Borrego Springs and Rams Hill, doubled down.

Since my time in SoCal is suddenly short I decided that I needed to go out and play as many of the courses that I would have otherwise waited to play during the summer if were to have remained. Rams Hill Golf Club is one of those courses. However, that place is pretty damn expensive so I needed to try to make it worth the time and money I was going to spend. I did that by finding Borrego Springs Resort, a place that not only has a deal with Rams Hill but also has a course within itself.

At the time that I booked the package I was under the impression that I was going to receive a single-player rate with one round at each course over the weekend. When I arrived I discovered that was not the case. The golf package was only available for double occupancy. Naturally I had a bit of a discussion about that fact and in doing so I learned that I would be receiving not one but two vouchers for each course for my stay. Realizing how pricey Rams Hill was the decision was easy. If I'm already paying for it then I'M PLAYING 72 FUCKING HOLES IN TWO DAYS. I didn't care if my elbow fell off. I also didn't care if I ended up with heat exhaustion. Shit, if I can do it in Phoenix during July* then I can certainly do it in the California version of the desert in April.

So off I went! First up is the resort course at Borrego Springs. Being a resort course its not incredibly difficult, however it was in pretty good condition. The course wasn't long either, just under 6100 yards from what I would call the regular men's tees (blue), however some of the hole lengths were pretty funky (or stupid, to be honest). Granted, it is a par-71 course so its going to be a little shorter that a 72, but for a track that barely tips over 6000 yards there probably shouldn't be a 236-yard par 3 and a 289-yard par 4 within three holes of each other. There are other examples also but they just didn't seem to flow quite right for the regular tees.

Before starting the second round I did discover that they have a "Resort" set of tees, which uses a mixture of all three of the non-ladies tees available on the course. This setup is actually slightly longer that the blue tees but it avoided some of the awkward lengths of the holes by either using the back tees of the shorter holes and the front tees of the longer ones (like that monster par-3) to give a better balance. In my opinion they really should just come up with another set of markers for this "tee" and place them in the appropriate spots, in that way you don't have to refer to the scorecard on every hole to figure out where to tee it up.

As far as how I played, well, I got away with murder probably. I started on the back nine (the Desert Willow nine as they call it) and did start with a par. I only had one more on the side. Hitting the fairway with my tee shot felt more akin to hitting the lottery as I kept losing shit to the right again. At least I was competent enough to know how to aim away from the more damaging trouble on the holes. Also, like I said, its not the most difficult course either so I was able to hack my way around without too much serious damage. I ended up shooting 43 with 18 putts. I hit three greens (three-jacking one of those) and hitting one in the water on the last. To be honest, while pushed slightly right, I thought it was going to be fine. I only hit 5-wood off the tee and really thought I had more room and distance to the water there. I still managed to minimize the damage to a bogey.

On the Mesquite nine I started with a bogey, though I hit a solid drive at least. From there I'm not sure what I did but I seemed to find a few band-aids or something for the swing I had today. I birdied the next hole, a par-5, then parred out for a even-par 35 for the nine. I hit seven greens and made a few decent putts for par along the way as I wasn't necessarily knocking the flag out of the holes. Still, things were better as I at least had an idea of where the ball was going now.

After wishing my one-time-widowed husband-and-wife playing partners well (after they gave me life advice I didn't solicit nor care to hear at the time... ok, yeah, maybe I'm being a dick here but I didn't come out here to talk about that, I'm playing golf in order to NOT think about that kind of thing. I have plenty of time to think about shit like that... but I digress), I went right back out for my second round. Starting on the Mesquite side, I decided to play those Resort tees this time. I kept my string of pars going for the first six holes before hitting a absolutely horrid approach shot on the short 7th hole. The damn thing wasn't even close, barely crossing the water before taking a dive into the drink to its death. I couldn't get up and down from there and took a double bogey. I finished bogey-par to shoot 38, which was still pretty good. What feels weird looking back at that stretch was that I had a string of 13 straight pars and didn't really feel like I was hitting the ball as well as the score. I was at least hitting fairways, though it wasn't always with driver in hand. I did need to get up-and-down on the first three holes of the side also as I only hit three greens.

