Piedmont Driving Club - May 13, 2005
A one-day member/guest with my good friend Gordon Harper...
On Thursday night over a great pasta dinner at Figo's, I asked Gordon if he'd ever won this event. "Yes," he said, with a partner named Tom.
"Well," I said, "I hope we can do the same."
"Winning's not important," he replied. "You're my friend, and I wanted to do this."
"Well, because you asked me instead of Tom," I said, "let's win anyway."
And we did, with the lowest gross (71) and net (62) scores in our flight. (Our gross score was low for the field.)
The Piedmont Driving Club course in Atlanta is a Rees Jones design, only about 5-6 years old, and a perfect balance of difficulty with forgiveness. The fairways are narrow but they're almost all buffeted by mounds that kick balls back to the center...at least on one side. So the safe play, especially when there's no rough (it's early in the bermuda season), is to aim for the edges of the fairways and allow the mounds to work their way with your tee shots.
The greens were quick, rolling at probably 11 or 12, without a hint of grain, even when close to water. And there's plenty of water. Most of the back nine surrounds a large lake.
I'm not the best commentator when it comes to writing about architecture. I'm sure the Piedmont Driving Club ranks up there in terms of its shotmaking values and conditioning. I know best how to appreciate and describe what Brad Klein at Golfweek calls the "walk in the park test," and PDC scores high on that.
As many of you know, I much prefer walking to riding when playing golf. But some courses' layouts - especially from greens to tees - make that difficult. Not this one. The PDC has devised an intelligent transport system that places its EZGOs at strategic shuttle spots. It's a better system even than the one on several holes at Caves Valley in Owings Mills, MD. So walking is a pleasure - with no huffing and puffing between holes. You're outside on a perfect day, hawks (and MD-88's - PDC is on the approach path to Hartsfield) are flying overhead, tall pines are swaying with a Springtime breeze...it's great. PDC also has caddies, good caddies, having recently turned that program over to Caddie Masters in Pinehurst.
It's a fun golf course. I was with a good friend. And we were victorious. Makes for a very good Friday afternoon!
On Thursday night over a great pasta dinner at Figo's, I asked Gordon if he'd ever won this event. "Yes," he said, with a partner named Tom.
"Well," I said, "I hope we can do the same."
"Winning's not important," he replied. "You're my friend, and I wanted to do this."
"Well, because you asked me instead of Tom," I said, "let's win anyway."
And we did, with the lowest gross (71) and net (62) scores in our flight. (Our gross score was low for the field.)
The Piedmont Driving Club course in Atlanta is a Rees Jones design, only about 5-6 years old, and a perfect balance of difficulty with forgiveness. The fairways are narrow but they're almost all buffeted by mounds that kick balls back to the center...at least on one side. So the safe play, especially when there's no rough (it's early in the bermuda season), is to aim for the edges of the fairways and allow the mounds to work their way with your tee shots.
The greens were quick, rolling at probably 11 or 12, without a hint of grain, even when close to water. And there's plenty of water. Most of the back nine surrounds a large lake.
I'm not the best commentator when it comes to writing about architecture. I'm sure the Piedmont Driving Club ranks up there in terms of its shotmaking values and conditioning. I know best how to appreciate and describe what Brad Klein at Golfweek calls the "walk in the park test," and PDC scores high on that.
As many of you know, I much prefer walking to riding when playing golf. But some courses' layouts - especially from greens to tees - make that difficult. Not this one. The PDC has devised an intelligent transport system that places its EZGOs at strategic shuttle spots. It's a better system even than the one on several holes at Caves Valley in Owings Mills, MD. So walking is a pleasure - with no huffing and puffing between holes. You're outside on a perfect day, hawks (and MD-88's - PDC is on the approach path to Hartsfield) are flying overhead, tall pines are swaying with a Springtime breeze...it's great. PDC also has caddies, good caddies, having recently turned that program over to Caddie Masters in Pinehurst.
It's a fun golf course. I was with a good friend. And we were victorious. Makes for a very good Friday afternoon!
posted by Mark Burris - BURRIS at 8:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home