A couple more shots from the Johnny Open Club-n-Cancer

A couple of shots my brother took of the tournament last week.  Some pictures of me golfing!

 Hitting the second from 196 yards out on the par 5 4th. Too bad I hit it 230 yards :(

My brother Mike

Me

 Cart crash, one fatality.

Me on the 13th.  110 yards out.  I hit it close and made the bird.

Columbia golf league week 4

Week two of match play was this week.  Mike and I took on team 9 which was represented by Luther Salveson.  His partner could not make it so he ended up going it alone.

The conditions at Columbia continue to be as bad as ever, possibly even worse.  The fairways seem to be one of two extremes:  Either vast dead brown swaths of winter kill or mushy mud holes.  Apparently Columbia put in a irrigation system last year but what they seem to need to work on is drainage.  Several of our shots this week ended up being submerged in standing water in the middle of the fairway.  One particularly well hit 3 wood I hit landed squarely in a puddle and stopped dead.  Had it been a normal course an additional 20-30 yards could have been had.

On an up note the greens are starting to grow in.  The aeration marks that from last week have mostly recovered.  However, the greens continue to be incredibly slow and bumpy.  A couple of strokes were lost when the ball hopped off line from the hole this week.  The other problem with playing greens like this is you need to "hit" the ball to the hole instead of letting it role out.  This is really bad practice once you go play another course, where putting like that would result in hitting the ball entirely off the putting surface.

I did hit the ball really well.  I had two bad putts and two bad chips that resulted in a score of 40.  This was with one double and two bogeys.  I did scramble well a couple of times and saved par with a couple of one puts.

Luther did not have such a fine day.  he spent a lot of the day in the rough or hitting trees.  Mike and I ended up winning all points possible for the match.  We are now tied for first place with 6 points, the most possible after two weeks.

Happy Friday

"I could not help saying that I never had played golf with anyone, man or woman, amateur or professional, who made me feel so utterly outclassed."

          - Bobby Jones on Joyce Wethered, with whom he played a casual round at St. Andrews during his "Grand Slam" year of 1930

The Johnny Open Club-N-Cancer at Deer Run

Last weekend I had the honor in taking part in a Charity Golf event at Deer Run in Victoria, MN.  This is an event that officially started this year by John Ericksen, a 20+ year cancer survivor.  This year he decided to do a golf fund raiser to help raise money and provide the proceeds to a family who is battling cancer.  He was able to raise a couple thousand dollars for Jim Crandell and his family.  Jim has medullobla stoma and had surgery to remove the tumor.  Jim and his wife were there but I did not get a chance to talk to them.  I was very happy to be able to play golf on a beautiful spring day and help out thier family at the same time.

After the round Johnny had a steak dinner and hosted happy hour.  Unfortunately I was unable to stay as it was my mother-in-law's birthday so I made a quick exit after the round.

The course was in great shape.  Especially the greens which were the most grown in and smooth I have played, even more so than Rush Creek. Though to be fair it has been a warm week for grass growth so I imagine the Rush Creek's are even better than when I played them.

Deer run is not a long course (6292 from the back tees).  You can still use driver on most holes though doing so introduces a lot of danger that could be avoided if you were to stick with long irons off the tee.  If you do use driver then you likely will only need driver and a wedge on almost every hole.

Here are some picks of the course:

 Hole 2, downhill 149 yard par 3.

 Hole 3, an uphill 401 yard dogleg left par 4

The green on approach at 3.

 Hole 4 a short 495 yard par 5.  I ripped a drive here and had less that 190 to the hole.  We missed the eagle though.

 Hole 5 a 375 yard par 4.

 The green on hole 5.  My cabin is in the background.  You can see Johnny in the yellow cap.

 Hole 6 is a 186 yard par 3.  I got a natural bird on this one.

 Hole8 a 463 yard par 4.

 The 9th tee and my brother.

 The green on 9 with water in front.

 Hole 13.  A straight away par 4 at 336 yards.  The fairway slopes at 150 down to water in front of the green.

 The uphill par 3 14th.

 Hole 15 with water and trees on either side but short enough to avoid them both off the tee.

 Another uphill par 3, the 16th

 Hole 17 is a short dogleg left par 4 at 314 yards.  Trying to cut the corner brings all of the trouble on the hole into play.

The 18th, a par 5 finisher.

The course in general is fairly straight forward and won't win any awards for beautiful holes but it is always in great shape and at $54 priced competitively.  Because it is in Victoria it is a haul to get out and play so I don't visit that often.  Relatively close to the course is the Chaska town course which I would much prefer to play.

