222 miles, 2 states, 36 holes of golf, 10 1/2 hours (part 2)

So the 111 mile journey back to Goodland, Kansas proves to be uneventful, other than the fact that I gained my hour back as I crossed from the Central time zone back into Mountain time zone.  I make it to Sugar Hills Golf club just around 3pm.  The parking lot is pretty well deserted, except for a couple of cars.  I wander inside the building and find a bartender and she assures me I can play, but is a little unsure of whether or not there is a golf cart available.  I find this a bit odd, but there is no sign of any pro shop staff around and the pro shop itself is essentially non-existent (and locked up anyway).

So I pay her my green fees and she sets out to find me a golf cart, or at least someone who can round one up for me.  I wander back to my car to unload my clubs, put my shoes on etc. and get the rest of my paraphernalia (camera etc.) ready to load on the cart, once it does arrive. I’m still not clear what the issue is, but a gentleman rounds the course of the clubhouse, slows down long enough to yell out that he’s got to go get some gas for the cart and then continues down the parking lot to one of the multitude of barn-like structures off in the distance.

A few minutes later he’s ripping past me and as I walk around the corner of the building with my gear in tow, he’s been joined by another gentleman and they are both busy filling the gas tank and cleaning the “crap” off the cart.  “I take it not too many people rent carts around here” I quip. “Not really, everyone owns their own.  The course only owns 8 and they’ve all been put away for the season.  We had to dig this one out for you.”  Somehow, I don’t feel real assured that I’m going to make it through this round without the cart breaking down.  I load my gear and let slide the fact that one of the “cubby holes” that is under the steering wheel is pile right full with someone’s discarded (eaten) sunflower seeds.

So the cart gets started, I get some last minutes instructions and the last thing I hear is one of the guy stating that I might just want to continually loop through holes 1 and 5.  “Why” I ask.  “You’ll figure it out” he says.

Now, the wind by this time is whipping across the prairies, gusting at about 30 to 40 mph.  As I stand on the tee getting ready for my first strike, the ball falls off the tee, blown off by a gust of wind. I place the ball back on the tee and pull out the scorecard from my hip pocket, quickly glancing at the layout.  I’m pretty sure I now know what the guy meant.  Holes 1 and 5 run parallel to one another and the wind is straight at your back.  Well the wind didn’t help me as I pulled my drive into the left rough and then continued to stick handle my way down the rest of the fairway, successfully blocking myself behind a couple of trees on my way to a snowman.  Great start!

However, the rest of the round went fairly well, once I put my sunglasses on.  I don’t normally play with them, but the late afternoon sun played havoc with tee shots and tracking the ball.  Add to that the fallen leaves and the task finding balls in the middle of the fairway became quite a challenge.  The wind was also quite a challenge.  It took me about 8 holes to get used to it, but by the 10^th hole I had it pretty well mastered.  I’ll give you an indication of how strong it was.  I stood on the 13^th tee at 146 yards to the pin and pulled out a 4 iron.  I drilled it perfectly and barely made it onto the front edge.  Two putt for par and I was quite happy with that.  Under normal circumstances, that is an 8 iron for me.

I enjoyed the layout of the back 9 much better than the front.  It was a little more open, but also had a bit more character to it than the front.  As for conditions of the course, it was fall so I can’t really say it was goon, nor bad.  It’s not the greatest course in the world, but it is certainly not the worst I have played on this venture.  I managed to match my score from the first round, exactly.  Both rounds I went 48/43 for 91 total, but the course at Heritage Hills in the morning was much more challenging.  I figure fatigue played a bit of a roll in the afternoon.

I finished up 18 as the sun began to set, just shy of 6pm.  It was a long day, lots of driving.  Probably the most I’ve driven to play two rounds in the same day. But in the end it was great to have experienced that part of the world.

And oh yeah…the 5 or 6 barns I mentioned earlier on in the post…filled with private carts!

As I reflected on the day, the thing that stuck out most in my mind was the endless prairie that I encountered and in particular, the parts that were left untouched (free of being farmed).  As I drove past these, tumbleweed rolling in front of my car I could envision the settlers crossing these parts in covered wagons.  And all I could think of was what sheer determination to go on and to simply survive they had.  Remove the current network of ranches and commercial farms and there is NOTHING!  I have a far greater appreciation for those that decided to call this place home.