The Golf Show: Unofficial Start to the Season

The Super Bowl has been played, which means the calendar has officially turned to February. The focus of us that are golfers now turns to first early signs of spring. Nothing gets us more focused on that fact than the Philadelphia Golf Show, held this past weekend at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pa.

To me, the Golf Show represents the unofficial start to our golf season. It provides us with the opportunity to dream about warm summer days, manicured golf courses, and the camaraderie of our golf buddies. The Golf Show gives us golfers a chance to shake off winter's rust and experience a cornucopia of golf equipment, courses and travel possibilities.

This year's Golf Show featured much of the usual: retailers such as RockBottomGolf.com, Dallas Golf, and Greater Golf Express; golf getaways to locales both far and near, such as Lancaster, Pa., Atlantic City, N.J., the Poconos, Ocean City, MD, Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Florida; free lessons from local PGA professionals and a chance to demo the latest equipment from TaylorMade, Callaway, Cobra and others.

For me personally, the Golf Show is a chance to seek out that elusive bargain on a new club or clubs that is going make my golf season one to remember. Or maybe just stock up of essentials like golf gloves.

This year, I was able to find a really good deal on Wilson Staff wedges from Greater Golf Express. Most of the clubs in my golf bag are Wilson Staff and even though they make top equipment that is used on the professional golf tours, it is difficult to find at golf retailers. Fortunately, I was able to purchase a Wilson Staff 52- and 58-degree FG Tour PMP wedge. They have already replaced the wedges I had in my golf bag.

The calendar may still read February and the weather may still be cold, but thanks to the Golf Show, my mind is ready to hit that first bucket of practice balls of the season.

Cooked at The Rookery

The Rookery
Milton, Del
Yards: 2886/3253 - 6139
Par: 35/36 - 71
Rating: 68.8, Slope: 116
Score: 44/52 = 96
Date: September 2, 2008

My Delaware adventures continued on the day after Labor Day with a round at The Rookery, a beautiful course located just off Route 1 eight miles north of Rehoboth Beach. The course, which is pretty open, was designed and is co-owned by Pete Oakley, the 2004 British Senior Open Champion. I had the good fortune of watching Oakley at the 2000 U.S. Senior Open at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pa. The course is named for a Blue Heron nesting area -- a rookery -- located in a grove of trees located in the southeast portion of the course (see course layout photo below). Conditions are always very good at The Rookery, and this visit was no exception. The fairways were lush, the greens smooth and the tee boxes in excellent shape. There were, however, some dry patches in the rough off the fairways, the result of the lack of rainfall. The Rookery also features a very nice practice area, although I have never taken advantage of it during the many times I've played at the course.

The Rookery Scorecard

The front nine at The Rookery is the shorter and easier of the two, with only one Par 5 and two Par 4s playing 300 yards or less. The oddest holes on the course can be found on the front nine: the 4th and 5th. The 4th is a 290-yard Par 4 which features a large pond in the middle of the fairway and requires a drive of about 265 yards off the tee to carry the water. From a slightly elevated tee, to a fairway that slopes toward the water, and 8- or 9-iron is all that is usually required for average hitters. The 5th is a 385-yard dogleg right which has a row of tall pine trees across the fairway from the left blocking approach shots that don't get far enough into the dogleg.

The opening Par 4 at The Rookery

The back nine features three Par 5s of 575, 566 and 466 yards: the 10th, 14th and 18th Holes, respectively. The 10th has a row of four bunkers running across the fairway about 160 yards from the green, just ready and waiting to snare any poorly placed lay-up shot. The 12th and 13th have water running all the way down the right and left sides of the fairways, respectively. The 14th is a 200-yard Par 3 that runs along Route 1, and is followed by the 15th, a 140-yard Par 3 that features an island green. The long closing hole features numerous strategically placed bunkers along the edges of the fairway and one in front of and behind the the left side of the green.

The 8th Green looking back towards the tee

I teed off at The Rookery in the early afternoon, my third round in five days. Temperatures were in the mid-80s, but the humidity was high and there is virtually no respite from the sun on this course. I played very steady golf, with pars at the 3rd, 7th and 9th Holes. My putting was still a bit shaky, but the only real slip-up came at the 6th, a 491-yard Par 5 that doglegs right and has water in front of the green. After hitting my drive to the left side of the dogleg, I laid up to about 150 yards. With the trouble in front of the green, I should have taken the extra club (6-iron), but I tried hitting a 7-iron which landed just short in water, leading to a double-bogey 7. But I regrouped and parred two of the next three holes to go out in 44 and visions of a very good round danced prematurely in my head.

