The Golf Thread

[RC Vikings]

Doing a golf trip to Vegas in September. For you Vegasites, what 4-5 courses should I be looking at?

Shadow Creek

[clackamascoug]

Homestead was beautiful. Shot a 49 + 42 = 91. Started out four over my bogey level after three holes. Then chipped away at that the rest of the round. The back was about as well as I can play. I left a couple shots on the table due to not knowing the course.

I have very limited experience in playing different golf courses in different locales, but I just feel :rockon1::thumbsup: about playing these local mountain courses on a summer night like Gladstan, Hobble, Homestead/Wasatch.

Don't forget Cascade! (Kind of a mountain course) Evening golf in the summer, with long shadows, and still air, is like Ice Cream and Apple Pie. When it's good, it's really good.

When I was 14, I'd go to Cascade Golf Course everyday in the summer. For the longest time, I'd shoot a 40, 40, 40, and could never break into that 39. One day it all came together, and my first time I shot in the 30's was a 37. One over par. It was a whole year till I got the elusive 36, and an even par. The lowest 9 I ever shot anywhere was a 33, but the lowest 18 I've ever had was a 70. I tried for years to get that 69, but I never did. The worst thing about golf is that if you tell someone that you shot a 72, 90% of the people won't be impressed, because that's what you're supposed to do (par right?) Some golfers won't be impressed because they do it all the time, and other golfers won't be impressed because they've seen others do it all the time. When it comes down to it, golf is a mean sport. It takes years to get proficient, and when you do, it will still chew you up and spit you out. For every good shot, there'll be two bad shots, and at the end of the day you'll never beat the course - no matter how good you played. Yesterday, I play with a guy that shot a 74, and you would have thought his dog died, and the guy that shot a 85 felt like he found a $100 bill in an old pair of jeans. And me - I live in eternal golf purgatory, where I will never get better, and I'll steadily decline for the rest of my life. If you can get better - work hard at it - while you can - cause it will pay off when you're in your 50's and 60's when you have a little more time to torture yourself with your own memories of how good you used to be.

[Drunk Tank]

My opinion of the best courses open to general public (in no particular order):

Bear's Best
Rio Secco
TPC Canyons
Paiute (Wolf Course)
Royal Links
Coyote Springs (actually 45 mins north of LV)

My opinion of the best dollar-for-dollar deals in LV (in no particular order):

Coyote Springs
Sienna
Painted Desert
The Legacy
Stallion Mountain
Las Vegas National

Tick and I will be staying in Vegas on our way to the home opener at BYU. We were hoping to play Rio Secco again but according to their calendar they will be closed for re-seeding. I'll have to check the others on the list to see who is not re-seeding during our stay there.

[falafel]

Doing a golf trip to Vegas in September. For you Vegasites, what 4-5 courses should I be looking at?

Donut is certainly the guy to answer this, but I'll throw in my 2 cents anyway.

Coyote Springs - while its still around. This is best course I've played in Nevada, but that's not saying much.

Bear's Best.

Piute - way out NW, but it has spectacular views and is very well maintained.

Badlands - even though I play horribly there.

If I had a lot of money, I'd probably try and play Cascata.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Coyote Springs - while its still around. This is best course I've played in Nevada, but that's not saying much.

Is it in financial trouble? It was a fun course, I'd like to go out there and play again, preferably on a day when it isn't 40 degrees and don't have my whiney brother-in-law with me.

[Donuthole]

Is it in financial trouble? It was a fun course, I'd like to go out there and play again, preferably on a day when it isn't 40 degrees and don't have my whiney brother-in-law with me.

Yes, it is. It was supposed to be the center of a housing development, but the course was finished right as the market crashed. The PGA has withdrawn its licensing because it doesn't want to be affiliated with a course that goes under. At any rate, without that PGA logo, they don't have the same tourism draw as they did before. Besides, there are so many good courses in LV, its difficult to sell a course that requires an extra 2-2.5 hours of travel.

Still, it is a jack Nicklaus-designed course, and still one of the best layouts in LV, if not the best. They have maintained it well, and it's now pretty cheap.

[byu71]

So I told you the story of the guy giving me the pointer on how to cure my shanks while chipping.

So he comes up to me to give me a couple of more pointers and this time I listen. Too much information for my little brain to handle. They came back with a vengence and I can't stop them with just his first pointer.

Anyone who has had them knows it is ninety percent in the head. The terrible thing is like several years ago, they have now spread to my whole game. They lasted a month and after that I played some of the best golf I ever have.

Last time around I hit balls everyday and think I engrained the horrible shot into my head. I will go out and hit balls today. If I have them I will not play golf for a week. Both to forget and I absolutely don't want advice from friends and people standing by out at the range.

[clackamascoug]

Anyone who has had them knows it is ninety percent in the head. The terrible thing is like several years ago, they have now spread to my whole game. They lasted a month and after that I played some of the best golf I ever have.

Golf is really weird that way. I really work hard on having a positive attitude during a bad round. First, I don't like to be a anchor on someone else's good round, and bad actors on the course disgust me. There comes a point in a round if you don't have it that day, where I use a Jedi mind trick, and I shut down all past holes and don't remember them. When playing bad, I try to finish the round as a practice round, and try unusual shots that I wouldn't normally play. Stuff like putting out of bunkers, 3 wood off the tee, or trying to see how "soft" or slow I can hit a full swing.

