I'm heading down to Mesquite, Nevada this weekend to play some golf... let me rephrase that, to play some dry golf. Make no mistake, I've been enjoying my winter golf here in Whatcom County and have become accustomed to 3-1/2 hour rounds at a very leisurely pace. However, even I have to admit that there have been days out there where the rain has dampened my spirits. I played on Saturday at Harbour Pointe down in Mukilteo in a near constant downpour only to find out it hadn't rained a drop here in Bellingham. Drat. Waking up to relatively clear skies on Sunday morning (Feb 17), I decided to sneak in one more round in preparation for my Mesquite trip. I called a buddy who I'll call Denis to meet me out in Custer to play the Grandview Golf Course. It is fairly short, flat, wide, forgiving and would be a perfect course on which to purify my swing thoughts and boost my confidence before taking on Wolf Creek down there in Nevada. Right? I hit a pretty good 3-wood off the first tee right down the middle and maybe 210 yards. My buddy—who I should mention rarely plays golf and has NEVER played a round in February—hit a sky ball about 60 yards up and 60 yards out. He hit a nice recovery to within about 40 yards of the green while I walked up to my ball brimming with confidence; perfect angle; perfect lie; perfect distance for a full swing 56-degree wedge. I took my address, licked my chops and let 'er rip; a clean hit right at the flag... unfortunately, the distance I had to cover was about 65-yards and the ball only flew 50; not quite on the green but close enough to putt. In the meantime, Denis surveyed his shot, took a mighty swing and up the ball flew. It landed on the front of the green, released and rolled directly into the cup for a 3! Outwardly it was "High-5, yippee, atta boy!!" Inwardly it was "Crap... now I've got to sink this one to tie him and after all, I am the golf insider so can't let this guy show me up." I studied my line and sent the putt rolling smoothly, skirting the left edge but about 4 feet past the cup. I swear it looked uphill and slow—or I just suck—but regardless, I missed the comebacker and carded a 5. This game does have a way of humbling you doesn't it? It doesn't matter whether you're playing in Custer or at Pebble Beach, you've still gotta execute the shot that's laying in front of you. All in all, we had a good time and it was a dry day albeit a little cold by the end of the round. The course was in remarkable shape for the amount of rain we've had over the last few weeks. At $30, it seemed a bit steep to me but they do have a great "twilight" rate of $12 that starts at noon which explains why there were no golfers when we teed off at 10:00 but several milling around the tee-box when we made the turn at 11:45. I would recommend this course for golfers of all skill levels. It has a few nice water features but nothing too knee shaking for beginners. I would definitely recommend walking it; renting a cart on this flat terrain just seems a little too indulgent. (Sorry Denis:-) Go play golf.
