Washington Golf Alert

Field Notes: Falls Road

I don't usually play two days in a row, but a friend ordered me out with her husband, and I'm not one to let people down.

This is the time to golf the mid-Atlantic, folks. The weather isn't oppressive, we've had enough rain to keep everything green, and the public courses haven't been beaten to death by, well, us.

Falls Road in Potomac, Maryland has completed renovations that took a few years and had temporarily created some bizarre makeshift holes. No more. Now the only flaw to my eye is the strange par-3 9, an odd way to finish the front and one of the course's least interesting holes. It's 127 from the blues (black/blue/silver/green, and who the heck thought that up). Don't judge the rest of Falls Road based on that hole--maybe they're trying to cheer people up with an easy score before they make the turn.

The course is hilly, though by no means to the local extreme of places like Forest Greens in Triangle, Va. or Little Bennett in Clarksburg, Md. Plenty of variety including tees where you can wail away with your driver and others where you shouldn't. The photo is taken from the middle of the 10th's fairway. Yes, as you're making your way around you can often see plenty of other holes, but they rarely impinge on each other and a normal public golfer won't feel crowded.

As documented at FairwayFiles.com, not a terrible day for yours truly with a 102. Avert your eyes from the closing three.

Field Notes: Herndon Centennial

The last time I played this course, a couple years ago, was a depressing end-of-day: Cold dark weather, end of the season so the course was beat up, and I'm pretty sure my score was dreadful.

This morning I'm positve my score was dreadful--a 112--but by the end of the round, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the course was clearly in terrific shape. That's the 12th green at left. Actual sand in many of the bunkers (yes, that can be a problem in area courses, even what I'd call upper-middle ones). Fairways and greens in good shape. Herndon is a very walkable course, except for cris-crossing a highway a few times--the pedestrian bridge is lovely but it's a long trek and this is where a foursome in carts is going to overtake you.

Herndon is a bit short from the whites at 5800, but there's good variety and narrow enough fairways often enough to give your average recreational golfer second thoughts on the tee. Gentle elevation changes add more interest. If I were to change one thing about it, it'd be the first hole. Namely I wouldn't make it the first hole, a narrow par 4 with the toughest handicap--not so great either for your score or for getting everyone quickly on their way.

Documented evidence of my disasters taken from my data at FairwayFiles.com.

   

All Wie, All The Time

Might as well get used to it. After predicting a "media circus," The Golf Channel's Kraig Kann writes about Michelle Wie and her prospects for the US Open:

So do the math. Wie is among 750 vying for a precious 86 spots in the field at what most believe is the most demanding test in major championship golf. Last year at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, New Jersey [the sectional where Wie will try to advance] there were 84 players chasing just six spots in the U.S. Open field. And it figures that both numbers might go up this time around. The field at Canoe Brook will be set early next week. Reports have the number in the field at around 200, with 25 or fewer spots at stake. And the field will have major champions and multiple players with PGA TOUR and Nationwide Tour wins.

Golf is hard. PGA golf is really, really hard. The US Open is even more really hard. It is often called the most difficult test in golf. And by difficult, we mean boring. Well some of us do.

There's a good short ESPN piece on whether Wie will ever be a full-time PGA member. Without getting into whether that's a good idea for golf, the writers focus on whether it's a good idea for Wie. ESPN's Bob Harig says she won't succeed, because it's really very, very difficult--super tough, if you think about it. Harig:

Just getting her tour card will be an immensely difficult proposition. She could try to go to the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, where she would need to finish higher than she did Sunday at the SK Telecom Open, a tournament with a slew of no-name players. Yes, they were professional men players, so finishing 35th was quite a feat. But the caliber of competition at the Q School finals figures to be as good or better; she'd have to finish 30th or higher. And that is only after advancing through two other stages of qualifying just to get to the 108-hole final.

   There are other ways for Wie to become a full-time member of the tour, but both probably are more difficult or far-fetched...

Including taking all possible exemptions, up to 7, and winning enough $$$ to earn a card.

Ron Sirak of Golf World says she'll do it--implying, however, only if in the end she really wants to: If Michelle Wie earns her PGA Tour card, can she be successful? Certainly, she may someday face the choice of whether to try to be a dominant LPGA player or a run-of-the-mill PGA Tour player.

Sirak notes something else. She's freakin' 16!

How the Divorce of an Aussie has a Local Angle

Was sorry to read about the impending split of Greg Norman and his wife after 25 years. But who knew they married in our back yard:

The couple met in 1979 and married on July 1, 1981 in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

Yeah. Slow day.

Who Needs Tiger

Channel 13/WVEC in Hampton Roads says Paddraig Harrington, one of my favorites, has committed to playing in the Booz-Allen June 22-25. With evil PGA chief Tim Finchem pulling the rug out from under professional DC golf, we hope this isn't the last hurrah for the contest. Some of the other top names are Sergio (defending), Bernhard Langer, Chris DiMarco and local favorite Fred Funk.

The Greater Washington Megalopolapolis doesn't do too badly with tournaments in any case. An LPGA major--the, er, LPGA--is up there June 5-11 in Havre de Grace at Bulle Rock, and we get fairly regular stagings of the President's Cup at Robert Trent Jones in Gainesville; the next one here is for 2007. And the Washington Post reports today the PGA is looking at Woodmore in Mitchellville, Md. for a Nationwide Tour event.

