matt.heitto

Leaving on a jet plane to Hawaii this weekend.  Starting to get excited… and buried with work!

Here’s a quick itinerary:

1. Cruise: Norwegian Cruise Lines… boarding the Pride of America for a cruise around the different hawaiian islands for 7 nights.  We have some excursions booked, which include Volcano hikes, surfing,  snorkeling. and of course a Luau! Naturally, I can’t forget GOLF!  I just haven’t nailed down when and where quite yet.  My short list includes the Princeville’s Prince Course, Poipu Bay, or the Dunes at Maui Lani

2. Waikiki: Staying at the Sheraton Waikiki for 4 evenings.  Get to wind down from the cruise and float around the island a bit.  Nothing big on the agenda, except maybe some GOLF and possibly a Shark diving (in a cage!) excursion.

It’s 2 weeks that I’m looking forward to.  I’m hoping to get around to Tweeting about it, but I’m not sure on whether I’ll be bringing along the Crackberry along with me.

I played in the Annual fall scramble at Cardinal Golf Club 2 weekends ago.  Some friends from work and I started last year and actually won it… so we decided to try it again.  This year, we weren’t so lucky, but we had a great time.  I actually played the most consistent round of the year.  I’m curious as to what my real score would have been.

Unfortunately, that was the last time I was out and despite the unusually warm weather of late, I’ve been stuck at work.  Golfless.

This season was a good one for me.  I got out and played some new tracks, met some new people and enjoyed regular company.  I resisted the overwhelming urge to join ClubLink yet again.  Played some solid and not so solid golf.  It was a good year.

With the wedding coming up next year, I doubt I’ll be able to enjoy it as much as I did this year, but I’m still optimistic.  With any luck, I’ll keep up with the golf industry throughout the winter and maybe write another blog or two, but I highly doubt it.

Until next season!

Eagles Landing’s sister course (if you will), Evergreen is also located in Dryden.  Not something I usually frequent, this par 32 is the location of my dad’s men’s league and I was fortunate enough to partake in the festivities.   Even as I described Eagles Landing as being pretty open and “simple”, this is one that takes it simple a bit further.

It’s something you would commonly refer to as a “pitch and putt” course.  Pitching with your driver of that is.  You’re able to bomb it off the tee without too much worry that trouble will rear it’s head.  However, I must admit, hitting your target isn’t all that easy.  One of the biggest challenges at this executive course is it’s greens.  Most of them are mounded (like a turtle shell) and sloping front to back or back to front (most of the time).   It also doesn’t help that they are quite small, somewhere in the 1200 sq feet range if we’re lucky.  It’s not often a matter of hitting the green, it’s where you hit the green.

That’s it in a nutshell and I think it serves its purpose quite well.  It’s a nice course to get started on, and in fact was the first course I ever played.   So, even though it holds some sentimental value, it’s not something I often get excited about visiting.  Maybe I should have referred it to as the red headed step-child of Eagles Landing?

One of the stops during my vacation, was to my old home course, Eagles Landing.  This is where I held a membership for a number of years as a junior and through my college years.   I can’t think of the number of rounds I must have put throughout the years, but it’s always been my home course.

The course itself would be considered very basic in the realm of Southern Ontario.  However, for a small town in the middle of nowhere, it does just fine.  A 9 hole course that can stretch to about 6700 yards has a pretty forgiving layout.  Holes 1-6 are quite wide open, minus the out of bounds that runs along the sides of some of the holes, but are largely out of play most of the time.

I feel the course, although simple, has a great variety of holes.  Each hole carries its unique flavour of bunkers, water , out of bounds and occasionally bush.  It has both short and long par 3’s, 4’s and 5’s that run primarily east and west, in and out of the prevailing westerly wind.  One thing that remains consistent is the size of the greens.  They are large and often are slower than average, with my visit no exception to this.  I would say it’s pretty easy to get some 60-80 ft putts if you’re not quite accurate.

I suppose one of the knocks has always been the quality of the course.  This year it seemed to be in great shape, but that shouldn’t be surprising considering the summer Canada has had.  The bunkers are often filled with rocks and you’re hoping you don’t damage your club instead of thinking about your follow through.

But all of that aside, one thing that was a pleasant surprise was some of the maturation that has occurred.  Having only been able to play once a year if I’m lucky, it’s nice to see how things once planted several years ago are starting to bloom and take affect.  The trees on holes 5 and 7 have started to take the short cuts away and might make people think a half second about making the big shot.

Hopefully I’ll get to play her again next year!

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of visiting the National Pines course, which is another ClubLink owned property. For the 2nd year in a row, I was able to play it the weekend before the Canadian Tour Championships. Having this luxury, I was able to experience some of the conditions the pros go through. This includes excessively long rough, harder and faster greens and overall just good conditions.

As much as I want to forget my front nine, which was one of the worst starts in a number of years. I certainly couldn’t forget the condition the course was in. Freshly off another evening/night of rain, underneath a cloudless sky with temperatures in the mid-20’s… I couldn’t ask for anything more.

One of the most difficult things I found about the course is your tee shot. What I’ve found is that most courses will impose a dogleg that starts around half way through a hole or further out. At National Pines, the dogleg often started at around the 1/4 mark of the hole. This means, not only you have to deal with imposing trees, you also have to take into consideration the far side of the fairway if you can’t shape your shot towards the dogleg.

Secondly, as I mentioned before, the rough was incredibly long and thick. This was especially the case around the green. Coupled with harder greens, the ball would often roll through the green and end up in the nasty stuff. Even though it would normally be a standard little chip, you had to use a higher lofted wedge to punch it out and try to land it softly. Not something that’s easily accomplished for the typical handicapper, and grew a little tiresome towards the end of the round.

