I'd like to hear your worst experience playing a course for the 1st time.

[OrangeGravy]

I drove up to Gamble Sands here in Washington to play it for the first time a couple months ago. I'm only about 3 hours away. The misses and I and brother in law/wife rented a place and made a weekend of it. I was told the fairways are wide and the greens were big and might take some adjusting to. First time around I finished in 86 strokes. 47 of them were putts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The greens are massive. I hit something like 75% percent of the greens in reg and a similar number of fairways and had nothing but 40-70ft putts for the first 10-12 holes. I 3 putted every single green on the front. I finally figured it out the last 4 holes or so and birdied 18, but holy moses. It's one of those courses that does that to you the first time around, but the next time you're 5-10 strokes better. 

 

Anyone have something like that happen the first time around a virgin course? 

[Lefthook]

It happened to me on the Plantation Course at Maui. Extremely sloped Bermuda greens with the grass growing downhill. This made the difference between uphill and downhill the largest I've ever experienced. I played the course two or three times, but I never figured out the speed on the greens and produced lots of 3 putts as a consequence.  It was still a very good experience, though. Beautiful scenery and a very good course.

[2bGood]

On 9/18/2020 at 11:51 PM, OrangeGravy said:

I drove up to Gamble Sands here in Washington to play it for the first time a couple months ago. I'm only about 3 hours away. The misses and I and brother in law/wife rented a place and made a weekend of it. I was told the fairways are wide and the greens were big and might take some adjusting to. First time around I finished in 86 strokes. 47 of them were putts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The greens are massive. I hit something like 75% percent of the greens in reg and a similar number of fairways and had nothing but 40-70ft putts for the first 10-12 holes. I 3 putted every single green on the front. I finally figured it out the last 4 holes or so and birdied 18, but holy moses. It's one of those courses that does that to you the first time around, but the next time you're 5-10 strokes better. 

 

Anyone have something like that happen the first time around a virgin course? 

 Gamble sands is a bi unique, but super easy to score well on if you know the course a bit. I can't say I had trouble the first time I played it, but went much lower the next time. 

[naval2006]

Long time ago I was a mid single digit teenager and I thought I had it already. Had been shooting different courses in the 70s for the past couple of months.  So I played for the first time in my country’s Golf Cathedral: Playa Grande. Hilly short course by the sea, Sandy ground, small super fast greens full of treacherous breaks. The course is really tight and the golf you play there is pretty strategic. I learned the hard and bitter way that golf humbles you. Shot 100. Almost 30 years later I remember clearly how I left the course devastated LOL. 

[LCP]

A few years ago, I drove up to TPC San Antonio one afternoon for a business conference starting the next day. I wanted to get a round in after driving up.  I had to play the Canyons (Sr. Tour course).  I was a little stiff from the car ride, and there was a wee bit of wind  (20mph steady, 30mph gusts), but I went for it.  I played a "manageable" set of tees in this condition (rating just under par, probably 6400 yards?).  I teed off with hybrid a lot.  It still was going off the course.  I think 2/3rds of the holes I was in my pocket or made double or triple.  I think I turned in a 105.  It was probably closer to 110 real score.  At the time I was probably a 12-13 index, so rounds over 95 really were rare. I didn't have a round over 100 that year other than that one.

[b.mattay]

Played one course I refuse to name (giving it the ol Voldemort treatment haha) in a tournament. Holes were incredibly poorly designed. Two of the par 3's forced layups to 50 yards out at yardages of 220 (green was about 15 yards wide by 12 yards deep, with water short and lost ball in the brush 3 yards off in any direction) and 175 (the hole played as a literal dogleg). Course also featured a par 5 that had 19!!! yards between lost ball areas (not lateral) all the way until the 130ish mark from the green. Needless to say, it was incredibly frustrating. 

 

Edited September 21, 2020 by b.mattay

[bladehunter]

Well. The synopsis was.  In a state am qualifier 3 years ago.  I played a course blind.  Just couldn’t get the t drive 2 hours to play a practice  round.  I hit 5 balls OB on the front 9 by a total of maybe 3 feet.  But I didn’t quit.  Ended up shooting 43-36.  ( eagle on the back cleaned it up a bit ).    
 

worst part was. All 5 were blind tee shots.  We’d walk up thinking a good shot and find my ball rolled OB .  Each one.  So I’d walk back to the tee and go again.  Lol.  2 were on same hole and ended up within 3 feet of each other.  Was a stupid tight course.  

