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CPO on a buddy trip is a killer...

BagBoy
RayG

RayG

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Last Thursday we arrived in Ocean City, MD for our little Buddy trip. 3 days, 3 rounds at Man O' War, Rum Pointe and Lighthouse Sound. But if you told us we would be able to get in 52 of 54 holes, I'd have thought you were absolutely nuts. But, as it is- course open, we play, course closed, we get a credit. It is what it is. Weather had been wet and miserable leading up to the trip and it was misty, drizzly and breezy on Thursday as well. CPO, obviously. Course was pretty saturated and soggy- greens are all a bit elevated and did drain well, but still a good pace. But slogging through the muck all the time put your shoes to a test. Friday night, more rain- and it was raining like a frog strangler as we were having our coffee at 7AM for the 9Am tee time. "No chance we're playing...". Well, it stopped... just as we arrived. Right- CPO again. And you could hear the water rushing through all the fairway drains, and see it draining into those grates like a waterfall. But- course was open. again- elevated greens that drained well. Sun came out and it got a bit warm. After finishing up on 16 we looked off to the SW and could see the clouds rolling in and figured we timed it right and would get them all in... until I put my tee peg in on 17 and in came down apocalyptically. No chance to keep anything dry making the run back. Stopped as soon as we rolled up to the clubhouse, but it must have dumped even more water on the course, so we didn't bother to go back out. Good thing- it started again about 5 minutes later. Not as bad but not worth it for 2 holes. Saturday AM started a bit more positive- other than more heavy rain over night. A bit brighter with some more 'fog' type than misty... That cleared up after 2 or 3 holes and it turned into a beautiful day. Light winds and lots of sun. But again, CPO due to all the water around. After the 1st day, we moved up to the 'old man' tees. There was almost no roll out with every drive plugging or one bounce and just dying. And we're not going out there to kill ourselves, we want to have fun. But all the CPO really drags a lot out of you. There was another thread about 'round fatigue' or something, and normally it wouldn't bother me. But by the third day, I could really feel it getting to me. The push fades and pulls started almost right away- Although drilled a perfect 3 wood about 210 in the middle on the first hole in front of the starter... which plugged, btw.

I get it to have the CPO, but maybe a smart designer could put paths on both sides? Invariably, they would put the paths on the left when 90% of people are slicing to the right. And when they DO put the paths on the right side, that's when all those slicers will pull a real ducker and end up on the left side at the furthest point from the path on the other side...
 
CPO is a pain but it sounds like in your situation is was more than warranted. It sucks to not have perfect conditions when you travel for a buddy trip but those are the gambles. I hope all the time spent with each other at least made up for the unfortunate weather.
 
Never a great time to have CPO, but sometimes it is the best thing for the course. Was there a chance to rent push carts and those could be taken anywhere?

These places need to think about the entire summer of experiences not just one or two days after the big rains or bad conditions.

I know not ideal, but I still hope you made the best of it overall.
 
Yeah... have had it on some buddys trips and vacation golf. Always a rough day.
Had 4" of rain outside Indianapolis on Friday night a few years ago. Playing 36 the next day at The Legends, one 9 was even closed but it was all CPO & 90/90 day. 90 degrees & 90% humidity. With a 4some, if everyone works together it helps. Of course we have one guy who's the "I got my clubs" and takes off with am iron, wedge & putter. Dude, sometimes you need to take the cart, not leave me walking across fairways and back to bring the cart along.
Another time it was a buddy of mine and our wives. That was rough because you sorta have to help them along a bit.
Last year we played Deerfield on Norris Lake, Tn. Again 4" of rain the night before, just 2 of us and our first time playing the course. Front 9 wasn't too bad, I kept it in the fairway. Back 9 I don't think I hit a fairway. When you miss there, its going downhill 60' lower. That was a lot of down & back up, I was whupped by the end of the round.
 
We had a lot of CPO in Myrtle Beach and it sucked at times, but we made the most of it.

Enough laughs and good people to make it all worth it.
 
CPO doesnt really bother me, having played so many courses where it is CPO, you learn to adjust your game especially in regards to your playing partner. One person takes the cart, one walks the majority of the hole. Just got to strategize.
 
War Eagle said:
CPO doesnt really bother me, having played so many courses where it is CPO, you learn to adjust your game especially in regards to your playing partner. One person takes the cart, one walks the majority of the hole. Just got to strategize.
Click to expand...
Yes... and there has some taking turns.
 
I am not complaining about WHY it was CPO, I totally get it. Just whining about getting old... And to be honest- some lesser courses might have even closed due to conditions on Friday AM. It was brutal. Essentially, casual water all over. Driest places were the tops of any knobs and the elevated greens. 90% of the balls hit off the tee you could see the splash of water when it landed. I'm not used to using my divot repair tool in the fairway. When hitting approach shots, I swear, the ground felt like it was giving way. you either took a divot the size of a small cat, or the club slipped under the ball and pushed the grass down with nothing. Almost every sweeper with a fairway wood was crowned or at the very top groove because it felt the like the ground was giving way into the layer of water under the sod. And that's when you COULD find a reasonable place to drop to avoid sinking into the casual water.

And we were INCEDIBLY lucky to even get those 52 holes in at all. We were lucky and unlucky at the same time.

