kenadams

Casual driving range session working on eliminating my slice with my driver. My grip has been to tight and need to relax the dominant hand grip. 

Casual driving range session working on eliminating my slice with my driver. My grip has been to tight and need to relax the dominant hand grip. 

I was there yesterday with my wife. She has a small procedure upcoming on her knee, so we didn't walk everywhere, so I didn't see all of the course. (I did leave her a few times to sit while I went some hillier places.) I'm not a big picture guy, but I attached a few of my better shots. I also focused on seeing the course and more players, so I didn't follow any groups (other than incidentally, as there were a few times we walked forward with groups). I'm sure some of these things are common knowledge to you, but some of the things that stood out to me include:
Parking sucked. It took nearly two hours from getting off the interstate to getting to the course, including 50 minutes standing in line for the buses. We didn't need it, but others did, and there was no accomodation for handicapped. Unacceptable, PGA. Concessions were outstanding. Everything but alcohol was free, and there were plenty of stands, so you never waited, and nobody abused the free food. There were water stations literally everywhere, and almost as many bathrooms. (Needed, since I was obsessive about staying hydrated. It wasn't hot, but it was direct sun for many hours.) The Elijah Craig Speakeasy (the only alcohol we had) made an outstanding Old Fashioned. My wife tried their signature Mulligan cocktail, and it was mediocre. (That drink is supposed to be Irish Whiskey, and I think that would be much better than bourbon.) Lots of electronic signboards around. They told you who it was, their score, and how far their shot was, including putt distances to the inch.. The only thing I wished was they identified the club pros. I understand why not, but we don't know all of these names, and while I'm not much of a vocal "cheer" guy, I would have been louder for those guys. Other than length, the course was nearly defenseless. Super soft fairways (I'm surprised at no casual water spots, but I guess that's what a huge greenskeeping budget will do for you), very receptive greens, and while some of the pins were tucked, they were in flat areas that were very puttable.  F'ing long! It's one thing to see 500 yard par 4s on TV, but looking at a hole in person and thinking, "This is a par 4?", woof! 253 yard par 3? At least on that hole, once a group was on the green the following group would hit their tee shots, and then the first would putt out. Dramatic time savings.  Back to defenseless, the rough was not nearly as thick as I expected. The muni I played Wednesday was at similar length. Outside the ropes everything was so trampled down that the grass was not an issue. Get farther from the ropes and the rough was eminently playable. The worst spot I saw anybody in was Hisatsune, who pushed his drive on 17 and it ran down a bit of a hill to where he was blocked from the green. From a severe uphill but ball below his feet lie he hit a solid layup to about 80 yards, and then got up and down. I saw him on two other greens, he made the best putts I saw. Shortly after that shot, we realized the very stylish woman walking with us was Hisatsune's partner. Tiny, very pretty, and she had this very elegant sweater draped around her neck that had these very cool retro patches of all of the majors. That sweater would sell like mad in most places, but I'm guessing it's a very spendy label. You always hear it said, but yes, these guys are all tall and slim. But then there's John Daly! In fairness, he looked 50 pounds or more lighter than most pictures I've seen of him. He was the only guy using a cart. It was weird to see him consistently 30-70 yards short of his companions, but inside of 200 he was still awesome. Even with irons and wedges, he has the most extreme shoulder tilt I've ever seen. Number 3, 204 yard par 3 into the breeze, the group we watched (Horschel/Kirk/Lee) hit 8, 8 and 7 iron. Life's not fair. On our way out we went to the merchandise tent, but we should have gone first and checked our stuff ($10 fee!). At 4:00 PM the line for the checkout was 45 minutes. We noped our way out of there. We left a little earlier than planned, as my wife's knee was done. The line to get back on the shuttle buses was only 10 minutes, but it was a 40 minute drive in heavy traffic back to parking. At least it was a high end bus with really nice seats. Edited to correct a hole number.

Casual driving range session working on eliminating my slice with my driver. My grip has been to tight and need to relax the dominant hand grip. 

Casual driving range session working on eliminating my slice with my driver. My grip has been to tight and need to relax the dominant hand grip. 

Casual driving range session working on eliminating my slice with my driver. My grip has been to tight and need to relax the dominant hand grip. 

Casual driving range session working on eliminating my slice with my driver. My grip has been to tight and need to relax the dominant hand grip.