Peak Foliage at Brattleboro Country Club

SCORECARD

Fall golf is a treat, especially when you can find time mid day to walk 18 holes during late September to early October. An opportunity in the middle of October on a nearly deserted course presented itself, for which I graciously accepted.

Brattleboro Country Club is the southern most golf course in Vermont, just a hand full of miles north of the Massachusettes border on I-91. Although this gem is well regarded througout the State, hosting the Vermont Amateur, Mid Amateur and Senior Amateur in 3 successive years, many outside Vermont have yet to experience all that this 18 hole track has to offer.

As is common at BCC, mid afternoon on a weekday presented clear sailing on the tee sheet. It was an easy decision to sacrifice the end of the 9-5 in exchange for a mild October round.

Hole 1/Par 4

The opening hole at Brattleboro Country club has every kind of trouble you can imagine in pursuit of the “good round”. Hazard left, hazard long, thick trees right, your major goal on the tee shot is to simply keep it in play. 225-250 yards is fine.

As is often the case, there was nothing special in my navigating #1, a bunted 5 wood, a thin six iron that left me with a 20 yard chip (short is the best miss) and a failed up and down for the opening bogey.

Hole 2/Par 5

For first timers at Bratt CC, I recommend the white tees, as it provides the ultimate risk reward if you are able to hit your tee shot to the top of the hill.

Keeping it in the flat fairway is also key as trouble looms both left (swamp) and right (thick trees).

I was not in position A, or even B after my t shot, which left me short right of the flat and forced me to hit a gap wedge to a safe spot some 100 yard short of the green. This shot selection is what makes #2 one of the most unique par 5s in the State of Vermont, as it can be played in so many different ways. 2 solid gap wedges (be sure to club up on your approach) and I was looking at a 15 footer for birdie. Missed right, but I will take a “safe par” any day of the week. 1 over after 2 ain’t bad with a brief look back to take it all in.

“Good golf” firmly in reach.

Hole 3/Par 4

1 over after 2 and you step up to the tee and yank it left, way left. You know that rule about staying right of the bunker? That didn’t apply to my over zealous swing. Awkward lie and several shots later, I card by first double bogey of the round.

Hole 4/Par 3

We all know the feeling of the first double bogey on our card, a sign of teetering on the edge of the meteocratiy cliff. As a general mental rule, for each double bogey I card I feel I need to make up for it with a birdie. This flawed thinking neglects the fact that pin seeking can more often then not lead to another double as opposed to a birdie. Alas, its been over 20 years of the same mind set, why stop now?

I went there, short, fat and pathetic. The reward? A long bunker shot from heavy sand over a high lip, the result, a fat bunker shot that rolled off the green short side with another difficult chip to try and save humanity and….a bogey. The real result, another double and another trip down humble lane.

Hole 5/Par 4

Back to back doubles always seem to increase the urgency and, as the golf gods have repeatedly told me, the harder you try the worse you get. This was certainly something I should have been reminding myself as I approached my t shot and was looking at about 140 yards to the green. Problem is, I was so focused on hitting a pro-shot, that I neglected to account for my lack of pro-talent.

As luck would have it, I was not blocked out, which allowed me to hit my pitch onto the green, missing a 20 footer, but tapping in for a bogey, which felt like a small victory, avoiding the terrible double bogey turkey by a hair.

Hole 6 /Par 4

I played this hole right, all set up by a drive to the left of the green that ended up resting in a well manicured grass bunker that gave me an uphill chip. Position A, can often result in Position C after the second shot. My chip looked good, felt. good, and then rolled past the hole and then caught the dramatic slope turning what I thought was going to be a tap in birdie into a 15 foot curler coming back up the hill. A birdie would have been nice, but a tap in par was was OK.

Hole 7/Par 5

The signature hole

Is there a group directly behind you? Are you feeling pressed for time? If your answer is no, take your time on this gem. This is one of the best par 5s in Vermont, giving each golfer unique options on how to play this hole. Don’t be fooled by its relative short yardage, the fescue and large pond ensure that no one can escape a poorly planned shot.

I have played this hole hundreds of times, so teeing off from the whites was an acceptable course on this day. A 6 iron (my 180 club), left me a second shot that was outside the realm of reaching the green in 2. However, It cannot be overstated that the elevated shot with a favorable wind brings in the idea of jacking up a fairway wood to carry the pond. However, a quick risk/reward calculation can easily dissuade most mere mortal golfers into playing the ball to the left of the pond.

