Central: 9-Hole Gems

West Central East

 


Ah, the college years, spent in the Central portion of the country. Attending school in the late 60’s and early 70’s, if I played golf then, I don’t recall the details. Everything is kind of fuzzy. I’m starting fresh here. Let’s explore this great area of the country together. The Central include: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Minnesota, Iowa, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Mississippi, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Ohio.

This should more accurately read One Bad, One “Badderer”, One Blonde. If you are a Baby Boomer, you know where I stole this phrase. If not, google The Mod Squad. We were traveling across country from Colorado to Illinois (and back). We were frugal travelers on this trip, so the two men and one woman (without their spouses) will be sharing a room. My question is, “who sleeps with Sally?” Since we are siblings, I hope the answer is NOBODY!

Three of the Springfield “kids”, Scott, Sally, and Steve are headed to a College Homecoming. Back in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s we somehow all ended up at Aurora College in Aurora, IL.

The last time we traveled this far and this close together was in 1960 in our 1956 Ford station wagon, which also included Mom, Dad, and our older sister Sue. Mom and Dad would have been proud as we completed this 2,000 mile journey still talking to one another.

The two states between Colorado and Illinois along I-70 are Missouri and Kansas. So now we had to find the perfect spots for me to stop and pee; Sally to get something to eat; and Steve to embarrass us with the locals. And yes, find a couple of 9-hole golf courses.

In Ballwin, MO we found a fun course and played with a couple of super guys. In Monroe City, MO, they must have heard we were coming because nobody was home…we played anyway. In Russell, KS, we just stopped because we were so close to the geographical center of the United States (and I had to pee, Sally had to eat, & Steve had to be a jokester).

Ballwin Golf Club – Ballwin, MO
Mosswood Meadows Golf Course – Monroe City, MO
Russell Golf Course – Russell, KS

P.S. I want to make it perfectly clear, the answer is NOBODY!

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Four men, who have know each other since the late ‘50’s gathered in Michigan to share a longtime bond in a time of sorrow, as one of these men had just lost a loved one.
One day was filled with eating, drinking, and watching classic cars parade during the Woodward Dream Cruise. It was also a day of remembrance and sharing tales of our youth.
Another day continued to take us back to the ‘60’s as we visited Detroit and the songs of our teenage years – Motown.

We ended our trip by visiting two local 9-hole courses and a venture across the border to play a 9-holer in Canada.

Copper Creek Golf Course – Farmington Hills, MI
Water’s Edge Golf Course – Grosse Ile, MI
Talbot Trail Golf Club – Wheatley, ON, Canada

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GA, TN, MO, KS, CO – 75 to 24 to 64 to 70 to 25 or 6 to 4

This could have easily been named the Crappy Rental Club Tour; the Airport Golf Course Tour; or just the Bad Golfers, Old Men Working/Golf Tour.

Let’s break this down. One of my Always Time for 9 golf staffers, DC Dave, was selling his products at a gift show in Atlanta and I was helping him with my “professional” sales skills. We decided to drive from Colorado to Georgia and play some golf along the way. The distance from Denver to Atlanta is about 1400 miles and 20 hours drive time. Multiply that by two (2800 miles/40 hours – I can do this math because I was an elementary school teacher) plus five days standing on our feet for nine hours, that is our excuse for being tired, old, bad golfers. Our senior bodies were just worn out.

Excuse number two for our bad rounds…crappy rental clubs. Because DC Dave had to selfishly make room for all his product, there was no room for golf clubs. I thinks he needs to get his priorities in order! Was this a golf or work trip? Most of the clubs we rented were pretty bad but that was to be expected from our experiences at smaller golf courses. You know the usual bag…no matched clubs, missing a few irons, two 5-woods, no putter, one left-handed iron, etc. To our astonishment, McCabe GC in Nashville did have a decent set!

Lastly, two of the courses were right next to major airports in Atlanta and St. Louis. We felt as if a few of the fairways were alternate runways used for emergency landings.

The above title of this golf adventure references the Interstate Highways we traveled between our destinations. The last part of the title is well known to people of my age group…yes we are now senior citizens.

The following are courses we played on this trip along with a few others along this route that I played on prior trips.

College Park Golf Course – College Park, GA
Heart of America Golf Course – Kansas City, MO
Berry Hill Golf Course – Bridgeton, MO
Russell Municipal Golf Course – Russell, KS
McCabe Golf Course – Nashville, TN
Prairie Pines Golf Club – Burlington, CO
Mountain Vista Golf Course – Fort Collins, CO