Golfing Dahlgreen

Winter is coming.  Today it was easy to tell with highs that did not reach 50.  I worked a half-day and went out to Chaska to play Dahlgreen.  This was my last round there on my common man card.

With the crappy weather the course was pretty open.  There were 2 twosomes that had just gone out when I checked in so the starter had me go off the back.  I decided to play 2 balls with the light crowds.

The beautiful 10th tee.

Off the tee I hit my tee shots and then as I was walking down to hit my second I saw someone walk onto the green in front of me.  Another single was out in the winds.  He finished out on one and I then hit both my balls on in regulation and putted out.

The single was still on the number 11 tee and as I walked up he said he was playing slow and asked if I wanted to go ahead of him or join him.  I asked if he minded if I played 2 balls and he said no and that he was doing the same.

We introduced ourselves.  His name was John and was a member of the course and plays out here most weekdays.

The 12th tee- par 3 170 yards.

Wind 1, flagsticks 0

We ended up hacking our way around the course.  Along with the cold temperatures the winds were in the 30+ MPH range.  It was so windy that none of the flags on the back nine stayed standing.  The wind was toppling them out of the holes.  It really makes it hard to judge your approaches when you can't see where on the green the hole is.  I guess with the wind it was not like we could throw darts at the pin (actually, even without the wind I have no chance at that :) ).

The normally blind par 3 14th is uphill and hard to aim anyways, much less when no flagstick is visible.

Aside from the windburn and the chilly temps it was a fun round.  I never felt that loose and didn't make great contact but managed to hack around for a score of 85 and 82.  I had 2 birdies on the day.  One I chipped in on 16 and one I one putted on 3.

The fairway of the dogleg right 18th hole.  The hole rises uphill the second half to the green.

John played well but was fighting a fade most of the day.  A familiar struggle for me.  The windy conditions didn't help any but at least we got a nice wind burn.  I think my nose has finally thawed out too.

 The dogleg left 1st hole.

 The stupid par 5 13th.  A ridiculous dogleg right with nowhere to hit off the tee.

 The second shot on 13- if you get lucky off the tee.

 The green on 5, taken from the 6th tee.

 A couple of trees still had color on the 7th hole.

 A shot of both of my second shots into 8.  I hit both of them over the green and they came to rest right next to each other.

The tight par 4 9th hole.

The course was in fairly good shape.  With the wind all of the leaves were gone.  We found a lot of balls just sitting in the middle of the open rough.  John said that they day before, there were leaves all over the course and most of these balls were uncovered today as the wind swept the course clean.  I must have picked up around 16 balls.

The course is also showing signs of the dry summer.  The course obviously doesn't water off the fairways.  The fairways were fairly lush but once you get about 10 feet into the rough the ground dries out.  Once you get to 30 feet off the fairway, the rough is rock hard and it is like hitting of concrete.