Tiger Woods, World Woods, and Me

Friday, September 28, 2007

I played Pine Barrens at the World Woods Golf Club today in Brooksville, Florida. The scuttlebutt around the first tee was that Tiger Woods likes to play Pine Barrens and that when he does, they close the course for him. I suppose that is more for his safety than for his need for privacy--if in fact he ever plays there at all.

I can see why he'd like it, though. From his tees the course plays at 7,000 yards, par 72, and has an off-the-charts difficulty rating (73.8/138). There are tall trees lining just about every hole, and bunkers sometimes a hundred yards long snaking up both sides of many fairways. It's a tough course.

In fact, it's way too tough for a high handicapper like me. ("Hacker" is more like it.) I managed to shoot a 93, however, which was actually quite respectable. On the back nine I holed out one ball from 75 yards and another from 30 yards. Altogether I had six pars, including four of the last five holes, which means I didn't want to stop after eighteen. The trouble is that I had a hard time finding my rhythm on the front nine--but 93 is fine. On a course Tiger Woods likes, no less. Yeah, 93's okay by me.