Wow! A 65 degree in February? And my day off? And a tee time at 1:24 at Birdwood? That’s a hard combination to beat.
Birdwood has always been a nice course, and now it’s nicer. Last year Boar’s Head Inn spent a gazillion dollars to have Davis Love, III practically redesign the entire course. I don’t know why, but I think it had something to do with college golf tournaments and UVA. So what’s $10 to $15 million for UVA? Pocket change.
Not that Mr. Love needs my input, but I thought the course was great. It’s actually easier – for me. They have five different tee boxes from the way-the-hell-back-there where the UVA studs hit and the really closer tee boxes where I teed it up. I had not played since last October and I needed all the confidence building I could get. My partner, Greg Leffler, said I was hitting from the toddler’s tees. Maybe so, but I had fun and that’s what golf is all about.
The course – taking into account that it is less than one year since renovation and also considering two recent ice storms – was in excellent shape. The greens, fairways and tee boxes were all first rate. The only problem I saw was that the cart paths are narrow and when one cart leaves the path to pass another, it eats into the mud. A little warm weather should take care of that one small detail.
I especially liked the course because it didn’t have any ridiculously long par 3s. They were all withing reach of an average player, especially from the toddler’s tees. Several of the holes were left as is, but most were redesigned.
Now that Birdwood is up and at ‘em, Old Trail won’t be nearly so crowded.
Bottom line? Good job, Davis.