My last round of golf was a struggle, but I put it behind me and looked forward to the next. The previous round was played at Sparrow Lakes Heron, a course that was new to me. I refrained from offering up a review of the course in my post-round writeup because I felt it wouldn't be fair; I felt so drained during the round and played so poorly that any type of review would likely be biased. A week later, I can say that the course was reasonably good, but certainly not among my favourite designs.
Heron has plenty of length overall, and holes of varying length ensure almost all of your clubs will be used. However, the course lacks mature trees, relying far too heavily on small ponds as the main obstacle. I prefer layouts where one can recover from a bad shot. That's hard to do with dinky ponds that pile up the penalty strokes. I also found the topography at Sparrow Lakes a bit boring; there are no elevation changes to speak of, nor is there much mounding to add visual interest.
For my money, I would rather play at Willodell Golf Club, which is roughly in the same vicinity. On my first ever trip to the Niagara Falls area club, I found the course to be more pleasant visually. The terrain is a little more rolling than Sparrow Lakes, but the big difference are the mature trees that give shape to the fairways and force you to play different kinds of shots. Sometimes it's a full wedge shot to clear a large canopy, while other times it's a punched 4 or 5-iron to get back to a fairway. There is also some water here and there, but it's just one of the different obstacles employed. In contrast, I found Sparrow Lakes to be a one-trick pony.
I teed off at 8:20 in the morning on hole #10, a par-5 that plays 482 yards from the blue tees. My tee shot found the left rough, which was rather lush. I hacked one back to the fairway, but was still faced with a 200-yard shot to the green. I proceeded to flush one to the front of the green, leaving an uphill putt for birdie. I missed, but tapped in for a satisfying par.
The remainder of the back nine continued much the same way. I hit only one fairway with the driver during that stretch, but I made good contact and got good distance every time. Hitting often from the rough, I failed to hit any more greens in regulation. However, I almost always made decent contact with the ball and avoided trouble areas. Like I said in my last post, golf is a fun game when you can get the ball airborne and have it travel roughly in the intended direction. Near the greens, I was able to chip adequately and my putting was excellent. I made four 1-putts, including a long bomb on hole #18, all of which produced a score of 45 at the turn.
On the front nine, I was a little more inconsistent, but still managed to maintain bogey pace. I pull-hooked my drive into a hazard on hole #2, then 3-putt on the green for a triple-bogey. It was my only poor drive of the day and my only 3-putt. In between, I hit a good 4-iron and absolutely flushed a 6-iron to get near the green. My first putt, a lengthy downhill attempt almost dropped to save bogey. Unfortunately, I pulled the uphill comebacker from 4 feet, which was my only bad putt of the day.
I made par on holes #4, #5, and #7. The first of these is a par-4, while the other two are par-3 holes. On #4, it was a lengthy putt that did the trick. When the flat stick is working, it covers up flaws in other parts of the game. On #5, I went up and down from a bunker. I've struggled with bunkers at times, so that felt good. On #7, I hit a laser 8-iron that was all over the flag. I gave the breaking birdie putt too much respect, missing on the high side.
I was shooting 80 with two holes to play, both of which were par-4 holes. A wayward drive to an opposite fairway started things off on hole #8. I hit a mid-iron back to the fairway, leaving 130 yards to the flag. I struck a good shot, but pulled the ball slightly, finishing just left of the green. A mediocre chip and two putts led to double-bogey.
My drive on hole #9 also went right, but not as badly. I was in the trees, but had an opening back to the fairway. From 150 yards, I hit an easy 5-iron through the chute, trying to cut the ball back to the green. On impact, I thought it would be perfect. The ball flew through the chute and started its bend to the right. Unfortunately, it just clipped a tree branch and dropped 120 yards from the green. I pulled the third shot into a bunker, then barely got out. A chip and two putts were needed to hole out with triple-bogey.
A bit of a disappointment on the last hole or two, but overall, I was very pleased with a score of 93. More importantly, it was fun to hit the ball semi-clean around a course.
Score: 93
Putts: 30
Fairways: 2
Greens: 2
Penalties: 1
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