Golf Fore the Good

Free golf - two words that can set a golfer’s pulse to racing. Any golf is good golf, but a free day of golf with friends on a road trip is a bonus. The birds sing, our hearts soar and all is well with the world.

I have to admit that, in this case, the definition of “free” is questionable. Certainly we had freed ourselves - at least temporarily – of our normal responsibilities, thus allowing ourselves a guilt-free day of golf. Still, was our golf really and truly free? My Friday golf buddies and I were off on our annual end-of-year sojourn, financed with our season’s three putt money.

It’s the three putt kitty that might make one consider the day just a little less than fully free. In truth, we’d already paid for this day all season long with our blood, sweat and tears. As if three putting is not torturous enough, we’d compound the misery with a mocking “cha-ching” and a three dollar donation from the perpetrator to the kitty each time one of our little group failed to putt out in regulation. And a four putt? It’s hard enough to put one of those behind you; even harder when they’re worth a four dollar assessment at the end of the round.

The only one in our group who was really excited each time we had to anti-up all season was our self-appointed treasurer. She would whoop with joy and tally up the earnings, her eyes glazing over with the anticipation of adding to our stash. Who needs the stock market when we have her hand inour pockets?

This year we’d amassed enough cash for a round for all with carts, plus cocktails, appetizers and dinner. I suppose that means we’re really bad putters. Perhaps - but at least we’d shared that distinctive honor rather equally. Now, with the painful memories behind us, this was our day to play!

As our financial minister, the treasurer was thinking big – big clubhouse, big fancy golf course, big meal, big trip. Big dreamer. Our putting would have had to have been a whole lot worse to send us off for a first class weekend. We settled instead for a day trip to a relatively unknown but well-reviewed four star golf course on Golf Digest’s Places to Play list.

Acushnet River Valley Golf Course proved to be a wonderful public course at which to spend our day. At only $48 for a round including cart, you don’t find many more affordable courses. Pulling into the parking lot we grimaced at the clubhouse that was not much bigger than a double wide trailer. The Taj Mahal, it was not. I could feel our CFO grab tightly on her purse, and I wondered silently if I could pry the greens fees from her grip. She likes “pretty.”

We came for golf, not for the clubhouse, my other friend and I encouraged her, as we eased her in the door. Inside, we found a bee hive of activity. The young men manning the small but well stocked concession were also staffing the pro shop across the hall. In that regard, the minimum of square footage certainly worked in their favor, as they hustled back and forth.

Despite the dual role playing, everything was in order and functioned smoothly. We were greeted graciously and treated well, personally escorted directly to the first tee and even teed off fifteen minutes early. All this, in spite of a fair level of activity that included individual foursomes wedged into between two apparent outings. Don’t we wish our very own municipal course should run so efficiently!

The course did not disappoint us. I was pleased to note there were two sets of tees rated for women (that second rating being an all too often overlooked amenity), and three for men. While not terribly long (5099 yards at the reds to 6807 yards from the golds) or tight, the layout was very picturesque and in nice condition, certainly an incredible value for our $48.

On the front nine we enjoyed pine edged fairways offering subtle undulations and enough of a smattering of fairway bunkers to provoke semi-caution off the tee. Greens that had obviously been punched in the fairly recent past still rolled well and true. A few very large waste bunkers lined the edges of several holes, adding aesthetic interest and causing me momentary concern as to how the Rules engage waste bunkers in play. Our only complaint was minor: the lack of visible 150 yard markers on the holes marked “cart path only” left us guessing on club selection to bring from cart to ball. Those white stakes along side the fairways are always useful, from both tee and cart path, and contribute to good pace of play.

Despite being wedged in between two separate outings, we saw no one outside of another twosome on the front and played nine in about an hour and forty minutes. Our little outing was proving to be quite enjoyable!

We made the turn in short order, with the landscape a continuation of the front side. However, things were about to change.

Driving away from the eleventh, we encountered a tunnel of thick vegetation, snaked with a boardwalk path idling over swampy ground and marshy rivulets. Alone in my golf cart, ahead of the others, I entered the vegetative twilight zone. Gone were the stately pine trees and, seemingly, all solid ground as well.

After what seemed like a journey of monumental length (people actually walk that path?), we burst forth into a different world. “Toto, we’re not in Massachusetts anymore,” my little group thought as one like mind. We’d busted through to what looked like the Scottish Lowlands.

The course lay wide and open, nary a tree between holes. I spied sheep - really, I did, even though my playing companions questioned my vision – away on a hill side. We could almost hear the bag pipes playing. The wind wiped up and the temperature slid down without the protection of the pine forests we had just left.

Now we really felt like we were making the most of our three-putt stash, as the change in topography was like playing two separate courses. We enjoyed the links-style layout for seven holes before crossing over again to the wooded course, as if teleported back closer to home.

The day passed quickly and all too soon our round was complete. We had a wonderful outing on a most enjoyable course. Life doesn’t get much better than that. Three putting never felt so good.