A Wet Season Opener at Fox Hollow

Fox Hollow Golf Club
Quakertown, Pa
Yards: 3218/2886 - 6104
Par: 36/35 - 71
Rating: 68.5, Slope: 120
Score: 50/48 = 98
Date: May 22, 2011

The first round of the 2011 season was played at Fox Hollow Golf Club, a nice public course in Quakertown, Pa. After a very rainy, wet spring, the course was saturated and swampy in many sections. Because they have been unable to mow, the rough was deep and thick, the fairways very soft and the greens slow. It played much longer than its 6100 yards. So you can imagine my surprise with a score of 98, especially when my practice to date had only been two sessions of hitting balls at the driving range. And the cherry on top: two birdies. I made only four all of last year, so I am half way to that total after my season-opening round!

 Fox Hollow Scorecard

The round started off with a decent tee shot that plugged in the fairway, I hit a worm burner for my second, then splashed my third in the pond fronting the first green. After hitting my fifth shot over the green, I barely chipped on then three-putted for an opening 9. But pars at the Second and Third Holes righted the ship a bit. The Fourth Hole is a long, 552-yard Par 5, which was playing much longer and missing the fairway right made it seem like a mile.  I one-putted for an 8. The Fifth was a beautiful Driver off the tee, then a 6-iron to about 20 feet, which I made for my first birdie of 2011. The Sixth is another 500-yard-plus Par 5 that I two-putted for a 7. A bogey 5 at the Seventh was followed by a double bogey 5 at the Par 3 Eighth Hole. I finished off the front nine with a three-putt double bogey after hitting a beautiful shot to the green from a fairway bunker. That gave me a 50 on the front nine and not much optimism for the back.

The Fifth Hole, a 552-yard Par 5

The back nine begins with a 370-yard Par 4 that doglegs left straight up a hill. After hitting my third shot over the green, I made a double bogey 6. The Eleventh is a downhill Par 3 that plays to a small green protected by two bunkers in front. I tried to baby a 9-iron but came up well short and made a bogey 4. The Twelfth Hole is a 485-yard Par, that I split the fairway with on my tee shot. I laid up and then hit a lob wedge above 20 feet past the hole on a green that slopes from back to front. I lipped out my three-foot par putt for a bogey 6. The Thirteenth is a short Par 4, but the fairway slopes from right to left and my draw of the tee found the left rough, leading to a triple bogey 7. The Fourteenth is a short Par 3, but I made bogey when my tee shot was knocked down short of the green by the wind. The Fifteenth Hole is one of my "Nightmare Nine" holes, a 560-yard Par 5 that plays downhill, then doglegs 90 degrees right to an uphill green.  After chopping the ball down the right rough and three-putting, I had my second 9 of the day on the scorecard. But I came right back at the 128-yard Par 3 Sixteenth Hole, hitting my pitching wedge about 25 feet past the pin and then holing my second birdie of the day! A 5 at the 362-yard Seventeenth Hole brougth us to the Eighteenth, a 397-yard Par 4 that plays slightly downhill. I hit one of my best drives of the day to the 150-yard marker, then a 7-iron to the green, but a three-putt left me with a closing bogey five. A back nine 48 gave me a 98 for the round; not bad when you consider I had two 9s, an 8 and two 7s.

The Par 3 Sixteenth that I birdied

Fox Hollow is a traditional, tree-lined course that I would highly recommend. It will demand accuracy off the tee and challenge all the clubs in your bag. Now that my golf season has begun, I'm looking forward to the next round this coming weekend and I hope to build on some of the success I had at Fox Hollow, especially as the weather dries out the courses and the maintenance people can get them into regular playing shape.