The last round of my trip this year (but not the last blog of this series) was played in fairly windy conditions (2-3 clubs) at Pacific Dunes. There is some debate whether this golf course or Bandon Trails is harder, but the latter is usually shielded from the worst of the winds for most of it. So, I'd weigh in and say, for pure golf course difficulty, I'd give the nod to Coore and Crenshaw for designing the harder golf course day in and day out. HOWEVER, when the wind blows hard, the tight confines of Pacific Dunes is without a doubt a more difficult test of golf.
Either way, on this trip, I played good golf and broke 80 every time, except here. However, by the time we were into the back nine, the focus of this day was not on my game, but on watching my son play his best round of golf I've seen. In the harrowing conditions, he hit solid shot after solid shot and mastered the extraordinarily difficult into the wind stretch from 10 to 13. It was at that point that the confusing intersection of the feelings of pride and fear set in, realizing that he was beating me for the first time in his life. That lead stretched a little and by the time we stood on the 16th tee, he was 2 ahead with 3 to play.
You can see my comments on the 16th hole, but I can confidently say that I tried to get my son to lay up here, but he is 15 years old, slightly over-confident, and was hitting it well. Needless to say, discretion is the better part of valor and, after a long birdie putt from me, the 2 shot lead was gone and I was back on top. After a very unlucky shot on the 18th from Sam doomed his final hole, I was able to stretch my lead and remain "undefeated" at the age of 47.
However, that "win" meant nothing to me compared to the satisfaction of watching my son play his best golf for 15 holes on a world class golf course, shooting his low round ever with me. I write this today fully knowing that 47 years old will probably be the last year I live where he doesn't beat me at golf, and there is no fear, only gratitude to be able to play more golf with him as he gets even better.
Either way, on this trip, I played good golf and broke 80 every time, except here. However, by the time we were into the back nine, the focus of this day was not on my game, but on watching my son play his best round of golf I've seen. In the harrowing conditions, he hit solid shot after solid shot and mastered the extraordinarily difficult into the wind stretch from 10 to 13. It was at that point that the confusing intersection of the feelings of pride and fear set in, realizing that he was beating me for the first time in his life. That lead stretched a little and by the time we stood on the 16th tee, he was 2 ahead with 3 to play.
You can see my comments on the 16th hole, but I can confidently say that I tried to get my son to lay up here, but he is 15 years old, slightly over-confident, and was hitting it well. Needless to say, discretion is the better part of valor and, after a long birdie putt from me, the 2 shot lead was gone and I was back on top. After a very unlucky shot on the 18th from Sam doomed his final hole, I was able to stretch my lead and remain "undefeated" at the age of 47.
However, that "win" meant nothing to me compared to the satisfaction of watching my son play his best golf for 15 holes on a world class golf course, shooting his low round ever with me. I write this today fully knowing that 47 years old will probably be the last year I live where he doesn't beat me at golf, and there is no fear, only gratitude to be able to play more golf with him as he gets even better.
RSS Feed