Playing Like a Pro at Tour18...

The weather and my schedule finally came together and provided me with an opportunity to play Tour18. Tour18 is a course that has replicas of famous holes from PGA Tour courses. Being new to golf, I only recognized a handful of the holes:

Harbour Town 18
Bay Hill 6
Amen Corner (Augusta 11, 12, 13)
Sawgrass 17
Doral 18

The weather was great and the course was in super condition. We played the course for $31.10 through the discount rates posted at Palmergolf.com.

A friend told me I would not break 100 out there, so my goal was to break 100.

Here’s an abbreviated recap of the round:

1. fwy 155 out, 7i hits green, 2-putt, routine par – on the number 1 handicap hole on the course!!!
2. Solid drive, missed fwy on right. Second finds fwy, third finds trap. Fourth is out of one trap, into the next. On in 5, 2-putt for double.
3. Topped a 3i. Layup w/PW, LW into trap. On in four, 2-putt for double.
4. Tried an easy 5W, drew it left into hill, it rolled onto fwy. 8i hits green, 2-putt for par.
5. This is the first hole of “Amen Corner”. Nice low drawing drive into the wind, over the hill. Chunk an 8i. Chunk a LW. On in 4, 2-putt for double.
6. 145 yards into the wind, slightly downhill, water in front of the green. I clubbed up to a 7i since I would have to hit a strong 8i to deal with the wind. Solid shot draws left and slightly long (hit green, rolled off the back left). Putted from the fringe to 6 feet. Missed the par putt, bogey.
7. Blew a drive straight off the back of fwy. Chose to layup instead of risk going into the creek. 8i lands just short, rolls down in creek… almost. Chipped on in four, three-putted for double. Completed Amen Corner in 17 strokes (12 is par).
8. Solid drive leaves me 110 out. GW pushed right misses green. Chip and putt for par.
9. Island green. Looks a lot longer than 121. I hit an easy PW that was just enough to find the lower tier of the green. Three-putt bogey.
10. Solid 3W fades hard right but misses the sand. Good lie, so 3W again to about 60 in the fairway. Chunk a chip, chunk a chip. On in 5, three putt for triple!!!
11. 175yd par three Micky Mouse hole at Disney. Club up to 5i, looked like I was on the green but I rolled off the back. Horrible putt from the fringe to 12 feet, good putt for par.
12. 450 yard par four. Hammer a drive to 180. Try an easy 5W but draw it left into the woods. Punch out to six feet. Miss the putt and take bogey.
13. Drive slices. Fortunately, there was construction where I landed and signs that indicated ground under repair. Dropped, 3W to 100. SW short and left. LW over bunker finds green. 2-putt bogey.
14. FWY/GRN, 3-putt for bogey.
15. 3W fades right. PW finds green, 3-putt for bogey.
16. Solid 3W down the left side to blind landing area. Chunked an easy PW into the creek. LW to 6 feet. Drop the putt for bogey.
17. 5i into the wind fails to draw. LW over sand finds green. 2-putt bogey.
18. Solid drive finds fwy. Second finds water. Drop, LW to green, 2 putt for double.

So I finished with a 93 (46/47) and won 13 skins.

My game plan worked out pretty well. It seems that I can save a lot of strokes by knowing when to leave the driver in the bag. There’s a lot of trouble out there and I was fortunate to stay out of it most the time.

Here’s the stats for the round:


Fairways hit... 7
GIRs........... 4
Birdies........ 0
Pars........... 4
Putts......... 37
Bogeys......... 8
Doubles........ 4
Triples........ 1
Balls lost .... 1 (water on 18)


Upon reviewing the round, I found where I lost some strokes out there:


Short Iron..... 6
Short Pitch.... 4
Putts.......... 5


Most of the short shots were fat shots. The course was pretty soggy and my thin-soled clubs offer little forgiveness in these conditions (compared to other clubs with wide spoon-like soles). The other lost strokes would be a combination of chips and putts. I definitely left a couple short (less than six feet) putts out there, and a successful chip should be followed by a single putt.

Tour18 is a great place to play on occasion. I certainly won’t play it with any regularity, however; it does have the potential to provide a memorable round for my Father-in-Law should we decide to play there on his next visit.

Sorry I didn't take the camera,
-Greg