Laurel Hill - Tee it High, Let it Fly!
After Waverly Woods, me and Gene Huie, another golfer who stunk it up in Marriottsville, decided the best way to get a bad round out of your system was to play again. We searched GolfNow and decided to play at Laurel Hill.
If you've never played Laurel Hill, I would highly recommend it to anyone (just find a good price online before you go!). The course is always well kept, the greens roll beautifully and quickly, and the fairways are firm and fast. The course is friendly to the driver but challenging to the iron. A great test of golf in a beautiful setting. To say the course is somewhat penal is an understatement, it is built on the former grounds of the D.C. Correctional Complex at Lorton, aka the Lorton Reformatory. The Prison grounds (now the Workouse Prison Museum) is still visible from the course.
Date: Monday 5/19/2014
Location: Laurel Hill Golf Course, Lorton, VA
Score: 85
Excuses: Trying to "kill the ball" and not swinging within myself
Course Conditions: Awesome. Course was in excellent shape, the fairways were firm, the greens were firm and fast, the rough was as penal, and all the surrounding areas were well manicured. Best conditioned course I've played this year.
The Good: Putting, another good 31 putt performance, driving performance improvement
The Bad: Three three-jacks
The Ugly: Pushing two hybrids out of bounds trying to kill the ball when all I really needed was a 7 iron (in both cases).
Recurring Character Profile: Gene Huie, aka Mean Gene, aka the Grinder. Another great golf buddy, former director of the Huie Tour. Possesses one of the best short games I know. Also a grinder, doesn't always get the birdie, but always deftly avoids the big numbers. In fact, he played over 200 consecutive rounds without a triple bogey.
Gene had the day off and I showed up to work early in order to leave early. We both arrived at Laurel Hill around 3:45PM to get ready for our 5:07PM tee time. Why 5:07PM? Because that is the first super twilight tee time. The only negative about Laurel Hill is the price. Full Rack on a weekday is $69, on the weekends, it's $99. The super twilight rate however, is $34 on weekdays and $44 on weekends. But if you want to be assured to finish, you have to have that magic 5:07PM tee time and be lucky.
We show up and pay in the clubhouse, we then asked the starter if there was any way we could tee off early. The starter told us the course was wide open and we could tee off when we wanted to. MONEY!!!
Gene and I hit the range to warm up as not to spend the first few holes warming up. After I hit a few good pitches and a few good irons, I wanted to hit a couple of drives to see if I was going to have another Waverly Woods power fade driving day. The issue was the only plastic tees available on the range were long. I generally like to tee the ball pretty low by driver standards to have better control of the ball. But undeterred, I decide to try the high tees and instead of grounding the driver beside the ball, I hovered the driver to be even with the ball and BLAM! I hit a long drive with a slight draw. I hit the ball again, the same thing, high, far, and with a slight draw. I hit a third one, straight, high, and long. Considering my driving misfortunes at Waverly Woods, I did not know what to say at this shocking turn of events. But I decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth and go with it.
I teed the ball up high on the first tee and aimed just a litle right. On the right there is a large bunker, trees, and the fairway of the second hole. If I pushed this too far right, I would take birdie, and possibly par out of play. But, I had faith in my new shot and magically, I hit the ball high, far, and to the left. I land in the fairway exactly 302 yards away from the tee box. MONEY!!! Obviously jacked up from the drive, and being 140 yards from the pin and the approach being uphill. I crush a 9 iron over the green. I did get up and down for par.
Second hole. I aim slightly right, straight for the huge bunker on the right, and proceed to crush another drive high, far, and with a slight draw. MONEY. I hit a 50% wedge and leave myself 15 feet from the cup. I just miss the birdie putt but tap in for a solid par.
Third hole. If you aren't familiar with the course, it is an insanely long and difficult par 4. The elevated tee shot forces you through a narrow chute where all you see is a large pot bunker in the middle of the fairway. I aim as far right as the tee markers allowed and POW! I hit it straight into the right rough. Not in a bad position however. I hit a good hybrid from the rough, and chipped it to a decent distance to the hole to give myself a chance at par. Sadly it didn't work out but was not completely dissatisfied with a bogey. Especially on that hole.
Fourth hole. 190 yard par 3 that plays at least 2 clubs downhill. I hit a pretty solid 7 iron but left it short of the shelf I needed to get to. But magically, I bury a 40 foot putt for birdie. YAY!
Fifth hole. I tee the ball high once again, aim for the middle of the fairway and BANG! Hit the ball high, far, and slightly to the left. Sadly I try to destroy my hybrid to get even with the pin and end up mishitting the ball into the rough. No stakes, had to take a drop... Ended up with a nasty double.
Throughout the day my driving was insanely good, I never teed the ball up high or hovered my driver but it was giving me excellent results. The only drive I lost all day was my 3 hybrid on the 210 yard Par 3 (#8). I did have a couple of slight mishits with the driver but they did not cost me chances at birdie.
My overall score was not indicative of how well I felt I had struck the ball. It was more of an indication of the effect of the mistakes I made.
Gene and I finished the round with plenty of light to spare and definitely felt better than we did after Waverly Woods.
Beautiful course, beautiful day, good fun and good friends. Good day of golf! Until the next time: BACK TO THE RANGE, BACK TO THE PRACTICE GREEN, and BACK TO THE GYM!!
