Hi Ron,
I almost always walk the executive courses and you do not hold up play if you pay attention, and start walking after the last driver tees off. After all, you're walking right to your ball, not to someone else's first and you don't spend as much time getting re-oriented and looking for your ball.
I have also walked on Wednesdays during the ladies' scrambles on Heron, getting a lift to the first tee if it's not #1, and a lift back to the p/l. Sometimes if it's a hike to the next tee I will tell them to go ahead and I am almost always ready to hit 4th. There are a couple of places where there's a long walk between a couple of holes (Churchill Downs, I think is one) and someone almost always offers a ride and I drag my cart along, or I walk if it's not too hot. Heron's a very short course, usually ladies' day they play from the front tees, not sure if I would walk on Ladies' Day on some of the longer executive courses. Sometimes I ride to be sociable.
I drive my cart to the course, with my pull cart attached, then walk from there. I'm afraid if I pay the trail fee I will get lazy and start riding all the time. I sometimes, if I'm there when it's really hot, pay the daily trail fee and ride.
None of the courses are very hilly. Someone else will have to answer about the championship courses as I have only played 2 nine hole rounds on Mallory Hill and Havana so far. For me, if I play from the back tees on the executive courses (which I only do when it's not terribly busy, although I'm probably as good as some of the not so good men that play them), it's like playing par 4s and 5s. I usually play from the gold (middle) tees, sometimes from the forward tees if it's a water hole and I don't feel like losing any more balls that week.
When I talk to other walkers I'm randomly paired with, they seem to be in the best shape - people I think are around 65 turn out to be 78!
|