Playing Rush Creek

Tuesday I had the priveledge of playing Rush Creek in Maple Grove, MN.  I have played this course three times now.  The last time I played here was when they were redoing the greens in 2007.  At that time they had temporary greens set up that were just parts of the fairway they had shaved down and turned into temporary greens.

Normal rates at Rush Creek are $109- a steep pill that does not include carts ($19 for 1/2 cart).  They do have an awesome twilight rate of $49.  For that rate it can be considered a pretty good deal.

I was really impressed with the course conditions.  Unlike all of the other Minnesota courses I have played this year there was very little snow damage.  The greens were nearly all pristine.  I am told that in the summer the new greens can be like lightning.  They were not too fast yet but were exceptionally smooth.

Twilight rates start at 4PM and I can imagine are very popular since you can shave off $60.  We were able to get a 4:20 time, the earliest available slot for the day.  For May early may the days aren't quite long enough to ensure finishing 18 before dark but luckily the day was sunny and there were no groups ahead of us to hold us up.

The Rush Creek web site is a little lacking on the course details. A  shame as they should be bragging about thier course.  A couple of the holes on the course (especially 13 and 18) remind me a lot of similar holes at Chaska Town Course- my favorite city course.  Hole 18 is a nearly identical par 5 finishing hole with a dogleg left around a lake.  At Rush Creek, the hole adds more pressure than Chaska as from the tee the landing area looks a lot smaller than at the Chaska finish.

Since the Rush Creek site is thin here are some additional details about the course from my round.

The course first opened in 1996 and was designed by Bob Cupp and John Fought.  There are 5 sets of tees.  The back tees called "The Duncan" that play to just over 7300 yards.  Since it is still early in the year and since none of our foursome earns a living playing golf, we moved up 2 to the blue tees at 6550 yards.

Hole 1 is a 399 yard par 4.  Water is off the tee to the right but should not come into play.  Aside from a slightly elevate tee shot to be placed onto a hidden fairway with hills to the left and right, the hole plays straight.  Two green side bunkers give a hint of the myriad of traps that you will see on the course.

Hole 2 is a dogleg left par 5 at 497 yards.  The left side of the hole is a lake so water comes into play the entire length of the hole.  A fairway bunker on the right always seems to catch my second shot, as it has done every time I have played this hole.

Hole 3 is a pretty non-descript par 3 at 157 yards.  The green has several bunkers surrounding as the only threat here.

Hole 4 is another par 4, playing to 322 yards.  Going for the green off the tee is discouraged by trees along the right side that shield the hole. The hole plays uphill most of the way.

Hole 5 is a downhill par 5 that offers a view of one of the few houses on the course and it is a doosey.  I think that a member of the Cargill family owns the house.  The hole played to 374 yards.  The tee shot must be played away from trees on the left.  Trees also line the right side but there is more room there.  A couple of large fairway bunkers stare at you from the tee.  As long as you play short of them the hole is pretty easy.

Hole 6 is an interesting par 4 at 320 yards.  It is not worth trying to go for the green as a large valley cuts across the fairway to an uphill green.  Lay back and avoid the cross hazards short of the green.

Hole 7 is a longer par 3 at 187 yards.Water can be in play to the right on this hole. Large bunkers catch any balls hit long.

Hole 8 is a medium length par 5 at 548 yards.  The tee shot should be aimed over the trees to the right to cut some distance off.  Water will come into play on the left for your second shot and runs all the way to the hole.  If you are going to bail, do so right.  Any pins on the left edge of the green should not be challenged as the water is not far off the putting surface.

Hole 9 is a 418yard par 4 with several fairway bunkers to collect tee shots.  You can play the ball extreme left as I did and avoid them but you run into some long wild grass areas if you stray from the hole. The green here is guarded by water right.

Hole 10 is a short par 5 at 518 yards.  Simply avoid the right side of this hole where march land waits any unfortunate balls.

Hole 11 requires carrying water off the tee on this 373 yard hole.

After 11 things start to get a little hairy.  The level of difficulty ramps up a bit.

Hole 12 is a short medium length par 3 at 164 yards.  Water comes into play on this peninsula green.

Hole 13 is visually the hardest tee shot on the course.  A required 190yard carry is needed off the tee to the fairway.  The second shot requires a another accurate shot to a green with water in play to the right and a valley short.  Most people would think a bogey is good here.  I know I would have.  I recorded a 6.  In fact, none of our foursome hit their first shot safe.

Hole 14 is an uphill par 4 that plays a long 440 yards.  The tee shot must be long and straight to give a reasonable chance at one of the harder greens to hit.  It is protected by water and a large hill in front.

