LOCAL GOLF - Sunday Morning Golf Review

This weekend The Dewsweepers saddled up and drove to Brecksville to play another Metroparks course called Seneca. Seneca is a two 18-hole facility that is rich in history, and has a cool story to tell. We played the "B" course this week. We have played the "A" course in the past, and there's not a huge difference. That is just their names. No meaning there.

Seneca was born in 1940 and really had a heyday. In fact, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and other big pro's have played there. The Carling Open Invitational was played at Seneca in 1959 and was won by Dow Finsterwald as Billy Casper, Nicklaus and Palmer did not score well. So the design of this course is very good. Arnold Palmer said, " I played Seneca a lot of times when I was in Cleveland. It's a good, testing golf course." Seneca over the decades then fell into disrepair, and about 2 years ago, the MetroParks took it over, so you would feel that good things are on the way. And they probably are. Refurbishing a golf course is a long process.

In the spirit of being totally honest, let's point this out. At Seneca, virtually every hole is lined to some degree with 1-2 foot tall grass that is being left to grow to create a more natural setting. Also being fair, most of the fairways are generous and there is room to play good golf if you are hitting it straight. There is not much water, and there is some sand but it's really not a factor, but the tall grass is. If you are not a straight hitter, or are inconsistent maybe Sleepy Hollow also a MetroParks course and also in Brecksville would be a better choice. But Sleepy Hollow is not easy either, but has different challenges.

Beef came out of the gates firing darts on the greens, and posted a very tidy 39 on the front. But on the back, he started finding the grass, and had a tough time recovering. Although he did make one of the great punch out shots I have ever seen. About 60 yards, out of the grass, from the trees, over a bunker and on the back of the green on the par 3 number 11. Sheesh! Beef ended up with 88. Not a bad score considering the wind was blowing 30 mph most of the day bringing the grass into play more often than normal.

Tex also found the grass plenty, and the long par 4's gave him trouble. Seneca has a lot of very long, well designed par 4's that are very challenging, and can be tough to score on, including two on the back that play about 450 yards each. Tex putted well and his short game again was good. But length was a problem, especially into the wind. You need to make you hay on the par 5's and 3's at Seneca, the par 4's are the real meat of the course.

Joe Red's son Bryan filled in for Red this week, and hit it well most of the day. He had a couple of big numbers that hurt, but he hit it as straight as any of the four of us. He did provide us with the laugh of the morning, as Beef told him, "To not hit that branch" on a tree ahead of him after a bomb drive on number 17 par 4. 5 seconds later he did, and we all howled, including Bryan. Tough crowd.

I wrestled between good and bad shots all day long. I didn't drive it well most of the day. But my round was lost on the 3 par 5's. I was 7 over on those three holes, including a Snowman 8 on the last one, and that's not normal for me. Two of the three par 5' s are also very long. Those three holes ruined my score as I generally play the 5's well. I gotta do better than that. I too found the grass some, and that didn't help either.

But or course we had a blast, and look forward to next Sunday morning when we tee it up again, this week we'll be in Hudson.

Scores

Beef - 88
Wynn - 92
Bryan - 93
Tex - 100 +