Diamondback, 4-22. Brunwick Plantatio 4-23

Last 2 days of the trip.

Thursday, out Rte 9 to Diamondback we go on a cold breezy morning, 40* on first tee. 

At the bag drop, I suddenly hear some clown holler out...."Is there a Mark here??" I'm almost right next to him, & say that would be me.

It's the Forum's own BrewCrew.

we chatted briefly before tee off, turns out he's also in BF yacht club north tower. His group had the tee time after ours, but we must have been sent off on different nines, never crossed paths again. Too bad, he'd have witnessed quite a show in front of him.

Played here once before, right after it opened, so didn't remember much of it. 

Friendly bag drop guy was great & took good care of us, getting us out on our 2nd 18 as soon as we were ready ( Tip the bag crew one big one up front...they'll remember you.)

The course  was a disappointment,  the clunker of the week, mainly due to the greens. The putting green was real bad, the ones on the course were a little better, but still bumpy & SLOW.

Course it tricky at times with forced layups off tees on par 4s, but still an interesting track & a nice piece of land. 

It's fun to see a course where you have 1 bag guy, 1 pro, & one waitress/server/chef running the whole show, open to close.

Snack bar pricing...inbetween rounds, we hade 2 bacon egg cheese sandwiches, 3 soft drinks, & snack....under $20. Food was great. Try doing that at a golf factory.

So with some TLC,  especially on the greens, this could be a really good experience. But for now, I'd take a pass for now & hope for them to improve with hotter weather.

The Battle at Brunswick Plantation 

As of yesterday morning,  I was 10 strokes behind LTC after 8-1/2 rounds with 3 rounds left to play.

Made up 7 strokes in 36 holes at Diamondback,  closing the gap to 3 enter the final 18 today at Brunswick.

Brunswick was the surprise of the week. The greens here were every bit as smooth & slick as Fazio & Prestwick, & the layout gave you some room off the tee. Whole course is is firm & fast, including the rough. I struggle with hitting wedges around the greens on supr tight lies,  & there's a lot of that here. Instead, whenever possible I would bump a hybrid along the ground, British Open style. 

Fair amount of housing on some holes, but not a distraction.. lots of high end homes.

after a see-saw front 9. An ever-changing leader board, I had lost another stroke, & was now 4 stroke back. They paired us up with single, Phil, retired guy about our age, who was a great fit. He was riding with Frank, who brought him up to speed on what was on the line here...after almost 1,000 strokes this week, I'm trailing by only 4.  He was a great gallery, & was fun to play with.

I came out firing on the back, & opened with 5 straight pars,  while my opponent went brain dead & made back to back triples. Wound up shooting my lowest # of the week on the last of the week.

All these years, whenever we play up North, we've driven by Brunswick as we go up 17,& never gave it a thought. That will change, based on conditions were today. 3 way tie for best greens of the week...BF Fazio, Prestwick & Brunswick. I really liked the layout, again, some forced layups, course is fast & firm, but there is some grass to be found around the greens.

Big Thumbs up for Brunswick right now. I'd  play it again tomorrow,  if I didn't have to spend ALL DAY in an SUV with these two losers.

"Shut up & eat your lasagna. "

S