The pressure eases on the par 3 169 yard 15th.  With only some bunkers to worry about it.

Hole 16 (par 4 404 yards) is back to a large fairway welcoming your drive just stay away from the right side.

Hole 17 is a shorter 384 yard par 4.  A dogleg left, if you can cut the bunker at the corner (about a 250-260 yard carry) then your next shot is a wedge over a couple front side bunkers.

Hole 18 is a brilliant finishing hole.  The tee shot is critical and a harrowing test of your accuracy.  Water lies left and trees to the right.  You must have confidence and trust that swing on this hole.  If your tee shot is successfull you must navigate around the dog leg left.  Water is in play this entire hole.  Play your second shot just short of the fairway bunkers or over them if your tee shot was far enough.

All in all Rush Creek from the Blue tees is not too long.  Most holes offer really generous fairways off the tee.  Those couple of holes that do not (13, 18) really shrink in your minds eye since you are used to looking at such open spaces on the rest of the holes.  From the blues, one of our foursome commented the course is really pretty easy as long as you hit your shots straight.  The holes are short enough that most second shots do not require mid or long irons to reach the greens.  Choose to step up and take it back a tee or two and this course could be a monster, even with the wide fairways.

With the excellent conditions and the great twilight rate I highly recommend Rush Creek.  If you are playing during prime time there are better options out there for less, unless your company is picking up the tab.

For our round we just were able to get in our round.  We might have been able to play one more hole before darkness but it would have been really close.  We were able to be treated to a great sunset on the last hole.

BTW, the clubhouse has one of the best patios in any golf course in the cities.  The food is pretty good at the restaurant too.

Here is a picture of the course layout:

Columbia Golf League Week 3

This week was the official start of our team match play in the Columbia league.  I mentioned before how bad the conditions are on the course.  The greens did not mkae it through the winter well at all.  To make matters worse they aerated them this week.  Aeration methods vary on courses.  High end courses seem to use very small aeration punches and some even back fill to lessen the effects.  Not so here.  I think they used beer bottles to make the holes.  playing Plinko is fun but not while golfing.

Here is hole 1 at Columbia a straight par 4 with a cross bunker in play off the tee.

And here are the great conditions on the course.  Really?  At this point it really is not too important lining up your shots.

Playing Glen Lake

Last weekend my Dad and I got out to Glen Lake, a fine executive course in Minnetonka.  Located on Hwy 62, just west of 494 Glen Lake is one of the nicest executive courses in the twin cities.  The course is usually kept in really good shape.  Glen Lake also offers a lot of junior golf programs and some times the course can play a little slow because of the youngsters on it.  The course has 4 par 4s and 5 par 3s.  I have played a lot of rounds on this course and really enjoy it.  This course and Begin Oaks, I consider to be the nicest executive courses in Minneapolis.

Just before our tee time it was raining pretty good but by the time we got a couple of holes in, the sun actually started to appear.  This was the first time golfing under sun in Minnesota this year!  This was my dad's first time out.  Since we were the only ones on the course we decided to play two balls on each hole.

Hole 1 is an uphill par 3.  The green surface can not be seen from the tee. At 117 yards it plays slightly longer but you want to be careful not to go too far as trees come in to play quickly behind the green.

The second hole is a downhill par 3 at 147 yards.

The third hole is the first par 4, at 308 yards.  A dogleg right, trees prevent a straight shot at the green.




The fourth hole is another par 3, 153 yards with water in play to the right of the green.  A long green has some undulations to make putting difficult.

Hole 5 is my favorite hole on this course.  I am a big fan of the northern Minnesota courses and this hole reminds me of playing those.  With trimmed evergreens on either side of the fairway, I think this is one of the nicest looking holes around.

Hole 6 is a hard par 4 dogleg left.  The second shot is to a green tucked into the trees.  You need to hit the second straight as both left and right sides fall off downhills to the woods.

Hole 7 is another the longest par 3 at 173 yards.  Downhill, water is to the right but should not come into play.  More likely in play is the evergreen to the left of the green.

Hole 8 is a downhill par 3 at 166 yards.  My dad hit a really nice shot into this one, as seen here:

As you can see in the above picture one thing about the course is the greens appeared to have suffered some kind of snow mold damage.  Some of the greens had extensive marks on them.  Hopefully this damage will grow out but for now the greens were fairly bumpy.

The final hole is a 301 yard par 4. Dead straight but with a hazard running up the left side.  The right side offers a hill that can put balls back into play, or leave an awkward lie.  Trees in front and left of the green can be a problem if you play up the left side.