Hole 8/Par 3

With a little pep on my step I was feeling the momentum and with a “straight forward” par three with nothing but an 8 iron in my hand (my 150 yard club) I felt I was ready to make a run to finish the front. This hole rewards well struck shots, however, the wind can be deceptive, as it is shielded by the large pine trees that line the right side. Although the tee is elevated from the green, don’t get carried away with calculating slope in choosing a club, hit something that you know can carry there and live with the result.

Hey, I did what I said, I hit a shot over the flag with a 25 footer coming back down the slope of the back of the green. It was all I could ask for, yet, in my haste to keep up with my partners, I neglected to give the 3 foot par putt the attention it deserved.

7 over through 8

Hole 9/Par 4

The finishing hole on the front has taken more solid rounds from me then any other hole on the course. Bogey free through 8 you say?….here is a 7, need just a bogey to break 40 on the front? why don’t you start by hitting 3 from the tee? All of these failures come back to me on rounds I can skip home to, however, when I am hanging on for dear life in my quest to break 80, the sting of bogey can hurt just as much.

I probably hit my hardest drive of the afternoon on 9, perhaps fueled by the lingering rage from my 3 putt on 8. Although the path itself wasn’t horrendous, if you are hitting a drive 270, you cannot afford to go left, my approach view says it all.

I did not try and thread the needle, in my younger days I certainly would have. Instead I punched out, pitched up and made a bogey. Hey, I may not be good, but at least I am risk adverse.

8 over through 9= a modest 44.

Hole 10/Par 5

Well you did it, you broke 50 and, if lightening strikes, you may have a shot at breaking the elusive 80, all its going to take is an even par 35. Gotta talk myself into it first.

Ten is a great hole to start an even par streak. At 485 yards, it is the longest par 5 from the white tees, but also the easiest. A drive to the right center of the fairway will get you more role, but it is also a closer line to OB. If you’re not averaging over 280 yards off the tee, don’t even risk it, go left to left of center.

Safe and left, and a full swing, thats all you need to make the second shot a no brainer, hit it over the hill (120 carry) and let the ball bounce to the 125 range, not big deal. I hit a 9 iron, I hit it hard, and I hit it right, guess what happened?

Under a tree with a bunker short, did I say layup?

It happened, a double, all due to piss poor course management, oh and a 3 putt from 10 feet, that sounds about right.

Bogey golf, how I missed you!

10 over through 10

Hole 11/Par 4

A double on 10 is a hard pill to swallow, a double bogey on 10 with the rugged mountain of a hole in number 11 adds a whole new sense of urgency on the quest to break 80.

There are no excuses, I am 10 over for a reason and I now know that a par or better on 11 is the only way that I can maintain hope for another hole. First through, you have to contend with this blind t shot.

I smoked a drive, it was one of the best swings of the day, leaving me about 140 yards straight up hill to a back pin.

A solid 8 iron put me in the middle of the green, leaving only one question, did it have enough.? First, I had to walk up the hill to the green, not an ideal exercise when you are scrambling for a score.

I could not have asked for a better birdie putt, uphill with some bend. It was the spot you dream of when you approach the hole and a leave you would take 11 times out of 10. Even so, you still have to putt and, even from 15 feet with a dramatic right to left slope, a 2 putt is in no way guaranteed.

11 over through 11.

Hole 12/Par 4

Back against the wall…need par

Although I am an optimist, there is a dose of realism in there. I know now, at 11 over, that the magic number is 8. This means 3 birdies in the last 6 holes AND NO BOGEYS.

It all starts with one.

I longingly gazed at the right side of the fairway as I stepped to the tee. Envisioning a wedge approach to the elevated green and makeable birdie putt. I swear it was all floating through my head when I speed up through impact and yanked my tee shot dead left.

A bogey free close of the round was in peril after one shot. As a younger man I would have simply taken a mid iron and swung as hard as I could, hoping that somehow my flailing would result in a shot that missed all the hazards and landed on the green, a 1 in a 100 shot.

Now, as I sit firmly in middle age, my only thought was to leave a chip short of the green and the awkward bunker that protects the left side.

After a surprisingly well thought out layup and a good chip to the back of the green, as is the case in every round, a moment of truth arises.

11 over through 12.

Hole 13/Par 3

A little momentum may go a long ways, or not. The chest thumping par save was a fun 6 minutes, it carried over to my tee shot on 13 when I hit a solid 8 iron from 160 pin high.

