Caledonia Tour Part 1

Carroll Valley's been explored to its fullest, so now it's time to visit a new golf course.  Caledonia Golf Course is part of Caledonia State Park, and as such, it can be pretty minimal.  No nicely maintained fairways here.  It's only about 5,300 yards, but it is very hilly and there are some long walks.  It can be a hike, and I'm not sure it's worth it.  This course has some very weird holes, holes that I really don't like.  But it is pretty cheap.  The front nine is alright, I guess, but it's pretty old, built back in the 1920's, I believe.  The back nine is newer, and there is some weird stuff going on back there.  So, now that you're all properly enthused for the pinnacle of golf, let's get started.


Hole 1: 335 yards

I've never been able to wrap my head around this tee shot.  There's a stream that cuts across the fairway, and the hole doglegs severely at around 200-225 yards out, so a layup is the usual play.  That stream is somehow simultaneously so close to not be a problem and difficult to clear.  Seriously, it's farther than it looks, but not really, and I've had trouble clearing it in the past.  My usual drive is a hook that dives into the trees separating this hole from the next, which is always fun and usually results in a double bogey.  Something that I've thought about trying is going over all the trees on the right and blasting away at the green.  It can't be that far away.  If there were a driving range, I would do it, but this is always my first shot of the day, and I've just never been comfortable with it.

The second shot(or for me, third shot) is a wedge over a very undulating fairway to a very elevated green.  There's a bunker left and trees right and long.  You really have to be careful not to be short, because that leaves a very tough pitch, not to mention the risk of the ball rolling all the way back down.  The greens here are all pretty slow, so they do tend to have quite a bit of break to them.

You may have noticed that there are quite a lot of trees around.  This golf course is part of a state park, so yes, there are going to a lot of trees to deal with during the round.  I imagine most people don't share my irrational hatred of trees, but I have never played well at this course.  Never, not even close.  Too many trees, too many drives shot off in the wrong direction.  Too bad, because the relatively poor condition of the place reminds me of my home course.  I can deal with slow greens and bare lies, but I cannot deal with trees.  Too bad.


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