Now I move to the back-nine again in hopes of improving on the morning performance. While I still couldn't hit the fairways I did keep the ball in play off the tee. This time around I was able to get the approach shots onto the green, hitting seven of them, though nothing terribly close. I parred all of those seven and took bogeys on the other two, giving me a 38 and a round of 76 for the afternoon. My elbow didn't feel awful after I was done, in fact I'd say that it held up pretty well. I played the second 18 wearing one of those Copper Fit compression sleeves and I think it helped at least a little bit, somehow. My fear at this point was how it was going to feel in the morning when I was planning only playing a more challenging track in Rams Hill.

Before we talk about Rams Hill I'll share a few pictures of the course at Borrego Springs, if I can remember what they are I'll caption them. I'm not sure how well you can see any of the pin placements but let me tell you that they certainly had no issue with cutting those holes either on the edge of the green or hanging over a slope. Overall the course was fairly flat and not incredibly exciting but they did have a few pretty looking holes :

The par-3 6th on Desert Willow

The par-4 7th on Desert Willow

The par-3 6th on Mesquite

The approach shot for the par-4 7th on Desert Willow

After icing the elbow and trying to get some sleep (which I failed at mostly) I headed out to Rams Hill on Sunday morning. I called ahead to see if I could get out earlier than my scheduled 11:10 tee time and they were happy to help, telling me that the course was pretty open and they'd get me out whenever I was ready. I put on that compression sleeve and headed for their range, which was nicely stocked with Pro V1 range balls. I had two objectives in mind. One, make sure I could even swing the club. To my relief the elbow was giving me no trouble. I could feel a tiny bit of soreness but it almost felt better than when I started yesterday. The second goal was to see if I could stop hitting these weak cut shots that get lost to the right. One shot yesterday in particular had me pretty convinced that I was casting or at least going outside-in on the fucker. If I was going to do anything today it was to make a better effort to swing back to the inside and not use my hands so much coming back down.

For the most part, mission accomplished. While I didn't hit the irons all that great overall I did start to hit my driver and fairway woods off the tee with a draw again. I still lost a few to the right but at least it wasn't a cut, it was more of a block. When I did miss it was generally a hook or a pull to the left, something I'm more able to deal with while playing. While not incredibly confident that any of this would hold up I still felt like I had an idea of what I was trying to do again.

To give you an idea of how the day went overall, I got to play the entire day by myself, which was unexpected. On my first trip around I would catch other groups and they would let me through pretty quickly for the most part. One group wasn't so quick though. For whatever reason they waited a few holes before letting me go ahead of them. Maybe they thought I'd go away or something. The second round was entirely to myself, I don't think I saw another soul for the entire afternoon. I played the two round in about six hours, maybe even a little less.

For a little more background let me tell you that Rams Hill was designed by Tom Fazio, which is one of my favorite course designers. He did both courses at World Woods, Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, Ocean Hammock (or whatever its called now) in Palm Coast, a couple of tracks at Pinehurst and a bunch more. I've been able to play a few of them and they always seem to appeal to me. He usually has some nice par-3 holes and a good short par-4 or two in the mix along the way. However, his courses usually start a bit tough. For instance, Jack Nicklaus generally likes to start courses off with a mid-length par-4 in order to "slowly get you started" on your day. Later in the round is when Jack will take the gloves off. Not Mr. Fazio. He doesn't even put the gloves on to begin with, instead he elects to simply punch you in the teeth with an uphill 400-yard par-4 playing with a crosswind. Yeah, that'll be Tom for ya.

Anyway, I parred that bitch with a great up-and-down from the left side of the green. I then proceeded to butcher the next hole, taking a double-bogey on the split-fairway par-5 second. I was 90 yards from the green in two on the lower side of that split fairway, but I hit the ball two feet too far into some iffy rough by a cross bunker. It didn't go well from there. I sprayed it around for the rest of the front nine, though mostly my misses were to the left, which I can better manage. Still, a few of the holes on the front side were pretty tough. The 3rd was a 419-yard par 4 to a huge green. The 8th was another monster par-4, 411 yards of uphill goodness. The demon on that hole was the falloff from the fairway to the left. Naturally, I hit what I thought was a pretty damn good drive, drawing to the left side of the fairway, but it bounced and rolled off that fairway to a spot about halfway down this slope. I was lucky to advance the ball halfway to the green from that lie, I took what felt more like a baseball swing with a Louisville Slugger than a golf swing with a Ping 5-wood. I felt lucky to make a 5 there, woof.

