I played probably the best and toughest golf course in my life today as I was invited to play the River Course of Blackwolf Run. The gentleman who invited me has played some of the best courses on every continent except Australia (and I'm assuming Antarctica) including basically any course you can think of in the US (except Augusta) and said it is not only his favorite course but also the toughest course he has played. I found it just as challenging and liken it to a Troon course I played in Scottsdale years ago, though Troon was a links course. The penalty for misplaying is severe, if you do not hit the exact shot you need to off the tee you are in ABSOLUTE trouble. The fairways are nice and a little wider than I expected (at least on most holes) but the greens are crazy fast and the pins were in terrible locations today - perched, it seemed, always on the top of a "hill" where anything long was going 15 feet past and anything short may well come back down to you...it happened to me a few times. Four putts were not uncommon for me, nor for some in my group, though more for me. We played some sort of skins-type game and our opponent had a five footer to win a hole and wrap up the front nine. My partner said that he very well could three-putt from there, and he did.

The most frustrating thing is that there were so many times that I felt that I struck the ball well and hit a great shot, only to find a bunker just off the fairway or even hit the fairway and see if roll into a bunker. And if you made a mistake, it could be three or four shots until you get back in the game, which is why I sprinkled in a few snowmen in my score.

Overall, though for this being my first time playing this year and having only played twice last year, I was very happy, I scored a 51 on the back (felt I would be mid 40's at worst on an area course)- mainly due to my poor putting - but the front was a little slowers...it took a few holes to figure out I couldn't hit my driver, might as well put that in the bag and bring out the 3-wood or iron. It gave me the itch to go back, and I hope to have the chance again someday in the future.