Woodington Lake Golf Club features two 18-hole courses that are very well designed. The Legend and The Legacy, as the two courses are known, are vastly different in style, but both offer excellent variety and challenge. Unfortunately, management at the club has implemented policies that ruin the golfing experience. Specifically, the club insists that golfers use power carts on the Legacy course at all times. Power carts are also mandatory on the Legend course at specified times (9 am – 2 pm, Wed – Fri & Open – 2 pm, Weekends & Holidays).
I much prefer to walk a golf course, for various reasons. Due to a knee injury, I cannot perform any rigorous physical activities. Walking 18 holes is way for me to exercise, without putting excessive strain on my knee. I also enjoy the outdoors much more when I'm walking. I live in the city and spend enough time trapped in vehicles. Finally, I play better when I walk. I can focus on my own game, rather than my cart partner's game. I also play faster when I walk. I spend less time searching for balls, because I can walk directly to them. I can also walk directly from a green to the next teeing ground, instead of following a winding cart path.
Woodington Lake's mandatory cart policy is pointless – unless the point is to swindle its patrons. At $22.60 per player, the club has the most expensive cart fees I've seen anywhere. If it walks like a money grab and talks like a money grab – well, it's a money grab. I have no problem with clubs charging whatever they want for a round of golf. If you think you're a premium golf course, then go ahead and charge a premium green fee. But don't advertise a lower green fee, only to gouge patrons with a ridiculous fee for mandatory carts. You're not fooling anyone.
In fact, the club is only hurting itself. I sincerely hope Woodington Lake enjoys the $22.60 cart fee it collected from me on a recent visit. It will cost them hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars in lost green fees for future rounds. I personally, will not go back until they change their policy. I have already recommended to the group I played with not to return. Finally, I will recommend the same to anyone who will listen. Browse the golf message boards or ask members of the GTA golfing community and you'll realize I'm not alone. Woodington Lake is alienating a lot of players – dedicated golfers who are not afraid to vocalize their displeasure.
With that nonsense out of the way, let me turn to a discussion of my performance. I started the round with a mix of good and bad shots. On hole #2, for example, I pulled a drive well left of the fairway. However, I saved par on the par-5 hole with a pair of good iron shots, followed by an excellent chip and putt. A weak drive on the next par-5, which is hole #4, didn't really hurt me. My second shot was an excellent 7-iron, leaving 140 yards to the green from the middle of the fairway. Unfortunately, I pulled my 9-iron slightly, catching a large hill that kicked the ball well left of the green. A 3-putt to finish resulted in a double-bogey.
In fact, putting let me down in the early stages of the round. I counted five lost strokes on the front nine due to putts I should have made. Most of these were straight, uphill putts in the four to six foot range. With lots of golf still to be played, I knew the inevitable blowup holes would come. When they did, the early missed putts were all the more painful. It's a shame, because my putting has been pretty good all year. However, such is golf. Somehow, someway, the game finds a way to restore your average score. On this day, I blame my putting.
After a tip from my playing partner on hole #7, I began to hit a remarkable number of fairways. He mentioned that my practice swing was slower and smoother than my actual swing. Without even realizing it, I was trying to smash the ball on my actual shots – not surprisingly, with poor results. I turned to some mental trickery to remedy the situation. Just before I hit the ball, I began telling myself to “take another practice swing.” It wasn't a practice swing at all, but telling myself that it was slowed my swing speed just enough and greatly increased my accuracy. After the coaching session, I hit 8 of 10 fairways. Sweet!
Though I was hitting fairways, it did not translate into better scores. I still hit almost no greens. I actually liked my approach shots very much. Contact was crisp, flight path was straight, and distances were perfect. However, I was just missing left or right, usually on the safe side. I made a couple of pars and a couple of bogeys, depending on how well I chipped greenside. The problem is that when I made a bad shot, it was the kind that puts you in a terrible position and leads to a blowup score – triple-bogey or worse. I made a mess of hole #10 and hole #16 in particular.
In the end, there were a lot of positives to take away. However, I scored my typical, ugly score.
Score: 103
Putts: 37
Fairways: 8
Greens: 3
Penalties: 4
No comments:
Post a Comment