[DaveLeeNC]

I did not have this experience but I think that I was a witness to a 'worst first round on a course'. It was at Pinehurst (main facility - courses 1 through 5). At that time the first holes on courses No. 1 and 3 were parallel and then you crossed the road where the 2nd hole on No. 3 was to your right and the second hole on No. 5 was to your left (both par 4's). Two golfers were  across the road,  staring and kind of yelling at the point where you go left (No. 5) or right (No. 3). Not long after that I saw them really jawing at one of the Pinehurst Pro's, who I kind of knew. 

 

Later I asked him what that was about. These guys were playing some kind of tournament on No. 5, but after playing the first hole and crossing the road they went right and played the 2nd hole of No. 3. They are both par 4's and while there was a sign indicating which course went which way, the signage at the tees did not indicate course - just hole # and par/yardage. They had played the wrong 2nd hole and teed off on the wrong 3rd hole when they figured it out - and got DQ'ed. 

 

That is a bad day on a new course. 

 

dave

Edited September 24, 2020 by DaveLeeNC

[Socrates]

Dove Mtn a few years ago.  Played the same 9’s that were used in the Match Play.  Found out that regardless of the length of the hole, you needed to hit it to a certain area that gave you the best chance of keeping on the course and a shot at the green.  Even if it left you a long iron in. 

To make matters worse, I had cleaned my grips the night before with my golf towel.  Unbeknownst to me, the place we were staying at had the water softener cranked up. I usually wipe down my grips every shot to keep them clean and every time I wiped my grips, they got more slippery.  By the time I left the range I could barely hold onto the club and didn’t figure it out until the 6th hole.  By then the round was a disaster and had lost about 6 balls.  Spent the rest of the round madly wiping down my grips with a new towel.  Just barely got it under 100.  

Beyond the bad luck with the grips, I realized my swing had gotten out of hand and led to a tear down and rebuilding right after that trip.  

[grantc79]

Atchafalaya golf course in Patterson, LA was my worst. 

I was literally coming off the best round I ever played, first time breaking 80. I had not been playing that long and I thought I was well on my way to being a good player.

 

I went out there and teed it up and got absolutely murdered by that course. Hole 2 is a 230 yard par 3 with lots of trees lining the tee shot and bunkers everywhere. Pretty much every other par 4 and par 5 has blind tee shots where you have to hit it in an area where you look like you got no business hitting it. 

It was miserable. Shot in the one hundred teens. 

[SwingBlues]

Yeah.

 

About 6 years ago I played The Golf Club of California in Fallbrook, SoCal. Lovely course and shot an 80 for that course with 8 x 3 putts. Hit almost every green in regulation but just could not figure out the place to hit it on those green. I swear every one of the greens had a spine. Speed was quick too. I remember the balls moved a ton with the smallest tap downhill. Tough day on the green for sure but everything else was pretty good that day.

 

Howver, it was a fun course. Got a couple of birdies and swore I would be back but I have not. Lovely course though. Memorable, scenic fairways especially that Par 3 that looks like Rivierra-esque (with the bunker in the middle of the green) and has the vines in the background.

 

About 2 weeks ago, I played Sterling Hills in Camarillo for the first time. While the greens were tough it was no where close to TGCOC with the spine and speed. That day I shot a 74 (Par 71 and had 2 birds and 5 bogeys). I never do that good but it was one of those days where my new swing was stable. I was such a n00b, one Par 5 I thought it was a longish Par 4 and my 2nd 5 iron shot ended off the green pin high. I nearly holed the chip, could have been an Eagle.

 

Playing new courses, its always the toughest to figure out where to miss. Blind uphill tee shots are the worst. I don't fear the greens now as compared to back when as my putting and short game is really good, imho. Now, for me, it the trust of my driver swing to deliver. Sometimes a members bounce or two also helps a long way... lol

Edited September 24, 2020 by SwingBlues

[MattyO1984]

Vale do Lobo - Royal Course. First round of a guys weekend away in Portugal. My drive off the first tee was good and that was about it for the rest of the round. I could not do a thing right from then until I holed a monster putt on the 17th having somehow managed to hold the green having pulled a PW about 30 yards from the pin. I have never, ever played a course that tight off the tee with trees branches that hang as low as they did. I lost count of the amount of punch shots I hit that day.

[smashdn]

This isn't specific to the course but the way we were treated at the course.