Life is Different in Scotland

From The Herald in the U.K., non-golfer Harry Reid writes about proposals to prevent folks from wandering around golf courses:

The Scottish Land Reform Act of 2003 gave walkers access to courses – which they probably already had, in theory – but the Scottish Golf Union wants changes to the legislation, changes that would confine walkers to defined paths....

But responsible members of the public should be able to walk on this land as long as they keep away from the greens and bunkers, and are careful not to disrupt games in progress. My essential point is that at many clubs, at many times of the year, there are actually very few, if any, games in progress. ...

Coloring this is the fact that most clubs there are privately owned. And that they are empty during the winter. And that non-golfers wandering off appointed paths apparently have a death wish.

Wie and the US Open

It's only a matter of time before Michelle Wie makes the cut in one of the PGA tournaments where she gets exemptions to enter. But earning a spot into the US Open is another matter, according to this story in USA Today:

Of the 72 players already in the field (65 pros and seven amateurs) at the sectional, more than 50 have experience on the PGA Tour or Nationwide Tour. They have 113 international victories, 52 PGA Tour victories and 37 Nationwide victories. Three players have major titles: Mark O'Meara (1998 Masters and British Open), Bernhard Langer (1985 and '93 Masters) and Mark Brooks (1996 PGA Championship).

Yeah, well, what have you done for me lately?

"Playing with the men, I'm not sure what's going to happen. It puts me in an almost uncomfortable place," Wie said after winning the qualifier. "That's what makes me a better player."

The sectional is 36 holes of stroke play, and the Canoe Brook field is one of the two toughest of the 14 sectional sites...

There's a poll attached to the story; right now 77% of (unscientifically self-selected guys like me) say she won't make it. With most 16-year-olds that'd be a good bet.

Public Virginia, DC, Maryland Tracks

Jefferson District (Exec.), Falls Church, Va.
Raspberry Falls Leesburg, Va.
Westpark, Leesburg, Va.
Goose Creek, Leesburg, Va.
Brambleton, Ashburn, Va. (Field Notes)
Sterling (par 3), Sterling, Va.
Algonkian, Sterling, Va. (Field Notes)
Herndon Centennial, Herndon, Va. (Field Notes)
Reston National, Reston, Va.
Penderbrook, Fairfax, Va.
Burke Lake, (par 3), Fairfax Station, Va.
Oak Marr (par 3), Oakton, Va.
Pinecrest (9), Alexandria, Va.
Hilltop (9), Alexandria, Va.
Greendale, Alexandria, Va.
South Riding, South Riding, Va.
Pleasant Valley, Chantilly, Va.
Fairfax National (3 9s), Centreville, Va.
Twin Lakes (2 18s), Clifton, Va.
Westfields, Clifton, Va.
Bull Run, Haymarket, Va.
Stonewall, Gainesville, Va.
Virginia Oaks, Gainesville, Va.  (Field Notes) 
Prince William, Nokesville, Va. (Field Notes)
General's Ridge, Manassas Park, Va.
Broad Run (9), Bristow, Va. (Field Notes)
Bristow Manor, Bristow, Va.
Old Hickory, Woodbridge, Va.
Lake Ridge (par 3), Woodbridge, Va.
Osprey's, Woodbridge, Va. (Field Notes)
Forest Greens, Triangle, Va.
Pohick Bay, Lorton, Va.
Laurel Hill, Lorton, Va.
Cannon Ridge, Fredericksburg, Va.
Meadows Farms, Locust Grove, Va.
Bowling Green (2 18s), Front Royal, Va.
Shenandoah Valley (3 9s), Front Royal, Va.

East Potomac, Washington, DC
Langston, Washington, DC
Rock Creek, Washington, DC

Compass Pointe, Pasadena, Md.
Rattlewood, Mount Airy, Md.
Little Bennett, Clarksburg, Md.
Renditions, Davidsonville, Md.
Laytonsville, Laytonsville, Md.
Blue Mash, Laytonsville, Md.
Poolesvile, Poolsville, Md.
Needwood (18+ Exec. 9), Rockville, Md.
RedGate, Rockville, Md.
Trotters Glen, Olney, Md.
Hampshire Greens, Silver Spring, Md.
Northwest Park (18+ 9), Wheaton, Md.
Falls Road, Potomac, Md. (Field Notes) 
Paint Branch (9), College Park, Md.
Sligo Creek (9), Silver Spring, Md.
Gunpowder  (18+ "9") Laurel, Md.
Cross Creek, Beltsville, Md.
University of Maryland, College Park, Md.
Patuxent Greens, Laurel, Md.
Enterprise, Mitchellville, Md.
Lake Arbor, Mitchellville, Md.
Glenn Dale, Glenn Dale, Md.
Bowie, Bowie, Md.
Marlborough, Upper Marlboro, Md.
Marlton, Upper Marlboro, Md.
Henson Creek (9), Ft. Washington, Md.
Potomac Ridge (3 9s), Waldorf, Md.