I finished the front in 41, parring the short par-3 9th. The 10th hole was also a par-3, though this one was much longer and over water. I think this is the first time I've ever played a course that ended one nine and started the next with a par-3. Both were cool holes in their own way, lets see if I have pictures of them here...

The short downhill par-3 9th

The longer downhill par 3 10th

 There we go. The 9th was playing about 125 yards to that front pin, the 10th was playing 170ish or so. I parred them both on this round, though that 9th green was evasive as its pretty narrow where that pin is. From this point I started to hit the driver much better, in fact I hit all seven fairways on the back nine (though I did hit 3-wood on 17, but I hit it well). Of course, Mr. Fazio still had a couple of brutes on the back (415 and 432 yard brutes) but he also had a couple of his shorter ones here as well (298 and 280). The par-5 holes were probably the best of the bunch though. The 11th is a downhill trek complete with a waterfall-laced stream running down the left side that dumped into a pond to the left of the green. Here are a few pictures of the hole from a couple different spots :

The view from the 11th tee

The 11th green from about 80 yards out

A view from the back of the 11th green back up the fairway

A shot of the stream, looking back from the fairway toward the tee

I managed to par this hole and the next before a bogey at the par-4 13th put me at 6-over for the day. I wasn't hitting many greens but I had some close misses that gave me a few easy chips to save par, which I managed to do on 14 and 15. I had a good two-putt par on the par-3 16th but then had a three-putt bogey on the short 17th, bringing me to 7-over before hitting the closing par-5 18th, as shown below :

The view from the 18th tee

If you go for the 18th green in two, this is the shot you face

The tee shot was downhill, then the approach was back uphill to the elevated green you see there in the picture. Those traps were a good bit below the level of the green, which would make for an awkward shot at best. I hit a pretty solid drive and had about 220 to the front edge of the green. I had a slightly sidehill/downhill lie though, which normally would discourage a go at the green for me. However, I was hitting the woods well. When I did miss I was missing left and as you can see I have a ton of grass left and short of the green. Seemed to me like a good spot for some risk/reward to me!

Did I mention the lie? Yeah. Off it went to the right, coming off low and fading. The ball bounced in front of that gaping bunker and rolled off into the waterfall. So much for that idea. I did managed to salvage a bogey to shoot 80 for the morning round, which to be honest I'd have taken if you had offered it to me before I started. I have no problem with that at all.

However, a second round is yet to be played! By now, as you might imagine, I was starting to feel a bit sore and tired. Perhaps it was due to the fact that I've now played 54 holes in the 90 degree heat. Maybe its because I didn't even think about eating anything before I started. I honestly didn't care at the time, I was just happy my elbow wasn't giving me any problems and I was actually hitting the ball fairly well off the tee at the time. So, after they changed out my golf cart I proceeded to the tee once more.

I started out well with a good solid drive on that tough first hole, even managing to get a 4-iron onto the green for a solid par. I would par the next three holes before semi-chunking a 6-iron on the par-3 5th, shown below :

I wasn't in danger of the water as it wasn't quite that bad but I did short-side myself to that front pin placement. I ended up taking a bogey on the 8th and 9th to shoot 39 for the front, hitting five fairways and five greens along the way. However, I could tell I was starting to wear down when I hit a huge block to the right off the tee on the 8th. Quite honestly I was lucky to find the bastard.

Naturally I wasn't going to quit now, even with the blister that was now starting to form on the top of the second knuckle of my left index finger (which is strange as I don't recall ever having one there before). I parred the first three holes on the back but then another tired swing got me on the 13th, this one was a low duck hook on that monster hole. I basically laid-up for my second and had 105 yards to the hole, which should be a perfect gap wedge for me. I was in the rough with yet another sidehill ball-below-my-feet lie (which every lie seemed to be like on this weekend, it was weird). This time I blasted the damn thing over the green. I was stunned. I must have caught a flyer but I've never had one take off like that before. I thought it was going to be a great shot when I hit it too. I had to check to make sure I had the right club in my hand. I checked the yardage again. Whatever the case, that lead to a double bogey.

I managed to follow that up with a solid par on the 14th, bringing me to the 432-yard 15th hole. Thankfully it was playing downwind and I had actually hit 4-iron over the green the first time around, but not because I flew it there, it landed short and rolled through the green. While the course was in terrific shape, the greens were pretty damn firm. They weren't fast, just firm. Anyway, I hit a lowish draw of a drive this time around, leaving me about 205 to the pin. I hit a good 5-wood, or at least it felt like it, however it must have drew a bit too much and flew into the greenside bunker or bounced into it. And here came my demise.

