I tell you there is nothing more satisfying than going out and playing a good round of golf.

This past weekend I went out and played one of the best rounds I’ve played in a while on a course that I tee’d it up at for the first time.

Boulder Creek Golf Course is where we played. They have a total of 27 holes out there so there are three different configurations you can go out on. We went out on Desert Hawk and came back in n Eldorado. The Desert Hawk course was is fantastic shape. The fairways were lush, green and in perfect condition. The greens were also in really good shape too considering what I played on the week before out at Conestoga.

The Eldorado course was a little different. They were preparing the course for an overseeding so the layout was dry and fast, which was great for driving the ball. The greens though were lightning fast which was a big change from the front nine we played. Surprisingly I putted just as well on the faster greens as I did on the more normal set on the front. My putting has been close to exceptional of late and considering I had more than one lip out I’m very happy with the 32 putts I recorded and not a single 3 jack! Whoot Whoot!

My driving was the story of the day though. The time I spent talking with Wade paired with my efforts in the garage over the past week grooving this new driver swing paid off tenfold!

The big change was how I took the slow motion drill I’ve fallen so much in love with and implemented it into my pre-shot routine. Nothing crazy where I’m consuming a bunch of time going in slow-mo, it’s just two simple swings. One at about 60% speed and then the slow motion swing.

What I found ti be so beneficial was how much more relaxed I was as I addressed the ball. I knew my swing was right and at that point it was all about execution. Looking back at the round the 14 swings I took my driver all but three were exactly what I was trying to do. Two of them were pulls, both playable and the other was drop bounce that shocked the hell out of me. Not what you want to happen on a Par 5, but like the other errors it was playable as well. That was a HUGE improvement on my round from the previous week where the only way I touched the fairway was as I walked through it to the rocks.

I ended up shooting an 86 and even though I played really well I left quite a few shots out on the course. I scored a horrible quadruple bogey on the front and still managed to shoot a 43. That Quad was the only hole where I didn’t perform my pre-shot routine on an approach shot. After my 2^nd shot found the water on the right side of the fairway I hastily took my drop and rushed the next shot that resulted in another penalty. Rushed and frustrated, all my own doing, I hit some bad shots that could have easily been avoided. After walking off that green I allowed myself to be furious for about 15 seconds then I got my head back in the game and played even over the last three holes on the front.

The only other bad hole wasn’t really anything I had control over, except maybe the tee shot. It was the last hole of the day, a decent Par 5 that was playing into the wind, and it was one of the tee shots I pulled. I hit my second shot right where I wanted and had a decent look at the green from about 175 yards. I caught the toe edge of the club and it didn’t have enough on it to get all the way to the green and came up short in a bunker. The ball sorta just below an 8” lip and I had no shot at all. I took out my 60° and swung as hard as I could without breaking the shaft in half and fortunately the ball popped up and rolled back in to the bunker. Those two extra shots in the sand sucked, but that’s the game of golf sometimes, it’s not always fairways and greens that’s for sure!

I’m pumped though! I finally saw some really good progress. I did manage to throw up a couple of good scores back in August but this round felt the best by far. I was in control off the tee more so than ever before and wasn’t intimidated at all but the unfamiliarity of the course. That being said it wasn’t a difficult course by any means, or maybe hitting fairways just made it seem that way! HA!

It was definitely a step in the right direction though with Winter Classic quickly approaching.  I know I’ve said it in the past but this year’s Winter Classic (to be held this fall) is going to be outstanding!

I wanted to throw in a few words about Boulder Creek. I’ve heard from a good handful of people who say Boulder Creek is an awesome facility, mostly by Bill, and I have to admit I was impressed. Even though the Eldorado course was in shut down mode the layout was still a blast to play and some of the scenery throughout the course, including looking down into the Eldorado Valley, is awesome to see. The greens overall were in very good shape, even though the Eldorado track was rolling around a 12.5, and very true considering the conditions. Most impressive though was the bunkers. I can’t believe that someone in Southern Nevada actually figured out how to install and maintain REAL bunkers! Hat’s off to the ground crew at Boulder Creek because they have without a doubt the best bunkers I’ve ever played in. That’s in Vegas of course, nothing beats Florida when it comes to bunkers.

The other nine we did not play, Coyote Run, looked just as good as the Desert Hawk nine and I’m sure plays just as nice. That being said I placed Boulder Creek in my top 10 on my Vegas Rankings Page and I feel it’s very deserving.