Banty's Roost? What am I doing playing there? Covid-19 has made this a strange golf year. Courses are full and tee times are harder to find than usual. Banty's Roost is certainly not the best place to play, but the location is convenient and the price was right.
I began on hole 1 of the Blue course with a drive that found the centre of the fairway. It was the only fairway I hit all day. I missed fairways with irons and I missed them with the driver. Many of these misses were still playable, but a couple of drive attempts were completely smothered and went nowhere. I made bogey on the opening hole after an approach from 100 yards came up short in a bunker. I made par on hole 2 after a similar scenario. Holes 3 and 4 produced another bogey and par. A 7-iron approach on the former went long, while I recovered well from a poor drive on the latter.
Hole 5 is a short par-4 at just 242 yards. It's also ranked the easiest hole on the course. Unfortunately, I pulled a 7-iron off the tee and ended up stymied by a spruce tree. After a pitch back to the fairway, I duffed with the sand wedge from 100 yards. I only reached the green with my fourth shot, which was followed by two putts for a double-bogey. It was ugly.
I went bogey, bogey, par over the next three holes. The bogeys came as I missed greens slightly and couldn't chip close enough to get up and down. On a positive note, I hit a great second shot on hole 7 just to be near the green. A spruce tree was interfering with my back swing, but I still carried a pond in front of the green.
The par on hole 8 came despite a poor drive that sliced toward the bushes. The guy I was playing with found my ball in a bad lie on the edge of the woods. He picked it up and said, “you're not hitting that.” Excuse me? I asked him to place it back where he found it and let me be the judge. I advanced the ball 50 yards to the left fairway with the lob wedge. From there, I hit the green with the gap wedge and then drained a par putt. Take that buddy!
Hole 9 is a par-3 all over water to a green pinched on three sides by bushes. I hit 9-iron on a good line, but thinned it. The ball cleared the water, but kicked left when it bounced short of the green. It was a bad break, as that pushed the ball into the bushes left. I took a penalty stroke and drop, followed by a chip and two putts. I couldn't believe the first putt missed. It was good stroke that burned the edge. I marked double-bogey on my card for a score of 43 (8 over par) at the turn.
We moved on to the Red course, which began with three consecutive bogeys. Hole 1 is another short par-3 over water. The flag was at the back left of the peanut shaped green. I hit gap wedge on a perfect line, but came up a yard short of the green. A chip and another missed putt resulted in the bogey. The other two bogeys resulted from missing the fairways slightly, then missing the greens slightly. My pitch or chip shots were just okay, requiring two putts to finish.
I ruined my score for the round over the next two holes. Hole 4 is a par-5 that was playing 500 yards. I used a 3-iron off the tee, but still missed the wide fairway to the right. The ball was on a side slope, at about mid thigh level. I made fantastic contact with a 6-iron, but pulled it a hair left of my intended line and smacked a spruce tree just a few yards ahead. The ball deflected into long fescue on the right. I took an unplayable, then hit my fourth shot with a lofted club to get over more spruce trees ahead. I only reached the green with my fifth shot, then made matters worse by 3-putting for a triple-bogey.
Hole 5 is a long par-4 and the result was even worse. The hole bends to the left, encouraging players to take their tee shot over the inside corner. A tree just ahead of the teeing ground makes this route very uncomfortable. If you can't hit a draw, your only option is to get your ball over that tree. I had too many thoughts going on and smothered a drive attempt left of the tree into a fescue covered dune. Hitting my third from the tee, I decided to aim for the right side, but that meant giving up distance so as not to run through the dogleg. I topped and duffed the next two shots, only reaching the green with my sixth. Two putts completed the quadruple-bogey.
I had only made three pars before these two disastrous holes, and there were only four holes remaining to play. I would have to par them all to break 90. Sadly, I finished bogey, bogey, par, par for a final score of 91. The bogey on hole 6, a par-3, was a typical green missed to the left, followed by a chip and two putts. The bogey on hole 7, a par-5, was well earned after a smothered pull on the tee. I hit a good punch and solid 5-wood to get back on track. The final two holes were another par-3, par-5 combination. The green on hole 8 is the only one I hit in regulation, leading to the par. Hole 9 is a beast at 576 yards. I was near the green in three, despite a weak tee shot. An up and down was a decent way to finish the day.
Score: 91
Putts: 30
Fairways: 1
Greens: 1
Penalties: 3
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