Like going back in time, kinda.

[92Esquire]

I grew up in a small town in northern MN. It's called Eveleth, and geographically it's about 60 miles north of Duluth and 100 miles south of International Falls. It's a small mining town, but it was a pretty good place to grow up.

My brother and I did our first real golfing in Eveleth, at the local muni. We're back in the area for my wife's class reunion, and today we had a bit of time. Eveleth Muni was the last place I swung a club before re-joining the sport last year. My last round at Eveleth was in the spring of 1990. Luckily for me, my little brother played hooky from work and met us for two trips around the 9-hole layout. For LPGA fans, the Eveleth course was supposedly Patty Berg's favorite golf course.

I had forgotten just how narrow and penal the course could be. I remembered I didn't want to go long on the first, so I teed up with a 3 wood, and hit a fantastic drive - right into a waste area, losing my first ball. That pretty much set the tone for the day.

It only took 4 holes before my wife demanded I stop keeping score. I had put so much into this round that I just got torqued out like you couldn't believe. My brother (who hasn't swung a club in 2 years) was playing bogie golf and doing really well. I managed to hit one of my best drives ever on #8, and then tweaked my back on #9. I played the second trip around without really being able to bend over, and feeling a lance of pain on every follow-through.

I'm still trying to be patient with the swing changes my new instructor made last week, but I couldn't hit an iron to save my life. I tried to take in the fact that I was playing my "home" course with my brother and my wife, it was a wonderful day, and we had a good time. Even when backed up for 20 minutes on each hole by an 8-some of women playing best ball 3 groups ahead of us.

At any rate, this is my favorite hole on the course. It's a par 4 dogleg left, and this is the upper tee box. It's short - hitting driver really runs the risk of running off the fairway at the turn. That's St. Mary's Lake off the right hand side. My dad's company used to hand out logo-ed golf balls (Spalding Kro-Flite 90's) and dad would bring them home for my brother and I to play with. I guarantee you there are 6 dozen of those balls in the bay off to the right.

It's a goat track, but it still feels like MY goat track. I could have played the Giant's Ridge courses (which are top-rated in Golf Magazine), but I feel like this suits my game better right now.

 

[Gummi Bear]

Wow, that's a beautiful view from the tee box.

Hope you get your back in shape to play again soon!

 

[JB]

Picture is great.

 

[dynarider]

That is a very nice picture.

 

[Fourputt]

Doesn't look anything at all like what I term a goat track. A course has to be pretty bad before it qualifies for that designation. Looks to me like a fairly nice municipal course.

 

[mike200]

Good for you! I occasionally stop by the muni where I grew up and just putt on the practice green for a few minutes when I'm in the area. Makes me feel closer to my dad and grandpa who taught the game to me.

 

[Dent]

Great picture, looks tight.

 

[Blue Arc]

What Fourputt said...looks great to me. I wish I was there!! thanks for sharing that with us!

 

[scooterguitar]

Great picture! I'd love to join you there!

 

[C-Tech]

I went back and played my old 9 hole course I learned on a couple of years ago. I had only been playing about 6 years then. I remember how hard it seemed when I started. Water in play on 7 out of 9 holes and it seemed long then. After playing it this last time, I realized how I had matured as a golfer. I played an iron off half the tees because driver would have put me in trouble and the course was short. The greens were small but I was hitting short irons into all of them. Very different from when I started and had trouble breaking 50 there.

 

[Smallville]

I played Sunflower Hills for the first time in probably 15 years last summer. When I learned the game in high school, this was our home course. I was shooting well last year and I wanted to play this course to see just how much improved, if any, I really was. I couldn't recall my best score ever there but probably averaged between 110 and 115 when I played my best there. My best was probably around 105 at best. It's long, the back nine is very woodsy and has a slope of 130 from the regular men's tees. I shot 99. I was quite surprised and pleased when I added up the scores. I knew I would be close, but I still didn't think I would finally break 100 there. I went out a couple weeks later and shot a 98.