But to make aggravation factor even worse- Travelling home was a disaster. Those familiar with travel in the the NYC vicinity can sympathize, I'm sure, that it can be somewhat hit or miss traffic-wise depending on the day and the hour. But you can google map the experience when I say- it took longer to go from the Verrazzano Bridge to Massapequa, NY than it took to drive from Ocean City TO the Verrazzano Bridge... and that was stopping at a farm stand, and a couple of rest stops along the way. And it wasn't even that 'kill zone' time of travel late on a Sunday afternoon. we were AT the bridge around 1/1:30- arrived at almost 5 in Massapequa. No reported incidents on Waze, Apple Maps, Radio traffic reports. Only other backup was on the NJ Turnpike for a couple of minutes around Exit 4 as they were cleaning up an overturned tractor trailer carrying 64,000 pounds of carrots.

Oh- and yes- we certainly enjoyed ourselves immensely, the same old jokes and stories and new ones to tell- finishing off the weekend with Dinner at Ruth's Chris certainly makes for a great ending as well. Despite the conditions.
 
Don't really like CPO but it is what it is. Lighthouse sound is a great course, how did you like it?
 
AndyL0711 said:
Don't really like CPO but it is what it is. Lighthouse sound is a great course, how did you like it?
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Enjoyed it immensely, despite conditions, of course. Another reason we moved up to the old man tees- my buddies aren't exactly long... or straight. While I can get it out a lot further than they can. The few forced carry holes, they were hit or miss on, even if they were going for the bail out, shortest distance across. Now- they have two styles. One is just a short hitter (granted, he recently recovered from Shoulder injury and surgery, but overall, distance is no different), but relatively straight and so could aim for that bail out. Maybe 50/50 for him. The other guy is a "aim 40 yards left and hope it only goes 10 yards into the rough on right" kind of guy. But about the same distance wise. and because of that he only made one... and that was drop kicking the driver and hitting dead straight down the left side... which JUST happened to be the shorter carry... and only by a yard or two.

But we like the layout- scenery is great, not THAT many distracting houses around. Fairly open and generous fairways other than a couple in the wooded section. Staff was awesome- Rangers weren't the "keep it moving" annoyed guys. They were making sure we were having a good time instead of trying to 'hurry everyone along". But as it was we were the last group before a large outing, and we only really caused a bit of 'concern' (at least in my head), because my buddies were a bit all over the place on the first hole and took a bit longer than usual. But we soon lost them and had a foursome ahead of us that were moving right along. But we didn't hold anyone up, so we just moved along and had what seemed like the place to ourselves.

And to be honest, I would NOT like to play it after about 1PM with the sea breeze kicking in. We get enough of that at two of our locals.
 
Sucks that you got that kind of weather for the whole trip. CPO is a necessary evil, but it sure makes for more work when the course is that sloppy.

We played Ventana Canyon in Tucson on a rain day, it was pouring on us until almost right before tee time. It was hot and steamy humid, the course was CPO and on one hole I decided I was going to cheat a little bit to shorten our walk - as soon as I got off the cart path I could feel the cart start sinking and I thought we were going to get stuck! Fortunately I made it back to the cart path, and that was the last time I tried that for the day.
 
That's uh alot of rain

It downpoured here in NJ yesterday and will again later, I'm just hoping it'll be all gone for the weekend
 
CPO on a trip stinks, but at least you are out there playing.

Last summer, we did both courses at Sand Valley the first day (walking only), Whistling Straits the second day (walking only) and the third day was the River Course at Blackwolf Run, with carts. Well, we got a deluge of rain, with a multiple hours weather delay, and cart path only, for what was supposed to be an easier day of golf. Just had to take it on the chin and roll with it.

Cart paths on both sides would be great, but only if both players hit toward the same side of the fairway, and you'd have double the construction and maintenance cost of the paths.
 
I will agree, CPO is a definite buzzkill. Necessary, but a buzzkill...

With that being said, one of my favorite rounds in recent years was a CPO round. I think if the conditions are right it can be enjoyable. My buddy and I played Potomac Shores in Northern VA on a Wednesday afternoon at like 4 pm and it was dead due to the insane amount of rain. Tough course to play CPO, but being quiet out there made it fun.

Now, in your shoes on the buddy trip, I feel your pain on that situation. Also agree on the course/path design idea! :LOL: Never fails!
 
Yea CPO sucks in normal golf let alone a golf trip but not a ton that can be done. It's better than having people tearing up the course because it is so wet. Still sounds like you all made the best of it.
 
I hear you that CPO made for a longer day but, how did you like the trip? Rum Pointe? Love that track.... SO much fun and great views on the holes that run along the water. Always have fun when we play there. Hope you guys still had fun.
 
Oh- in using ‘killer’ in the title, I wasn’t referring to the enjoyment factor… with all the walking in the soggy conditions, it made it exhausting. As I said, my buddies are shorter and wilder, so I was doing a lot of bouquets walking to my ball. Where they were doing plain walk across and back, I would grab the range finder and clubs and walk to my ball well ahead. Then it was easier just walk up to the green and have them grab my putter. That’s what lead to fatigue factor more than anything else. 3 days of that would catch up to anyone.
 
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