This afternoon, I donned the golfy equivalent of a pith helmet and bush jacket before my sojourn to Friendship Valley, home of the Friendship Valley Golf Course. My safari would includ nine holes of golf in their unique, challenging course. It was a somewhat rocky outing for me, but I did get to enjoy the beauty of the course itself, and that made for a lovely afternoon.
One of the things that initially struck me upon approaching the first tee box was the strong presence of nature all throughout the course. As I progressed through the front nine, I came across thick vegetation surrounding every hole with dense forests and wildflowers all about. The landscape appears to be very much a natural, living thing. I had the feeling that this wasn’t a golf course created by a person, but a golf course that nature had allowed to exist.
My round began with birdies on one and two, including sinking a seven yard shot from the sand. Enjoying my round and feeling delightfully confident, pride cameth before a fall and I ran into a really troublesome four and five.
My tee shot on four skipped over the green into the rough and rocks. This left my aiming arrow concealed by the rocks and I had to just hope for the best when I hit my chip shot onto the green; my best wasn’t quite on target as that shot ended up in the rough to the right. Thankfully, my next shot (made, again, without an aiming arrow) wound up on the green and I two-putted (ugh) for a double bogie.
Lexy Amore (who is just fab) gave me a post-round tip here that would have made this a non-issue. What I should have done is just temporarily derendered the rough and rocks where my ball and aiming arrow were hiding. Thanks, Lexy!
Five went no better. I was saddled with a four stroke penalty after my scorecard judged I’d teed off from outside of the tee area. So…technically I didn’t, but sometimes SL gotta SL. I finished that hole with a triple bogie, taking little solace from the fact that I would have birdied the hole had I not been stuck with the penalty.
Once more, tremendous tip from Lexy while I was kvetching post-round: after hitting your tee shot, wait until your Steelhead golf bag jumps back up onto your back before taking a single step. It’ll ensure you don’t get hit with a penalty for hitting your tee shot from outside of the tee box area.
Thankfully, I shot par on six, seven, and eight, rounding out my nine holes with a birdie on nine. A 38 is nothing to write home about, but it was a really good learning experience for me. Not only that, but I was treated to a really different and very challenging kind of course. I’m looking forward to giving it another try soon.
Someone entered my contest!!! Wanna win a Truegolf Pro Pack or a TrueGolf Caddy HUD? Go post a comment on the first post on the blog! I’ll draw a winner on September 15!
Credits
The Second Links Traveler 
Leave a comment