Author: ohiogolf

I made the drive out to Table Rock Golf Course (about 40 minutes from Columbus, Ohio). I had not played there in several years and a $10 greens fee through golfnow.com for 18 holes and a cart made it irresistible. In fact, it felt like stealing.

Upon driving up to the course, I quickly remembered reading an article that Table Rock had established a foot golf course and quite a few people were partaking in that activity on an early Wednesday afternoon. I’m not sure what the etiquette is when dealing with foot golfers as their holes sometimes intertwine with the golf holes but I let commonsense prevail and just waited for them to get out of the way. I’m not sure foot golfers know what etiquette is involved either as the few I ran into didn’t seem to be overly concerned with letting me pass easily. I imagine that Table Rock advises participants on etiquette but am not sure. Foot golf seemed to be confined to the front nine as I encountered no foot golfers on the back nine and don’t remember seeing any foot golf holes there either.

I ended up playing from the white tees as I didn’t remember the course but probably should have played from the blue or black tees. Table Rock has quite a few holes with water hazards placed in the middle of the fairways. The first hole starts out that way. I really enjoy my golflogix app as it gives you distances to such hazards or to any point on a hole.

I don’t play as often as I would like and when I do play I like to hit the driver but the pond on the first hole dictated a three wood. Sometimes your smoothest swings are your longest hits and I nearly dunked it in the pond with a three wood. The fairways were playing hard and fast as well which added some extra distance. I hit my approach short of the green but the hard and fast conditions caused the ball to jump up on the green and roll to the hole. Green conditions indicate that Table Rock receives a decent amount of play. After the first hole, the driver can come out on the par 4s and 5s until you get to number nine where water comes into play off the tee again.

The par 4 fourth may also counsel against using the driver if you decide to stick to the fairway. It is a dogleg right with out of bounds to the left but there’s plenty of room to the right of the trees and you can go directly at the green from the tee. A mishit still only left me 60 some yards from the hole. A longish par 3 fifth over water was a nice challenge. Also, the par 4 seventh to a peninsula green required some nerve on the approach shot but a big green is receptive to those not wanting to be short.

The back nine is much tighter and requires a bit more planning. I was just shy of the water off the tee at ten. I produced a memorable tee shot on the par 4 eleventh, a tight dogleg right with a large tree and bunker guarding the right edge. I put it to 100 yards and centered it on the fairway.

Leave the driver in the bag on 14. Things get real tight up the left side there. I believe this is the start of their amen corner but really didn’t understand the challenge to the short par 4 15th and the short par 3 16th. At 17, it seemed like there was no way I could reach the water at over 300 yards away. Of course, I hit my best tee shot of the day which was swallowed up by the water. That was particularly frustrating to be penalized for hitting a damn fine shot and I made a mental note to play from at least the blue tees next time.

18 presents you with water up the left that really shouldn’t come into play. The challenge is the trees on the right that may affect your second shot to the green. I hit my first bunker there and some new sand is in order for those bunkers.

Overall, Table Rock produced an enjoyable round. I’ll come back if I can find another $10 deal and play from at least the blue tees next time. I’ll also bring my thinking cap for the back nine.

I had never golfed at Turnberry Golf Course until a couple of weeks ago. I tried to go years ago but the course was closed at the time. I enjoyed playing there so much a two weeks ago that I came back today for another round of 9.

Here’s your approach to the par 5 first hole. You can’t see it but there’s a stream that borders the fairway on the right. I took a rip at the green in two with a three wood and ended up just short of the green. From there, I chipped to about eight feet and began the day with a birdie.

The second hole played into the wind and I ended up left of the fairway. I had an awkward angle to the green into a stiff wind. I took too much club and yanked it a bit left. I couldn’t get up and down and took a bogey. My insurance stroke didn’t last long.

Here’s the short par 3 third. Pick your poison. Water to the left and sand in line with the pin. I went right at the flag. After my approach on two, I decided to check my swing and it worked. I hit a straight shot right at the flag but couldn’t convert the birdie. The break is strong towards the water here.

I like the par 4 fourth. You need to hit a fade off the tee. I hit the dreaded straight ball into the trees on the left. The trees played pinball with my ball and then knocked it down into the rough. I played around one from about 120 out and two putted for par.

I hit a nice drive off of five and had about 205 to the green. Let’s try another fade from the rough. I again hit it straight into the trees on the left. Mother Nature was kind and swatted my ball right back out into the rough. I had a short pitch shot from the front left. Landed it just off the green and the ball rolled to the left of the hole. It broke right and doink – right into the hole for eagle. Two under through five. Things were going well.

A three putt on six left me one under.

I tried yet another fade and hit it straight into the trap on seven. I had a great out and almost made the par saver but walked to eight even par.

I destroyed a drive on eight and had a little pitch to the green from the right side of the fairway. Problem is that you want to approach this green more from the center of the fairway. I left myself about 30 feet or so but got down in two.

After a decent drive on nine, I had 142 to the green. I took too plenty of club and ended up just over the back right of the green. I flubbed my chip and had another chip of 30+ feet or so. I landed it just on the green and had it rolling to the hole. It broke right and into the hole for a par saving and round saving 36. Hallelujah! An eagle, a birdie and a chip-in round saving par! Damn that was nice!

Did Bridgeview add a new lake just to the left of the sixth green? No, it’s just the remnants of a torrential July 24th downpour.

How is this for a carry? 215 yards worth to clear the junk from the scarlet tees.

I got back over to Royal American Golf Course after not having played there since September 7, 2003 when I shot an 87. I had played one time before that but don’t have that record handy. Overall, Royal American is an enjoyable round of golf.

For example here’s the picturesque par 3 12th hole at Royal American. This is an absolutely gorgeous golf hole. Click on the picture for the full size version.

Or how about the 323 yard par 4 third at Royal American. It demands a tee shot over water and one that will find the fairway between trees on the left and right. Hit it too far in either direction and you are blocked out from the green.

But Royal American has a bunch of downright goofy par 5’s. Here’s the first hole. Like all the par 5’s, the first will potentially punish you for hitting a good shot. I smashed a drive right down the left side of the fairway. After watching it bound down the fairway, I got worried that I had hit it too well. You can see that a creek crosses the fairway with about 210 yards to the hole.

Luckily, the rough before the creek caught my ball. I would have been extremely disappointed to have been punished for hitting a good shot here. I did enjoy the challenge of the second shot. The creek continues all the way up the right side of the fairway past the green and two bunkers guard the hole. I took a three iron with the thought of making my mistake short of the green. I got lucky and the ball rolled up on the green to get home in two leading to an opening birdie.

The par 5 ninth is the same way. I took out a three wood to stay short of the water but still flirted with disaster. My buddy hit the water with a hybrid club.

The par 5 tenth prevents you from using a driver unless you decide to fly the trees that are right of the fairway. But if you go too far right, good luck finding your ball in the tall stuff.

Here’s the 581 yard par 5 14th hole. Another creek makes you let up on the accelerator once again. When we played, a strong headwind allowed us to pull out the driver anyway.

The 13th is probably the goofiest hole on the course. We have a long par 4 but we are forced to either lay up because of the tree on the left or try to hit a draw/hook around it.

The situation gets a little better from the back tees on the 13th hole. Now you only have to hit a little fade instead of a hook. Granted, I think the middle tees are normally placed farther back but the front tee position is ridiculous on this hole.

Perhaps the solution is to just play the course from the back tees. I did improve 6 strokes over my last appearance at Royal. I enjoyed it overall and will be back. Thanks to the divot card, I paid $15 to ride 18. Not bad!