Problem was, the pin high was on the wrong side, as I faced a 20 footer down some slope. I was aggresive, thinking that this may be close to a must make, problem being, that the slope picked up passed the hole and I ended up running it by 7 feet. I had no such thrilling par on 13. Instead, a gut punch bogey brought 80 plus reality firmly to center stage.

12 over through 13

Hole 14/Par 4

Hole 14 appears to be the sweet spot for my reckoning more often than not. Perhaps it’s just the timing of it, perhaps its the intimidating tee shot with trouble left and right, or maybe its just that I am a basket case. Whatever it is, 14 has a way of saying the ugliest hello and goodbye to a good round.

Number be damned, I love 14. You can feel utterly and totally alone on 14 and, for better or for worse, it may be this sheer silence that gets into your head more often than not.

Drive was good, a 5 wood to the middle of the fairway. Its a great set up if you get off the tee well on this one. An elevated second shot to a 2 tiered green.

Someone should have reminded me that the best way to hit a green is to aim at it. You know that sickening feeling when you pure a shot, it feels so good, until you look up? To the right side of the bunker I went. As the divot showed, I had given myself no other choice.

A skulled bunker shot with a dabble of rage, and a missed 6 footer spelled the end of the optimism and any hope I had of the good round.

14 over through 14

Hole 15/Par 4

Th closing holes of a failed round are always an interesting test of mental fortitude. Do you let the disappointment take hold, or do you continue to grind? I will admit, this is my achillis heel. Despite being 40 years old, I can still throw a temper tantrum with the best of them, wallowing in my own self pity, as if my mother refused my request for a Baby Ruth at the check out aisle.

Somewhat surprisingly, I roped the drive, mostly because the t shot is not all that intimidating. Its easy to tee it up high and take a rip as the fairway is well over 30 yards wide with plenty of rough to keep your ball from bouncing into the trees.

The key for the approach is to leave your putt below the hole (brilliant right?). Problem is that in order to give yourself that uphill put, you also need to flirt with the right bunker, a deep, soft monster that you do not want to play around in.

A 125 yard gap wedge (hint, this was the wrong club), that I luckily thinned was just enough to bounce onto the green and give me the desired uphill birdie run.

2 putts and a par that doesn’t matter, except for those keeping score.

14 over through 15

Hole 16/Par 3

16 is all about leaving your approach short. The hole itself is not long (150 yards), there is not a lot of trouble (just a bunker short left). However, if you over club, or, even worse, pull it left, the back to front slope is going to make a par difficult. Often times its best to just take your medicine and, as I had here, hit one past the hole so you can at least have an uphill putt coming back.

Regardless, I saved a par, making it two in a row.

Does charging for water on the course seem wrong to anyone else?

14 over through 16

Hole 17/Par 4

Reaching 17, you feel like you have finally reached the top of your walk. A great view from an elevated tee box allows you to see everything that can grab your ball should you choose the wrong club and/or the wrong swing. Fesque right, fesque left, woods long and some deep bunkers short of the green make this hole all about hitting to the right spots. It doesn’t really matter though does it, the older I get, the more important this walk down the hill becomes.

Tee shot was grand, a wood gave me this shot, all of 90 yards in.

I almost prefer to be further back then than the delicate wedge I faced on this day. In fact, depending on the day and how realistic a sub 80 round is, I will take as little club as a 6 iron in order to give me a full mid-iron into the green.

Just another bogey in this mediocre round. As if the surprise grunt when I lipped out the par putt was really as much a surprise as I let on to anyone willing to listen within 100 yards.

15 over through 17

Hole 18/Par 4

I must be honest, the rounds I hate the most, are the rounds that I feel I hit the ball well enough to post a good score, but instead the missed opportunities quickly turn it into just another round.

It is the tee on 18 where this realization normally fully kicks in, when I conduct the math; Birdie is this score, par that score, and god forbid I should take an 8 and the dreaded score collapse shall consume my soul for at least until I tee off again.

On this day, it really was quite easy. There was no pressure, no score I “needed to post” in order to break that elusive good round threshold. Just a pleasant walk toward the clubhouse on this open par 4 with nothing but my inner thoughts to bring me home.

Drive…check, green in regulation…check, two putt par…and its done. A round that shall subside into my inner conciousness and just another step towards another attempt at the 24 year crusade of good golf.

15 over through 18 = 86