Hopefully, I can get invited out next year around the same time… I can honestly say I would look forward to tackling this pristine course every year. Of course, the other way would be to join ClubLink, but that’s a different post all together.

Over my numerous rounds of golf over the years, I’ve been pretty close to sinking that elusive hole in one. I’ve been within inches quite a few times even on some short par 4’s. Saturday, during my round at Orchard Beach I rolled one up so close it was actually hanging on the edge. About a 1/4 of the ball was hanging off the back of the cup, I think the only thing preventing it from dropping was the wind that was pushing it the opposite way! It will have to wait another day!

As mentioned, I played a round recently at a 9 hole course named Orchard Beach, which is local to my home in Keswick. It reminds me a lot of my ex-home course in Dryden. A pretty casual course that’s a little on the simple side, yet possesses it’s unique challenges.

The course is put together pretty well with a real natural look as it rolls throughout some hills that sit above Lake Simcoe. It lacks a solid mixture of holes as it’s made up of average length par 4’s. Every hole has a unique risk associated to it ranging from OB, a pond or at minimum some fescue. It makes it difficult enough that you can’t grip it and rip it, but enough flexibility to take some short cuts without too much risk, which gives the course the “fun” factor. My only real complaint is the lacking of another true par 5.

I would have to say the 9th hole, a very short, down hill par 4, is a hidden gem when it comes to scenery. It faces the western shore of Lake Simcoe where you can witness some amazing sunsets. (I think I need to start bringing my camera out to these courses) I feel I could get used to playing this course on a regular basis.

For the first time, I used LastMinuteGolfer.com to book a tee-time, this time for a trip to Silver Lakes. I was able to save about $50 for a tee-time for two. I’ll definitely be looking at using it more often for some of the local courses. As for the course itself, I’ve heard a lot of good things about it and I was able to appreciate everyone’s comments right away.

One of the most common comments I’ve heard is the “Carolina’s look and feel” it provides. Even though I haven’t personally been there, I’ve seen enough media (pictures & tv) to appreciate it. One of the first things I noticed was the abundance of practice area. Driving range, a couple of putting greens and a bunker/chipping area.

Another thing I liked was that were no real holes that had huge doglegs. The majority of the holes bent slightly right/left or left/right, but nothing ridiculous even though courses like to throw one or two of them over the span of 18 holes. When you coupled the slight doglegs with narrow’ish fairways, it often meant an accurate tee-shot regardless of which way you fade the ball. I’ve always enjoyed this type of game management.

It’s really hard to find anything negative to say about the course. I wasn’t a fan of the bunkers and how hard they were, but considering the amount of rain we’ve had, I wouldn’t expect them to be anything else. Together with the outstanding rate you can get from LMG, I’m definitely looking forward to playing this course again.

I’ve always been a Jays fan, but since moving to the big smoke, I’ve been able to follow them a bit more attentively. It doesn’t help my interest that I actually work for Rogers, the team’s owner.

I can’t believe the rut they’ve been in the past 2 seasons. They shows signs of being a contender, then the bottom falls out of the run and go into a losing streak. A lot of peaks and valley’s, not so fun for the Jays fan. I can handle a team sucking, being medicore and being great. All I ask is for some consistency!

I went to Saturday afternoon’s game against the Indians. They just finished sweeping the Athletics, who are on the downside and a visit from the mediocre Indians gave an impression that they may be able to continue the win streak. Saturday’s game 2 of the series, gave way to another lackluster performance defensively and offensively with yet another loss. The only great thing about the game was the chance to catch a ball, which is something i haven’t had a chance to do before. We gave the ball to a kid sitting in front of us, who was more excited than any of us were.

PGA Championship
I should mention that Sunday, the Indians ended up completing the sweep against the Jays. I’m glad the PGA Championships were on as it gave me a chance to watch some excitement Sunday afternoon. Speaking of which, it sounds like someone on the golf circuit has stepped up in Tiger’s absence, and it’s not Anthony Kim or the big three. Padraig Harrington made it two majors in a row and 3 of the last 6 by winning the PGA with a solid 66 in the final round.

I’ve been spoiling myself on the golf scene lately, especially with the ClubLink courses. This past Saturday I visited Caledon Woods, just north of Bolton.

Just across the street from another course, Glen Eagle, both courses seem to look fairly different. Of course, as most ClubLink courses are, the course is maintained very well. As for the course itself, once you step out of the pro shop, you’re able to see some (17 & 18) of the types of holes you’re going to be battling throughout the round. However, some of the elevations changes you see on those holes is about as exciting as it gets from a variety perspective. Outside of the elevations, it’s primarily setup with a number of above-average length par 4’s, with many of them pretty straight forward. Also, with only 3 par 5’s, the course amounts to a par 71.

I can’t say the simplicity of the course translates into the same type of challenge when it comes to your game. The course can definitely hold it’s own if you can’t hit the ball too straight, specifically around the greens. The fairway bunkers seemed well placed, even for the longer hitters. All in all, it’s a solid track that would provide any golfer a good test.

To top off the season, I’m hoping to play National Pines later this month. I played this course last year and it was in great condition… it doesn’t help that the Canadian Tour’s Championship is held the week after though!

I first saw this article and was pretty curious as to what the fast round of golf would be. To my surprise, it’s not exactly what I thought it was, which was 1 person running around 18 holes. According to the article, around 40 people and 3 physical golf holes got together and played a round of 18. They were able to complete this in 7 minutes, 56 seconds, which is an unofficial Guiness World Record.

This type of round sounds pretty interesting. It sounds like this would require a lot of identifying players and their strengths to get from shot to shot without difficulty. I imagine this would be a fun little charity event possibility as well.