Golf Blog

I haven’t played a Nicklaus Design course I haven’t liked, and The Bridges was no exception.

The layout was challenging but fair, with nice landing areas and danger lurking if you strayed too far from the intended path. The greens were superb, fast and hard but playable and extremely true. I had only 28 putts in my round, and not a single one bounced offline. There is water on 14 of the 18 holes, but it only really comes into play on 4 or 5 of the holes (#9 and #17 got me).

The range was in good shape and had well groomed target greens. The practice green next to the #1 tee was very consistent with the speed on the course. The clubhouse is comfortable and the snack shack has excellent food.

The carts were nice, but did not have GPS. The course book is quite good though, and I generally prefer using the course book and my rangefinder to GPS anyway.

The best part? Everything - including range balls, cart, sandwiches and chips - was included for about $60 each. The $75 on their web site would have been a bargain, for $60 I was shocked.

It was an immensely enjoyable round. We’ll definitely be back next time we’re on the Western Slope.

Popularity: 4% [?]

1. Eighteen holes of match play will teach you more about your foe than 18 years of dealing with him across a desk.  Grantland Rice
2. Golf appeals to the idiot in us and the child. Just how childlike golf players become is proven by their frequent inability to count past five.  John Updike
3. It is almost impossible to remember how tragic a place the world is when one is playing golf.  Robert Lynd
4. If profanity had any influence on the flight of the ball, the game of golf would be played far better than it is.  Horace G. Hutchinson
5. They say golf is like life, but don’t believe them. Golf is more complicated than that.  Gardner Dickinson
6. If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork as poorly as they do a golf club, they’d starve to death.  Sam Snead
7. Golf is a day spent in a round of strenuous idleness. William Wordsworth
8. If you drink, don’t drive. Don’t even putt. Dean Martin
9. If you are going to throw a club, it is important to throw it ahead of you, down the fairway, so you don’t have to waste energy going back to pick it up.  Tommy Bolt
10. Man blames fate for all other accidents, but feels personally responsible when he makes a hole-in-one.  Bishop Sheen
11. I don’t say my golf game is bad, but if I grew tomatoes they’d come up sliced.  Arnold Palmer
12. My handicap? Woods and irons.  Chris Codiroli
13. The ardent golfer would play Mount Everest if somebody would put a flag stick on top.  Pete Dye
14. I’m hitting the woods just great; but having a terrible time getting out of them!  Buddy Hackett
15. The only time my prayers are never answered is playing golf. Billy Graham
16. If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball.  Jack Lemmon
17. It’s good sportsmanship to not pick up lost golf balls while they are still rolling.  Mark Twain
18. Don’t play too much golf. Two rounds a day are plenty. Harry Vardon
19. Golf and sex are the only things you can enjoy without being good at either of them.  Jimmy DeMaret
20. May thy ball lie in green pastures, and not in still waters. Ben Hogan
21. If I hit it right, it’s a slice. If I hit it left, it’s a hook. If I hit it straight, it’s a miracle. All Us Hackers
22. The difference in golf and government is that in golf you can’t improve your lie.  George Deukmejian
23. Golf is a game invented by the same people who think music comes out of a bagpipe.  Lee Trevino

Popularity: 6% [?]

I was really looking forward to playing Poipu Bay, especially after hitting the ball pretty well with an 84 at Pearl CC and a 78 at Puakea. Unfortunately, by driver left me for the first 16 holes at Poipu Bay and I really struggled with my irons the entire day - I pretty much made a mess of the round outside of a couple of nice saves.

The staff was hit and miss, the marshall on the course was very polite considering we were legitimately 5 minutes slow for each 9 and the starter was very nice, but the pro shop and the rest of the staff didn’t impress me much. There was an aloofness - sort of a “you are lucky to play here” air about them that I remember from the Wailea staff on Maui.

The starter told me that playing the blue tees would put the fairway bunkers in play for me, and was he ever right. The sand was really soft, and though I was in about 10-12 bunkers I didn’t hit a decent bunker shot until hole 17. Definitely would have helped to hit a couple of bunker shots before heading out on the course.

The greens were a lot slower than I expected, and there was some standing water and mud in low spots. Overall though, the course was in pretty good shape.

Holes 14-18 of the back nine are just spectacular - even though I was hacking it up pretty badly, I still enjoyed the view and the beauty of these holes immensely.

I’d like to take another shot at this course - a couple of good drives would have made a world of difference.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Pearl Country Club is on Oahu overlooking Pearl Harbor. The back nine climbs up a hill overlooking the harbor, and is quite pretty. It was a nice round in that we were on vacation in Hawaii and playing golf, and the course is nice, but isn’t particularly special.

We arrived about 15 minutes before our 6:30am tee time, and the fellow in the pro shop chose to take 10 minutes to lecture us about showing up earlier and complain that he would be hard pressed to get us out by our tee time instead of going ahead and checking us in.

The fairways were tree lined and came into play if you strayed off the fairway very far, but recovery shots were generally possible. The greens were a little shaggy, but the speed was acceptable.

When we got to the front nine (we started on the back), we ran into a traffic jam. I guess they didn’t really account for the people who were making the turn from the back nine when they were sending people out on the front. Or perhaps we finished faster than expected - I’m not sure how courses manage that but this was the worst mess of this sort I’ve run across.

The course itself is mature and has some fun and challenging holes, but was lacking in upkeep and character. The staff was surly in the shop and the marshals did little to speed up the pace of play, which bogged down badly with 4 groups on a single hole at one point.

We had fun (because we were determined to), but won’t be making a special effort to play Pearl Country Club again.

Popularity: 8% [?]

I’ve been making some good progress on my swing this year, but I’ve still got some big things to work on:

• Now that I’m more upright, I need to make my swing plane more vertical - it’s still down where it was when I was leaned over too far.
• I’m getting too much wrist cock/early set - really need to work on that.
• I’m bringing the club inside too much.
• Need to work on not dipping into the ball - stay tall through the swing.

Gotta love golf, never run out of things that need improvement.

Popularity: 10% [?]