I’m back to bring you the 2021 Year in Review (Golf Edition)
Can I get real with you for a second? Everything I’m about to say is my personal stance and I am not telling you how to think.
Year two of this pandemic has still sucked. We all know the ramifications and I’m not going to get into it (Delta, Omicron, and the like). Personally, I’m still not comfortable doing anything inside besides a small group I know/trust. I look forward to the day where my anxiety allows that to happen.
On a positive note, with vaccines, I felt safer to actually do some travel this year! So 2021’s Year in Review will be a little more in depth than 2020.
New Courses Played
I played 34 new golf courses in 2021. I’ve listed them all below. Some have links to the posts that have already gone up on the site. Look out for others in the coming weeks!
Of these courses, six are from my quest. As a side note, I did come up with an even longer list of courses to play. I know, I know! I found that has helped when planning trips that may not have a bunch of quest courses or aren’t open to access.
- Old Toccoa Farm
- The Cliffs at Keowee Vineyards
- Mid Carolina Club
- Orangeburg Country Club
- The Palisades Country Club
- Mimosa Hills Country Club
- Old South Golf Links
- Heron Point at Sea Pines Resort
- Tanglewood Park (Championship Course)
- Newport Country Club
- The Woodlands Club
- Fox Run Golf Club
- Cape Arundel Golf Club
- Boothbay Harbor Country Club
- Omni Mount Washington (Mount Washington Course)
- George Wright Golf Course
- The Country Club of Lexington
- Champion Hills Club
- Capital City Club (Crabapple)
- Apple Valley Golf Course at Rumbling Bald Resort on Lake Lure
- Fort Mill Golf Club
- Gaston Country Club
- Blue Mound Golf & Country Club
- Interlachen Country Club
- Hazeltine National Golf Club
- White Bear Yacht Club
- The Classic at Madden’s Resort
- The Wilderness at Fortune Bay
- The Legend at Giant’s Ridge
- The Quarry at Giant’s Ridge
- Cabarrus Country Club
- Willbrook Plantation
- Lonnie Poole Golf Course at NC State University
- 3’s Greenville Golf & Grille
Tally of New People Met
I did a much better job of tracking the people I played with in 2021. I played with 64 new people for the year. Golf continues to be great because I had fun with all of these rounds.
It’s a great privilege to expand my golf network. I’m continually amazed at the generosity of golfers in sharing their courses and being willing to join up with complete strangers.
Highlight Experiences
There are so many, but here we go.
- Playing Old Toccoa Farm with LPGA pro Lauren Coughlin, her husband John, and my friend Joe in late January was a great way to get the year of new courses started. The course was fun, but watching Lauren make 4 birdies on the front while playing in Uggs was quite impressive. I found out about Lauren’s career through No Laying Up and I’m glad I did. Along with many other fans, it’s been fun to follow her career, especially this year when she secured her card for 2022! It’s a bonus playing with John, as he’s quite a character.
- Having beers on the porch at Cape Arundel with new friends when President George W Bush showed up for his round. Nothing like cold beer and Secret Service.
- Holing out for eagle on the 18th at George Wright Municipal was a great capper to a poor round with some old and new friends.
- The round at Blue Mound with my friend Eric was a rejuvenating experience. I love Seth Raynor and the collection of holes there is top notch. Fun conversation and a late afternoon round was a great way to spend the day.
- The course and company at White Bear Yacht Club was great, but dinner on the patio overlooking the lake was excellent. Special thanks for Shelly and Tyler for sticking around and providing needed company on my solo Minnesota trip. Nick, we wish you could’ve stayed!
- All the rounds with NLU friends are a good time. Playing with some of my Zoom friends throughout the year was a treat as I was able to meet the wonderful people I’ve been talking to for over a year.
Favorite New Course Played
Interlachen Country Club was a great golf course from start to finish. The tournament history is long and I can see why. I could play so many of the holes over and over.
Best Surprise
It’s a tie between Mimosa Hills and White Bear Yacht Club. I couldn’t make a choice.
Mimosa Hills is traditional Donald Ross that hasn’t been stripped of it’s essence. I was blown away by the course.
White Bear is a study in land movement and quirk. I had such a blast even shooting a million.
Best Revisit
Aiken Golf Club is such an interesting course. It’s challenging but gettable. You’d think a course that is about 5,800 yards would be a pushover, but it is anything but. I’ll try to get back here as many times as a I can.
Golf Stats
I did a little better job on keeping stats for the year. I’m hoping to be a bit more detailed in 2022. I’ll never be someone who does the GPS tracking, but some more data should be doable.
Some numbers from the year…
- 18-Hole Rounds – 65
- 9-Hole Rounds – 5 (one 12 hole round)
- Total Birdies – 69
- Total Eagles – 4
- Lowest Score – 73
- 18-Hole Scoring Average – 79.367
- 9-Hole Scoring Average – 38.75
- Par 3 Scoring Average – 3.446
- Par 4 Scoring Average – 4.486
- Par 5 Scoring Average – 5.197
2021 brought its own challenges, so I want to thank you all who I got to play with.
Finally, I want to thank everyone who helped out with my golf quest this year. It is impossible to do this without you. This isn’t the first time I’ve said those words but it’s truly genuine.