I’ve been enjoying Heritage Hunt the last month or so. One problem I’ve had however is that I usually play golf on Fridays. Every Friday in the month of June is booked for a tournament and I can’t get on my own club’s course. Last Friday (the 5th) they offered to get me a reciprocal round at Bristow Manor but it rained heavily the whole day, so I canceled it. I did get out on Sunday and ended up shooting my lowest round ever, an 80. And that 80 could have been lower had I not lipped a couple of birdie putts. The best part was that I had a witness (glad you were there Robert). On Monday I tried to get out again in the afternoon, but as happens on Fridays, they were booked with a tournament. I did request another reciprocal round somewhere for the 12th but it never materialized and I was left trying to find my own game somewhere.

I called out to a few courses that I’ve never played (Jackson’s Chase and Blue Ridge Shadows) but neither had any openings when I wanted them. I then got a time at Prince William Golf Course, the same municipal course that I played on my wedding day. While driving to the course I received an email on my iPhone from another friend. He was inviting me to play Robert Trent Jones Golf Club with him and a couple of his friends. I immediately canceled my time at Prince William in favor of RTJ.

I’ve been to RTJ once before to watch the pros play in the President’s Cup back in 2005. The course is a wonderful layout and the service and staff are exceptional. I arrived at the valet and got myself settled. They took my clubs and I went to the shop to find my friend. After greeting him we went back out and our clubs were on a cart for the ride to the range. Once the warmup was complete we drove back to the club house and met our caddies. Yes, I said caddies. I’ve never had a caddy before and I must admit I was a bit intimidated by the thought of playing golf in front of so many people I don’t know. I really wanted to play well and not embarrass myself or my friend for inviting me along. To make matters more difficult we played from tees that measured 7010 yards. The course was in unbelievable shape. The fairways were perfect and the greens immaculate. I don’t think I played too poorly under the circumstances. The greens were running about 12 on the stimp (according to my caddy). It took awhile to feel comfortable on them and I averaged 2.4 putts per hole on the front and I shot 48. By the back I was getting much more comfortable with the guys and my game improved somewhat. I hit more fairways and cut my putts to 1.8 per hole. I shot 43 on the back and ended with a 91. The rating and slope for those tees was 74.0 and 141, which is the hardest course I’ve played in quite some time. I was pretty happy with the 91 and I felt that I didn’t embarrass myself too bad. I got quite a thrill out of playing where the pros have played being treated so well by everyone involved. In short, I loved every minute of it and I hope to make it back out sometime. I can’t thank my friend enough for giving me to chance to have that experience. I could really get used to it.