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Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Golfing Mississippi Dunes

On Monday as a part of my gear up to my family's annual golf trip to Giants Ridge I had a chance to leave work at noon and go play Mississippi Dunes again.

Golfing during the week is always great with few people on the course.  I was able to go out by myself and played from the "member" tees, which are a combination of the blues and whites.

The course itself has suffered some damage from the last time I played but the greens were in good shape.

On the front nine I shot great. The front side has 3 par 5s and 4 par 3s.  On the par 5s I went long over the green in two on the first and third ones.  I managed to get up and down in both for birdie.  I also parred 5 holes and bogeyed 2 holes.  That gave me an even par for the front.  That was my first time ever shooting par for 9 holes!

On the back a few more bogeys cropped up.  I did have 4 pars.  I had 4 bogeys and a double bogey on the last when a bad drive left me behind a tree and unable to reach the green in two.  A bad chip to the green and I ended the back nine 7 over.

All in all a great round and by far the best round I have had here by far. A 79.  Hopefully this bears good futures for my trip to Giants Ridge.

 Off the tee on number 1.
Here you can see the damage on the fairway on one.  Not all of the holes were like this but a few did have this kind of issue.

Hole 2, the downhill par 3 with the river in the background.

The tee shot on 3.  Always a hard one uphill.  I managed to stripe one perfectly to the left of the big tree. 


The fairway on 3 once over the hill.  My drive caught the downhill and carried to about 210 yards from the hole. 


I went long on the second shot on three but got up and down for brid.


The 4th hole, the long par 4 at 196 yards.  The tees had been moved up to the front tee box on this day and palyed only about 150 yards.


Here you can see the size of the green on #4.


Hole 5s tee shot. A tough par 4 at only 396 yards.  This hole is known as humpback for the mounds in the fairway at the turn.  It always seems to be a challenge to have a good tee shot here.

A good view of the tough mounded greens.  This is the green on the par 5 7th.  I missed reaching this green in two when my ball hit the side hill and kicked off.

This is the 8th green, this one can be a blind downhill shot if you are too far back on the drive on this hole.

The green on number 9, the shortest par 3 on the course at 118 yards. The Mississippi flows back to the left of the green.


The tee shot for hole 10, you must hit right of the first bunker but short of the further bunkers to have a chance at this green.
The first bunker seen from the tee on 10.  Hitting the railway ties can produce some nice extra yards.  Trouble is you don't always know which direction those yards are going to travel.


The down hill par 5 11th.  I hit another great drive here.

The second shot for the 11th.


The tee shot of the par 5 13th.  At 543 yards it is plenty long but today was into the wind.  I needed 4 shots to get on the green but saved par.


One of the pot bunkers on the 14th, the second of 2 back to back par 5s.


16 is always a frustrating hole.  Try to carry the large waste bunker and go at the green or play safe short or left of it.  I usually get confused on my downswing and hit right into the bunker.  Not today.  A good drive and wind behind let me carry it.  A skulled approach shot sent me behind the green and I failed to save par.


Still one of the more daunting tee shots on the course is this one on 17.  Not a long hole but the chute to the uphill fairway always gets me nervous.


A view back towards the tee from the green on 16.

Golfing the Dunes was another great experience.  For the first time I felt like I conquered the course rather than the other way around.  I think my previous best score here was mid 80s so I felt really great about my round.  The sun was shining and I got around in under 3 hours.  How great does it get?




Some of the flowers around the course.



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