Twelfth Golf Game of 2009

I joined my friend Michael for 18 holes this afternoon at his new country club -- Maple Dale Country Club in Dover. Maple Dale has been trying to bring in new members and they have offered a pretty good deal for young families. Michael and his wife and sons took advantage of it for the club's golf course, pool and other amenities.

Neither of us played very well. In fact, I would say that nothing went right for us if it wasn't the case that almost every tee shot did in fact go off to the right. We were slicing more than a deli worker at a thin-meats convention.

I eventually straightened out some of my tee shots, though not soon enough. But I played poorly otherwise, wasting good iron play with poor putting.

It's no excuse, but I must say that the Maple Dale course offers some real challenges. It was first built in 1925 and it has some old-fashioned aspects. There are some fairly deep sand traps and mature trees that block your second shot should the first go wide (which many of ours did).

That said, on the few holes where I did hit a straight first shot, Maple Dale was great fun. The fairways were in fine shape, as were the greens. A second shot off those fairways could be very satisfying.

I finished with a par on the par-5 18th hole. I hit a driver shot well down the fairway and followed with a very pleasing long second shot with the hybrid 3 wood. I hit the third -- a 7-iron -- a bit left, but pitched the fourth onto the green and made the putt.

That's how the game is meant to go.