Rather than sit in traffic (see Sam’s blog), I decided to play some golf around our new building at Middletown Country Club. I scheduled a 3:20 tee time and arrived at 3. I paid $45 and saw a 4some on the box and asked to move to 2. I topped my first drive and was off.
I know Middletown is not a good course. I’ve played it a dozen times and there have been moments I’ve thought the holes were decent and the greens roll well. This was not the case. On the plus side, starting from 2, I finished every hole, while replaying some and playing two balls, in under 3 hours. I did join up with Jerry, forming Tom and Jerry, on hole 15, but that was the only stop I had so I can’t complain that much. On the negative side, overgrown tee boxes, molasses greens, no rough to stop the ball only dirt, and tee boxes placed where you can get hit from terrible golfers. Oh, and a yokel picked up my ball and played it as his own right in front of me. This is what I’ve been reduced to.
What Happened?
I ended my country club membership this year due to the business move and it not being located near the new office. Not a money issue, I’m not a poors(tm). I didn’t think I’d miss it much but the Middletown round was a rude awakening. Now don’t get me wrong, I complained about lack of tee times as well at Woodcrest, but I could almost always find a spot on the course to practice. Adding to this, practicing on nice facilities instead of that shit hole I just played at, has more value than I previously thought. You don’t know until you know.
This perspective was enhanced by Country Club Snob on Twitter where I realized that Woodcrest was still a seemingly mid country club. 5 years ago when I joined I didn’t have to pay an initiation fee and it was semi-private which meant they opened tee times to the public on occasion for revenue. New ownership took over and created an initiation fee while making course improvements. There’s no turning back at this point and I will be looking for a new club.
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