Weekend Rambler

What a brutal layout at Winged Foot for the US Open, it was an ugly final round. Michelson lost the tournament on the last hole with a double bogey he could have avoided by playing safe and keeping the ball in play so he gave the Title to Ogilvy at +5. That is the highest score I can remember in a Major for a while, nobody wanted to win it. The pack was tight and nobody was able to bring in a great round to take the Cup, I'd say the course won this Open.
I went and played a really nice mature layout hidden nearby today and my two years off showed. I putted well and the rust will quickly polish off the rest of my game. It was nice to be back out on the course after that long a lay off. I have played very little since I moved to Ca. preferring to go play in the mountains instead and the extremely high greens fees kept me away. Now that I have found Plumas Lake nearby with a reasonable price and a great layout I will be chasing that little white ball around a bit more again. It is fairly open and inviting to big hitters with a creek and many big oaks coming into play on many holes. Small bent grass greens and ample bunkers make play on and around the greens interesting, requiring an ample bag of tricks. I love this game of golf and was quite good before I moved, me Pops and I played every chance we got, often riding around for 54 holes or more.
Pops was really good, near scratch and a HS coach, and tought me how to play the game not just hit the ball. Hitting the ball is the easy part, managing your game against the course is the hard part and if money is involved, your temper. That is the part Pops tought me, management of my game, I wish he could have been with me today, he would have enjoyed the course. I will miss him always.
I did play with a couple laddies out with their pops, I would guess about 12 and 15 and they were good, very good. The 15 yr old is capable of playing in the 70s and is long and the 11yr old was longer off the tee than many men I have played with. We played from the white tees and both beat me easily and I didn't play to badly, we had alot of fun. I was not put off by their ability at all but excited by it and thouroughly enjoyed playing with them. I expect to see both these boys on the tour in a few years. It was heartening to see so many young faces on the course today playing so well, turns out there is a youth tournament next week. The lad behind us shot a 69, he looked about 17, that is a good score on this course. I also heard rumblings of an 11yr old young lady with a near flawless game getting ready for the tournament, it seems Tiger's coattails are proving strong and so is the future of golf's stars.
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Thanks to Dads