8 of 70: Island Pines Golf Club, Fort Pierce, Florida

We weren't kidding about the rain delay!!!

After 3 days of rain we finally got back on a golf course and played Island Pines in Fort Pierce. The course, designed by Arthur Young, dates back to 1970 and used to be known as Indian Pines. It is a lovely course set in an older retirement community where houses line most fairways but never intrusively. The picture above was taken along one of those fairways, somewhere on the back nine. The patio would normally sit well above the pond but after a quasi deluvial long weekend it seemed in grave danger of diappearing under. We, however, had the pleasure of seeing the turtles.

Island Pines is an easy course compared to some of the others we played, yet it demands attention. The fairways are narrow at times, often lined by water on both sides and occasionally traversed by a creek. The greens are quite small making them a tight target. And after playing on fast Bermuda grass greens we were surprised by the relatively slow greens at Island Pines, perhaps due to all the rain. Excuses, excuses, excuses! I did manage to avoid all water hazards today, sometimes barely as you can see in this picture. I also finished the round with the ball I used on the first tee. How about that!

Brenda, on the other hand, managed to lose a few balls on this day, most of them, however, she lifted out of the ponds or replaced, thanks to the new ball retriever. One of those balls was indeed miraculous as it skipped  at least three times on the water to end up dry and playable. Unbelievable.

Thanks to those small miracles Brenda managed to win the Match Play contest once more, 4 up with 3 holes to play. She finished with a very respectable 98. I played a little better today ending up with a 91. I did not perform as well as usual around the greens but my drives were impeccable. I even had a good chance at an eagle on the par 5 twelfth hole but finished with a birdie instead. Hope is in the air...we shall see what is in reserve for tomorrow.

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.

6 of 70 : Club Med Sandiper Bay Golf Club, Port St. Lucie, Florida

 

As mentionned previously, Club Med used to own two golf courses adjoining each other at Port St. Lucie, The Saints, which was the first course I played on this adventure, and The Sinners which is now known as Sandpiper Bay. The course is quite flat and fairly wide open. It is generally well bunkered and has water on all 18 holes but the water mostly comes into play as lateral water hazards. Compared to the first five, this course would normally be the easiest one to play. That being said, I learned a few «life lessons» on the golf course today.

Lesson # 1 : It doesn't matter if it looks easy, it is all about decision making, and today I felt like the sinner of all sinners making too many bad decisions. In golf parlance, we talk about course management and I sure didn't do that well during this round. I didn't give the course the respect it needed, lost my concentration, lost my swing and made one mistake after another.

Lesson # 2 :   One should always trust oneself and, again, I didn't do that either which brought me right back to lesson #1. I twice tried to use the «Texas wedge» (my putter) out of a sand trap and both times paid dearly for that mistake. As there was hardly anyone on the course, I practised the shot again, with my sand wedge,  after finishing the hole. This is allowed in Match Play, of which the Skins Game is a more difficult variation where the hole is carried over if not won sqarely by any player. When practising, I ended up with a par instead of the double bogey actually on my scorecard. I just needed to trust myself and my swing.

Lesson # 3 : It isn't always «your» day. Today, it was all Brenda's. She played well finally breaking 100 on this trip. She shot a 96 to my 93, a win for her when you factor the handicaps. She also won 11 skins to my 7. The one positive for me is that I won the last two skins in a putting contest after we finished the 17th and 18th holes even. These Bermuda grass greens had been eating me alive  all day, therefore, it was good to finish the round on a positive note. And, it must be said, Brenda was too happy with her overall result to be worried about losing the last two skins in a playoff.

5 0f 70 : Palm Cove Golf & Yacht Club, Palm City, Florida

Condos on Palm Cove Golf and Yacht Club

We have played some beautiful golf courses over the last two weeks, some quite wild, like Eagle Marsh and The Champions Club. Palm Cove is beautiful in a very different way, it is routed through a rich and unique development complex, quite well manicured, yet, they have managed to preserve the bird habitat such as marshes and ponds. Palm Cove was originally designed by Gary Player but the developper had issues with Player's original course and commissioned Chi Chi Roriguez and Richard Robbins to redesign the course as it stands today. Rodriguez owns a condo on the property and,  according to the attendant, he was playing at Palm Cove around Thansgiving time. He has since returned to Puerto Rico.

Tee shot over the marsh on #8

The course is short but by no means easy to play. It is what can be called a shotmaker's course which would be well suited to Chi Chi's game. Water comes into play on 16 of the 18 holes, at times so severely that drop zones have been provided such as on holes 1, 2 and 8. Well, on 8 it is due to a marsh over which we both managed to drive safely to post a par (for myself) and a bogey for Brenda, which was a good result on the longest par 3 on the course. We both finished the short front nine with  good scores which led to some expectations of doing well on that day. The longer back nine proved to be less forgiving.

Tee shot on the par 3 17th

That being said, it was still my best game so far as I am slowly seeing some improvement. I had played very little this last year, being too busy with renovations and a major move back to Edmonton. My swing is coming back and with it, more consistency. Some of my drives proved to be too long for this course and ended up in water that was not visible from the tee box. I still managed an 89 in spite of two water balls. Thanks to a neighbour who recommended  Sport Authority, we were able to purchase 6 dozen good balls for the price of one dozen  Titleist ProV1's. Hopefully this will last us for the next five weeks. Our customary match play ended up in my favour this time as I won the 16th hole to finish 4 up with 2 to play. Perhaps we shall consider a skins game for the next round. The last word goes again to Brenda with another picture from Palm Cove.

4 of 70 : Indian Hills Golf Course, Fort Pierce, Florida

I did make the green, left of the trees and the traps on the right.

