.

bladed a pw over the green.

chunked a pitch back.

up-up-and-down, again.






































But I was trying to right my ship, regain control of my swing, so I steer-jobbed an ungly pull hook into trouble on the left.

I hadda hit a mad ball as a provisional, and absolutely gravitated it like I hadn't hit a ball since #11.

But I found my first one, still in bounds, in deep rough, on a slope down to more gites-under-construction . . . I over-guarded against the hook-lie and wound up in a greenside bunker.

As I walked up to the green, I picked up my provisional. Dang, this game could be easy, if I could let it.

I popped the ball up out of the dep bunker onto the edge of the green, leaving a makeable par putt, 10 or 12 ft, but I didn't. so Bogey.



But I popped up my drive on the next hole, just confirming I had no game left.

Tho't I might float a 7wood the rest of the way downhill to the green, but it must have been too much club, since I didn't hit it well -- my sub-conscious rebelled.

Had a half-wedge left by my calculation, and hit it solid, which was a relief, then disbelief as I saw it fly the green . . . I mean it was downhill, but my calcs couldn't have been that wrong!

Pitched back up 4ft away, and made the bogey-grinder.

Oh!

you can see my plaing companion here. He joined me on the par5 #14. He spoke no English. He motioned for me to hit first, graciously, but he had the honor the rest of the way. Played very well . . . not long, average length, but totally solid technique . . . I think he was one-over for the last 5 holes . . . .




The par4#17 runs parallel to the par4 #16, but uphill instead of down, and 90m shorter by virtue of not crossing the road.

I'm always surprised by how much distance an uphill tee-shot takes off . . . it could be I'm not seeing the slope for what it is . . . but this was no exception . . . I pushed a solid shot right into the rough, but there was no trouble over there.

I reckoned a full 9iron by subtracting my solid drive from the hole length and by algebrating the distance to the pin from my ball, but as long as the downhill shot had been, this one was short. I'm sure my playing partner expected nothing else, but I was pretty frosted.

I gotta get some camera instruction on how to not de-emphasize the slope on a downhill photo . . . it's much steeper than it looks here.

So, on in 3, 2 putt, bogey.








The finishing hole looks really cool from the tee, just full of the rollercoaster action one loves in a golf course . . . 8^) . . .

My partner just tried to cut the corner and hit a tree. I figgered he was in jail, but he seemed sanguine about it. I knew I was longer than him. So I took the same line and staid behind the ball, but I didn't get a solid hit, didn't feel like, and pushed it right.

That was ok, then, down the middle of the fairway, then taking the slope on the roll around the dogleg towards the green. Good miss.

But it left me still with a 6iron to the green. My favorite club, but I hadn't hit a full iron solid on the back 9, but I gave it the old college try. Felt fat, but I had aimed to the right side of the green, counting on more slope to the left, which was correct. I was on the green but 50ft away. 3 putted . . . I think the 4 5s I finished with were the 4 easiest tapin bogeys I've ever had . . . just great . . . like a pitcher of warm spit.

So-o-o-o-o-o.

Guinlet is not a bad layout, but the condition was a little worse than you could overlook. So a 3 on the Kokopelli standard . . . a little more wide-open than Mont de Marsan, but there are places where the trees do intrude into play, especially off the tee.