43 of 70: Sherwood Estates Golf & Country Club, Sherwood Park, AB

View of the 1st fairway with the Edmonton city scape visible some 20 kilometers away.

On August 18th, I played Sherwood Estates Golf & Country Club just south of Edmonton. I had last played this course about twenty years ago when it was an 18 hole course cut out of some farm land. It has since become a 9 hole so-called championship course, surrounded by an extremely rich housing development. However, I was often under the impression thatsome of the fairways were still cut out of the same old cow pasture. This was most apparent on the fourth fairway, a fairly long uphill par 5 where the green side bunkers had also lost all their sand due to excessive rain. That being said, the course still plays really well.

I was paired with two very friendly golfers, Shannon and Jack who happily guided me around the course, which was quite useful as some of the water hazards are invisible until you are right upon them (which often means in them)! I was having a good round shooting 42 over 9 holes and wishing I could play 18, but this was not to be as the course was booked for a tournament. The same was happening all over Edmonton that Saturday. Lets just hope I can play as well at Sandpiper next Tuesday. The only wildlife to be seen on the course were the Canada geese and they are never welcome. Not only do they leave their manure all over the green, but here, at Sherwood Estates, they have taken to digging incredible holes into the greens, particularly on number 8. These holes have to be filled each and every week. No one knows what they are mining for! A very peculiar habit.