There's a simple reason I've never played Silver Brooke Golf Club: it's not very convenient to reach. It's not just the distance from home, but the fact that it's tucked away from major highways. Despite all that, I resolved to head out there and see what the course is all about.
I gave myself plenty of time and there were no traffic delays. Nevertheless, I arrived at the course with little time to spare. They were having computer issues in the pro shop, which delayed me further. With the computer issue resolved, they asked me to catch up with another single who was already on the first tee.
He teed off just as I arrived on the scene, and invited me to join up. I fumbled around to get my ball, tee, and other necessary paraphernalia. I felt rushed, which is one of the worst feelings to start a round. It was made worse by the fact that I was unfamiliar with the course layout.
I proceeded to pull four consecutive drives into the woods lining the left side of the first hole. The guy I paired up with must have thought I was a hacker! I never take Mulligans, but these were exceptional circumstances. My fifth drive was flared to a fescue covered mound right of the fairway. I started keeping score with that stroke, and still struggled to a triple-bogey result. A 3-putt added a little extra salt to the wound.
I was worried that my play would sour my opinion of the course, but over the next seven holes, I settled down nicely. I collected four pars and three bogeys during that run. I went bogey, par on holes 2 and 3, which are back-to-back par-3 designs. The latter is much longer and more difficult, but I hit a perfect 6-iron to start it off. I hit a horrible drive on hole 4, a par-4, but still managed bogey. In fact, I nearly chipped in for par.
Holes 5 through 8 produced par, bogey, par, and par. I finally hit a good drive on hole 5, nearly driving the green of this short par-4. My drives on holes 6 and 7 were satisfactory, both finding the fairway. A 6-iron approach shot just missed the green on the former, while an 8-iron approach nailed the green on the latter. My best drive of the front nine came on hole 8, a 339-yard par-4. It allowed me to attack the pin with a lob wedge. Although I hit a nice approach shot, I wasn't able to convert the birdie.
On hole 9, a par-4, my driver went wild again. I pulled my tee shot, but was lucky that it also popped up high and didn't go very far, otherwise it would have been out of bounds. I found the ball under a bush very near the OB stakes. I was forced to declare the ball unplayable and take a penalty. My third shot was a towering 5-iron, but it was also pulled, finishing on the edge of the woods. I was able to chip out of there, but not all the way to the green. I burned another shot getting on the green, before 3-putting for a quadruple-bogey. Ugh!
I played seven great holes, sandwiched by two atrocious ones, to make the turn with a score of 46.
While the front nine at Silver Brooke plays through mature forest, the back nine opens up into a faux links style. I made par on Hole 10, thanks in part to a lovely 9-iron approach. After that, the wild drives returned. Hole 11 is a 522-yard par-5 with a generous fairway. I'm not sure if that enticed me to try crushing the ball, but I pulled two consecutive drives into a water feature left of the teeing ground that shouldn't even be in play. Hitting my fifth from the tee, I finished the hole with a quadruple-bogey. Basically, I made par after wasting four strokes.
Fortunately, that was the last bit of real nonsense for the round. I went 7 over par for the last seven holes, including a par, five bogeys, and a double-bogey. The double-bogey, which came on hole 12, was due to a pointless 3-putt. Bogey golf isn't bad, but I was still struggling to hit decent drives. I popped one short and left on hole 13, then sliced one to the right on hole 14. In both cases, it was my iron play that allowed me to salvage bogey.
I hit a decent drive on hole 15, but that one was with the 5-wood. I followed up with a gorgeous 7-iron over trees and bushes to the front of a hidden green, leading to par. On hole 17, I pulled a low bullet off the tee, smacking a tree trunk and ricocheting to the opposite side of the fairway. A good 5-wood, 5-iron combination helped me save bogey on this par-5. My drive on hole 18 wasn't as bad as the previous one, but it wasn't pretty either. Again, I needed the 5-wood to bail me out on my second shot, and I hit it well enough to set up a final bogey.
I liked Silver Brooke and will probably return some day. It won't be any time soon though, as it's quite a pain for me to get there.
Score: 93
Putts: 38
Fairways: 4
Greens: 6
Penalties: 4
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