hejhog

We had bought a week at a timeshare in Incline Village at a charity auction and were looking for good golf nearby. WE really stumbled on the course on Golf Now. The rack rate is $169 but we paid $119 for a 1:20 tee time. The course was firm and fast. The bent grass greens are slowly being over taken by poa annua, but were in excellent, very fast shape. The dry pine forest rough -- pine straw they would say at August -- gave some hope of recovery from a bad tee shot which was exaggerated by fairly narrow landing areas for drives. But the real key to scoring was putting your approach below the hole. No complaint about the greens which were very true, but very fast, so don't even try for birdie from above. I'll go back next time we're in Tahoe.

I have to thank Golf Advisor Jason for putting up this list of great golf holes and courses, but I have to wonder what he was thinking about on the first six holes. "Architecturally but not aesthetically" pleasing? So the Road Hole failed his test until they took out the railroad barn? And we all love the maintenance shacks all over Pebble Beach.

And while #11 is a great hole, it's only the third best at Ballybunion. #2 starts with what appears to be an easy drive. Then you realize you have to find a perfect lie and line because you are next faced with a devilish short iron to a narrow green surrounded by towering sand dunes on either side. The back of the green actually extends beyond the dunes and that is you target. Leave it short left or right and you will be chopping it down the dune with one foot a yard above the other. You will see the hole reprised at the US Open at Chambers Bay this year. It is the inspiration for CB's #10.

But the best hole, maybe the best hole anywhere, is #15. I say so despite my unpleasant introduction to it. You play from an elevated tee to a fairway again between dunes running diagonally away from you uphill and to the left. The real key is judging how far left you can drive it while ending up in the short grass not the heather coated dunes. While my drive was still in the air, my dour caddy, mute until then, bellowed, "Thot's the sime line Tiger Wuuuds tuuk on this hole." Needless to say I came up 50 yards short of grass. It took two hacks to get it out of the heather and another to reach the green. It was only as I stepped on the putting surface I realized we were one dune away from the sea. The view is of a cresent beach, sun breaking through the overcast and a yet more purple heather tumbling down the hill. All was forgiven and yes, the worst day on the golf course is better than any day anywhere else, especially when you are on Ballybunion.