Ndsquirrel's travel blogs:
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Monster Mash
Entry 5 of 24 | show all | print this entry |
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Today, I ventured north to play golf in Maryland with a co-worker, Adrian. Since he joined my team over 5 years ago, Adrian and I have been consistent golfing partners. Typically he makes the drive south from Frederick, Md to join me for 18 holes; however I wanted to try a different course. We settled on Blue Mash as the choice for today's round. Blue Mash is an Arthur Hills designed course and is listed in the Washington Golf Monthly top 100 courses of the Mid-Atlantic.
Adrian and I always play for $1 a hole, bogey or better to win the hole. The only thing left to decide was what tee box; Adrian wanted to play from the Blue tees (6502 yards) and I typically play the first box above 6000 yards which would be White tees (6001 yards). It is to Adrian's advantage to play the longer distance because he out drives me by an average of 50 yards. We let Chris and Craig, the two guys we got paired with, decide and they wanted to play from the Blue. To be honest, none of us had the skills to play from the Blue tees and by the 6th hole we were getting hounded by the marshal to pick up the pace. At that point we were about 1 hole behind the threesome ahead and getting pressed by the twosome behind us. After finishing the front 9, we actually were at 2 hours and 15 minutes so we were on the pace of play for 4 people. We let the twosome play through on hole#10 and with Adrian's struggle on that hole, we split up with Chris/Craig. Because the threesome is now the slower group amongst 3 duets, I saw on hole #17 Chris/Craig joined up with the other two...what social butterflies! Even with all this splitting and swapping, Adrian and I finished our round at the 4.5 hour pace from the original tee time. I think Arthur Hills could not decide whether he wanted to design a links or a parkland course because we alternated between the two styles throughout the 18 hole track. The first 5 holes were open links style golf holes with high grass penalty areas along the sides of the hole, which for the most part does not come into play because the fairways are WIDE. Holes 6-8 are tree lined but again the landing areas are spacious. I did end up losing a ball on #7 because with the marshal watching I promptly hooked the ball into the woods. The course reverts back to the links style for holes 9-13 and then it dramatically tightened up during the parkland stretch of holes 14-16. The course is in immaculate condition but I do have one complaint...the lack of yardage markers. To make things worse, they do not have any yardage books or GPS system to guide your shot decisions. Adrian normally brings his SkyCaddie but he had problems downloading the course information. To top things off, neither the scorecard or hole placards had pictures of the hole. For most of the holes it was not a problem because there were no hidden obstacles...what you see is what you get. However for the tree-lined dog-legged holes 14-16, it would have been nice to have more information to determine the course of action. I approached the holes by teeing off with a club that would go half the distance to the hole and this method worked okay. Adrian played this course before so add another advantage for Adrian on our friendly wager. For the first eight holes, Adrian and I were even, with me winning hole#2 and Adrian winning hole#7. Then, I caught some lighting in a bottle and won the next four holes. On the 522 yard par 5 #9, I sliced my drive right on to an adjacent hole. I thought a 6 iron would get me back to the fairway but I ended up in the rough on the right. Disregarding the lake on the left which stretched along the fairway all the way to the green, I stuck a 200 yard five wood on the green. Although I three putted, it was still good enough for a bogey and a win for the hole. Hole #10 (367 yard par 4), was text book with a drive on the fairway, green in regulation and a two putt. I also made the green in regulation on the 204 yard par 3, but again I three putted. I finished my hot stretch (and Adrian off) with a par on a short 476 yard par 5. After 17 holes, I was up $4 on Adrian and we modified the wager...if Adrian wins the hole with a par he wipes out the $4 debt. On the 551 yard par 5 #18, Adrian crushed his drive; I did not reach the fairway...dam headwind. Next, Adrian nailed his 3 wood to within 25 yards of the green; I pulled my second shot into the high grass on the left. Fortunately for me, Adrian's short game is not his strength...Adrian takes 3 shots to get the ball on the green. With the two putt, Adrian gets nothing for the hole, so today I won $4. I posted a 10 on the final hole and it marred what was otherwise a decent back nine, 50. I finished the round with 107; ten more strokes better than Adrian. Another good day on the links and in the park.
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