Of all the shots I try to hit during a round of golf right now, the bunker shots that require a good thump to get elevation give my elbow the most trouble. If the sand is dry and fluffy I have a better chance to pull it off. That was not the case here as the sand was a bit wet where I was. On my second round I have been chasing a maintenance guy that was watering the greens, apparently he was doing the same to the traps to keep the sand from blowing around in the event of wind? I don't know. Anyway, I didn't have a great lie in that wet sand either and it was a little downhill. My first try hit the lip of the bunker and come back to me. The second one did pretty much the same thing. While the bunker was fairly deep it wasn't an impossible shot. My third try ended up two feet from the hole, though by now I had a better lie. I just couldn't get myself to really zip the clubface through the sand like I needed to in order to get it to come out higher. Maybe I got too cute as the pin was a little close to the edge of the green. I probably should have just made sure I got it up and out, even if it ended up 20 or 30 feet past the hole. Bah, hindsight and all that shit.

So a double bogey there was followed by pars at the 16th and 17th. By now the blister had busted and I felt like I had been cooked to a fine medium rare. My drive off of the 18th tee was pretty weak and found a fairway bunker to the right. I managed to hit it out fairly cleanly but into the rough near another bunker that was down the right side and I now had 165 yards to that elevated green. Of course, the ball was below my feet again, this time it felt like it was about a foot down the hill. I made a good swing but it came out further right that I figured and found the little pot bunker by the green. And now it all gets interesting again.

I walk up to my ball and it seems to be defying gravity. Its sitting about three-quarters up the right-side face of the bunker on this steep slope, but somehow it didn't roll back down. The damn thing wasn't plugged and this sand wasn't wet, but it managed to find a spot to sit in and taunt me. I didn't have my phone on me but I should have gone back to the cart, grabbed the phone and taken a picture of this scene. Anyway, my ball is at least thigh-high as I stand in the bunker. In order to even be able to get to it I have to aim toward the back off the green, otherwise I'll hit the lip of the trap with my club. The fact that the ball is above my feet actually helps me a bit since the pin is toward the front of the green, which is behind my left shoulder as I face the ball. However, I honestly thought I'd do well just to dump it into the front of the trap as I didn't think I could get it high enough to get out. So I decided that the best idea was to play it as if it were plugged, keeping the face square instead of open like a normal bunker shot, and just wail at it.

And it worked! I didn't see how high it flew out since I had to step off of the hill of sand I was on after swinging the club but it ended up about 20 feet above the hole and on the green. Just as I was stunned over that rocket gap wedge earlier I was surprised that the ball ended up where it was now. Two putts later I had bogey and another 80 for the round. By this time I was more than happy to have finished playing, it was time to get inside and find some food in the clubhouse.

Here are a few more pictures of Rams Hill from various spots around the course. I can see why this place is regarded so highly in a number of different publications and on various best-of lists :

The par-5 2nd hole

The 348-yard par-4 4th

The par-5 6th hole

The 328-yard 7th (playing from a longer tee today)

The view for the 14th tee

The downhill approach to the par-4 14th

The short par-4 17th

So now all I have to do is drive home from seemingly the middle of nowhere. The place seemed pretty desolate to be quite honest, which isn't without its good points I suppose. I didn't see a chain restaurant for miles. Gas was about fifty cents higher though, even for California that's saying something. And even some of the roads to get there was pretty scary. Here's a view from the edge of one of these said roads :

No, I don't want to end up down there, they might not find me for a few days, or weeks... or ever.

Despite the initial mix-up with the rate and the details of the package I think I came out of this weekend well ahead of expectation. I played pretty decently overall, certainly scored well enough to be happy about it, and I've also seemed to have come out of it relatively unscathed thanks to some lip balm and sunscreen. I really want to go and practice on Tuesday but I think waiting until Wednesday might be best as I still kinda worn out from the weekend festivities. I want to see if I can build on what I started on the range at Rams Hill and get that better incorporated into my irons. I'd love to be able to count on that draw again. I guess time will tell.

*Yes, in 2002 I actually played six rounds within 72 hours over the July 4th weekend in Phoenix and its 115 degree dry heat. Probably not the best thing I've ever done to my health. I did lose a lot of weight though.