Week 10

The Green Cards restrict holders to playing after noon or before 9 a.m.  So far (and we're now officially halfway through our Green Card experience - woo hoo!), we have only golfed after noon.  This weekend, we thought that it would be a good idea to try the other option, so we booked a 8 a.m. tee off time at Avondale.

Hidden in Avondale, PEI (near Vernon River), this course is a beauty - with lush, carpet like fairways, closely trimmed greens and the best sand traps on PEI (at least of the ones we've been to this year) with large crystalline particules.  Arriving at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, we were only the third vehicle in the parking lot and so had the putting green and driving range all to ourselves.  Mark at the pro shop was a very friendly young man and told us to start whenever we felt ready.  By 8 a.m., we were ready and there were several more vehicles in the lot!

We proceeded at our own pace (we actually let a couple of groups play through, as they had carts and seemed intent on getting done in a hurry.  We wanted to savour the course.  We had played here several years ago, when the rough was at least two foot high fescue and even if your ball rolled a couple of inches into it, it was gone.  Great news - the fescue has been trimmed and we were able to find our own balls, a couple of times, as well as a whole bunch of other errant balls from previous golfers.  The first cut rough is great to play out of, and as some of the fairways are narrow, this is good news for those of us who don't always have a perfect, straight drive!

This is an interesting course, every hole is different and the 17th especially is challenging, what with bunkers galore and a meandering drainage ditch (wide and deep enough to lose your ball in) cutting right across the entire "fairway" area!  There are lots of water hazards, including one that is home to a large family of Canada Geese and a host of happy bullfrogs.  Lots of birds cherping everywhere too.  There is a large lagoon that borders several holes and which sports a lovely fountain - one that scared me silly, when it suddenly burst into operation around 9 a.m. - I thought that the sprinkler system had been activated and that we'd get soaked.  Mind you, we did get soaked, as the rain projected to start, lighlty, around noon came about 45 minutes early and we completed the last 5 holes in a steady rain.  It didn't dampen our appreciation of this course, however.  We'd love to return and play here again.

Until the rain, we actually had been having one of our better performances on the links this year - for both of us!  So, if you're in the neighbourhood, do stop in to Avondale - you'll be glad you did.

See you next week, Jane