 

We were doing a bachelor's party at the course and planned to play 36 that day.  Probably not the best idea as there were only about 1/2 to 3/4 of us that are "golfers" though all of us could/had played.  First round of the day we played our own balls and had no issue.  The next round we scrambled in an attempt to play a little faster and some guys had quit playing all together due to being tired.  So we re-configured who was riding in what cart and we would roll up on tee boxes with maybe three or four carts at the box though only a foursome was playing.  And we were playing fast as we were scrambling.  Group in front of us we caught (they were actually a fivesome which was against the rules).  When they got in they told the guy running the course we were rushing them and playing too many in a group.  Turned out they were locals who were "members" at the public course.  Next day the guy came out before we teed off and read us the riot act.  Everything from driving on greens (false), playing too slow (false), playing too fast (not sure there is such a thing) to hitting on the cart girl (true for one of the guys).  I kept asking the guy to specifically tell me what was the issue as he was speaking in generalities and told him I would take care of it.  I had never been talked to like that on a course or really anywhere that way before.

 

Course was fair.  Middle of the road design, cost and conditions.  Range was short and short game area bunker was washed out.

[milesgiles]

What does this have to do with ‘instruction’?

[xmanhockey7]

Hard to say. I'd say probably the time I got to play Bay Hill. Don't get me wrong it was awesome to play the course. I've played it on TW and seen it on TV so that was cool, but apparently they had just replaced all their greens due to a disgruntled greens keeper damaging the old ones. I understood. Again, cool to play the course, but holding a 60* from 80 out was difficult. While I didn't play great as I hadn't played any golf for 3 months (live in Michigan) any good shots to the green were kicked off and with my luck all in spots where you don't want to miss it. 

[Jaoffo]

Last Monday our SMGA took a field trip to Barnsley Gardens about an hour north of our home course. while on the practice green I asked a couple local boys for advice and the both said simultaneously "stay below the hole".

I ended up 12 strokes over my usual home score and it was all putting. Don't know that I ever putted on PGA speed greens before but it ain't easy...especially when you aren't below the hole.

[farmer]

There was a new course relatively near me that was supposed to be fantastic, so a group of us drove up to play on their opening weekend.  Temporary clubhouse, no problem, not terribly costly, nice range, looking good ..... but they had no scorecards or course maps.  The course was in the foothills of the Rockies, there were blind shots galore, and without a map it was actually hard at times to know where you were supposed to go.  No yardage markers (pre-laser) and ridiculous greens.  Plus, one guy behaved so rudely to a cart girl that I chased her down, bought a Gatorade, tipped her ten dollars and apologized profusely.

[farmer]

Just now, farmer said:

There was a new course relatively near me that was supposed to be fantastic, so a group of us drove up to play on their opening weekend.  Temporary clubhouse, no problem, not terribly costly, nice range, looking good ..... but they had no scorecards or course maps.  The course was in the foothills of the Rockies, there were blind shots galore, and without a map it was actually hard at times to know where you were supposed to go.  No yardage markers (pre-laser) and ridiculous greens.  Plus, one guy behaved so rudely to a cart girl that I chased her down, bought a Gatorade, tipped her ten dollars and apologized profusely.

The course was open two years and then went away.

[MelloYello]

I was in northern Florida for awhile living on my own in a weird little job that had me on-site for a year. 

 

I decided to branch out and play this Arnold Palmer design that was about an hour away. I get there, it's already pretty chilly out and the wind was absolutely howling. It was almost unplayable.

 

As I recall this was a weekday and it was early but I still got stuck behind a super slow group. 

 

After 9 holes I was outta there. Totally unspectacular course anyway. Not worth the trip at all. Don't remember what I shot but I'm sure it was unremarkable. 

[dmecca2]

One year I signed up for a US fourball qualifier and went to play a practice round. My partner and I got to the course at 9:00 on a weekend expecting the course to be PACKED, but not a soul was there. We walked around the pro shop, the first tee, clubhouse, but couldn't find anyone. Finally found an old lady in an office with 1000 filing cabinets laying around and shelled out $100 to play that day. She tells us that the course has gone under and has been sold to be turn into a residential area. The course hadn't been maintained, greens were terribly punched, bunkers didn't have sand, it was plain awful. We played 3 holes and walked right back inside and asked for a refund. They ended up having the tournament there a week later, charging us $5 before the round to use the 150 yard range beforehand. We ended up missing by a couple strokes. 

[MtlJeff]

I haven't had terrible experiences really, but any mountain course around here (Le Geant in Quebec or Stowe Mountain in Vermont come to mind) is tough to play for the first time just due to the elevation changes. 

 

I imagine out west in the Rockies that becomes even more of a challenge

 

Hard to gauge what to hit when it's a par 3 that is 190 but is off the side of a cliff. Stowe has a par 3 like that, something like 150 yards but i think i hit a LW lol

[elwhippy]

Played a recently reopened course in my county. Good reviews, supposed to be in excellent condition, great greens etc.

it stunk. Absolutely saturated. For some stupid reason the tees and most of the greens were situated in the shade of massive trees so little or no grass. Ball plugged everywhere. So called signature hole to an island green was actually a stagnant pond and a green covered in moss and ball marks. Caveat Emptor. 

