Bradford Highlands is among the courses I've played most often, but something seemed different the last time I was there. I always played the blue tees, but when glancing at the scorecard on the first tee, the blues were listed at only 5854 yards. I was positive that they were over 6000 yards. Oh well, I decided to play the gold tees at 6277 yards. I began with three consecutive bogeys, including a great save on hole 1. I managed to get up and down, 80 yards away from the green on the other side of a pond. Nice!
An errant approach shot on hole 4 rolled into some thick weeds right of the green, leading to double-bogey. On hole 5, a par-5, I was confounded once again by the tees. The golds were 50 yards behind the location I usually play. There is a forced carry over a naturalized area and this makes the tee shot much more difficult. I pulled one into the trees left and had to take a penalty. In spite of this, I saved bogey. An up and down from 50 yards away did the trick. Another bogey followed on hole 6, which also played longer than I was accustomed to.
Two beautiful pars were next on holes 7 and 8. I actually wasted my second shot on the former, but got up and down with an extremely long putt. My tee shot on the latter, a par-3, was just short of the green. I chipped to a couple feet below the hole and then made the putt. If I still had any doubt, hole 9 convinced me that I was playing the wrong tees. The golds were 80 yards behind the blues, on the other side of a deep gorge. They were not even visible, actually. I played the blues on this hole and made out with bogey for a score of 44 at the turn.
Just like the front nine, the back began with three consecutive bogeys. On hole 11, I figured out what was up with the yardage. This used to be a par-5, but was converted to a par-4 when houses were built on the adjacent property. Now, they changed it again to a par-3. This explains the drop in overall yardage. The course is also a par 70 now, instead of a par 72, as it used to be. I continued playing golds, with the exception of holes 15 and 17. Hole 15 is 80 yards longer from the golds. Hole 17 is just 25 yards longer from the golds, but it ends up being a 450-yard par-4, which is a bit much for me.
Hole 13 is a par-3 over water. Unfortunately, I got distracted by a golf cart and dunked one in the pond. Along with a 3-putt, this resulted in triple-bogey. I was back on the bogey train for the next two holes. On hole 16, a 170-yard par-3 to an elevated green, I hit a great 5-iron, followed by two putts for par. The glory was short-lived, as hole 17, the long par-4, produced a triple-bogey. I duffed my drive and lost the ball in the fescue just ahead of the teeing area. Fortunately, I recovered with par on the final hole, a par-5. I was just off the green in three, then chipped one close and tapped in a putt for a score of 89.
I broke 90, but doing so on the original par-72 layout was a little more satisfying.
Score: 89
Putts: 31
Fairways: 5
Greens: 2
Penalties: 3
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