[LAshby50]

Not a resident yet, Renting Jan-April. Still stuck in Minnesota. Believe it or not there were a few guys playing the TPC course here.

My question is.... how does the free Christmas Day golf on the Championship courses play out? Do you wait a lot to get out? How was the experience?

[aln]

Last year my 4 went out to OBH at 8:30 and got on in 20 minutes. Today we got there at 8:30 and found a 2 hour wait.
I imagine the 80 degree weather had something to do with that.

We went over to Hilltop and walked right on for 9 holes there and then to Silver Lake and walked right on for another 9.

[Mudder]

We went to Bonify at about 10 AM, had a 50 minute wait. By the second hole we were moving right along, hardly any waiting. It was our first time playing that course, loved the different elevations and the configuration of Destin. Beautiful day !

[graciegirl]

Saw some folks pulling a pull cart onto the teebox on Palmer. Hope they didn't take it on the green.

Think they were kinda new at golf.

[skyguy79]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

Saw some folks pulling a pull cart onto the teebox on Palmer. Hope they didn't take it on the green.

Think they were kinda new at golf.

Gracie, pulling the cart onto the teebox as well as the greens is forboden with one exception for disabled players. It requires the use of a single rider cart. You can read more about this including renting of single rider carts in the Good Golf Guide Guidlines PDF document... http://tinyurl.com/7sen7z7.
I'll bet though, that what you saw was not the case!

[6XNANA]

We waited about hour and 10 minutes to play Hemingway today (9 holes). The lines for the 18 hole courses were shorter than the 9 hole courses and at 2 o'clock when we finished, no lines anywhere. Next year we will play later in the day. Great day for golf !

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by skyguy79

Gracie, pulling the cart onto the teebox as well as the greens is forboden with one exception for disabled players. It requires the use of a single rider cart. You can read more about this including renting of single rider carts in the Good Golf Guide Guidlines PDF document... http://tinyurl.com/7sen7z7.
I'll bet though, that what you saw was not the case!

This was the kind of cart you pull behind you and walk...so I am guessing these folks weren't handicapped...just new to the game.

[LAshby50]

Thanks to all the replies

[billybye]

Glenview was about an hour wait at 9 am., well worth it. My son and I played with a very nice couple - really nice day, even though we don't play too well.
Last time we went to nancy Lopez and paid we were paired with a couple of guys who were way too serious - thought they were pro's? - ruined our round.

[John_W]

Since my priority membership doesn't include Bonifay and I live in the southern area I thought that's where I'll go. Knowing they only have 18 holes instead of 27 like most courses in the southern area, I got up at 5:30 and headed out at 7:00 to get in line as a single. I arrived at the Destin starter shack at 7:15 and I counted the carts in front of me and it was 27 carts. Most of the carts had 2 golfers, so that would mean two carts per teetime and 27 divided by 2 meant there was 13 teetimes ahead of me, and this is at 7:15. I figured at 8 minutes apart I had about a two hour wait.

At about 7:30 one of the starters said if anybody wants to play just nine holes, go to the Ft. Walton starter shack about 50 yards up the hill. About 7 carts pulled out of line and decided to go for the nine hole deal. Now things were looking better. Most everyone in line stood outside their carts and were in friendly conversation with everyone, I even had some Steelers fans behind me try to give me a hard time since my cart has Ravens stickers on it. Then a starter came back and asked if there was any singles, because they had a threesome. I said that would be me, and he said this is your lucky day. I then waved ado to the Steelers fans and got in my cart and headed to the front of the line.

We teed off at 8:00 so my wait was only 45 minutes. The others in the threesome said they arrived about 6:30. The only downside was I had to ride with another golfer who was a chain smoker and I myself smoked for 35 years until I quit five years ago. I told him it didn't bother me, and I looked at it as a bit of a challenge.

I found that Bonifay had wide fairways and not many trees, the biggest obstacles were bunkers, which I managed to land in six, and some water. Even thought I didn't play that well I still managed to shoot an 84 from the blue tees on my first time seeing the course, so it's not all that difficult. I would say it's the easiest of the championship courses south of 466 but was enjoyable.

[ajbrown]

Christmas Day golf .... One thing we notice from being in TV for a few years is that if something is free it will draw a crowd . In stead of the championship courses, our new tradition (couple + years) is we head up to Amberwood and Oakleigh prior to spending Christmas at Dad's in Chatham.

No wait, good pace of play, we arrived at Amberwood at 9:15 AM, tee open. When we turned to Oakleigh we waited while a group teed off. Greens were so slow they were almost unputtable; they looked great, but were uncut and wet which is to be expected on Christmas Day. You never care about the green speed as you remember how lucky you are playing golf with your father on Christmas Day!!!!

It was just another great day in TV