[2ball]

Well many moons ago I flew across the pond and played a few rounds in Ireland.

Went out as a single at this local course near Cork. It was beautiful but I couldn't figure it out.

I was bombing my drives but coming up short on every approach shot.

 

After the 9th I was really studying my score card - then the light went on - the course was measured in Meters!

[wkndhckr]

I'm fairly new to golf but I played a good round a few months ago and was feeling good so I decided to buy a Groupon I always saw popping up. The course ended up being rated a 76. Heavily wooded where  there's fairway... and unplayable/lost.  I lost an entire box of balls. I ended up using found balls from the "other bag pocket" before having to miss 2 holes to pay way too much for a box of e6. 

[thisjustanother]

just had this experience last weekend. im an average 16handicap and play between 85-90 consistently.  our group went to a new course and it was a great course. but damn i had a horrible time playing. shot a 106 there. the greens were fast and nothing was able to stick when trying to pitch/chip it on.  

[SilverBullets]

Whistling Straits - Straits.

 

I showed up playing to a 5 or so index at the time.  We played Erin Hills on the way up and I shot an 82 where I made a couple of doubles down the stretch.  Played Blackwolf Run River the day before I shot 78.

 

I step up to the first tee, put it down the middle. Hit it to 12 feet and make the putt for birdie.  I scramble for pars on the next 2 and am sitting at -1 through 3. I was thinking 'here we go, let's shoot 75'.

 

Then the wind kicked up.  Oh boy did the wind kick up.

 

I think I made 1 par on the final 15 and it was from basically lake Michigan where I hit the most ridiculous flop shot to 5 feet of my life.  I shot 93.  

 

We played the Irish course immediately after.  The wind died down, the irish course is also more protected from the wind.  I shot 74 LOL  Missed a putt on 18 to make it a clean 20 shot swing.  

[mallrat]

My worst 1st experience has little to do with golf and more an overall experience. 
 

Aspen Lakes in Sisters, OR, fun enough track and at the time, very well maintained. Well the wife and I decided to

play something new and this course had gotten rave reviews. So we tee’d off about 2:30 during the summer on 95* day. No this course has a lot of treks between holes (Some holes it’s is almost the length of another hole). No one told us this, so we decided to walk the course. Also being out 1st time no one bothered to tell us that after #9 it didn’t go back by the clubhouse, ok. Well we saw the cart girl on hole 2 or 3 and that was it. So about home 12 or 13 we called the shop to see where the cart girl was and if we could get some water. Turns out the shop was closed and got forwarded to the restaurant, golf shop and cart girl went home at 4 and we were on our never.
 

Went back once because some friends wanted to play it but still hate it and don’t get me started on what the red sand bunkers (crushed lava rock) due to your wedges.

[caniac6]

I played Tot Hill Farm shortly after it opened, and I thought it had the goofiest greens I had ever seen. There were multiple greens where you could be on the green, and the only way to get to the hole was to chip. I have never been back.

[Roejye]

My worst time playing was actually the 2nd time I played this particular course. This course is the closest to my house and is a longer course than I normally play. I was doing some research on what kind of adapter I need for my driver so I had brought it in the house. Made an impromptu tee time for 9 holes at the course and left the driver at home. Started out well enough for my handicap, bogey, double, bogey. I was playing mostly bogey golf, eventually caught up with a foursome on the 4th hole, and the pace slowed way down. Just a lot of bad shots, ended up shooting in the mid 50's. I had been playing pretty steadily in the low to mid 40's so I guess I was due for a clunker like that, but it was disappointing still. 

I did learn something that day, I need my driver for true champion length courses.

[nick_CO]

My first year golfing was 6 years ago. I shot consistently in the 90s and every now and then would get an 88 or 89 that year. That was while playing municipal courses where the rough wasn’t too thick and if you went too deep in it you were hitting off another fairway. Toward the end of the season my buddy took me to Murphy creek, a real golf course. I was playing a full set of Adams clubs that I bought at the beginning of the season. Anyway, on the first par 3 I sent my 7 iron head flying into a desert feature with cacti in it. On hole 9 or 10 I noticed a puncture in my driver from the previous drive. Then with only 2-3 holes left I tried hitting out of some native with my 8 iron and that head came off as well. I shot over 120 and came away with a new respect for how difficult this game is.