Saturday, November 25, 2006
Oasis
7366 Yds, Par 72, Slope 133
Mr Science insisted we should play the Oasis Thanksgiving morning . . . our TurkeyDay luncheon appt wasn't till 3pm, so we had time, so fine . . . and he insisted we'd have time to drive down to extreme southeast PHX to Florence, so Fine . . . and he insisted that we'd have to play the 9-holers sometime and this was good as any, So FINE!
Then he insisted he didn't need my Mapquest instructions, cuz it didn't know that the 202 had been finished, and that we should take Rittenhouse, even tho' my instructions said Hunt Hwy - - the jist wound up we had to stop and ask directions at Los Colinas . . . so we doubled back and zoomed around queen creek down to the Oasis, late for our t-time, but it didn't matter, there were few people there.
While I got my morning microwave-warmup from the concessionaire-head, he hit balls into a batting cage out behind . . . we would have walked, but the course is on both sides of the Hunt Hwy, so they don't recommend it.
I was kinda stunned by the course as it revealed itself: it has been artfully shaped into very natural, but very tortured contours. Everything everywhere has a kind of still-under-construction feel to it, but the golf course itself is great. Never once feels like a goat-track or cow-pasture, even tho' the course has been broken up into 4 separate tracks and stretched out thru the neighborhood. The houses never really come into play, but they are everpresent, except where construction is incomplete. The desert areas all look a little unfinished, graded and combed, but not replanted. The water areas look a little artificial, the usual Arizona bathtubs, but with cattail reeds inserted.
Each hole has 2 greens and 2 sets of (6) tees, tho only 1 set looked in use. So there's some variety inbetween the 9s. Add a little bit of wind and the golf challenge is plenty. Each hole kinda has a Panksian/Graham feel to it, in that the greens are elevated just enough and contoured with tiers and slopes, so that tho' the fairways are wide, the approach can be vexatious.
The most exciting thing about the course is the two chances you take crossing the Hunt Hwy . . . it wasn't that bad this Thanksgiving Day, but it is clear that at some times on normal days and weekend this would taking your life into your own hands.
I shot a 92, not playing that well, just wrong, if you know what I mean, while Mr Science revelled in another 79. I could have had an 89, if, on the last hole I hadn't muscled up on a 5iron and topped it into the water, dangit. I had discovered during the round that my forefinger knuckle (my excuse du jour) didn't bother me if I swang s-l-o-w enough, but I forgot.
On #8/17, Mr Science & I had an interesting discussion.
The First time around we couldn't even find #8, till a marshall that happened by re-directed us. Since we couldn't make heads-or-tails out of the yardages, and he was still there we asked him: turns out they had switched the flags, but the scorecards hadn't been updated yet.
I mean: each hole has 2 greens, one closer than the other, and mostly, the front 9 green (Red Flag) is closer than the back 9 green (Blue Flag), but not on this hole. So anyway, after consultation with the marshal and enough shared calculus to qualify for college credits we hit.
Mr Science mis-judged the elevation and/or wind and wound up on the back of the green. He still made his par, of course, but he had to make a touchy 15 footer, that if he misses the cup would have rolled down a steep slope 25 feet past.
I, on the other, judging perfectly, lay at the bottom of that hill, so it was no easy lag putt par, but I made it.
So as we surveyed #17, we expected that we should know what to do, but uncertainty plagued us. The Blue Flag green was closer, but less elevated, and the wind didn't seem as blustery as it had before. "I give up," I said, "I can't do it in my head. I know that I should take less club for the green less elevated, but I don't know why? Because the parabola doesn't have room to play out its full length to an elevated green?"
Mr Science gave me the pitying look of the Educated for the Illiterate: "It is simple,"
he said, "when the cosine of the arc-tangent is less than the hypoteneus, you need more club!".
"Is that like one of them 'imaginary lines' you draw in Geometry?" I asked. "I never could understand that! How do you know to draw an Imaginary Line? How did you know you needed an Imaginary Line?"
"You may think," I roared, "that you know what you are talking about, but I think you do not, cuz I dang sure don't know what you're talking about!"
He was laughing so hard he had to add wiping his eyes with his shirttail to his pre-shot routine. He hit pin-high on the green, and I was short, but we both parred again.
The more I think about it, tho', I can almost see them imaginary lines in his formula, like a cad-cam visualization . . .