Lately, I've been working on getting bogies. With a bad shot, sometimes you'll try to make up for it with a hero shot that goes awry, and you make a bad situation worse. Now, when I hit a bad shot, I think, "What do I need to do to keep from getting a double?" I already know that I'm going to get some bogies, so I allot for 8 of them a round, (4 each side) and when I get one, I don't get mad, I just realize "that's OK" because I have 2 or three left on the side. It really helps to diffuse the situation. There's really no excuse for a triple though. A triple is just bad course management.

A couple of rounds ago I started double/triple, and ended with an 86. I could have gotten mad and spoiled the round, but I hung in there, and played some decent golf just working on some things. I felt just as good about that round as any other, because I had to work so much harder on the 90% mental part of the game, and I felt I came out a moral victor.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Golfed Eugene CC tonight with Nick Aliotti and two friends. I have played this course twice in the last month to basically the exact same score of 100, 55-45. 45 on the back is one under bogey golf as there is only 1 par 3 on the back. There is something about the first 9 holes at that course that get in my head and ruin my swing.

I think tonight I settled down and played better on the back as I kind of just forgot about what was going on with me this week. The first 9 my friends and Coach Al were peppering me with questions about our adoption and ldc being gone. However it was a great night, and I am not concerned or upset about how I played. Great time playing with a good group of guys, including a friend I hadn't seen in about 8 months, on a top 100 course.

[clackamascoug]

Golfed Eugene CC tonight with Nick Aliotti and two friends. I have played this course twice in the last month to basically the exact same score of 100, 55-45. 45 on the back is one under bogey golf as there is only 1 par 3 on the back. There is something about the first 9 holes at that course that get in my head and ruin my swing.

I think tonight I settled down and played better on the back as I kind of just forgot about what was going on with me this week. The first 9 my friends and Coach Al were peppering me with questions about our adoption and ldc being gone. However it was a great night, and I am not concerned or upset about how I played. Great time playing with a good group of guys, including a friend I hadn't seen in about 8 months, on a top 100 course.

Sounds like a great time. Is Coach any good? (Eugene CC is worth me driving down for, if you get my drift.)

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Sounds like a great time. Is Coach any good? (Eugene CC is worth me driving down for, if you get my drift.)

He plays to about a 17, he said that he played yesterday and shot an 88, tonight he shot a 91.

If I could get you on Eugene I would be happy too. Tonight was an auction I won almost 8 months ago.

[clackamascoug]

He plays to about a 17, he said that he played yesterday and shot an 88, tonight he shot a 91.

If I could get you on Eugene I would be happy too. Tonight was an auction I won almost 8 months ago.

I've got the whole week off, If you want to play, this might be a good time. If you want to meet, or guest me at your club, I'll make the drive.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Any of you Utahanians going to go watch any of the Utah Open? I think it is at Willow Creek CC, right down the hill from my old world. Last year I was watching a round from there and saw the dad of a HS friend in the gallery, it was less exciting than it sounds.

[byu71]

Any of you Utahanians going to go watch any of the Utah Open? I think it is at Willow Creek CC, right down the hill from my old world. Last year I was watching a round from there and saw the dad of a HS friend in the gallery, it was less exciting than it sounds.

Actually it is the old Nationwide tour, forgot the new name.

The Utah Open is out at Oakridge and a good number of members aren't happy about it. This is the last year of the contract and the board had better not renew it.

[Art Vandelay]

I've come to the realization I'm an ok golfer on my home course and pretty sucky everywhere else. I use to think this was just comfort and course knowledge, but I'm pretty sure it because it is an easy course

Scores or my last 10 rounds...
Sun Willows-(home course) 82
Wine Valley-89
Sun Willows- 83, 81
Soldier's Hollow- 92. I felt like I played really well this day, but couldn't drop a put and had 2 balls blow OB (wind was at least 25mph) on the backside.
Oakridge CC 95. worst feeling round of the bunch, mainly because my playing partner felt sorry for me and kept saying nice platitudes.
Solider's Hollow - 83 I tripled bogeyed 9 after a bad bounce OB from the cart path and doubled 18 after hitting a blind shot perfectly towards my target...unfortunately, I had picked the wrong tree top as a target.
Sun Willows - 83, 81
Sahalee Country Club - 94 Yes, I got to play one of the nicest and most exclusive clubs on the west coast, thanks a former cuffer. The course was breathtakingly beautiful. There was a top-tier amateur tournament early in the morning (Blair from BYU, the Casper kid, and lots of collegiate players were there. A kid from UNLV - 4th ranked amateur in the world- won it), which meant we not only had the famously tight fairways but super fast greens with impossible pin placements. I wasn't wild with my driver or 3W, but not accurate enough to hit 30 yard wide fairways. This led to lots of shots behind or around trees. It was a great day nonetheless.

Soldier's Hollow. The photographer caught me after I hit one of my best drives of the day.


Sahalee with its signature tree on the right side. This was one of the few holes that had a wide first cut, most had about 10 yards of grass off the fairway before you were in the forest.


This picture concerns me. Do I really have a belly hanging over my shorts? If so, this is something I need to know, and more more importantly, need to fix ... I was able to stick this shot fairly close and missed one of my few legitimate birdie chances, on the day.