A Good Electric Cart Ride Spoiled

I played golf yesterday, taking a half-day off from work to join my wife in a sort-of tournament at Loggers Trail in Stillwater. It's a nice course, with bent grass fairways and a reasonable price, but I'm not likely to become a regular patron for a couple reasons.

Before I get into the reasons, let me make it perfectly clear that one of the reasons is not how I played. While I did play poorly (88; 86 after ESC adjustment, for a differential of 13, my worst in a year), I hit plenty of very good shots, and course knowledge will help me play it better next time. I like that kind of challenge, so in that way, I do look forward to playing it again.

What I do not look forward to are the three holes that are doglegs around out-of-bounds stakes. Usually, this is just poor design in my opinion, but I can tolerate it once on a golf course, provided there is a good bail-out option if you don't want to flirt with one of golf's all-time silly rules: the stroke-and-distance penalty for out-of-bounds. There is no such ample bail-out on this course, which brings me to complaint number two: the wild grass.

I enjoy courses with deep fescue as an obstacle, provided that its placement is kept in such a way that you don't feel the need to hit wedge off of every tee just to avoid it. I also enjoy wild grass as a nice, natural hazard on a course, such as Deacon's Lodge near Breezy Point. The wild grass at Loggers Trail, however, is far too plentiful, and as a non-hazard, far too penal to be enjoyable.

Yesterday's five-hour round consisted of about an hour total of ball hunting in our group. Were the wild grass a lateral hazard, we simply would have treated it as such, and made the round in much less time.

I don't think I'm too different from other golfers in that I don't mind taking my one stroke penalty, even several times a round, and dropping near the hazard. No one, however, enjoys having to keep hitting provisionals, hunting for the original in deep grass, only to resort to scrambling to save double bogey. I imagine most golfers would enjoy this course because most golfers would ignore USGA rules in a casual round here and play the wild grass as hazard. But in an outing where the rules must apply, or to a player who likes to keep an honest handicap even in casual rounds, it's no fun.

But I'm sure I'll be returning and aiming to break 80 from the tips. I might want to leave my driver at home for that.

T-snide's Loggers Trail rating: 3 1/2 out of 5, which ain't bad (I'm not the most generous rater).

Watch out for:
- Stroke and distance penalties abound in the wild grass (although I've been told sometimes it's shorter, such as early spring)
- Cut corners by the OB stakes at your peril
- Current clubhouse is a double-wide with just one restroom that sports a non-tinted window with no shades to keep passers-by from peeping or snooping while you're peeing or pooping

Pluses:
- Nice bent grass fairways that are usually fairly generous
- Housing development not a problem (as opposed to Oak Glen, The Wilds, etc.)
- Good price for the quality of course