Mr Science insisted we should play the Oasis Thanksgiving morning . . . our TurkeyDay luncheon appt wasn't till 3pm, so we had time, so fine . . . and he insisted we'd have time to drive down to extreme southeast PHX to Florence, so Fine . . . and he insisted that we'd have to play the 9-holers sometime and this was good as any, So FINE!
Then he insisted he didn't need my Mapquest instructions, cuz it didn't know that the 202 had been finished, and that we should take Rittenhouse, even tho' my instructions said Hunt Hwy - - the jist wound up we had to stop and ask directions at Los Colinas . . . so we doubled back and zoomed around queen creek down to the Oasis, late for our t-time, but it didn't matter, there were few people there.
While I got my morning microwave-warmup from the concessionaire-head, he hit balls into a batting cage out behind . . . we would have walked, but the course is on both sides of the Hunt Hwy, so they don't recommend it.
I was kinda stunned by the course as it revealed itself: it has been artfully shaped into very natural, but very tortured contours. Everything everywhere has a kind of still-under-construction feel to it, but the golf course itself is great. Never once feels like a goat-track or cow-pasture, even tho' the course has been broken up into 4 separate tracks and stretched out thru the neighborhood. The houses never really come into play, but they are everpresent, except where construction is incomplete. The desert areas all look a little unfinished, graded and combed, but not replanted. The water areas look a little artificial, the usual Arizona bathtubs, but with cattail reeds inserted.
Each hole has 2 greens and 2 sets of (6) tees, tho only 1 set looked in use. So there's some variety inbetween the 9s. Add a little bit of wind and the golf challenge is plenty. Each hole kinda has a Panksian/Graham feel to it, in that the greens are elevated just enough and contoured with tiers and slopes, so that tho' the fairways are wide, the approach can be vexatious.
The most exciting thing about the course is the two chances you take crossing the Hunt Hwy . . . it wasn't that bad this Thanksgiving Day, but it is clear that at some times on normal days and weekend this would taking your life into your own hands.
I shot a 92, not playing that well, just wrong, if you know what I mean, while Mr Science revelled in another 79. I could have had an 89, if, on the last hole I hadn't muscled up on a 5iron and topped it into the water, dangit. I had discovered during the round that my forefinger knuckle (my excuse du jour) didn't bother me if I swang s-l-o-w enough, but I forgot.
On #8/17, Mr Science & I had an interesting discussion.
The First time around we couldn't even find #8, till a marshall that happened by re-directed us. Since we couldn't make heads-or-tails out of the yardages, and he was still there we asked him: turns out they had switched the flags, but the scorecards hadn't been updated yet.
I mean: each hole has 2 greens, one closer than the other, and mostly, the front 9 green (Red Flag) is closer than the back 9 green (Blue Flag), but not on this hole. So anyway, after consultation with the marshal and enough shared calculus to qualify for college credits we hit.
Mr Science mis-judged the elevation and/or wind and wound up on the back of the green. He still made his par, of course, but he had to make a touchy 15 footer, that if he misses the cup would have rolled down a steep slope 25 feet past.
I, on the other, judging perfectly, lay at the bottom of that hill, so it was no easy lag putt par, but I made it.
So as we surveyed #17, we expected that we should know what to do, but uncertainty plagued us. The Blue Flag green was closer, but less elevated, and the wind didn't seem as blustery as it had before. "I give up," I said, "I can't do it in my head. I know that I should take less club for the green less elevated, but I don't know why? Because the parabola doesn't have room to play out its full length to an elevated green?"
Mr Science gave me the pitying look of the Educated for the Illiterate: "It is simple,"
he said, "when the cosine of the arc-tangent is less than the hypoteneus, you need more club!". "Is that like one of them 'imaginary lines' you draw in Geometry?" I asked. "I never could understand that! How do you know to draw an Imaginary Line? How did you know you needed an Imaginary Line?"
"You may think," I roared, "that you know what you are talking about, but I think you do not, cuz I dang sure don't know what you're talking about!"
He was laughing so hard he had to add wiping his eyes with his shirttail to his pre-shot routine. He hit pin-high on the green, and I was short, but we both parred again.
The more I think about it, tho', I can almost see them imaginary lines in his formula, like a cad-cam visualization . . .
