How The Owner Plays Redstone: Hole 17

Hole #17 — I love that hole. What just happened.

HOLE 17 132 yds over water · Par 3 · Front centre pin · Slight left-to-right break

Bunkers: rear right and front right · Hazard: water short and left

I am striding to 17. Striding. I know my score. I know what kind of round this is. I haven’t had a day like this in ten years and I can feel it.

I slap my bag down on the tee box with authority. Check the Garmin. 132 yards over the water to a front pin. I love this shot. I absolutely love this hole. Beautiful par three, water between you and the green, bunkers rear right and front right — nothing else to worry about. You just pick your number, trust your club and go.

My playing partners roll up and start gathering their clubs. Not much is said. I think they’re feeling it for me. There’s a kind of quiet that happens when someone is having a round.

I place the ball on a short tee. Pull the A-wedge from my Apex set. Address the ball. Set myself. Begin the downswing.
And then I hear a whisper.

A BRIEF WORD ON GOLF ETIQUETTE
Whispering. Fidgeting. Cleaning clubs loudly. Clearing the throat. Cracking a beer. All unacceptable during someone’s swing. Unless you’re a friend having a go at you — in which case it’s still unacceptable, just understandable. Not funny. Not even a little bit funny. Ask my friend on the tee today.

TEE

A-wedge, 132 yards. The shot is actually okay — but a little heavy, a little too much draw. Hits the green. 30 feet from the pin. Not a disaster. Worth a glare at my whispering friend. He receives it.

WALK

I compose myself along the pond edge. Just lag it close. You just made a 6-foot putt on 16. This is fine. My friend jokes. It is not helping. You live by the sword, you die by the sword. My previous actions — whatever they may have been over the years — are perhaps coming home to roost right now on this green.

1st PUTT

30 feet. Slight left-to-right. A good score and a little pressure — and I leave it 5 feet short. Not normal. Doesn’t faze me. I just made a 6-footer on 16. I can do this.

2nd PUTT

The other guys clean up their pars. Now it’s back to me. I love moments like this. I settle over the ball, feeling good, feeling confident. Dead centre putt. Perfect pace. Perfect line. And then — at the very last moment — it breaks right. Lips completely around the cup. Sits on my side. Doesn’t go in.

Bogey

I look up. The guys shrug. I grab my ball.
Walking to 18, I think to myself: I love that hole. What just happened.
And that’s golf.

— Cary