Just another fierce windy day on The Treasure Coast. Makes for a challenging round, even when the course is rather tame compare to the last two we played. The attendant told us that the wind has been unabated since Thankgiving at least, and there does not appear to be any break in the weather pattern. It might be good training for the Scottish link courses, if I ever get there. The good news is that  there hasn't been any rain (on the course) so far.

# 10 carry over water

There is water on the Indian Hills course but, fortunately for us, it rarely comes into play, unless you are suicidal and choose to take a short cut to the green like on number 1, a dogleg left over the largest pond on the course. From the gold, a mere 380 yards. From the red tees, 290. In this wind, good luck. Indian Hills Golf Club is a municipal course which, as many municipals, is well maintained but with few frills such as flower gardens and flowering trees. The back nine is prettier and somewhat more challenging. The 10th hole, for example forces you to land your tee shot in what appears to be a Delta and, if you are lucky, you will still have a long second shot to the green over water. Miss your drive short and you have no choice but to layup. Most likely the best hole on this course.

I scored a little better at Indian Hills, shooting a 91 that included a lost ball that should never had been lost. Such is life in golf where the rolls are not always favorable. That ball disappeared over a hill never to be seen again. Well, as long as I'm not yet over the hill, all is good. Brenda showed up big time on the second nine with a deuce on the par 3 eleventh, and then, on twelve she knocked a TV replay sand wedge to the pin and tapped in a 1 footer for par. She was on fire and defeated me 3 and 2 in match play. Yet she had time for great photo shots like this bird on the left. The wildlife on this course was as exciting as ever.

Every time we leave a golf course, the attendants are there to clean and load your clubs in your vehicle, and each time, two things are sure to be said: what a gorgeous truck this is and what a lovely golf bag you have. The «Cadillac» of all trucks belongs to Jean and Yvette. The golf bag is Brenda'a nifty new travel bag.

3 0f 70 : The Champions Club, Stuart, Florida

First Tee at The Champions Club

The Champions Club at Summerfield in Stuart was designed by Tom Fazio the Elder and is considered by some as one of his finest, which is a fine compliment, as Fazio has signed at least 9 of the top 100 courses in America as rated by Golf Digest. It was nominated for the Nation's Best New Course in 1995.

This course was routed amongst pristine wetlands and Fazio was respectful of the environment and wildlife preserve. It is surrounded by a housing complex and yet, Fazio never allows the properties to encroach on the course. The views are incredible and the golfing experience magnificent. We are never, however, completely out of the marsh and we have indeed sacrificed a few more balls to the water gods. From the champion's tees, Fazio ensures that the scrach golfer is challenged to the limit. From the white tees the course appears to be far more forgiving but there still is very little room for mistakes.

Brenda tees off in front of the Pampas Grass

I only managed 3 pars all day, a few bogeys and way too many others. I barely managed a 99. So where did I lose all those strokes? Well there were those 3 balls in the water but for the most part the greens got me. The greens are said to be typical Fazio, with subtle plateaus and clever rolls. They were also incredibly fast as one would find them on competition PGA courses. You leave your shot short and are back down the hill. You aim for the pin and end up on the fringe. Quite amazing! On this day, Brenda and I played alone and on the front nine she basically challenged me hole by hole. For a while I thought the Lilongwe Open Ladies Champion was back. In match play, I ended the front nine at -2. I managed to rally on the back to finish All Square. A very impressive performance by my wife. Not only did she play well, she contributed some great pictures which can be found here. I will close with a last picture, just to wet your appetite. Cheers!

An invitation to smell the mimosas.

2 of 70: Eagle Marsh Golf Club in Jensen Beach, Florida

The course certainly lives up to its name, at least the marshes part of it as they are everywhere. Behind you, on many tee boxes; in front of you more often than you would wish for on other tee boxes. Bordering all of the narrow fairways making the dog legs very treacherous particularly on blind shots and as you would now expect, we also had to shoot over marshes to the green.

You really want me to shoot over this?

This being said, the Eagle Marsh is a gorgeous and most enjoyable to play. Designed by Tom Fazio the Younger, it is reputed to be «The Most Challenging Course On The Treasure Coast». Tommy prides himself in designing difficult courses and the Eagle Marsh surely is. The routing is always unexpected and each hole seems to be unique, and isolated from all others (you hardly ever see more than one hole at at time), each is a visual treat. Pure poetry. We took time to «smell the flowers» and enjoy the wildlife as much as the lanscape. Especially Brenda, my official photographer on this adventure. You will be able to enjoy more of her work in Picasa albums to be linked at a later date.

My new Garmin Golf GPS proved to be quite handy at Eagle Marsh as I was able to not only measure distances to the green but also to many hazards, visible or invisible to the naked eye. Many thanks to Julie, Sean, Lexa, Frankie and Al for their thoughtful present. Knowing the exact distances allows for better course management, even if one has to trample on his ego and lay-up more often than not. In spite of the techno help, the four of us managed to sacrifice nearly two dozen golf balls to the water (or marsh?) gods.

Sandhill Cranes

 The good news, however,  is that the $20 discount we each had on our green fees more than payed for the lost balls. We took it with good humour, and by the end of the round we did not see the holes as par 4s or par 5s but as four balls or  five balls, lost by the group per hole, and laughed as they splashed or disappeared out of sight. In spite of personally losing six balls overall, I saw a slight improvement in my score, shooting an even 100. A long way from shooting my age! My sister insists that I would have a better chance of shooting my weight. I had good holes and bad holes but the only birdies for us on that day are those pictured here. I will leave you with one more picture. Until next time!

Marsh crossing