Next Round: Fort Belvior - Gunston
If you've never played Laurel Hill, I would highly recommend it to anyone (just find a good price online before you go!). The course is always well kept, the greens roll beautifully and quickly, and the fairways are firm and fast. The course is friendly to the driver but challenging to the iron. A great test of golf in a beautiful setting. To say the course is somewhat penal is an understatement, it is built on the former grounds of the D.C. Correctional Complex at Lorton, aka the Lorton Reformatory. The Prison grounds (now the Workouse Prison Museum) is still visible from the course.
Date: Monday 5/19/2014
Location: Laurel Hill Golf Course, Lorton, VA
Score: 85
Excuses: Trying to "kill the ball" and not swinging within myself
Course Conditions: Awesome. Course was in excellent shape, the fairways were firm, the greens were firm and fast, the rough was as penal, and all the surrounding areas were well manicured. Best conditioned course I've played this year.
The Good: Putting, another good 31 putt performance, driving performance improvement
The Bad: Three three-jacks
The Ugly: Pushing two hybrids out of bounds trying to kill the ball when all I really needed was a 7 iron (in both cases).
Recurring Character Profile: Gene Huie, aka Mean Gene, aka the Grinder. Another great golf buddy, former director of the Huie Tour. Possesses one of the best short games I know. Also a grinder, doesn't always get the birdie, but always deftly avoids the big numbers. In fact, he played over 200 consecutive rounds without a triple bogey.
Gene had the day off and I showed up to work early in order to leave early. We both arrived at Laurel Hill around 3:45PM to get ready for our 5:07PM tee time. Why 5:07PM? Because that is the first super twilight tee time. The only negative about Laurel Hill is the price. Full Rack on a weekday is $69, on the weekends, it's $99. The super twilight rate however, is $34 on weekdays and $44 on weekends. But if you want to be assured to finish, you have to have that magic 5:07PM tee time and be lucky.
We show up and pay in the clubhouse, we then asked the starter if there was any way we could tee off early. The starter told us the course was wide open and we could tee off when we wanted to. MONEY!!!
Gene and I hit the range to warm up as not to spend the first few holes warming up. After I hit a few good pitches and a few good irons, I wanted to hit a couple of drives to see if I was going to have another Waverly Woods power fade driving day. The issue was the only plastic tees available on the range were long. I generally like to tee the ball pretty low by driver standards to have better control of the ball. But undeterred, I decide to try the high tees and instead of grounding the driver beside the ball, I hovered the driver to be even with the ball and BLAM! I hit a long drive with a slight draw. I hit the ball again, the same thing, high, far, and with a slight draw. I hit a third one, straight, high, and long. Considering my driving misfortunes at Waverly Woods, I did not know what to say at this shocking turn of events. But I decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth and go with it.
I teed the ball up high on the first tee and aimed just a litle right. On the right there is a large bunker, trees, and the fairway of the second hole. If I pushed this too far right, I would take birdie, and possibly par out of play. But, I had faith in my new shot and magically, I hit the ball high, far, and to the left. I land in the fairway exactly 302 yards away from the tee box. MONEY!!! Obviously jacked up from the drive, and being 140 yards from the pin and the approach being uphill. I crush a 9 iron over the green. I did get up and down for par.
Second hole. I aim slightly right, straight for the huge bunker on the right, and proceed to crush another drive high, far, and with a slight draw. MONEY. I hit a 50% wedge and leave myself 15 feet from the cup. I just miss the birdie putt but tap in for a solid par.
Third hole. If you aren't familiar with the course, it is an insanely long and difficult par 4. The elevated tee shot forces you through a narrow chute where all you see is a large pot bunker in the middle of the fairway. I aim as far right as the tee markers allowed and POW! I hit it straight into the right rough. Not in a bad position however. I hit a good hybrid from the rough, and chipped it to a decent distance to the hole to give myself a chance at par. Sadly it didn't work out but was not completely dissatisfied with a bogey. Especially on that hole.
Fourth hole. 190 yard par 3 that plays at least 2 clubs downhill. I hit a pretty solid 7 iron but left it short of the shelf I needed to get to. But magically, I bury a 40 foot putt for birdie. YAY!
Fifth hole. I tee the ball high once again, aim for the middle of the fairway and BANG! Hit the ball high, far, and slightly to the left. Sadly I try to destroy my hybrid to get even with the pin and end up mishitting the ball into the rough. No stakes, had to take a drop... Ended up with a nasty double.
Throughout the day my driving was insanely good, I never teed the ball up high or hovered my driver but it was giving me excellent results. The only drive I lost all day was my 3 hybrid on the 210 yard Par 3 (#8). I did have a couple of slight mishits with the driver but they did not cost me chances at birdie.
My overall score was not indicative of how well I felt I had struck the ball. It was more of an indication of the effect of the mistakes I made.
Gene and I finished the round with plenty of light to spare and definitely felt better than we did after Waverly Woods.
Beautiful course, beautiful day, good fun and good friends. Good day of golf! Until the next time: BACK TO THE RANGE, BACK TO THE PRACTICE GREEN, and BACK TO THE GYM!!
Next Round: Fort Belvior - Gunston
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