The tee shot on the 575-Yard 10th Hole

The back nine started with an acceptable bogey on the longest hole on the course, but after hitting the green in regulation at the 11th, a 425-yard Par 4, I four-putted and began to feel the energy gauge dropping to zero, a 6, 7 and 8 at the next three holes followed quickly, and I'm not sure how I even finished the 14th Hole. My legs were gone and my energy was zapped. I found a small patch of shade under a little tree between the 14th green and 15th tee and sat down in the grass for about 15-20 minutes, drinking all the water that was in my bottle. Somehow, I manged to play in the last four holes, gutting out a 4-4-4-7: a par, two bogeys and a double at the last when I shanked a bad lie in the rough into a pond over by the 10th tee. Even though I stumbled home in 52, I managed to grind out a round of 96, which made me feel good that I never quit on the round.

The bunkers across the 10th fairway

The Rookery is another Rehoboth Beach-area course that I would recommend be put on your itinerary if your are going to Ocean City, Maryland for a golf getaway. It is easily accessible either traveling to or from Ocean City from the Delaware Valley.

More photos of The Rookery:

The course layout

The 3rd Hole, a 300-yard Par 4

The view from the tee at the 4th Hole

The 9th Hole, a short Par 3 over wetlands

The approach to the 10th Green from the fairway bunkers

The 13th, the second of three Par 5s on the back nine

The practice range at The Rookery

Photos by The Muni Golfer

Another Holiday, Another 93 at Old Landing

Old Landing Golf Course
Rehoboth Beach, Del
Yards: 2858/2972 - 5830
Par: 35/36 - 71
Rating: 67.6, Slope: 111
Score: 46/47 = 93
Date: August 31, 2008

The day before Labor Day, I decided on another round at Old Landing Golf Course, a public course along the Rehoboth Bay. I had played their on July 4 for the first time in a few years. I stopped played at Old Landing, which opened in 1965, because during my previous two rounds there conditions were some of the worst I had seem. As I had reported back in July, conditions have improved dramatically, to the point where it is worth playing the course again. The course tree-lined and narrow in spots, and water does come into play on at least six holes.

Old Landing Golf Course Scorecard

On this Sunday, I played with my cousin Judy's husband Steve, and Brian, the husband of Noreen, one of my wife's oldest friend's. Noreen, Brian and their two children had come up to spend the day with us at the Delaware shore from Ocean City, Maryland, where they were vacationing over the holiday weekend. Steve is a pretty good golfer who playing with a used set of Titleist blades he had purchased locally at Ruddo's Golf the day before. Brian is a golfer who, unfortunately, only gets to play maybe once or twice a year.

The opening Par 4 at Old Landing

The conditions at Old Landing were still pretty good this late in the season, considering the amount of play the course gets being located in a resort area. There were a few burned out areas because of the lack of rain, but the fairways had grass, as did the greens. This was not the case in the past, when many of the fairways and greens were more dirt than grass. The places that really showed wear were the tee boxes.

The narrow fairway at the long 416-Yard 2nd Hole

Surprisingly, the course was not very crowded for a holiday weekend and we didn't even need to make a tee time, considering that we went off about 1:30 in the afternoon. The pace was good, although Brian felt he was holding Steve and I back because he was struggling with rust on the front nine.

The green at the Par 5 7th Hole looking back towards the dogleg

I played much better at Old Landing than I had two days earlier at Baywood Greens. I was hitting the ball more consistently, although my putting was still the one part of my game holding me back. Despite this, I managed to make four pars during my round and amazingly, I shot the exact same score I did back in July -- 46 on the front and 47 on the back for a total of 93. What I was happiest about was I managed my game well enough to score, even though I wasn't playing my very best.

The approach shot over water to the green at the Par 5 12th Hole

The straightaway 16th Hole, a 339-Yard Par 4

The 18th green as viewed from the Clubhouse.
Rehoboth Bay runs along the right side and is visible in the upper left.

Photos by The Muni Golfer