Green Meadows

July 1, 2010

So today I wanted to play an inexpensive round as usual but I hadn't booked an EZ Links time and I didn't want to venture far from home. A guy I know from a bar in Charlotte had mentioned that Green Meadows golf course was cheap and close to my house. Sold! Just what I needed. I found directions through Clickit and headed out. I live right near the Charlotte/ Mt. Holly border and the course was about 5-10 minutes down the road in Mt. Holly. It was basically in my back yard and the lady said that after 3pm it was $20. Sold! It was 4:30pm. She started me off on the back nine because she said they had the "Dog Fight" tonight and I needed to be out of the way by 6:00pm I was waiting for Mike Vick to appear in a Jake Delhomme Panthers jersey with about 3 dogs, 10 goons, and $20,000 cash. Seriously, I thought it was a multi use facility. The "Dog Fight" actually referred to a some sort of golf blitz where a bunch of golfers keep their scores and handicaps for points and prizes. I was informed of this by a little guy who couldn't have been older than 11. He was practicing on one of the par 3 holes and sticking shots within 5 feet of the hole. I asked him if he was going to show me how to play the hole and he excitedly responded, "I'm practicing, this is the $100 hole!". To quote Allen Iverson, "We talking about practice......Not a game....Practice!". " I supposed to be the franchise player and we talking about practice!". That kid could already be a ringer in my circles. I wonder if he got the cash? Anyhow I think the course is under new management, and it was in decent condition. It took about three and a half hours to play. The fairways were backyard grass and most of the greens were in good condition. The course was only about 5400 yards from the "tips" as they say, but it played trickier than you'd expect. Or maybe I'm just not very good. That could be it. If a par 3 course is considered a pitch and putt, then this was a drive, pitch, and putt. If the course were a basketball player it would be Doug Gotlieb. Not flashy or super athletic but efficient and crafty. Most of the fairways fed into one another some how and there were tee boxes everywhere. I looked the like a black guy riding around lost in the country. Which is exactly what I was. My first tee shot from the par four 10th went (what I thought was) way left. Another guy had hit his tee shot from the 18th right near mine. He said that he'd been hitting them straight up until that point. I said that I had shanked the shit out of my first drive of the day. He then told me that I was still in the fairway. I looked around and low and behold after hitting the ball 100 yards to the left I was still technically in the 10th fairway. I went on to chunk my next shot and bogey the hole. That's the Wali I know. After about 12 holes I realized that there weren't any bunkers. The courses primary protectors are the big well positioned oak trees everywhere. I mean it's a really open course and there isn't any tall grass or much water, but those damn trees seemed to step in front of every shot I hit. I think I had 5 shots knocked down by trees. I lost 3 balls and that was 3 too many. I don''t want to make a lame blind joke, but people with bad eye sight could hit those fairways blindfolded. Somehow, I kept missing them. There were a lot of uneven fairways and changes in elevations around the greens. I continuously tried to use the flop shot I've been working on to chip around the greens, and I kept hitting it 20 feet up and 2 feet forward. I'm pretty sure I made the course much harder than it is. I mean I've broken 100 once and that was at Sunset Hills which is like beating a three year old at checkers, so I know how to complicate things. I did like the design of the course and for $20 I was satisfied. I started to lose focus after about 12 holes. By the end of the round I was playing best ball by myself. I figured I might as well practice like that little kid. I shot a 9?-10?. It was nice to find a course really close to home that didn't hurt my wallet. I'd probably get more out of it by not using my driver. It's kind of like an ugly friend with benefits. I'll go back when I'm hard up and just want to swing my clubs. If you're ever out near Mt. Holly then it's worth a few hours and a few dollars. Hit em good!