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Saturday 24 November 2018

Hyde Park Golf Club

I must admit that I'm a Donald Ross fan. I love his golf courses whether they beat me up or not. This trip to Florida I've made my usual stops at the Ross munis in Palatka and New Smyrna. I wanted to play the Bacon Park course in Savannah as well, but they had a tournament scheduled for the day we headed to St Augustine from Murrells Inlet, just south of Myrtle Beach, so I had to just drive right by.

Of course, a lot of Ross courses are private. So, unless I'm prepared to drive to them and try to ingratiate myself with a member and get an invite to play, I'm pretty much out of luck. Them's the hazards of not being a man of means. But I discovered another Ross muni in Jacksonville, called Hyde Park, and Marvin and I played it the other day with two of his buddies, Elder and Mike.

The day was about as perfect as it could be. Around seventy two degrees, with just enough breeze to keep me from sweating too much and to make the southern boys think about putting on a jacket. Mike and Elder played the senior tees, but I decided to play with Marvin from the whites at sixty one hundred and change. Sixty one hundred doesn't sound like much, but it's plenty for an old cripple like me when it's a Ross design. 

Since I only drive it about two hundred yards these days, I was approaching most greens from around 150, which generally means I'm using my, usually trusty, five hybrid. But on this day my hybrid was not cooperating. A hook into the trees on the first hole led to a disgraceful seven, thanks to a fatted pitch and three whacking it on the green.

To make a long story short, I shot 43 on the front and, after a string of bogeys, 42 on the back. It wasn't pretty, but I did cap it off with a nice 4 hybrid shot to about five feet on the last hole that I managed to covert for my only birdie. As for Marvin and the lads, they got a little more bang for their buck. Marvin was 97, Mike was 102, and Elder was around 107. But we had a helluva good time. It was my first time playing with Elder and he was a lot of fun. 

I can't wait to play Hyde Park again. It's got some terrific holes and it's my kind of place. I'm really a muni kind of guy. For now, though, it's off to the Gulf Shores, AL; and a week in New Orleans.

1 comment:

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