Tour 18: two birdies (one on my miracle hole!)

An hour drive away is Tour 18. A course where I have good memories of a nice round with Joe two years ago. They feature replica holes of famous golf courses, including Amen Corner.

One of the par 5s - hole 14, HCP 2 on this course, I call my "miracle hole". It is a replica of hole 16 at Firestone in Akron, Ohio. When I played last time, I topped my approach with a 9 iron, it went straight for the lake in front of the green, but skid a couple times, hit the "ramp" up to the green and settled about a foot and a half away from the hole for a tap-in birdie. Hence my, miracle birdie hole.

Today, I was a bit over ambitious there and thought I could reach the green with my second shot (a 5 wood). Well, I almost did, but hit the ramp and the ball rolled towards the water. After fishing out 2 balls, I saw my ball being held up by bushel of grass, literally hanging over the water. Oh miracle! I dared to chip it (hanging over the water myself) and hit it within 7 feet of the flag and went on to make my second miracle birdie on this hole!


One (repeat) miracle, two birdies, 4 pars, 35 putts and a 94. Not bad for playing in 100 degrees on a course with a rating of 77.3. A great round with Joe who sported a "beat the heat" look that reminded me of both Sean Connery as King Richard in Robin Hood with his sword at times, and of a friendly smurf in his blue shirt at others.