7 of 70 : Fairwinds Golf Course, Fort Pierce, Florida

Fairwinds Golf Course is a Jim Fazio design and claimed to be one of the best and most challenging on The Treasure Coast. It has earned 4½ stars in Golf Digest's Places to play. In spite of a career that spans forty years, Jim Fazio is still not as well known as his brother Tom or his son Tommy, even if he has signed more than 30 courses nationally or internationally.

At first sight, this course, with its wide fairways, appeared to be somewhat forgiving, however, I soon realized this was far from the case. The fairways are deceivingly undulated and rarely offer a flat lie. The landing area almost always slopes toward some lateral hazard and even a good shot can end in a precarious position when not in an unplayable lie. Most greens are elevated and often tiered and, as we have learned at great expense, the approach shot has to land on the green as anything short will never roll on, very different from other courses we have played in this region. The wind also made it difficult to land on the green at will, even when we used longer clubs than usual.

More life lessons were learned on this day.
Lesson #4, It might not be your day twice in a row.
Lesson #5, Patience is a virtue. It is better to enjoy the pause, smell the flowers and watch the birds, than fume and complain about having to wait on each and every shot. The latter almost guarantees a bad shot when you stand up to continue play.
Lesson #6 Yelling at the ball will not affect its flight. It will end up where you shot it, not necessarily where you intended..

Brenda's game is getting better with every outing. Her swing is well grooved by now and she can hit the fairways fairly consistently. In spite of the wind and the difficulty of the course, she finished with a 99. Not only that, but in match play she was 5 up with 4 holes to go, another victory for her. My game, on the other hand, is in a downward spiral. I finished the day at 101 and my dejection is probably apparent on this picture of me at the 18th tee box. I was thinking «Beam me up, Scotty!». A good setup for a triple bogey on the last hole!!! With 63 rounds to go, some are bound to be better. Patience... And, for the final picture, which I chose because the bird's expression seems to reflect my feelings about the round.

Believe it or not, this was also off the 18th tee box.