New Low Scores!

Salman and I played Mansfield National yesterday(5/12/12).  We both shot our lowest scores to date!  

Salman shot a 93 and I shot a 90.  

We noticed that the last four rounds we've had a consistent pattern going on with me being ahead by three strokes.  Means I need to shoot an 86 and we can start planning our road trip!

I've been looking forward to playing Mansfield National after I practiced there last September/October.  I thought the club house staff was very friendly, and that the practice greens always looked fantastic.  Sadly, our experience yesterday was pretty disappointing.  Salman and I had one consistent complaint throughout the day; the greens.

They were in such horrible condition that it looked like the course had been abandoned.  There was a warning on the website where we reserved our tee time that the greens had been recently aerated, but the damage to the greens did not look man made.  They looked like pure neglect, e.g. random divots, large patches of grass completely missing.  Every green had damage to roughly 20-25% of the total putting area.  The entire round there was only one putt where the ball didn't have to travel over a patch of dirt and/or varying grass lengths.  I got lucky on one par five and was able to drain a birdie putt.  Unfortunately, Salman was robbed of pars and birdies all day. 

If the greens were in playable condition (not necessarily good, just playable), I would've given Mansfield National a four star rating.  The course layout was beautiful, the landscaping looked great, and other than the greens the course was in very good condition.  The staff was friendly too.  Unfortunately the golf carts were gas and not electric, but at $20 for green fee and cart with GPS I really can't complain.  We played at a great pace too.  We finished our entire 18 hole round 30 minutes ahead of schedule at just under 4 hours and that's including the time we spent waiting on two different groups that played insanely slow.  One let us play through, the other we ran into at the 15th hole and didn't bother trying to overtake.

Overall, it was a super fun day.  It was the best golf I've played so far, and I know exactly where my shortcomings were on the course.  Several shots at the green between 50 to 120 yards were about 10 to 20 yards too long.  I hit the balls flush and with the power I intended to hit them with, so my distances with my four wedges need to be refined a bit more.  Driving felt fantastic and definitely helped my confidence.  I would've shot under 90 if it wasn't for a disaster on the 13th hole where I couldn't get out of a bunker after my 2nd shot on a par 4 and settled for an 8.  I can't wait to play again.

Funny story, Salman shot his all-time low of 93 and the guy did not stop complaining about how poorly he was playing; starting at the first tee all the way to the 18th hole where he ended the day with "You played amazing, dude.  I just hope I shot under a 110.  Today was freaking horrible."  I never keep track of my cumulative score during the round because I don't want to get discouraged or overconfident, but I think next time I'm going to add up Salman's scores for him at the turn so he can properly criticize how he's playing.

Great round Salman.