So, I dusted off the old golf bag, emptied it of the crushed beer cans, half-eaten energy bars, broken tees and crumpled chip bags and was off to embark on this ambitious journey that should take me from hack status to respectable bogey golfer.
Saturday was a brilliant sunny day for my first golf lesson with Mark Strong, the Richmond Country Club’s head pro. Strong is tasked with the challenging job of reforming this scuffer in quite possibly every aspect the game of golf has to offer: driving, chipping, putting, mechanics, etiquette and even psychology.
“My goal is to improve your scorecard by 30 strokes,” he told me, without even seeing me tee off.
Evidently, Strong is stealthily capable of looking someone up and down to know what to expect. Although, the fact my bag of clubs didn’t have a three-iron, sand wedge or three-wood in it and I wasn’t wearing golf shoes surely helped him recognize this was only my second or third time on a full-length golf course.
“We’ll work on that (equipment). There’s a lot of things we can work on; I’ve noted quite a few things,” said Strong following the round.
Great! Hey wait, a minute?
It’s not easy learning something new, as an adult. The key, however, as with most things, is to keep an open mind and be patient. That’s what I’ll be doing as Strong begins giving me tips to improve my swing and approach to the game.
For the record, I’ve rarely played full-length courses. This course is 6,800 yards, whereas I’m used to executive courses that are about 3,500 yards long. And, of course, I’ve always made time for Richmond Pitch and Putt each summer.
Saturday’s mulligan-free round started with Strong introducing me to some of the club’s amazing features, such as a clubhouse that was recently renovated to the tune of $3 million; tennis, swimming, a fitness facility, lounges and a great restaurant; you name it, the club has it.
But the real gem of the club is, rightfully, the golf course. Built in 1958, the course has matured wisely to offer up an inviting, yet moderately challenging, round for the beginner and intermediate golfer.
Towering evergreen and deciduous trees line each fairway and sweeping farmland views are exposed on the perimeter.
My favourite part of the course was certainly the back nine holes where you can catch glimpses of the North Shore mountains and many of the water features become more prominent (we’ll get to those at a later time, I’m sure).
Some would label my round of 119 as atrocious, or perhaps despicable. I would contend it was a tactical, bunker-free warm-up performance.
The first four holes ease you into your round nicely, with three relatively short par four holes and a par three. It wasn’t until hole seven that my ball found “the drink” and I started posting “snowmen” on my scorecard.
This year, the course has been afforded a $2 million irrigation upgrade. Strong pointed out the pools of water in the farm fields that represent the sort of terrain and hydrology the course must deal with being in south Richmond.
Being the first week of April, conditions were a bit soft and muddy in the deep rough, but the fairways were in incredible shape. Every good course asks you to pay the piper for your mistakes and you can get in trouble by hitting into the woods here, as I did on hole five and various unmentionable others.
Oddly enough, I wasn’t too terrible with my driver, but my years of pitch and putt experience seemed to do nothing for the surprisingly fast, rolling greens this day.
Heading into the last hole, I was at 113 and needed what would amount to an impressive bogey on the par five to stay under 120 and, thus, set the benchmark for this summer’s big sporting project in Richmond.
Sure, I sliced it into the tenth fairway and subsequently played down it to the 18th green.
But did I get the bogey?
I sure did.
SCORECARD:
Score: 119
Out of bounds: 0
Balls in water: 3
Total putts: 45
Greens in regulation: 2
Pars/Birdies: 0 / 0
Next week, Strong and I hash over equipment and the custom fitting process for golf clubs.
