This is one of the little ones, far from the clubhouse. The fairway is straight and open; on the narrow side perhaps, and it slopes a bit alarmingly towards the creek if your ball drifts to the right. But you’d think it would be easy, wouldn’t you?
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Trouble is on the left, a large pine and a grumpy-looking shrub. Very few players have never had an encounter with either one or both. A good number have lost their ball up in the pine, never to be seen again. Sometimes the ball is almost buried at the base of the shrub, and scrabbling around to get it out (penalty of one shot) can scratch nastily. But the majority bounce off the pine, sometimes landing back under the raised tee a few metres in front of you, others racing down the slope to the right and into the fence. Some balls go straight through the tree and land on or beyond the green on the previous hole.
Did I mention the trouble on the right? A line of old pines skirts the fence and while most of us manage not to hit them, the difficulties of getting out from behind or under them can be daunting. Pines denude the soil and what lies around the trunks resembles sand, covered by needles – resting your iron near the ball may encourage it to roll away, down to the fence around the course.
And then there is the trouble around the green, in the form of bunkers. One in particular is deep and steep-sided. Personally I have managed to hit a ball out of it only once, but I am not a first class player, and I haven’t practised enough.
The green itself is an odd one, sprawling and uneven, with a quite substantial two-tier form not easy to ‘read’. To misjudge either chipping up to the green or your putt is to run over the edge; on the north side this is a steep slope down to another bunker, and then you have to do it all over again. In this way I once had 17 shots on this Par 3 hole. Such is the game of golf; endlessly frustrating.
It could be the reason that this hole is so far from the clubhouse, so that no-one hears the rather rude words that might erupt in these circumstances. Golf is a dignified game, with quite firm rules about behaviour on the course, as those of you who have played before will know well. Some months ago, I drove onto this green (for the first time) 2 metres from the pin, and downed it, giving myself a birdie. Perhaps you heard my crowing from the clubhouse?
Golf Club enquiries: braidwoodgolfclub@gmail.com or call Michelle 48422108
