Post by verdantgarden on Jun 10, 2016 4:04:57 GMT
I got to the course today later than I wanted to. I had a minor dealing with the bureaucracy beforehand that turned out to be a complete waste of time. I've bellyached on this board before on how horrid is the traffic that infects the Greater Seattle area and how I loathe to drive in it. So my plan was to take the bus as I mostly do to get to work. In fact, the route I took to get from Renton, my home, to Bellevue was the same one I take to get to work.
In Bellevue, I transferred to another bus to get to Redmond, the town where the park was where the shuttles to the course were located. Unfortunately, the bus stop in Redmond was on the other side of a highway from the park and it took me some trial and error to walk the right trail to the park. And wouldn't you know it that the shuttle stop was on the far side of the park. Although walking through the park to the shuttle station, I became impressed by how many cars were there on the lots. I predict some large crowds this weekend.
It was just about 10 minutes to 1 when I finally arrived on the course.
The temperatures were around the mid-60's. It varied from mostly sunny to overcast. It didn't really rain until I was on the course, of course. Thank goodness I brought my umbrella.
Sahalee is a beautiful course. I love the intimacy the trees create. It does make each hole into its own special world. I became envious of the people who live in the marvelous homes that border the holes.
I was just checking things out heading to the first tee when I saw Mr3Putt. I thought I was recognized him and his limp confirmed it. He got me up to speed: Rocket's quick start and "The Canadian Princess's" hole-in-one.
I came around to his thinking of watching the Ha Na Jang, In Gee Chun, Mel Reid group tee off on 10 at 1:30. We ran into a couple of guys who flew in from Korea yesterday to cheer on In Gee waving their Dumbo pennants.
I may love trees but golfers aren't too fond of them. Ha Na was the first victim. She drove her tee shot too far right so that her second shot became impeded. She couldn't dare risk the water surrounding the peninsular green and had to lay up. She was unable to get her ball up and down.
She did something similar on the par 5 11 but this time her 2nd shot was OK. In Gee decided to be bold after her great tee shot and go for the green in two. However, 11 has this tall tree guarding the green and it sure did to In Gee's shot. Her ball did manage land just past it.
Mel Reid's second almost got into trouble with this same tree. Her ball was resting the rough beneath it but she had no trouble with her third.
Can't say the same for In Gee's third. Her pitch clipped the branch of another tree leaving her short of the green and still away. But she did make a nice up-and-down.
During this time the rain started falling. Lightly at first, it gradually got heavy enough by the 12th tee that I opened my umbrella.
Both In Gee and Mel found the same right-hand fairway bunker with their tee shots. In Gee smacked a beautiful hybrid right to the middle of the green where she made an easy par - good for this course. Mel ended up just missing her par putt.
Ha Na's problem on 12 was the greenside bunker short and right that she found with the 2nd shot. Her third from there wasn't close enough to the hole to allow her to save par.
In Gee had an adventure on the par 3 13th. When this group was waiting on the 11th tee, I took a look over to 13 and a couple of players hit their shots short and left. The pin was placed left and a bit back. In Gee did the same. Her ball was situated in the rough close to the bunker located there. Close enough that her stance was a bit awkward. She zoomed her 2nd shot way past the hole - still on the green but downhill. Her par putt traveled about 12 feet past the hole and I was fearing a big number. But she drained it to save bogey.
After that I ran into M3P again. He pointed out "The Good Doctor" to me who was standing in a red jacket, some courtesan by his side holding an umbrella over his head. I decided to head back to the clubhouse area while M3P took up following the group on 14.
Again I just hung out. I saw some members of the Husky women's team take a picture next to the trophy that was placed on a stand by the first tee. I went to the ninth green where I saw Na Yeon Choi ("Nee Yeon Choi" according to the shavetail who introduced the group for the people in the stands) go to +6 after landing in the bunker close to the water and hitting her second to almost off the green on the other side. Did I pick NYC in the Pakpicker?
One notable thing, I didn't see any electronic scoreboards. All of them, of various sizes, were updated by hand.
