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“18 Holes at Cypress Run”
By: Derek A. Queener
Tarpon Springs,Florida—I was given the opportunity to spend a sun filled Sunday afternoon on agolf course tucked away in a quiet private neighborhood where the wind and the sound of well struck golf shots is all you seem to hear. The owner, Tom Tripoli,allowed me and a few friends a loop around this immaculate track to gather all the necessary elements for this article. For that Tom, I thank you!
As with every pre-round session, there are several things that I feel are essential to achieving the lowest scoring round possible. These things include a grass driving range with target flags and yardages correct to those flags, a chipping green with a practice bunker and a putting green in which the speed is that of the greens out on the course. Cypress Run’s practice facility delivered all three of these essentials perfectly. Now, let us move on to the golfcourse.
This Larry Packard design consists of 5 sets of tees starting at 5,372 yards all the way back to7,001 yards; where if your tee shot is precise you will find lush fairways in which to approach these emerald gem tiff-eagle greens.
From the first teebox where you have complimentary tees, extra scorecards and pencils, I could not wait to hit the first tee shot of the day. We decided to play the white tees measuring at a “manageable” 6,200 yards, blaming the wind for our fear of potentially higher scores from the blue tees. At 340 yards, with Hollin’s Creek lurking across the fairway, a 3 wood down the left side set up my first approach shot and one of only two birdies of the day. The par 5 second hole, with a driver off the tee, left my shot without enough real estate from the up tees leading to a penalty and a disappointing double-bogey. My 1 under round was over and not to be seen again on this day. As we headed to the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] hole, a par 3 just under 150 yards, I felt robbed on the previous hole for hitting such agood drive and receiving not even a par for the effort. But, as a golfer, I took pride in the fact that I hit my driver TOO FAR and went on to flush a 9 iron that rode the wind over the flag and rewarded my two putts with a par.
So far Cypress Runhad given and it had taken away, not unlike many courses I have played. The most obvious difference is how pristinely manicured this course is compared to the others that raise and shatter my confidence with every swing of club. This rise and fall included a bogey on the 4[SUP]th[/SUP], a long winding putt that found the back of the cup for a birdie on the 5[SUP]th[/SUP], and a +3 score coming in to card a 40 with 9 to play. I felt good with my play and even better about the golf course we had been able to secure for the Suncoast Charity Golf Scramble.
The par 4 tenth isa 362 yard straight away beauty that yielded me a par to start the back 9 and a slight hope of shooting a round in the 70’s. My confidence grew as a double-dog leg par 5 opened up around the next turn of the cart path just waiting for two more well struck shots. This was not to be for me on another beautiful par 5;there would be no fairway off the tee and no green in regulation. There would however, be another double-bogey and another opportunity lost. For me, the restof this round would have moments of brilliance, moments of hindsight over misreads or poor course management and a few pars in between bogeys to finish at a back 9 forty-five. As with every round, my playing partners and I felt that we had left a few shots out there and wished we could have a few swings over again today to do it right. But in golf the only time you get redos is when you play with “Mulligan”, and he wasn’t playing with us today. In some cases, if you’re lucky, you can return and play that golf course that both gave and took away just one more time.
The golf course has no care of our redemption and holds no ill-will towards us either way. It just sits there, this beautiful twisting turning sea of emerald green called Cypress Run.
