The very first post on this blog, back in 2006, was about a round at Banty's Roost Golf & Country Club. Whether it's deserved or not, the place has always had a bad reputation. The course is frequently referred to as a cow pasture and tales of poor service in the pro shop abound. I've never been a golf snob, so I visited the facility a handful of times in the early and mid 2000s. There was nothing spectacular about the course, to be sure, but I found it more than acceptable and even have some fond memories of playing there with some good friends. For no particular reason though, my last visit there was way back in 2007.
Perhaps feeling some nostalgia, I booked a round there a couple of days ago. What a mistake! The course itself is what it always was – that wasn't really the problem. The issue, frankly, is the type of people the course seems to attract. I got paired up with a married couple and another single player, who shared a cart with me. The single was friendly enough, but he had no clue how to get around the course efficiently. On at least half a dozen occasions, he put his clubs in his bag and walked around to the driver's side of the cart, before realizing that he wasn't the one driving. Back around to the passenger side he went each time. Bizarre.
The really annoying thing about this fellow, however, was his pre-shot routine. He would address the ball and then launch into what I can only describe as an extended shimmy. The only thing missing was the music. I couldn't stand waiting for him to pull the trigger, so I would look away. After a few seconds, I would inevitably look back, only to find he was still dancing with the ball at his feet. On one occasion, he spent 30 seconds practising a hip thrust that would put John Travolta to shame. HIT THE BALL, DUDE!
The lady in the group was no better. Sporting a pair of those arm bands that are popular among some of the LPGA players, she would address the ball and start her swing. Six seconds later, she would reach the quarter point of her backswing. Yes, that's right. At that point, there would be a pause of another six seconds. Then the remainder of the swing would take place over another six seconds. 666? How appropriate. The last part of the swing was downright blistering, compared to the first two portions. And this happened with every shot! Chip shot – same thing. Three foot putt – same thing. HIT THE BALL, DUDE!
OK, with that little rant over I can talk about some actual golf. I was terrible off the tee. I pulled or hooked a bunch of drives. When I tried to adjust, I pushed a couple drives way right. Even on the par-3 holes, I wasn't able to deliver a good tee shot. I hit only one fairway all day. Not surprisingly, I hit zero greens in regulation. It's not that my irons or second shots were bad – it's simply hard to hit greens in regulation when you've been penalized off the tee. I tallied a whopping seven penalty strokes on the day.
Having said that, my putting was amazing. The greens were like putting on shag carpet, but nevertheless, I drained putts often and from distance. It might have been my best putting all year. Consider hole #8 on the Red nine, a par-3 that was playing 202 yards. I topped a 5-wood off the tee, leaving 100 yards to the hole. From there, I hit a nice sand wedge flag high, but about 15 feet left. No problem, as I hit the centre of the cup with a breaking putt. It was my second-last hole of the day and my first par. I went on to par the last hole of the day as well.
Though I only had two pars, I also registered no worse than double-bogey on any hole. I can't say that about every round. Honestly though, I was just glad to get the round over with. After eight years without playing Banty's Roost, I think I had enough to last for at least another eight.
HIT THE BALL, DUDE!
Score: 95
Putts: 31
Fairways: 1
Greens: 0
Penalties: 7
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