I had been at Sahalee for only three hours before I decided to leave. I was starved and had dinner in Redmond. I'm glad I did for it took about two hours to get home. And that's after not really waiting long for either bus. One problem is the bus between Redmond and Bellevue goes right by the Microsoft campus and workers were leaving.
Tomorrow I'm getting an earlier start and eat a bigger breakfast.
In Bellevue, I transferred to another bus to get to Redmond, the town where the park was where the shuttles to the course were located. Unfortunately, the bus stop in Redmond was on the other side of a highway from the park and it took me some trial and error to walk the right trail to the park. And wouldn't you know it that the shuttle stop was on the far side of the park. Although walking through the park to the shuttle station, I became impressed by how many cars were there on the lots. I predict some large crowds this weekend.
It was just about 10 minutes to 1 when I finally arrived on the course.
The temperatures were around the mid-60's. It varied from mostly sunny to overcast. It didn't really rain until I was on the course, of course. Thank goodness I brought my umbrella.
Sahalee is a beautiful course. I love the intimacy the trees create. It does make each hole into its own special world. I became envious of the people who live in the marvelous homes that border the holes.
I was just checking things out heading to the first tee when I saw Mr3Putt. I thought I was recognized him and his limp confirmed it. He got me up to speed: Rocket's quick start and "The Canadian Princess's" hole-in-one.
I came around to his thinking of watching the Ha Na Jang, In Gee Chun, Mel Reid group tee off on 10 at 1:30. We ran into a couple of guys who flew in from Korea yesterday to cheer on In Gee waving their Dumbo pennants.
I may love trees but golfers aren't too fond of them. Ha Na was the first victim. She drove her tee shot too far right so that her second shot became impeded. She couldn't dare risk the water surrounding the peninsular green and had to lay up. She was unable to get her ball up and down.
She did something similar on the par 5 11 but this time her 2nd shot was OK. In Gee decided to be bold after her great tee shot and go for the green in two. However, 11 has this tall tree guarding the green and it sure did to In Gee's shot. Her ball did manage land just past it.
Mel Reid's second almost got into trouble with this same tree. Her ball was resting the rough beneath it but she had no trouble with her third.
Can't say the same for In Gee's third. Her pitch clipped the branch of another tree leaving her short of the green and still away. But she did make a nice up-and-down.
During this time the rain started falling. Lightly at first, it gradually got heavy enough by the 12th tee that I opened my umbrella.
Both In Gee and Mel found the same right-hand fairway bunker with their tee shots. In Gee smacked a beautiful hybrid right to the middle of the green where she made an easy par - good for this course. Mel ended up just missing her par putt.
Ha Na's problem on 12 was the greenside bunker short and right that she found with the 2nd shot. Her third from there wasn't close enough to the hole to allow her to save par.
In Gee had an adventure on the par 3 13th. When this group was waiting on the 11th tee, I took a look over to 13 and a couple of players hit their shots short and left. The pin was placed left and a bit back. In Gee did the same. Her ball was situated in the rough close to the bunker located there. Close enough that her stance was a bit awkward. She zoomed her 2nd shot way past the hole - still on the green but downhill. Her par putt traveled about 12 feet past the hole and I was fearing a big number. But she drained it to save bogey.
After that I ran into M3P again. He pointed out "The Good Doctor" to me who was standing in a red jacket, some courtesan by his side holding an umbrella over his head. I decided to head back to the clubhouse area while M3P took up following the group on 14.
Again I just hung out. I saw some members of the Husky women's team take a picture next to the trophy that was placed on a stand by the first tee. I went to the ninth green where I saw Na Yeon Choi ("Nee Yeon Choi" according to the shavetail who introduced the group for the people in the stands) go to +6 after landing in the bunker close to the water and hitting her second to almost off the green on the other side. Did I pick NYC in the Pakpicker?
One notable thing, I didn't see any electronic scoreboards. All of them, of various sizes, were updated by hand.
I had been at Sahalee for only three hours before I decided to leave. I was starved and had dinner in Redmond. I'm glad I did for it took about two hours to get home. And that's after not really waiting long for either bus. One problem is the bus between Redmond and Bellevue goes right by the Microsoft campus and workers were leaving.
Tomorrow I'm getting an earlier start and eat a bigger breakfast.
