MUCH ADO ABOUT expectoration, my comments on PGA player Keegan Bradley’s Sunday spittle-fest at Riviera Country Club will have to wait until the end of my column; I have some North Olympic Peninsula golf news to impart first.
Winter Scramble set
Port Townsend Golf Club will host a Winter Scramble Tournament at 9 a.m. Saturday.
The blind-draw scramble is $30 per player.
Port Townsend also has skins games on Thursdays (nine holes) and Saturdays (18 holes).
Phone the golf shop at 360-385-4547 for more information.
Get Golf Ready series
SunLand Golf & Country Club general manager and course professional Tyler Sweet will offer a five-part “Get Golf Ready” lesson series at the Sequim course.
Golfers will receive five lessons complete with fun on-course activities at each lesson for $50.
Sessions will be held from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 3, 10, 24, 31, and will wrap on April 7.
No session on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17.
The price includes an 18-hole greens fee and five driving range tokens.
This series is intended for beginners or people interested in learning the game of golf.
The program is designed to teach players everything they will need to know to step out on a golf course and play with confidence.
There’s room for 10 golfers, so sign up soon.
To register, phone Sweet at 360-683-6800, ext 12, or sign-up online at tinyurl.com/GetGolfReady.
SunLand deal still on
The public can take advantage of a sweet deal this weekend at SunLand.
Players will receive an 18-hole greens fee and use of cart for $29.95.
Doings at Discovery
Discovery Bay Golf Course has some news and notes to pass along.
Teams are forming for the club’s Commercial League that will begin in April.
Play is held at 5 p.m. Thursdays.
If you are a single and want to get in on the league, Discovery Bay can help you out with placement.
To get to know some of the regulars at Discovery Bay, head out for a men’s club event at 8:30 a.m. on Saturdays or a skins game at 8:30 a.m. on Sundays.
The course will host a St. Paddy’s Day One-Man Scramble on Saturday, March 17.
Discovery Bay has also extended its two players and a cart deal.
Two players can play all day with a cart for $48.
More info will follow in upcoming columns.
SkyRidge Gut Buster
SkyRidge’s signature tournament, the Gutbuster, will be held on Saturday, March 24.
The event will include the unveiling of the course’s new tee boxes.
I’ll have more on the new tee boxes in an upcoming column.
The format is individual medal play, and the entry is $65 per player. Included in the fee are golf, lunch, range balls, honey pot and K.P. prizes.
There will be two divisions with gross and net winners in each.
Players in the tournament also will have one free practice round available on Thursday or Friday preceding the tournament.
To get in the Gut Buster, phone SkyRidge at 360-683-3673.
Turn in your paperwork
High school spring sports, including boys and girls golf, begin practice this Monday.
If you are reading this and are a high school student or know a good prospect, make sure to get all paperwork taken care of and turned in before school ends on Monday.
I remember a particularly demanding Advanced English teacher exclaiming with horror “Not golf!” when myself and a few other classmates informed her of our intent to play our junior year.
She was concerned about how much school we would miss while at matches.
Her protests became moot when we all received much higher marks in her class that semester.
Ludlow signature hole
I spent a summer cleaning carts and picking range at Port Ludlow Golf Club a decade ago this summer and the course’s holes are still fresh in my memory.
When I first thought about Ludlow’s signature hole, I believed the 148-yard par 3 No. 8 on the Timber 9 would take the title.
Timber is full of old-growth stumps remaining from the construction of the course in the 1970s and No. 8 may have the most famous stump on the course.
The hole has a pond right off the tee box with an island containing an old stump.
Seeing that island stump would always make me pause while out on rounds around the course.
You don’t belong out there!
It turns out I had the wrong hole, per Port Ludlow golf pro Vito DeSantis.
“I would use Tide No. 2,” DeSantis said.
“It was just recognized by The Pacific Northwest Golfer Magazine as “Great Holes of the Northwest for 2011.”
The par-4 350-yard Tide No. 2 is a great choice as it offers a high degree of difficulty, a pleasing design and some spectacular scenery.
“It’s a true risk-reward hole for big hitters,” DeSantis said.
“Yes, it is a short downhill par 4, even reachable for big hitters.
“But standing on the tee, you understand why this hole is tougher than the yardage.”
From the tee, golfers really can’t see the landing area, and can use a periscope to see down the hill.
“The fairway is very undulating and it slopes away from the tee and to the left,” DeSantis said.
If you happen to find the fairway, you usually will find your next shot played from an uneven lie to a well-bunkered large green that slopes from back to front.
On sunny days, players can take views of Puget Sound, Whidbey Island and Mount Baker.
Upcoming column idea
At some point in the near future, expect a column or columns on who holds the course records at our North Olympic Peninsula courses.
Last week SkyRidge Golf Course owner and general manager Jeff Pedersen notched a course-record 66.
It gave me the idea to figure out the records and pass those along, and I’ve gotten some good stories so far.
Sunday’s final round
I’ll take any chance to daydream on the lush fairways and palm trees of southern California golf courses, so I tuned into the back nine of Sunday’s final round at Riviera Country Club.
A chance to see a duel between up-and-comer Keegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson also had me excited to watch.
The golf was great, dual birdies by Bradley and Mickelson on the final hole to force a playoff won on a monster putt by Bill Haas Jr., well it doesn’t get much better.
But there were a lot of loogies.
Turns out Bradley has a bit of a nervous tic in his pre-shot routine: he spits.
He doesn’t spit on the green, nor in the cup, but it seemed like before every tee shot you would see a spit shot.
Bradley even apologized about it on his Twitter account on Monday.
“I’d like to apologize for my spitting, it’s like a reflex, I don’t even know I’m doing it, but it’s a longtime habit I’ve got to try to conquer.”
Bradley is fun to watch, with his full practice swings and his penchant for running up to get a better look at his potential shot, so I hope I can get a handle on this before he’s fined.
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Golf columnist Michael Carman can be reached at 360-417-3527 or at pdngolf@gmail.com.